BMW 8 series?

Which engine is better 5litre or 6?

BMW 8 series?software

If you ever wanted evidence that the price of new cars has fallen then you need look no further than the BMW 8-series. At its launch in 1991 a top-spec 850i auto coup茅 would have cost 拢62,000. Today you can buy its successor, the 645Ci coup茅, for less than 拢52,000.

The trend is magnified in the used car market where the price of luxury motors has fallen through the floor. This means that you can pick up an early 8-series for just 拢6,000.

When they were launched, all the models were powered by a 5 litre V12 engine producing 300bhp. It wasn鈥檛 the most rapid coup茅 you could buy but it was one of the smoothest. With 5 litres under the bonnet and around 4,180lb of car to shift, it also wasn鈥檛 the most economical car, and owners will tell you that they spend a lot of time and money visiting petrol stations.

In mid-1993 BMW introduced a cheaper, more economical 8-series. Powered by a 4 litre 286bhp engine, the 840 weighed nearly 220lb less and would have been more than a match for the existing 850 had BMW not done something about it. But it did, handing the original 850 over to BMW Motorsport, its tuning division, which tweaked the engine to 5.6 litres 鈥?adding 80bhp 鈥?and revolutionised the car鈥檚 dynamic ability through a series of changes to the transmission, suspension, steering and aerodynamics. These second-generation 850s are the ones to buy.