Indeed, BMW have always built some nice screamers of inline sixes... sound good, go well. I remember being very impressed by a 528i I had for a weekend back in '77 or so when they were new.
But what a jerk of a car it was in turns! It was slower point to point over a country road than a Peugeot 504 had been a week or two earlier, both sitting on the limit.
But the BMW's limit was up to 125mph... the Pug would only do 99!