After a two-decade break, BMW brought back the 8 Series for the 2019 model year, which means the luxury grand tourer is now on its eighth model year. Apparently, that’s a long-enough production run for BMW, so it’s almost time to send the second-generation 8 Series to the big parking lot in the sky. Before it does that, though, it’s saying goodbye with the 2026 BMW M850i Edition M Heritage. Only 500 will ever be built, so if you want one, you’d better hurry up and place your order.
While a lot of people will probably just look at the photos and see a red 8 Series, those who know will recognize that it’s the same Bright Red offered on the original E31 8 Series. If that particular red isn’t your style, though, BMW will also offer four other paint options from the E31, including Mauritius Blue metallic, Cosmos Black metallic, Oxford Green metallic, and Daytona Violet metallic. Customers will be able to order any of those colors at no extra cost, which is always appreciated, but then again, we’re also talking about a special edition that $131,575, including destination, so you’ll already be paying a pretty penny for what’s still ultimately an M850i.
Still, you do also get the M carbon fiber roof, Orbit Grey 20-inch wheels and the M Sport Professional package, which adds M Sport brakes with black calipers, M Shadowline lights, and Extended Shadowline exterior trim. Shadowline!
One of 500
Inside, you get a few more special touches, including M Sport seats wrapped in BMW Individual Black Full Merino Leather and Alcantara, as well as a ton of Alcantara all over the rest of the cabin and plenty of M-themed contrast stitching. The center console gets a matte carbon fiber finish, while the door sills and cup holder covers say “M850i Edition M Heritage” and “1/500” so everyone knows you have a special, rare 8 Series and not one of those boring, mass-produced ones in a boring color.
Since it’s still an M850i, you get a 4.4-liter turbocharged V8 that makes 523 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque. That power gets sent to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission and should be enough to hit 60 mph from a launch in less than four seconds. That said, it’s also a fully loaded 850i, so, as BMW says in the press release, “features such as a Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound System and the Driving Assistance Professional Package are included. The customer need only select an exterior color.” So that’s convenient.
Of course, these special editions are being built with collectors in mind, so you probably have to be pretty deep into BMW World for buying one of these to make any sense. And with only 500 to go around, you probably have to be even deeper in to get an allocation, but it’s still pretty cool that BMW brought back the original paint colors that it offered on the E31 back in 1989.
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