Say what you like about the meticulous nature of Jay Kay’s sparse car collection, but when he gets it right, it’s usually with bells and whistles – especially when it comes to cool BMWs. In the vulgar digital age we live in, the sculpted appearance of the new E12 M535i, vividly dressed in Alpine White with M Sport badges, feels like a solid, sobering slap in the face. One was delivered by Bodie from CI5. In fact, its originality and indisputable cool are so off the charts, you’ll probably need to piece it together like a 1981-era Lewis Collins to pull it off…
Trend-setting authenticity is, of course, at the core of what makes the M535i special. As the seller enthusiastically reminds us, the pumped-up derivative was the first series production model headed to the BMW Motorsport concern. It was built for just five minutes by automobile industry standards (from April 1980 to July 1981, according to its manufacturer) and at a relatively low volume (just 1,650 globally), but it paved the way for the tri-color Leviathan to follow.
It certainly wasn’t the world’s first fast saloon, but BMW had clearly achieved something very special when, in its own words, it combined “a first-class limousine, compact and practical, with performance and driving potential”. For an advanced sports car. This concept did no harm at all because it came wrapped in Paul Braque’s well-designed, era-inspired body. BMW will spend most of 2025 talking about what the latest edition of the Neue Klasse means; It would be really nice to emulate even a fifth of the E12’s heritage.
As you might expect, wheels and wing aside, most of the motorsport department’s contribution came underground, where the suspension was overhauled with new struts and dampers along with a limited-slip differential and disc brakes on both axles. The M535i needed all that to have a front-mounted 3.5-litre six-cylinder engine, a derivative of the M88 engine first used in the BMW M1.
In the saloon, it produced 218bhp, which means, with a five-speed manual transmission and a curb weight of 1430kg, you hit 62mph in around 7 seconds, and can eventually expect to push 140mph. With just 10,820 miles on the clock, we can imagine this rare right-hand drive example is still more than capable of living up to these numbers. And even if not, you’ll experience every immersive lap with a wiry smile at your regatta, while your groom enjoys the pleasure of dialing in the impossibly cool Recaro seat.
You’ll have richly earned both feelings if you part with the £104,900 asking price – a valuation that beats the £98,500 you’d pay for a similarly charming 2002 Turbo or the £92,490 needed for a 24-panel, one-owner M3 CS. One of them is no less important historically; The other is amazingly faster. But today at least, in the gloomy haze that follows early January festivities, we tend to side with the space cowboys. If there’s a more upscale M car currently for sale on PH, we haven’t seen it.