Road & Track Iconic Cars: BMW M Series

MUNICH MUSCLE

A 5-series BMW for the terminally impatient

BY PAUL FRERE

BMW’s second-series M535i is not exactly the answer to Mercedes’ 16-valve hot shot; that will come later. But it is an answer to those who complain that BMWs are losing their sporting image.

Basically, the M535i is a 528i in which the 184-bhp DIN 2.8-liter 6-cylinder is replaced by the 218-bhp 3.4-liter inline-6. The package includes a beefier 5-speed gearbox, 25-percent limited-slip differential, more sporting suspension with Bilstein gas-pressurized shock absorbers, Michelin 220/55VR-390 TRX tires on alloy wheels and various spoilers that lower the normal model’s uninspiring 0.40 drag coefficient to a claimed 0.37. Add Recaro bucket seats and a smaller steering wheel and there is your M535i. ABS anti-lock brakes are standard, as is the overdrive gearbox, but you can also order the car with a close-ratio 5-speed or BMW’s 4-speed automatic with lockup torque converter.

To understand the significance of the M535i, it is necessary to consider two new Mercedes. First came the 16-valve 190, and to answer that BMW is developing a 16-valve, 4-cylinder 323i. The M323i will receive two-thirds of the 3.4-liter M1 engine as used in the M635CSi coupe. More recently Mercedes-Benz has introduced the new 300E, which has the aerodynamics to be much faster than anything BMW could offer in this price class. That is the car BMW has aimed at with the M535i. Normally the M prefix indicates that the car was developed by BMW Motorsport, the subsidiary responsible for racing activities. But the M535i is assembled on the regular assembly line of the Dingolfing factory with the other 5-series cars, because BMW Motorsport wouldn’t be able to meet the expected demand.

The car I took out for a day during a visit to Munich was a standard one with the wide-ratio overdrive gearbox, and the first thing I did was gather performance figures. The factory’s claim of 143-mph top speed is perfectly justified as I obtained a 2-way average of 143.5 mph in 4th gear at 6000 rpm. Shifting to 5th drops the speed to about 140 mph at 4750 rpm. As the close-ratio box is doubtlessly more in line with the sporting character of the car, I must say that for use on non-restricted German motorways, the overdrive 5th has something to commend it.

Acceleration is a match for top speed. I measured a 0 to 60 mph time of 7.1 seconds, a 0–100 mph time of 19.0 sec and 0–125 mph in 35.3 sec. The standing-start kilometer took 27.8 sec.

On the back roads of the Danude valley, the car’s handling qualities were put into perspective. Here the BMW was a real joy to drive, displaying minimal roll and a neutral feel up to the limit, when easily controlled oversteer arrives. Lifting off accentuates the tendency, but never in an embarrassing way. In the lower gears power oversteer can be easily fed to the car with the limited-slip differential and excellent power assisted steering providing good feel under all circumstances. In fact, all the controls work beautifully, from gearchange to heater controls, and the pedals are ideally arranged for heel-and-toeing. This 4-door is, in fact, as much fun to drive as most real sports cars, while ride comfort has suffered very little from the suspension modifications.

Though the M535i is not a light car (3050 lb with 17 gal. of fuel) and in spite of only indifferent aerodynamics, it is certainly no gas guzzler. In a day’s hard driving, including performance tests, it returned 15.2 mpg.

Of course, BMW could do even better. If the 3.4-liter fits, so will the twincam, 24-valve M1 engine producing 289 bhp. Wouldn’t that be a good project for BMW Motorsport?

H&B BMW M635CSi

The classic business suit bulges with more muscle

The 6-series BMW, in U.S.-legal form, has always been just a bit on the sedate, understated side, with less power than its substantial chassis and beautiful body would call for. The original 630CSi appeared in mid-1976; as a 1977 model for the U.S. it produced 176 bhp from an L-Jetronic 3.0-liter six. With emissions standards tightening, the extra 224 cc of the 633CSi gave it just one more horsepower in 1979 and another four by 1982, as BMW refined its U.S. plumbing. The 6-series was no slouch, but hard-driving BMW enthusiasts were tantalized by the European 635CSi, which had been putting out 218 Pferdstärke since 1978, not to mention the mid-engine M1 with a twin-overhead-camshaft, 24-valve version of the six producing 277 bhp. The latter car was brought in as a gray-market item for awhile; it’s now history, but its formidable engine now sits at the front of the well-known coupe. Giving it, at last, the muscles to fill out the suit.

The 24-valve coupe is known as the M635CSi. M is for Motorsports, the Rennabteilung that has churned out Touring. Formula 2 and Formula 1 victories for the marque, as well as the M1 in its own special series. The 6 stands for the body type, of course, the 35 indicates the 3.5-liter (actually 3453-cc) displacement, and the Coupe-Sport-injected letters have been on the U.S. cars all along. But the engine is even stronger than the original M1’s; with Bosch Motronic injection, a higher compression ratio (up to 10.0:1 from 9.0:1) and new induction and exhaust systems, this greatest of all contemporary inline-6s puts out a whopping 286 bhp DIN. equal to approximately 281 SAE, and an estimated 251 lb-ft of torque. Now that it has all the power a sane person can ask for, what does it do with it?

Just about everything a sane person can ask for. You probably already know that an M635CSi did 154.6 mph in our World’s Fastest Cars exercise (R&T, September 1984). Our current test car, a 1984 model made EPA and DOT-legal by H&B of Berkeley, California, and further enhanced by H&B chassis, wheel, body and interior equipment, is an exhilarating performer. Once you get to 3000 rpm, the acceleration becomes explosive, yet the car’s refinement allows it to charge downfield without ripping out a single shoulder seam. Clearly a matter of having your steak and eating it too. Stay off the throttle, and the M635CSi is the comfortable, if slightly stiff and bulky coupe you’ve always known; get on it and you’ll have the full attention of every traffic enforcement officer in your state. In making the engine emissions-legal, H&B doesn’t seem to have lost any of the power, although at the top—6000 rpm to redline—the six seems just a tiny bit less willing than the one we ran in Europe in 1984. The gearbox, a strengthened 5-speed, is mated to a 3.73:1 final drive (compared with 3.45 for the regular factory 635CSi) and gives better dig off the line if a slightly lower maximum speed. The shifting is notchy when the box is cold, but effortless after that.

H&B’s chassis kit includes special springs front and rear, tuned to the factory-installed Bilstein shocks, and adjustable anti-roll bars. The wheels are 3-piece H&B 8 × 16-in. alloy, mounting 225/50VR-16 Yokohama A-008 tires. The body and interior options are mostly appearance oriented, although the extra gauges (oil pressure, oil temperature, voltmeter), four Hella quartz halogen headlights and aerodynamic side skirts are functional (at the extreme ends of the performance spectrum, at least). The result of all this equipment (besides adding more than $9000 to the already hefty $48,207 asking price) is superb comportment in all but the tightest places (parking lot jockeys may never know how good this particular Bimmer is). The lateral acceleration figure is 0.826g, slalom speed is 58.8 mph (remember, this a big car), and the brakes are absolutely splendid, pulling the 3485-lb car down to nought from 60 mph in just 141 ft, from 80 in 249, and with excellent ABS control at all times. With brakes like these, you can go incredibly fast with full confidence. The H&B suspension modifications give a tauter ride and less body roll, but without undue harshness.

The interior is all business, of course, in the usual BMW ultra-authoritative way, with fairly stiff seats (uncomfortably narrow for larger persons and shy on head room with the sunroof) and little design warmth. That’s okay if you’re all business, but if that’s the intent, then we can nitpick a bit: The steering wheel adjustment could be improved, the shift lever ought to be a little closer, and the instrument lighting could be better for those with older, less adapting eyesight. But the coupe’s rational body style gives space and outward vision of the kind you just can’t get in the mid-engine exotics with which you normally associate this level of performance.

In short, the H&B M635CSi is the BMW coupe that enthusiasts have been wanting for nearly nine years. When the 630CSi first arrived, we missed the agility of the preceding 3.0CS; now this bigger, tougher car has the power and handling to cope with any situation. It strongly impressed every member of the staff, including those of less competitive bent. After all, it can go slowly very well, too. Just not very often.

BMW M3

BMW introduces its sports car for the Nineties, designed to be easy on the driver but merciless on the winding road

BY PETER EGAN

PHOTOS BY GUY SPANGENBERG

A sports car for the Nineties? Purists may wince. How can a car that carries four people comfortably and has an excellent sound system, air conditioning and electrically operated windows be a sports car? What about the old contains nothing that doesn’t make the car go faster ethic? Aren’t sports cars supposed to be just a little harsh and difficult?

No, sayeth the engineers at BMW, they are not. With proper refinement, even a reasonably plush 4-place sports coupe can carry two (or four) people over a winding road about as fast as a car should go, with proper respect to the natives and stationary roadside objects. If a car is competent beyond all expectation, why should you suffer?

A good question. And one this car answers surprisingly well.

Previous M3s, built between 1988 and 1991, followed the old sports-car recipe a little more religiously. They were somewhat stiff and peaky, as sports coupes go, and featured arrest-me wings, dams and bodywork that left the observant police officer in no doubt as to their intentions. Suitably modified, they also won more than 150 racing and rally championships worldwide, making them the most successful competition touring cars ever built. They had an edge to them.

With the new M3, BMW has backed away from the boy-racer tradition just a bit, forging a broader sword, but a very effective one nonetheless. They have sought to build a good daily driver that is still satisfying for those who prefer to motor around wide awake, pupils occasionally dilated and a healthy dose of adrenaline surging through their veins.

Based on a 325is platform, the new M3 is extensively beefed-up, with reinforced underbody sheet metal, stronger drivetrain mounting points and spring perches, upgraded suspension, better tires and wheels, M5 brakes, variable-ratio steering that is quicker off-center and a heavy-duty ZF 5-speed manual transmission.

The 3.0-liter, 24-valve, dohc inline-6 is essentially a bored and stroked version of the 2.5-liter engine found in the 325is, hot-rodded for more power and torque. Mid-to-low-end torque is improved primarily by the larger displacement—with a 2-mm stretch in bore and a 10.8-mm lengthening of stroke. A horsepower increase at the top end comes from (among other things) a ported and polished cylinder head, more aggressive camshafts, heavy-duty valve springs and a freer-flowing exhaust system.

BMW uses the VANOS (Variable Nockenwellen Steuerung) cam timing system, which means Variable Camshaft Control, to get both a smooth idle and good power at high revs. This is an electrohydraulic system in which electronic sensors use oil pressure to shift cam timing. The cams operate four valves per cylinder through hydraulic lifters, which require no periodic servicing.

The result of these modifications is a substantial increase in horsepower and torque over a broad range, and a considerable improvement on the standard 325is engine: an output of 240 bhp at 6000 rpm, versus 189 at 5900, and 225 lb.-ft. of torque at 4250 rpm, compared with 184 at 4200.

Naturally, the suspension has had a going-over as well, with larger, stiffer springs, added damping on the reinforced gas-charged struts, larger anti-roll bars and reinforced control arms, front and rear. Suspension changes also lower the ride height 1.2 in.

Outward signs of high performance, as mentioned, are somewhat more subdued than they were on the M3’s predecessors.