BMW 850 CSI V12/ Jay Leno's Garage

[HobieMarty]

I have always loved this car. It is so hard to believe that this car is 30 years old. Beauty is timeless.

https://youtu.be/81HOFhh1Mm8?si=HPeFSYye46GC_fZ3

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[billybek]

[KNS]

Beautiful car, the kind that we won't see from BMW anymore.

Jason makes some interesting comments about the state of new sports car sales in recent years.

[Rick Lee]

I had a buddy who was an executive with BMW back then and he got one of these for his employee lease. Such a cool are, but I wouldn't want to be on the hook for its maintenance and repairs these days.

[LWJ]

I am a fan as well. My understanding is that the v12 is more or less two I6 2.5's smashed together.

Which makes sense. Just a gorgeous car.

[zakthor]

I remember when these came out. It’s not a m1. Big heavy and overcomplicated. There was a big shot insurance agent who was arrested for ‘self insuring’ his clients and his bleached blonde wife drove one. For whatever reason I was tasked to move it and got to drive it around the block. Very quiet inside and a lusciously smooth engine and clutch…

I watched the video until 20 seconds in and the owner says: ‘I want… purity of purpose’. Purity! Of being a land barge?

Sort of praise happens when people turn into brand fanboys.

[RANDY P]

How they got such a small interior with such a large car is beyond me.

rjp

[Dixie]

I just want to know how we went from such a beautiful car to this in 30 years.

[ryans65]

The e31 has aged really well from a design standpoint much like a lot of older bmw designs but these were unloved when they were new and aside from a individual car like the one cammisa owns they're still not all that great now. The engine was pretty ancient from the get go being derived from two M20 single cam engines. The interior quality was appalling like most bmws of that era as well and the despite the cars decent power it was a heavy lazy cruiser. The stick shift in my opinion makes it interesting but even when I was a die hard bmw guy I would see these at shows but never got excited about them. I don't know if it was mentioned or not but the M70 had the first drive by wire throttle body to ever be put on a production car. BMW used to have a lot of firsts to their name now they're just the ugliest piles of garbage on the road.

[oldE]

I enjoy watching most of the stuff Jay posts. I've heard him tell how he got the Miura for free in a previous episode. I had to chuckle when he mis- spoke and described his Espada as " front wheel drive". I'm sure he meant to say, "front engine ".
That BMW still looks good. Back then it was seen as too heavy, by some. Now it is about the same weight as a 3 series.

Best
Les

[onewhippedpuppy]

An all time great design. I don’t want one but man are they beautiful.

[fanaudical]

Neat cars back in the day, but I've heard from a few owners that electrical issues are what killed these.

[HobieMarty]

There is a black one with a black interior on eBay right now, man, it looks cool. I don't want to violate any rules for posting eBay links, so I am just posting a few pictures of the car.

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[GG Allin]

My buddy had a 840Ci way back when. It was no slouch. I'm surprised the 850 non CSi got so ragged on.

[A930Rocket]

I don’t know anything about them, but I thought it was a cool car. Didn’t they have an option for a six cylinder or eight cylinder?

[GG Allin]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

I don’t know anything about them, but I thought it was a cool car. Didn’t they have an option for a six cylinder or eight cylinder?

8 & 12 only.

The 8 had around 280hp, same as the 540i.

[slow&rusty]

Great cars and one of the best looking "big" GT Coupes. A true successor to the iconic sharknose E24.

They are very heavy and feel underpowered even with the V12, the V8 is anemic. BMW's V12 in the 850i and 850Ci makes 100-hp less than the equivalent MB in their CL600 or SL600. The 850CSi is the one to get, so rare and a true driver's car with the 6 speed and 375-hp but a true $100k car.

Jason Camisa is great!

[ted]

Drove a 12cyl 850 and thought it was slow.
Felt heavy and the gearing was really boggy to me.
Seemed like a good autobahn car for high speed touring.

[911 Rod]

This one looks like it was driven hard and put away wet.

[Scott Douglas]

I liked the @1973 or so 3.0CS for its great cabin view of the world.