2000 BMW M5 III 5.0 MT Base

Main article: BMW M5 (E28)

The first M5, which is based on the E28 5-Series, made its debut at the 1984 Amsterdam Motor Show. It was the product of demand for an automobile with the carrying capacity of a saloon (sedan), but the overall performance of a sports car. It utilized the 535i chassis and an evolution of the engine from the BMW M1. The M5 was handbuilt by Motorsport technicians and was the fastest production saloon (sedan) in the world.

The M5 was offered in four different versions. The first version was the Left Hand Drive (LHD) Euro Spec M5. The second version was the Right Hand Drive (RHD) Spec M5. The third version was the North American Spec (NA or so-called 1988) M5. The fourth version was the South African (ZA) Spec M5. It is worth noting that production of the M5 continued until November 1988, well after production of the E28 chassis ended in Germany in December 1987.

The LHD, RHD Euro specifications M5s and the ZA[clarification needed] specifications M5s had the M88/ 3 powerplant which delivered 286PS (210kW; 282hp) whereas the North American 1988 M5 was equipped with the S38 6-Cylinder engine that had a catalytic converter, which reduced the power output to 256hp (191kW; 260PS). The S38 differed from the M88/ 3 in that it had 9.8:1 compression versus the M88/ 3's 10.5:1. The S38 also used a dual-row timing chain where the M88/ 1 used a single-row chain. Initially 500 were to be made for the US Market, BMW later increased production to as many as 1,370 units for the US and Canadian Markets although the generally accepted figure is 1,244 units sold.