Among the easiest cars for me to write about are those I have not only owned but also really liked. The E34 BMW 535i is one of those cars, and in fact was only the third BMW I had ever owned.
I was living in Scottsdale at the time and was moving on from an old Alfa Romeo Duetto. I wanted something with more space and, being in Arizona, working air conditioning. I researched a bit, decided the BMW 5 Series was a good choice and found a 1989 535i with 85,000 miles. I went to check it out and, after inspecting a binder of service records, took a test drive. That test drive was an eye-opener. The 535i handled like an honest-to-God sports car – very flat in the corners with what at the time seemed like tremendous grip. It became a game as to how fast I could enter a curved freeway on-ramp. The car was also quite quick for the time, with vintage road tests giving it a very believable 7-second 0-60 time. The interior was also nice; a big step up in luxury from the earlier E28 5 Series it replaced. It truly deserved the title of “Ultimate Driving Machine.”
Needless to say, I bought the Bimmer. I drove that car for three years and added over 100,000 miles, which included three cross-country drives, a ton of BMWCCA rallies and general commuting, as it was my daily driver. During that entire time, all I had to do was routine service. I sold it to a friend, who added another 80,000 miles before selling it to yet another friend. These cars really are that reliable when cared for. I may sound biased about the E34 535i, but the PBS show “MotorWeek” closed its review of the 535i with the statement, “The BMW 535i sets a new standard for luxury high-performance sedans.”
Featured on AutoHunter is one of these cars in a rare and desirable spec: a 1992 BMW 535i with a hard-to-find factory five-speed manual gearbox.
This 535i is powered by a 3.4-liter inline-six mated to a Getrag 260 manual transmission. The car is finished in Alpine White over a black leather interior and is offered by the seller with an owner’s manual, dealer directory, service booklet, clean CARFAX report and clear title.
The service details include a complete engine overhaul in 2018, as well as an R134 conversion for the air-conditioning system. It also has a limited-slip differential, E34 M5 front sway bar, Racing Dynamics adjustable rear sway bar and Billy Boat performance exhaust system.
The exterior appears to be in good driver-level shape; the original Alpine White paint looks decent with a few flaws. These include some chips and scrapes – what you would consider normal wear and tear on a 33-year-old BMW.
The interior looks to be in excellent condition, with the black leather seats showing wear but no cracks or tears anywhere to be seen. The interior wood also looks to be in similar shape, with no cracking or sun damage. The dash has no cracks, and the door cards (both front and rear) are also in really nice condition, as are the carpets.
Under the very cool BMW factory reverse-opening hood is the 3.4-liter SOHC M30 inline-six, which looks clean and in nice shape. The only change I notice is a strut tower brace and a valve cover someone decided to paint blue – something I would personally change. The car is said to run and drive well.
Yes, this is basically a nice driver-level E34 BMW 5 Series sedan, but the factory five-speed, combined with the documented engine rebuild from a few years back, makes this a car I would personally buy and work on making marginally better over time. It would benefit quite a bit from something as simple as a really excellent detail, and I would approach it that way – it’s not a show car, but a truly exceptional sports sedan of a certain era that is fun to drive and would be great to take to the local BMWCCA show. It would likely be well received, as manual-equipped E34 cars are quite uncommon. Happily, the car also includes all books and tools that accompanied it when new – something I tend to look for when buying a collector car.
If this 1992 BMW 535i looks interesting to you, I would recommend bidding soon, because the auction ends Monday, July 7, 2025, at 11:30 a.m. (PDT).
Visit the AutoHunter listing for more information and a photo gallery