Most of the time it’s easy to get the most powerful car out there and play tricks on the no speed limit portions of the German Autobahn. But since we already know we’re dealing with a top speed monster, there’s sometimes less fun in seeing full supercar blasts rather than a two-decades old machine using everything it has for an entertaining highway run.
Yes, supercars going full throttle on the Autobahn are a great way to pass time – especially when they hit something like 207 mph (333 kph). Like when the cool folks over at the TopSpeedGermany channel on YouTube played with the still mighty Nissan GT-R (R35) - that's the second video embedded below.
Of course, these guys are no strangers to modern rides (one can also check out a Tesla Model X P100D getting a cool soundtrack from an M6) but we always fancy the moments when they feel up to checking out some oddities.
Such as that time when they had a Dodge Charger with Police Interceptor livery rumble away on the Autobahn using the strong 5.7-liter Hemi V8 hiding under the hood, and it still didn’t prove enough for the tiny but totally unfazed VW Up!
But this time around we’re here to discuss something rather old-fashioned. It’s a 23-year-old 1998 BMW 5 Series of the E39 variety (a 528i, to be precise), which has been taken out for a ride to flex its family hauler muscles after it allegedly spent some 360,000 km (almost 224k miles) traveling left and right (as well as up and down) on the roads of Planet Earth.
As always, we’re greeted with a little walkaround and a small technical specifications card to find out that we’re dealing with a Touring (station wagon) version with just 193 horsepower and 280 Nm (207 lb-ft) of torque on tap. But that doesn’t mean it’s not going to try and prove its worth.
Actually, we’re quite impressed with the run, even though (on account of traffic, among others) the 528i didn’t quite cross the 230 kph (143 mph) threshold no matter the number of attempts. Instead, it did manage to get the better of a brand-new Porsche 911 as it decided to tag (or should we say tail) along from the 2:34 mark until the German supercar decided it was time to yield the right of passage at more than 180 kph / 112 mph...
Of course, these guys are no strangers to modern rides (one can also check out a Tesla Model X P100D getting a cool soundtrack from an M6) but we always fancy the moments when they feel up to checking out some oddities.
Such as that time when they had a Dodge Charger with Police Interceptor livery rumble away on the Autobahn using the strong 5.7-liter Hemi V8 hiding under the hood, and it still didn’t prove enough for the tiny but totally unfazed VW Up!
But this time around we’re here to discuss something rather old-fashioned. It’s a 23-year-old 1998 BMW 5 Series of the E39 variety (a 528i, to be precise), which has been taken out for a ride to flex its family hauler muscles after it allegedly spent some 360,000 km (almost 224k miles) traveling left and right (as well as up and down) on the roads of Planet Earth.
As always, we’re greeted with a little walkaround and a small technical specifications card to find out that we’re dealing with a Touring (station wagon) version with just 193 horsepower and 280 Nm (207 lb-ft) of torque on tap. But that doesn’t mean it’s not going to try and prove its worth.
Actually, we’re quite impressed with the run, even though (on account of traffic, among others) the 528i didn’t quite cross the 230 kph (143 mph) threshold no matter the number of attempts. Instead, it did manage to get the better of a brand-new Porsche 911 as it decided to tag (or should we say tail) along from the 2:34 mark until the German supercar decided it was time to yield the right of passage at more than 180 kph / 112 mph...