BMW 8 Series - A Step Outside The Box

Guten Tag! :D
In the late 1980s, BMW took an incredible step outside of its usual convention of design to create the BMW E31 8 Series of 1989, a machine that was not just a pretty face with its exceptional low, smooth body with pop-up headlights and pillarless window, but was also a technological tour-de-force with incredible engine and performance management functions that left the competition looking archaic by contrast, though all of these assets came at a terrible cost, one that, combined with bad timing, turned BMW's flagship for the 1990s into a forgotten machine.
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References:
- Motor Trent (and their respective sources)
- Drives Today (and their respective sources)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)

[@joellamoureux7914]

This is my favorite BMW. They didn't have any ugly cars back then but this was stellar. I have since lost my love for them completely.

[@anderspedersen7488]

BMWs these days, with the bizarrely large grille look like they are made for the Chinese market rather than the European or American markets.

[@av_oid]

My favourite too. And the 5 series of the time was very pretty also, for a practical car.

[@stevie-ray2020]

These were absolutely gorgeous! Anyone who has has hung onto their 8 Series is now grinning!

[@PiefacePete46]

Having had BMWs for the last forty years, I bought a Kia Niro EV six months ago. With the proviso that there are areas where the specs and materials used may not equal BMW, neither does the price. I expected a more "pedestrian" experience, but it is actually a great driver... it makes me smile. To top it off, the finish is flawless! BMW, unless I win the lottery, I probably won't be back.

[@e28forever30]

@@anderspedersen7488 That’s because they are indeed styled to please the Asian market.

[@ricahrdb]

Still an absolutely gorgeous car. This car was "peak BMW" for me.

[@peekaboo1575]

BMW was amazing back then.

[@sandycheeks7865]

Great video. Owned one for 10 years. Beautiful car. Iraq didn’t set fire to its own oil wells - they were Kuwaiti oil wells.

[@SteamboatWilley]

The 8 series was the definition of 1980s car design.

[@philbraithwaite1316]

This and the Porsche 928 are possibly the best looking cars ever made.

[@XmarkedSpot]

944 s2 comes to mind

[@vehicles_n_stuff]

BMW Z8?

[@stevie-ray2020]

These were absolutely gorgeous! Anyone who has has hung onto their 8 Series is now grinning!

[@bobfrankish8883]

I have been restoring an 840Ci for about 7 years, unfortunately, it will be a long time until I'm grinning! I need to stop crying first!

[@CTXSLPR]

By far my favorite BMW. Remember seeing them near new when I visited Berlin and Münich in 1999.

[@mozeskertesz6398]

I like the E31. It's a very good looking car

[@DiRF]

One portion of the narrative that threw me for a loop is when you were discussing the initial design proposal in the early to mid '80s by Pavel Hušek. You mentioned him as having "previously penned" the Škoda Favorit and the Honda Beat... that past tense was a bit odd, as the Favorit and Beat were vehicles that came out *after* the early to mid '80s.

[@Jo3man96]

I’d love an E31 850CSi or B12 5.7. I saw an 850i in a car park in Cannock recently, it was gorgeous, and by today’s standards, not all that big.

[@michaelhoffmann2891]

Mildly disappointed that the heritage from the BMW M1 wasn't mentioned. A car so rare, I only ever saw one on the road and urban legends grew around the reason for its cancellation. I suppose coupes have a built-on limit on customer numbers, when you want/need performance but *with* the need to have more that 2 pax in comfort. My late dad was a die-hard BMW driver, but always stuck to the 5-, then 7- series.

[@bobfrankish8883]

Good video, I hope to have my 840Ci back on the road one day.

[@briankay4713]

Just beautiful cars ....was lucky enough to own a 850i for over ten years ....drove as well as they look ...

[@jonremmers1828]

I used to service one of these when working as a mechanic at a specialist garage in the south of Sweden. At one point I also replaced the engine, which is actually way easier than what it sounds like. It was by far the most underwhelming car of all that I worked on there. The 850 is really heavy. It might look sporty, but the feeling when driving it is more that of a limousine. I know it is a grand tourer. But still. That body is writing checks the driving experience never cash. The engine has power, but it is setup as a luxury barge engine. Unresponsive to the point of feeling sluggish. The automatic gearbox is a disaster, effectively chewing up most of the joy. I think the cars with manual must be much more interesting to drive. The engine would probably wake up with more aggressive cam profiles and different ignition map.

[@benzinapaul7416]

Great video as always but I doubt the Maserati Khamsin was in the project leaders radar. I would say initially the Porsche 928 as you say but also the Mercedes SLC and Jaguar XJS were it's main rivals.

[@russellhammond4373]

Brilliant video. More please. Excellent video

[@EuropaSman]

At 2:57 there's reference to the Audi 50 and original VW Polo, but a Polo Mk2 is shown in the footage with athlete Geoff Capes walking around one - poor use of stock footage there. The Audi 50 and Polo Mk 1 are the same car, the latter being effectively a rebadged Audi 50. Furthermore as I understand it Bertone initially styled the Audi 50 and Luthe finished it off for production. It would have been better to have said "Audi 50 that evolved into the first generation VW Polo". My first car was a facelift VW Polo Mk1 from 1980, hence the interest in what was said about the Audi 50 and Polo Mk1.

[@Spheredalai]

wake up babe new RMV video

[@AndrewG1989]

My Dad remembers that car and he actually drove one and he said that it was so reliable. I haven’t seen them before but I have seen older BMW cars built in the 1980s and 1990s that were reliable, endurable and pretty much unique.

[@michaeloreilly657]

Nice to see your own work included in the video.

[@CornishGardenTeam]

I have a 640 coupe from 2012. In my opinion the new 8 series is really just a slightly prettier, tweaked version of the 2 two-door variants of the 2012-2018 6 series, both in terms of looks and engines, and that the superb and beautiful 1990s 8 Series truly stands alone.

[@user-yc2oz8kc5k]

I'm not an Eurocar fan but this is one car I would've loved to own had I had the means to afford it. Today they are more affordable but maintenance hasn't gotten any cheaper.

[@kevinbarry71]

Enjoyed the video. At the risk of sounding pedantic; Death Valley is in California not Nevada

[@PeteCourtier]

Pedant 😂😂😂👍

[@PeterYeadon-js7ou]

Certainly better looking than the awful looking things they produce today.

[@Casper_Min]

Great video as always.

[@gangsterbroccoli]

great video

[@PiefacePete46]

Thanks Ruairidh, I have had a very long love affair with BMW's, and this one really made me salivate!

[@ofirs5830]

Great video! As usual

[@BHBeckenbauer]

Great video! Would be great to see similar on more BMW, Porsche and Mercedes models (W140 & R129 especially!)

[@alxa4739]

Great video,ECU is engine control unit. I think the others are called VCUs.

[@uncipaws7643]

this one actually looked good, compared to it today's BMW range is appallingly ugly.

[@burntnougat5341]

These are BMWs golden era. They all aged super well

[@warmstrong5612]

Can we go back to having BMW's with smaller and more tasteful grilles please?

[@e28forever30]

Luthe also designed the E28.

[@DaveSCameron]

I honestly can’t remember seeing one of these? I remember 800 series but not these low nosed unlikely BMWs.

[@KS-oc4hu]

Beautiful car! Solido make a great and affordable model of this in 1:18 scale!

[@Whatshisname346]

{shakes fist angrily at the sky} ROVEEEEERRRRRR!!!!!!

[@macjim]

With the current cost of living, and energy prices going sky high, those owners of this car will be feeling a bit of Deja vu.

[@jonntischnabel]

Claiming to design both the audi 50 AND the original vw polo, is whats called stretching the truth slightly.

[@mrspandel5737]

Its not wrong. The original Polo was a stripped down basic version of the Audi 50 with a smaller engine, but other than badge and standard equipment they were identical and built on the same production line

[@MattBrownbill]

Those 635s and 8 series were, in my mind the best cars BMW have produced. With E30s runner up. Their modern stuff looks just horrible.

[@nicholasjones9705]

I like BMWs because of their quirky and bold looks. I'd choose these over the likes of Mercedes any time.

[@nigelcharlton-wright1747]

I wonder if the driver of an 8 Series that was driving up the A1M north of the Welwyn turn-off in 2002, who overtook me whilst I was driving my Bond Equipe 2 Ltr Mk1, and did a rude hand gesture, if that was an extra that you could purchase for your 8 Series? Or was it because my brother was in the car at the time?

[@av_oid]

… and a large step for wedges.

[@clunkclickeverytrip]

Clause luthe was offered his position back at BMW after his release but he declined.

[@1greenMitsi]

they dont make bmw's like they used to

[@cspaceinfinity0116]

The only bmw I like

[@davidpeters6536]

A high point in BMW design. I still think it was prompted by Jaguar XJS, which had a renaissance after introducing the AJ6 powered 3.6 and HE V12, but it wasn't a design cramped by possible US regulations which never happened. BMWs truly are ugly now. My favourite is the 635CSL, although I enjoyed ownership of an E92 335i coupe for a few years. My son had an X1 which was a disaster, at least they gave him a decent 3 series to drive when it was constantly in the workshop.

[@jazzhands7771]

Wat box wat R U on about.

[@englishrob8245]

it's like vw golf & Scirocco, the golf & Scirocco was based same platfom. the golf was pratical then the Scirocco. Scirocco was more sporty. yet customer who wanted sporty car bought golf gti rather then the Scirocco gti. Scirocco sales were poor. BMW should stuck 'M' badge on 6 Series if they'd wanted sporty car.

[@e28forever30]

And your point is?

[@burntnougat5341]

Do the E38 next! The E31 and E38 are sister cars. Fellow brit Tim Meek on youtube is the E31 guru

[@e28forever30]

How are they “ sister cars”?

[@burntnougat5341]

@@e28forever30 similar dimensions, shared engines and transmissions, both from the same time period. Lot of similarities

[@e28forever30]

@@burntnougat5341 That’s a long stretch. If I could name one car that was a “sister car” to the E38, it would be the E39. They share most engines and gearboxes, same suspension setup, similar interior styling with a lot of shared parts.

[@burntnougat5341]

@@e28forever30 perhaps the e31 is a cousin car to the e31 then

[@e28forever30]

@@burntnougat5341 Makes more sense.

[@dylanjimenez1952]

talk about british leyland

[@eddiehimself]

I remember seeing a guy with an 8 Series in Cyprus. He got into it, started talking on his phone and then drove off lol.

[@waynenugent3381]

Lot's of annoying glitches in the audio.

[@tetchuma]

Every BMW that has come out after Chris Bangle took over design… has been “meh.” I’d love to find an 82-88 E28 like my dad used to have.

[@dalar2]

Regarding the sales numbers for the original 8 series vs new - could it be said this is skewed because car finance deals were much more availble to the majority in this decade vs the 90s. In other words did PCP even exist in the 90s to get you into an E31 8 series? - I'm not asking about hire purchase here. The NEW 8 series while nice brings nothing revolutionary like the original 8 series did. The new one is just a homogneous recycle of 7 series bits rounded off with two doors.

[@macjim]

The nose always looks as if it was about to fall off because of the poor panel gap.

[@christopherhunter2892]

Ah the good old days when BMW designed a nice car. Just look at that beautiful minimalist grille similar to the Z1 . We owned an 850 I . Beautiful car with very nice dash. However the packaging was very poor. A 3 series coupé had more rear seat room. Also the fuel consumption in town driving was frightening . In the end a bit of a barge albeit a nice one. The only BMWs I like now are the i3 and i8 and they are no longer produced .

[@mro9466]

The very simple fix for the EU market: make 825 TDS 😂

[@aliabdallah102]

Fun fact: the B in BMW stands for Box. The M stands for Box. The W stands for No it box

[@e28forever30]

Take your medicine please.

[@ccjelley2390]

cars are a brilliant way to turn £££ into rust.

[@paulqueripel3493]

Burning Iraqi oil wells? They were Kuwaiti oil wells destroyed by retreating Iraqi forces, unless you're agreeing with Iraq's claim to Kuwait.

[@Christian-rj2yc]

Listen to it again. Its a neutral statement about them being destroyed, which is true.

[@paulqueripel3493]

@@Christian-rj2yc I did, he said "a global recession caused by the destruction of Iraqi oil wells" at 9:30. I'm looking at his subtitles at the moment. That footage is of Kuwati oil wells.

[@Christian-rj2yc]

@@paulqueripel3493 Oh, didn't notice that, must be an error.

[@burrito-town]

You’ve again screwed up the audio in this video. The audio is too quiet. It’s ridiculous that you’re willfully introducing this problem to your videos. You could choose to export videos with proper audio, but you choose not to and that makes your videos worse. Such a shame.

[@e28forever30]

It’s a computer voice. Listen carefully.

[@paulnortham]

​@@e28forever30I'm not sure about that. The voice has some interesting variances in pronunciation, even of the same words. I'd love this to be his real voice!

[@e28forever30]

@@paulnortham It sound very synthetic too me. Also, he always rambles at the same pace, hardly pausing to take a breath.

[@paulnortham]

@@e28forever30 You could be right! In his earlier videos the pitch was higher, and sounded slightly speeded up. One thing that keeps me hopeful is that he dropped his 'h' in an early video, while retaining it just a sentence earlier in the same word. All this is fairly unimportant, however, but it's interesting to speculate!

[@TomCro73]

Audio was fine for me, plus a few buddies that watched it. Might want to fix YOUR audio :P

[@drstevenrey]

When using German words, stop swallowing the 'E' at the end. DeutschE Mark and PorschE.

[@brightenupcc]

What a pointless car

[@e28forever30]

Same goes for your comment.

[@shatbad2960]

Fast GT coupe? I beg to differ.