Coming from a time when there were few complaints about BMW’s designs, this E34 is a blast from the past. We’re dealing with the more practical Touring model in great condition, at least cosmetically. It’s a later model, having been built in 1993, two years before the third-generation 5 Series was replaced by the E39.
This long-roof model is a 525tds, a moniker that actually stood for something back then since it had a 2.5-liter turbodiesel engine. It’s the inline-six “M51D25” with 141 horsepower and 192 pound-feet (260 Newton-meters) of torque. That might not seem much by today’s standards, but an E34 was substantially lighter than the G61 currently on sale.
We get to see this old 5 Series Touring at full tilt on an unrestricted section of the Autobahn. The German highway still has some sections without any speed limits. YouTubers usually bring the latest cars for top speed runs but this 31-year-old car is a nice change of pace. Despite its venerable age and 329,000 kilometers (over 204,000 miles) on the odometer, the Bavarian wagon is still going strong.
It’s obviously not the fastest wagon out there but it can still crack the 200-km/h barrier. That’s 124 mph. What makes this 525tds desirable is the clean exterior design and simple cabin, without huge screens and distracting gizmos. It’s from an era when cars weren’t the rolling computers they are today.
While the 525tds was the punchiest 5 Series E34 with a diesel engine, there were far more potent iterations. At the top of the food chain was the M5 Touring with 335 hp but those are super rare since only 891 units were ever made.
In 2024, BMW still sells a diesel 5 Series Touring as the rear- or all-wheel-drive 520d and the xDrive-only 540d. The German luxury automaker has expressed its long-term commitment to combustion engines. If people will continue to want diesel engines, BMW will offer them, provided stricter emissions regulations won’t get in the way.
Source: TopSpeedGermany / YouTube
