Samast raamatust pärit teksti E12'ne kohta leiab SIIT teemast.
(kuna tekst on arvutisse skanneeritud jpg'na ja siis vastava programmiga tekst arvutile arusaadavaks tehtud, siis võib leiduda tekstis kirjavigu. Parandasin nii palju ära, kui sain.)
Second 5 Series (E28)
→ 1981-1987
→ Criticized for unchanged conservative styling
→ Smoother and more comfortable
→ Home to BMW's first diesel engines
→ Innovations include service interval indicator
→ First genuine M5
→ 722,000 built
The Olympic stadium in Munich has played host to many BMW new model launches since it was built for the 1972 games, but the atmosphere in June 1981 was subtly different to previous occasions.
BMW had been consistently successful throughout the 1970s. It had sailed through the 1974 energy crisis almost unscathed, investing a massive DM 300 million in new production facilities at Dingolfing. Turnover was DM 5 billion in 1977 (three times what it had been in 1969) on sales of 300,000 cars and 30,000 motorcycles: by the end of the decade BMW’s fortunes were on a steeply rising curve, it was seen as the most inventive and most go-ahead car company and expectations were high.
So the disappointment was clear to see when the wraps came off the sparkling new 5 Series – and it looked just like the outgoing 5 Series. Whichever way the assembled commentators squinted at the car, tried to imagine it on the open road or in the thick of Munich’s traffic, they could not believe it was different: a mild mid-life facelift, perhaps, with a neater grille, smoother rear lights and fresh wheels - but not a new car. Yet BMW insisted every single panel - apart from the roof pressing - was new, and that this really was the next step forward for the 5 Series.
Coming from the company which had created the red-hot 2002 Tii, the silkily potent 323i and the mighty 3.0 CSL, enthusiasts had expected more. It was hard to accept that this thrusting, dynamic company had thrown its creativity into reverse and come up with something so cautious and conservative - so the second-generation 5 Series faced a skeptical, if not overtly hostile reaction from the press.
The public, on the other hand, did not seem as hungry for radical change as their peers on the newspapers and magazines. Under the seemingly unchanged skin of the 5 lay a whole host of directly beneficial and cleverly thought through innovations, and even the skin itself was a big improvement in terms of aerodynamic efficiency, despite its boringly bluff facade. Among the most interesting novelties developed by BMW’s engineers were the energy control, which monitored fuel injection pulses to give a real-time read-out of actual fuel consumption, displayed via a needle in the base of the rev counter. The service interval indicator (SII) was hailed as an even more interesting step forward in using technology to save on ownership costs and raw materials. Linked to the engine management system, the SII logged the type of use the car received - the number of cold starts, the time spent at high revs, and so on – to calculate the degradation of the oil and thus when the next oil change or service was due. By careful driving, said BMW, the interval between services could be almost doubled from the previous fixed mileage-related figure.
There were more chassis changes than at first appeared, too. Double-pivot front suspension allowed improved geometry for better ride comfort and reduced nose-drive under braking, while a re-angling of the semi-trailing arm pivots at the rear reduced the car’s tendency to oversteer when lifting off the throttle on a bend. The three principal launch engines were all six-cylinder units familiar from the old model: however, they had been carefully reworked with fuel injection and close attention to emissions, though catalysts had yet to appear in Europe. Only the four-cylinder, 90 bhp 518 - very much a token entry-level model - relied on carburetor induction: the 520i, 525i and 528i offered 125, 150 and 184 bhp respectively the latter upholding BMW’s sporting honor with 0-100 km/h acceleration in under 8.5 seconds and a top speed of 210 km/h.
Once inside the new model - especially one of the larger sixes - any thoughts of it being an old model were soon banished. New, larger seats and an especially attractive, ergonomic dashboard gave the driver one of the most comfortable operating environments of any car, and on the move the revised suspension provided a noticeably smoother ride. The 528i, with its choice of overdrive or close-ratio five-speed gearbox, had tauter spring rates to suit its faster temperament, but it was the step-up in refinement and quality across the range that was the most impressive difference.
The 520i quickly established itself as the runaway best seller of the range, finding 56,000 customers in 1983 alone, compared with 22,000 for the 528i; by the end of that year the US market was receiving the hotshot 533i which, at 134 mph, was the fastest saloon car in the country and it was coming to grips with a new engine concept being advanced by BMW in the shape of the 528e. The e in the title stood for the Greek letter eta, which engineers use to represent efficiency, the central purpose of the Eta motor. BMW experts reasoned that as frictional losses rise with the square of engine speed, a lower-revving engine could be a more efficient one. At the same time a larger capacity and strong torque could help compensate for the lack of top-end power: the Eta engine emerged as a 2.7 liter version of the BMW big six, using far more sophisticated electronic control of its key functions than had ever been seen before, and developing the same 125 bhp as the 520i but at the much lower engine speed of 4600 rpm. The Eta’s torque output matched that of the potent 528i, giving the car a very gentle, easy-going nature with plenty of flexibility and a surprising turn of speed.
Commentators in the US - where the car was labeled 528e - were skeptical, but the buyers loved it: the low-revving model sold twice as well as the outgoing 528i, whose place in the range it took. Nevertheless, the car did not do well in Europe and the Eta idea was quietly dropped for the third generation 5 series in 1988.
The 5 Series was also the car which introduced the BMW driver to diesel power, albeit a particularly BMW-like form of diesel power which insisted on smoothness, quietness and a decent level of performance - qualities woefully lacking in competing makes’ diesel offerings. For a start, BMW insisted on six cylinders to minimize vibration, and a turbocharger to ensure decent power and torque. The 524td which resulted from this program in 1982 earned glowing reports, even in the US where a sudden wave of unreliable and unpleasant diesels had given the fuel a very bad name. The BMW engine even had the honor of being fitted by Ford to its flagship Lincoln Continental Mk VII.
A round of interim changes to the 5 Series saw the 518 gain fuel injection and jump to 105 bhp, partly rectifying its performance deficit, the 520i rising to 129 bhp, and the 528i being complemented by the 3.5 liter 535i with a catalyzed engine of similar power. In parallel, the automatic transmission option moved from three to four speeds and five-speeds became the standard manual fitment.
The 535i spawned a more sporting derivative in 1984, a model which continues to cause much confusion. The M535i was not a direct product of BMW Motorsport GmbH, the organization which was to produce the genuine M5 the following year; instead, it used the standard 218 bhp, 12-valve engine and suspension, but added lightweight alloy wheels, front and rear spoilers and M-style interior touches like the three-spoke steering wheel.
The pukka M5 which emerged, largely hand-built and at a very much higher price, from Motorsport GmbH in 1985 was the first in what has become an illustrious and highly desirable line. The 24-valve M-Power M88 engine had grown slightly in capacity to 3452 cc and a raised compression ratio pushed power to an impressive 286 bhp at 6500 rpm, and extensive chassis modifications ensured the power was easily handled. Externally the M5 was the very model of discretion, with little outward sign of its potent status (in contrast to the M535i there were no visible aerodynamic add-ons); it was rapid yet very easy to drive, making it the perfect vehicle for low-key high-speed driving over long distances.
Enthusiasts in the United States, where the M5 was only offered in black with tan upholstery and at the tidy price of $43,500, took especially avidly to the exhilarating 250 km/h model, accounting for over half the 2,145 examples sold. Car and Driver was moved to declare the M5 „a no-compromises, foot-to-the-floor screamer built for those who demand the ultimate in speed and refinement. The few who can afford it are going to have a ball.“
Over the years, successive generations of M5 would prompt even greater floods of superlatives as the new version raised the dynamic bar that impossible bit higher each time. In creating an entirely new class of vehicle, a high-quality luxury sedan which could mix it with the best sports cars and often beat them hollow, the first M5 had really started something. It allowed the second-generation 5 Series to go out on a high note at the beginning of 1988 when, after that shaky 1982 start and uncertainty over BMW's softer, more middle of the road direction, the strategy had come good with almost three quarters of a million fives sold in six years.
↕ tavaline 535i on puudu? ↕
