Price (brand new): $46,965 USD (adjusted for inflation: $109,245)
Price (as purchased): $2,100 USD
Hagerty Value as of 2020: $18,600 USD
Current mileage: 171,800 miles / 276,845 km (est.)
Performance: 218 horsepower, 229 lb ft. torque (est. after cat delete), 3.4L inline six with 4-speed auto; 3219 lbs.
Full disclose: I had originally planned on writing the review all in one go, but as you are about to realize, this blog post alone is purely on describing the startup procedure of this car. Yeah, I am definitely going to break this up to a couple parts, because the fact is, despite having owned this car for 4 years, despite all its flaws and its attempts to drain my bank account dry, I still love this car to death, and I cannot be more glad to have pulled the trigger on getting this car back in 2016.
So, enjoy, because I am going to spend the next little while telling you all about this car.
Yes, you read that correctly. Two keys. One for the door lock, and one for the ignition. Before I bought this car, I didn't know that it was a thing for old cars like these.
You unlock the door using the a giant silver key, and the first thing that you realize is that the driver door is built like a vault door from Fort Knox. The 1976 - 1989 635CSi is the sibling of the E12 / E28 5 series after all, and so it shares a similar size despite it being a two-door grand tourer. As a result, the doors are large, and heavy. Actually, everything with this car is large and heavy. Inside, you are presented with a pair of fully electric leather seats that is stuffed with horse hair.
The interior cabin has that classic 80s car smell. It's hard to describe it -- it smells a little bit like a bag of crayons. Unsurprising, really, as the horse hair probably absorbed 30 years worth of cocaine and whatever the previous owners did in this car. This car does look right at home in Scarface, so who knows? I am pretty sure Tony Montana would approve driving around in this car. This particular example originally came from Los Angeles, California before being imported to Vancouver, BC in 1990.
You get inside the car. Actually, I take it back. Rather, you fall inside the car. The seats are low to the floor, but you are surrounded by massive glass all around, so you see everything around you. In front of you is a three-spoke M-tech steering wheel. It's quite massive by modern standards, but with a timeless design, complete with just a BMW logo and a thin lapel in the classic M colour. Not an M logo to be seen in sight. BMWs in this era are just a lot more subtle than their current offerings.
The dashboard has two levels -- the top level consist of massive, rectangular air vents; while the lower level has the HVAC controls, the stereo, the digital on-board computer, and a vehicle diagnostic panel, all angled towards you. Oh, and an ash tray, of course. This is the 70s and 80s. Almost every single feature that comes with a car is activated by just one button each, so the dashboard is covered in buttons. Even the four-speed automatic shifter is shaped like a thrust lever in a commercial jet.
It feels like you are in the cockpit of a Boeing 747.
You look behind the steering wheel. The headlights are activated by a round knob that is situated under the instrument cluster. Pull it, and a well-hidden red light beams down on the whole cluster, illuminating the gauges. Two classic BMW gauges that is equally timeless like the rest of the car itself -- extremely clean in design, and yet stylish. The gauges give you all the information that you need, and nothing more.
You take the second black key, and insert it in the ignition. The first thing that happens is that the fuel gauge comes alive and dances around for a second while it hunts for the precise spot to show you how much fuel is left (spoiler alert: the tank is usually not full). A myriad of lights come up on the cluster, including a series of green and amber lights that show you how long before you are due for a mechanic inspection.
It's both digital and analogue. Futuristic and retro.
Keep turning the key, because now here comes the best part. To quote Elton John's Bennie and the Jets here, "you're gonna hear electric music, solid walls of sound."
The starter motor bashes and clangs for a second, and instantly you are greeted with a delicious combination of rumble and vibration. The 3.4 litre M30 SOHC inline six engine -- one that BMW has used from 1968 to 1995 -- jolts to life. It is smooth like butter. You hear the centre-mounted exhaust behind you, and the sound is equally addictive. Now you begin understand why the M30 engine is said to be one of the best engines ever made. It is a wonderfully visceral experience.
Imagine doing this for the first time after you have purchased this car, as I have found myself this week four years ago.
The first time I jumped into this car, I was fully in love already, and I haven't even driven it yet.
This is what they mean when they say that some cars have a sense of occasion. Everything about this car is special -- from the shark-nosed exterior, to the two keys, to the horse-hair-stuffed seats, to the steering wheel and the dashboard, to the red-illuminated cluster, to the sound and vibration that erupts when you turn the key. It's just dripping with personality.
Jumping into it and starting it just feels special every single time.
This sense of occasion is what is missing on modern cars. This car may not be showroom-perfect, but I'd be damned if it is not packed to the brim with class and excitement, and the E24 is probably one of the closest thing to a Jaguar that BMW has ever made (other than, of course, the jaw-droppingly beautiful E9 -- which is the spiritual ancestor of the 6 series).
Hell, I would even say that the E24 is one of the cars that has cemented BMW's surge to the top of the automotive world in the 1980s.
And of course, in 1987, this car costed an equivalent of $110,000 USD in today's money. So there's a good reason why this is so close to feeling like a Jaguar -- at that money, this car is solidly in the Jaguar / Mercedes / Porsche territory back in its heyday.
And yet, I somehow snatched this up for $2,750, or $2,100 USD four years ago. That is 1.9% of the original cost of the car. Even with depreciation, these E24s are usually still worth easily $10,000 or more -- I don't know how I got this lucky.
May I present to you, my 1987 BMW E24 635CSi - a highway grand tourer that was designed in the mid-70s, built in the 80s, and driven by a kid who grew up in the 90s. A living argument to anyone who thinks that German cars lack soul. Complete with a backseat cooler and a sunroof. Both weird and wonderful. Like Sir Elton John, this is BMW’s breakout song into the world of soul, and the jet that would comfortably take you down the 405.
And that lead us to getting behind the wheel in one of these things.
Coming up: Driving; Quirks and Features; Reliability; and Final Verdict.
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