BTW did you all know that the 2nd generation M5 was slower than the same model (year) 540i? this was when BMW started getting serious (again) abotu building performance road cars.
[/quote]
I missed that boss!! 230 something HP was the max E34 540 had, the E34 M5 had 310 Hp and later the same engine was stroked to 3.8L to get 335 HP!
Nah, the correct figures are 315 hp for 3.6L M5, and 340bhp for 3.8l M5. The 540i's had 286hp (the same engine was offered in 740i, 840i and initial X5s).
http://www.bmwinfo.com/30340.html
http://www.bmwinfo.com/25380.html
The torque figures for both M5 and 540i were same at 400NM from the top of my head.
The top speeds of all were limited to 156mph, but 0-60 for M5 was quicker. 5.7 sec vs 6.1 sec.
I had test driven several 540i and M5s side by side one after the other when I decided to move up from my 1994 530i V8 (220bhp). And M5 just felt quicker.
