This Special-Order Lagoon Green 1994 BMW 850CSi Shows Why Manual E31s Still Have Room to Run

A 1994 BMW 850CSi finished in special-order Lagoon Green over a black-and-tan interior has surfaced on Bring a Trailer, and it comes with a history nearly as interesting as its paint code. Originally registered in Austria, the Euro-spec coupe spent time on the road in Bulgaria before landing in the Netherlands, where its current owner has kept it since 2022. Bidding sits at EUR 45,000 with the auction closing September 7.

This particular 850CSi pairs its 5.6-liter S70B56 V12 with a six-speed manual and limited-slip differential, a combination BMW reserved exclusively for the CSi variant atop the E31 lineup. Factory-rated at 372 horsepower and 402 lb-ft of torque, the V12 has covered roughly 110,000 km (about 68,000 miles), with some 2,000 of those kilometers added since the current owner took over. Recent maintenance includes fresh fuel pump hoses, spark plugs, a distributor cap and rotor, and fuel injectors, along with new transmission and differential fluid, all completed in 2024.

The CSi's lowered ride height and revised front and rear valances set it apart from lesser 850i and 850Ci models, and this example wears its Lagunengrun Metallic paint over 17-inch Style 21 "Throwing Star" wheels, pop-up headlights, and black bodyside trim. Inside, the black and tan leather cabin includes heated power-adjustable front seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, cruise control, and a period-correct cassette stereo, wrapped around an analog gauge cluster that still reads in kilometers.

BMW built roughly 1,500 850CSi coupes for the world, and every one of them left the factory with a manual gearbox, which makes six-speed cars like this one the rarest and most driver-focused expression of the E31 flagship. That scarcity, combined with a factory color most 8-Series buyers never ordered, is part of what makes this particular car worth watching rather than scrolling past.

Hagerty's Valuation Tools currently peg a #3-condition ("Good") 1994 850CSi at $90,500, within a range of $75,433 to $105,667 depending on options and condition. That guide figure has cooled lately, down 9 percent over the past year and 22 percent over three years, in line with a broader softening across 1990s luxury coupes. The ceiling remains high, though: Hagerty's sales data shows 850CSi examples trading as high as $257,500 in the past three years, including a $142,500 result on Bring a Trailer this past July, while rougher cars have sold for as little as $36,000. A well-sorted, manual, comparatively low-mile example in a color as rare as this one has a real shot at landing well up that range once bidding wraps.

The 850CSi's story mirrors BMW's own, a company that grew from building aircraft engines and motorcycles into one of the world's defining performance and luxury marques, as we cover in our deep dive on BMW's history. It also shares showroom-era ambition with other no-compromise flagship coupes of its era, like the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing we recently featured. And for readers curious how Hagerty's numbers can reframe a Bring a Trailer bid, our look at a six-figure BAC Mono R auction offers another case study in guide book meeting open market. With days left on the clock, this Lagoon Green 850CSi is one worth watching.