The BMW S70B56 V12 engine is, despite its deviations from the philosophy of the M-GmbH, a true BMW Motorsport engine and hence the 850CSi is a true BMW M car. This is also reflected in the VIN of the CSi.

Ordinary BMW cars share the first three letters of the VIN - WBA - whereas the VIN´s for all cars manufactured under the reigns of the Motorsport division start with - WBS.

This does not make the CSi an M8, at least not in the way the original M8 was devised. The CSi is a compromise between what racing engineers dreamt about and common sense and marketing demands to fulfill the needs of the accounting department. Nevertheless, in German registration documents the pedigree shows in a fashion that the official model name is jotted down as M8/E for the CSi.

With a cubical displacement of 5.6L and a power output of 380HP the CSi was the largest capacity and most powerful series production BMW to that date and for a long time to come. Unrestricted the 850CSi is capable of running close to 300kph (185mph). The CSI derived Alpina B12 5.7 (1993-1996) with slightly increased cubical capacity and 416HP inched above this barrier and was registered with an official top speed of 301kph (188mph).

The S70 850CSi was built in three type codes:

The S70 engine is the lowest production volume engine manufactured by BMW. It was only ever used for the 850CSi. The 850CSi also was the most expensive BMW in the then current lineup and adding in the lot of offerings through the BMW Individual department the sales price in Germany could climb to almost a quarter million Deutsch Marks. This was near twice the initial sales price of a 1990 850iA (129.000 DM).

The last produced BMW 850CSi - CC02181 painted in Ägäischblau and with an interior by BMW Individual left the Dingolfing factory on October 30th, 1996.