by CaM » Thu Aug 10, 2006 1:45 pm
untrue.
the first 'm5' was the e12 m535i. sure, only sporting an m30 single cammer, this was still regarded as the first of the m5s. kinda how the vr4 rs is named 'evo 0'
secondly, 1986 brought the e28 m5, the first 'true' m5, released even before the e30 m3. 286bhp, DOHC 6.
3rd, e34 m5. few variants of this, 3.5 and 3.8 litre etc etc. funnily enough they didn't take on the m60, or a 'motorsport' variant on this.
4th, e39 m5, first m5 that went outside the 'big 6'
5th - current v10 model. e60? the designation escapes me right now.
also the variants of 6s and, the very rare, 745s from sth africa which were powered by a motorsport dohc 6 (745s from everywhere else were 3.5l turbo).
so unofficially 5, official m cars - 4.
there's the non-m m535s and whatnot which are alot more common.
m5s are anything but 'common', but with the same token - they're alot of car for the money