| The 8 series was a new radical design for bmw, and they marketed it as a 2+2 for the west coast market, specifically california. In the early 90's, the automatic transmission was desirable in high-end sportscars on the west coast, and for that reason over 90% of the cars sold in the US have a 4 speed auto transmission. That is not to say that both the 840, and 850 cannot be found with a manual, but the 850i and 850csi were consiterably rare, and the transmission is also valuble, as it is the only one that can directly bolt-up to the us 750il, which was only sold with an automatic transmission in the US.
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Out with the M5, in with the 996 convertible. |