12-BORE
As we’ve said before, nobody needs to have 12 cylinders in their car engine… but it’s nice to know you can. There had been 12 and even 16-cylinder engines before of course and there would be more of them afterwards, but it was Jaguar which popularised the V12 engine and for three decades would be pretty unique in offering it in a mass production car.
Until that is, BMW decided to join the fray in 1987, not so much to challenge Jaguar but to make a gesture of intent in the general Stuttgart direction where Mercedes could muster only a V8.
BMW’s M70 engine would first appear in the 750i saloon but shortly afterwards formed the basis of a new range-topping coupe to replace the much-loved 6-Series and suddenly the world had a choice of two V12-powered grand tourers: the ageing but classy Jaguar XJ-S and the clinically effective BMW 850i. Two very different animals, testers struggled to pick a favourite back
