It was that one famous line from Back to the Future II when Doc jumps out of his DeLorean and says “Marty, you gotta come back with me”, that eventually introduced us to a very interesting BMW 633CSi.
What followed was a pretty fun ride that took the characters from 1985 and placed them smack in the middle of, hmm, 2015 – which happens to be this year!
Robert Zemeckis did a great job on this trilogy, and I remember being particularly impressed by some of the cars they used for all those future scenes. In fact, the custom 633CSi driven by Griff Tannen (always offering great comedic moments) was a particularly striking thing to look at – especially back then.
What Zemeckis couldn’t have accounted for were the inevitable changes in design language that happen when a model moves on to a new generation. All he could do was paint it a bit more dramatic, add a massive hood scoop and of course the “hover conversion”, which Doc Brown also had on his DeLorean.
Of course, nowadays cars aren’t that boxy anymore. Their lines flow more organically and then you’ve got the massive difference in interior design, quality and especially technology.
As for performance, the 633 CSi had a cool 197 PS and 284 Nm (209 lb-ft) of torque, whereas the modern-day M6 Cabrio boasts 560 PS and 680 Nm (501 lb-ft) of torque. Apples and oranges, right?
Sure, but wouldn’t a comparison between the M6 and the 1989 M 635 CSi be a lot more fair? The M 635 CSi had 286 PS and 333 Nm (246 lb-ft) of torque and weighed just 1,510 kg (3,330 lbs).
That’s about 500 kg (1,102 lbs) less than the M6 Cabrio! It still wouldn’t out-accelerate it, but it could hit a top speed of 255 km/h (158 mph), which, funny enough, is more than the M6’s electronically limited 250 km/h (155 mph).
Story references: gtspirit
PHOTO GALLERY
