About
The BMW 8 Series is a range of grand tourer coupés and convertibles produced by BMW.
The 8 Series was introduced in 1990 under the E31 model code and was only available as a two-door coupé. It is powered by a range of naturally aspirated V8 and V12 petrol engines. The E31 started production just as E24 6 Series production ended; however, it is not considered a direct successor.
The E31 was discontinued in 1999 due to poor sales.
Design work of the first generation E31 8 Series began in 1984, with final design phase and production development starting in 1986.
The car debuted at the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show and was produced until 1999.
The 8 Series was designed to move beyond the market of the original E24 6 Series, featuring greater performance and an increased price. The 8 Series was the first road car to offer a V12 engine mated to a 6-speed manual transmission and was one of the first vehicles to be fitted with electronic drive-by-wire throttle.
The 8 Series was also one of BMW's first cars to use a multi-link rear axle.
The idea of an upper class coupé was there in 1981 already, green light for project E31 was finally given 1984. Internally the decision wasn't undisputed because it wasn't clear if in six years time people would buy a car that costs DM 140,000 (EUR 70,000).
The 850 wasn't just an improvement of another car, it was designed from scratch which made the decision risky.
Two years later, 1986 and four years before mass production started, the design phase was over and construction began. This took place at CAD workstations, back then still almost unusual.
In 1987 BMW began to assemble the first metal prototypes after design and aerodynamics changes were as good as finished. This first prototype that was actually able to drive cost 2 million German Marks (1,000,000 Euro).
Every other test vehicle - and there were 100, wasn't much cheaper either, they were all above 1.5 Million Marks (750,000 Euro) because they were all built by hand out of specially handmade parts.
Many of those very expensive prototypes ended their life at a concrete wall,crash testing.
One of these prototypes was presented to the BMW staff on June 15th 1989 in Munich's 'Bayernhalle'. At that point about 2000 people were taking part in the development of the E31.
After much simulated test bench running, the first real test drives (still with a cloaked car) started on July 4th 1989 on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
The 8000 test kilometers (5000 miles) covered there equal 150,000 kilometers (93,000 miles) of daily use.
By the end of August 1989 the first tests in the USA were conducted in order to test the car under extreme temperatures and with american fuel. One, if not the biggest target group was living in America.
So tests in polar regions followed tests in Death Valley at 50°C, going full throttle for hours. But that is not all. After that the black painted car had to stand still in the heat for an hour with running engine.
Driving up and down mountain roads with extreme changes in temperature and air pressure have been done also.
While the tests were still in progress, the BMW 850i was presented to the public in the beginning of September 1989 on the IAA in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, with stunning success.
5000 orders have been placed within the eight days of the motor show alone, before the car was even ready for production, which started in the beginning of February 1990 in Dingolfing (14 days later as planned).
If you had ordered a car back then you would have to wait three years for it to be delivered.
The cost of development for the BMW 850i alone were one billion German Marks (500,000,000 Euro)
25th Anniversary of the 8-series
Timelessly alluring: 25 years of the BMW 8 Series.
Some 260 fans and 120 cars gather in Munich and Dingolfing for an international get-together hosted by the BMW Group to celebrate the anniversary of the exclusive luxury coupé. It was streets ahead of its time at launch and maintains an ageless glow to this day, yet a glance at the calendar reveals the disarming truth: 25 years have passed since the BMW 8 Series was presented to the world at large for the first time.
The car’s international fan community duly came together at its Bavarian birthplace to celebrate the anniversary, with events including a spectacular parade of 120 cars at the BMW Group headquarters highlighting their collective adoration of the brand’s exclusive luxury coupé.
The event was a team effort fronted by the BMW 8 Series club 8er.org (The international 8 Series community) and ClubE31 Worldwide Owners Group e.V. with support from the BMW Club International Office.
The 260 participants from 20 countries began proceedings with a tour of BMW Plant Dingolfing, where the BMW 8 Series was produced from 1989 through to 1999. The second highlight of the weekend was the gathering of club members and their cars at the BMW Museum and BMW “four-cylinder” head office in Munich for a combined photo shoot.
The BMW 8 Series models fanned out in formation according to paintwork shade, creating an imposing image – and an added attraction for visitors to the BMW Museum and adjacent BMW Welt.
ClubE31 Worldwide Owners Group e.V. brings together more than 2,000 owners and fans of the BMW 8 Series from around the world.
The club’s activities include regular national and international meetings and a lively experience-sharing forum. Here, members can find assistance in procuring replacement parts and expertise to help them with the upkeep and care of their cars.
The meeting in Dingolfing and Munich attracted enthusiasts from the USA, Iceland and New Zealand, among other countries.
Two club representations from Spain, meanwhile, decided to take their cars on a particularly epic journey to celebrate the BMW 8 Series anniversary, driving them more than 1,800 kilometres (approx. 1,120 miles) and almost 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) respectively to Bavaria for the event.
The BMW 8 Series stands out as a landmark model in a BMW coupé lineage that dates back to the 1930s.
A clean-sheet design, the car tagged “E31” by its maker launched its challenge to the world’s finest sports coupés with a design oozing avant-garde elegance, arresting performance attributes, an exceptional wealth of innovations and a sprinkling of exclusive luxury.
The BMW 850i presented at the 1989 International Motor Show in Frankfurt represented a demonstration of the Munich-based carmaker’s development expertise, revealing not only a cutting-edge new design line but also an unparalleled array of technological details making their automotive debuts.
The design of the wedge-shaped body – headlined most strikingly by a long, swooping bonnet (housing retractable headlights), smooth lines, the absence of B-pillars and a steeply cut rear end – showcased the dynamics and grace of the new coupé with equal élan.
The BMW 850i, moreover, followed the BMW 750i luxury Sedan introduced two years earlier as the second post-war German car to be powered by a 12-cylinder engine.
The 5.0-litre unit developed 220 kW/300 hp and peak torque of 450 Newton metres (332 lb-ft) to propel the 1,790 kg 2+2-seater from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.8 seconds.
Channelling the engine’s power to the rear wheels was either a six-speed manual gearbox specially developed for the BMW 850i or a four-speed automatic, while its pioneering integral rear axle with five-link suspension was celebrating its premiere in the luxury coupé.
Automatic Stability Control plus Traction (ASC+T), speed-sensitive power steering and the Electronic Damper Control (EDC) system introduced as an option in spring 1990 were among the other details that helped give the BMW 8 Series its distinctive identity as a driving machine.
The motoring press heralded the BMW 850i as a “coupé of velvet and silk” and the “perfect symbiosis of power and comfort”.
After its first road test in the car, German car magazine “auto, motor und sport” wrote: “BMW has given the 850i all the high-tech weaponry it needs to take top spot.”
And turning its attentions to the chassis technology of the BMW 8 Series, “Auto Bild” magazine commented: “It needs to be experienced to be believed, preferably through high-speed corners on the motorway: bumps, expansion joints – shocks that are sure to trigger sudden jolts of adrenaline in other cars – leave the 850i driver totally unruffled.”
Among the other new features of the BMW 8 Series were the belt system integrated into the seats, an electrically adjustable steering column with memory function, an automatically dimming rear-view mirror, remote-control central locking and a high-performance onboard computer.
A multiplex electrical system featured for the first time, with data transfer from several different systems via the same conduit enhancing reliability and reducing weight. Both the front and rear side windows of the luxury coupé could be fully retracted. And, in another new addition, the front side windows were automatically lowered or raised when the doors were opened or closed, improving sealing and reducing wind noise as a result.
Front windows and sunroof (slided not tilted) automatically close if open when the car reaches 150km/h.
A second version of the 12-cylinder engine was added to the range for model year 1993.
With displacement increased to 5.6 litres, the engine imbued the flagship BMW 850 CSi model with 280 kW/381 hp and peak torque of 550 Newton metres (406 lb-ft). The sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) could now be wrapped up in under six seconds. To take into account those elevated performance figures the BMW 850 CSi was also given a new driving dynamics system, including active rear axle kinematics.
Here, the rear wheels respond to the car’s speed and steering angle by turning in the same direction to optimise directional stability through dynamically taken corners and sudden evasive manoeuvres.
The electrohydraulic system in the BMW 8 Series was the precursor to the Integral Active Steering available for today’s BMW 7 Series, BMW 6 Series and BMW 5 Series.
With the launch of the BMW 850 CSi, the existing model was rechristened BMW 850 Ci and given myriad detail modifications. Standard equipment now included an airbag each for the driver and front passenger, infrared remote control and folding rear seat backrests. DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) was available as an option and the automatic gearbox was now equipped with adaptive control.
Autumn 1994 witnessed a changing of the guard under the bonnet: the BMW 850 Ci was now powered by a 5.4-litre V12 engine with 240 kW/326 hp, which customers could choose to combine with a new five-speed automatic gearbox. The BMW 840 Ci joined the line-up in 1993. Its 4.0-litre V8 produced 210 kW/286 hp, providing an undeniably sporty entry point into the world of BMW luxury coupés.
In 1995 the BMW 8 Series inspired British artist David Hockney to add his vision to the BMW Art Cars series.
The BMW 850 CSi he created symbolised an artistic take on transparency. Hockney added flourishes such as stylised intake manifolds on the bonnet and silhouettes of the driver and steering column on the driver’s door, while the artist’s dachshund Stanley is painted onto the rear side panel as if he were a passenger in the rear.
A total of 30,621 examples of the BMW 8 Series were produced up to 1999, 24 of which were lavishly hand-built at BMW’s Rosslyn plant in South Africa.
For tax reasons, assembling the cars there was more cost-efficient than importing the finished articles. More than two thirds of all the BMW 8 Series coupés produced were 12-cylinder models, and only one in six were fitted with the six-speed manual gearbox.
The top-of-the-line BMW 850 CSi accounted for 1,510 of the overall unit figure. The ultra-high-performance model was available exclusively with a manual gearbox, in keeping with its sporting character.
The tour of the Dingolfing plant also allowed the enthusiasts at the BMW 8 Series meeting to catch up with a spectacular prototype of the luxury coupé.
This one-off, high-performance variant of the BMW 8 Series was completed in 1991 and featured an all-new 12-cylinder engine developing around 550 hp, chassis technology tuned precisely to the power unit and specific body features with optimised airflow characteristics and aerodynamics.
Co-developed by BMW Motorsport GmbH and BMW Technik GmbH, this super-sports car was employed as a test bed for technology and innovations.
Its engine, for example, served as the basis for the V12 unit powering the legendary McLaren F1.
The 8 Series is a future collectable.
As BMW Designs continues to draw polarized opinions, the E31 is seen as a zenith of excellent BMW Design under former design chief Claus Luthe. The world is NOW just catching up to the BMW 8 Series.
Body and chassis:
Class:Grand tourer, Body style: 2-door coupé, Layout: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Engines:
4.0 L M60B40 V8, 4.4 L M62B44 V8, 5.0 L M70B50 V12, 5.4 L M73B54 V12, 5.6 L S70B56 V12
Transmission
4-speed automatic, 5-speed automatic, 6-speed Manual Getrag 420G V8, 6-speed Manual Getrag 560G V12
Overview
Manufacturer: BMW, Production: February 1989 – May 1999, Assembly: Germany at Dingolfing, Designer: Klaus Kapitza (1986)
BMW 8 Series (E31)
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