Bmw E28 5-series

This comparison is the tale of a plucky underdog succeeding against the established big-hitters. Except that when you’re talking early-’80s executive cars, it’s the BMW that’s the challenger. And it deserved its success.

- Jack Grover

Externally, these two cars present a completely different image. Even by the standards of the early ’80s, the BMW is suave and classical, almost to the point of being conservative. The Rover may have lost its initial ‘wow factor’ by 1981 when the BMW was launched, but it was still a dramatic and unmistakable shape.

Underneath the very different panels, however, the similarities are really rather striking. The E28 5-Series was really just a thoroughly-tweaked version of its E12 predecessor – the basic shell structure was the same, doors and the roof panel are interchangeable and the drivetrain and rear suspension were largely unchanged. The biggest alteration was the replacement of the E12’s traditional single-wishbone and strut-based front suspension with the twin-link system from the first 7-Series, the E23. In fact, the E28 was so little changed from the previous model that BMW was able to slide the E28 platform under the E12-based 6-Series (the E24 – sorry, it’s impossible to talk about BMW range development without sprinkling around more E-numbers than a pallet of Pot Noodles) without anyone really noticing. The E28 did also gain a modernised interior, becoming the first BMW to have the clean, sober grey/black design with simple symmetrical instruments and the centre console angled towards the driver which would be distinctive to the marque for many years to come.