BMW M5 celebrates 30th birthday, promises a surprise

The BMW M5 has been with us for 30 years. That's right: The E28 premiered in the fall of 1984 as a 1985 model after its debut at the Amsterdam Motor Show. Even though its performance figures have aged somewhat (in the best way possible), it's important to remember that it was the fastest production sedan in the world when it premiered.

There are a number of ways to look at that title in the present day with the presence of 200 mph-plus luxobarges, but things were different in 1984 when the first BMW M5 rolled off the assembly line. Featuring a version of the straight-six engine found in the M1, it was in a class all by itself for quite some time, until the debut of the Mercedes-Benz 500E.

BMW is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the M5 this year, and they claim to have a surprise in store for BMW fans... and fans of all things fast, really. They won't say what it is, but everyone's money seems to be on a special edition M5 for the 2015 model year, which we could see in the next few days or in the next few weeks.

To whet fans' appetites, BMW has released this lunch hour-friendly video of the 2014 BMW M5 doing what BMW 5s do best: some powerslides and some burnouts. We're hoping for a series a videos of every generation of M5 doing the same in different locations, though for the E34-generation we can probably just watch John Frankenheimer's documentary film "Ronin".... for the 27th time (this year).

Stay tuned for more BMW M5 30th anniversary celebration news, as BMW gets set to reveal its surprise.

By Jay Ramey