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RWD cossie wil
Original Poster
1,882 posts
43 months
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Hey chaps, I have owned my 530d auto now for just over a year, and it has to be said it is without doubt the best all round car I have ever owned. My problem comes in that it is a great daily car, but I have the hankering for an LSD & V8!
Now the ONLY thing putting me off changing is really the fuel economey issue, I drive an 80 mile round trip for work every day, almost all of which is motorway. The 530d is doing about 37-39Mpg, and I am thinking that the M5 will be doing low 20's? The other thing I never thought I would grow to love is the auto box, such a good tool for commuting.
I suppose my main question would be is an M5 going to be wasted on mainly commuting, with the occasional hoon thrown in? Is it worth the cost to change & extra fuel costs, or should I spend the money on remapping the 530d & possibly fitting an LSD?
Your thoughts please?
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CampDavid
7,852 posts
68 months
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From reading on here, fuel is the least of the concerns.
I've tried using man math to make it viable. I don't think it's that easy...
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Frances The Mute
980 posts
111 months
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To really enjoy the M5, you need to wring it's neck. That's not going to happen on the commute.
I was 9/10ths on pulling the trigger for an M5 for my commute. A nice, low mileage example that I could put 70k on in the next 3 years. In the end, it just wasn't worth it.
You already have an excellent daily driver that I would assume is a known quantity. Stick with it.
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Zwolf
22,321 posts
76 months
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Safer to work on halving your current MPG figures than banking on a consistent early 20s figure - because you WILL put your foot down. 30% more torque and around 100% more power than a 530d is a LOT of temptation to play. Also expect your bills for routine upkeep and consumables to roughly double and insurance will jump a bit. That's all assuming nothing breaks. If it does, it will hurt.
Although with motorway cruising more in mind and having become an autobox fan, have you considered the ALPINA B10 V8? Similar prices to buy as M5s, no thirstier despite the slusher. I'd love to work an M5 out to cost no more to run than a 530d, but it will. However, it's well worth it if you accept that going in.
Quality of examples for sale out there vary hugely and price or mileage isn't necessarily a reliable indicator of a good car. You may pick up a £6-7k peach and you may end up with a £10-12k example that lands you a succession of four figure bills in short order. Or vice versa.
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RyanB88
44 posts
14 months
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Second car on classic policy..plenty of V8 TVR's to choose from 
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pwd95
7,126 posts
108 months
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This is PH, get it bought. There's nothing like a good old hoon home with a V8 to make you forget a s  te day.  P.S. My man maths are very accurate. 
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Fox-
10,041 posts
116 months
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Sitting on the Motorway on your commute its going to feel largely the same as your current car, only with massive additional expense with that sort of monthly mileage.
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pwd95
7,126 posts
108 months
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johnpeat
3,436 posts
135 months
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The 530D is a leviathan of practicality - a machine for driving through life without worries and it's 85%+ of an M5 in every respect (and 110% of it in some).
Keep it - it makes sense - changing it for an M5 would be silly because you'd gain 'more power' and 'more hoonage' but you'd also notice everything you lost (mostly fuel economy, refinement and the content of your wallet at service time).
What you do is buy another car - something to use when you don't need the cosset - something for the hoon only and you can be cavalier about it because it's not a daily driver!!
An earlier M5 might fit but you don't really need 2, 5-seater cars do you?
There are so many options I've no idea where I'd start but buying something mental will bring so much more fun that buying a car which is 15% more of something bits and 20% less of others over your existing car...
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VX Foxy
2,734 posts
113 months
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Remap the 530! You could see 50mpg on a steady motorway run.
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Fox-
10,041 posts
116 months
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I should expand I guess.
Ever since I can remember, I've wanted an M5. I think I was about 14-15 when they first came out and I saw Tiff Needell on old Top Gear powersliding one around in airfield. Stuff the Ferraris, no thanks to Porsche, the M5 was the bestest car in the universe. Everything about it was just sublime. As soon as I could, I bought the closest thing I could possibly afford to an E39 M5 - an E39 530i Sport. At the time even the shabbiest of M5's were all over £20k. I simply couldn't afford to buy or run my dream car and the 530i looked pretty much exactly the same but was far more moderate in terms of purchase price and running costs. The idea was to buy the 530i, run it for 3 years until I was done with Uni and then realise my dream and buy that M5.
6 years have passed. I still don't have that M5 despite almost deciding to buy one on several occasions.
Why not? Mostly because the 530i is so good at just being an everyday car. It look almost exactly the same as an M5 outside. It looks almost exactly the same as an M5 inside. It does 35-40mpg not 25mpg on a run. It costs £300 not £600 for an Inspection 2 service. It's in perfect condition whereas a mint M5 is now like a needle in a haystack.
It's got to the point where I honestly think I'd end up begrudging an M5. I'd sit on the Motorway with the cruise set to 75mph having exactly the same experience as I did in a 530i only using a load more fuel. I'd crawl to the office in 20mph traffic having exactly the same experience as I did in the 530i only using a load more fuel. I'd shell out a heck of a lot more money in upkeep and gain almost no difference in daily usage. It's not that these costs are unaffordable but more that they'd just seem so.. un-neccesary for day to day usage.
Infact, other than those Sunday hoons where it would instantly come alive and remind me quite why I've always wanted one, it would be largely the same car only with much more cost to keep it perfect. I honestly think I'd begin to begrudge the big increase in cost for such a little increase in day to day experience.
And I don't want to begrudge in any way what is still my favourite car ever. I don't want practicality to ruin the dream.
One day I will own an E39 M5. It will be a mint, low mileage example and it will live in a garage and come out when it's sunny.
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tbc
1,621 posts
45 months
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You might want to also purchase a petrol station and perhaps an oil refinery
My boss used to own an M5
he never shut up about how it 'kept him a step nearer the poor house every week he owned it'
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MSTRBKR
4,948 posts
68 months
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Fox- said: Sitting on the Motorway on your commute its going to feel largely the same as your current car, only with massive additional expense with that sort of monthly mileage. I agree with this which then begs the question, what the hell is the point in an M5?
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Fox-
10,041 posts
116 months
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MSTRBKR said: I agree with this which then begs the question, what the hell is the point in an M5? At £7k? Good question. 10 years ago when £60k new? There are many people who are simply unconcerned about trivial costs such as fuel. These are the people who buy £60,000 super-saloons. They are not, however, the sort of people who are particularly interested in £7k ones. This is why cars like this tend to spiral into disrepair and dodgy condition once they reach a certain area of the market. Those who can keep them properly can afford to simply buy something far newer. There will be a small handful of enthusiasts, most of whom cover ultra low mileage, who still love these cars and still keep them properly but the older and cheaper they get, the rarer these people are amongst the typical owners.
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frosted
3,549 posts
47 months
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A 530d is 85% of a m5 , now I heard it all. I normally would say go for the diesel option when people are comparing cars. There's f k all to compare between a m5 and a 535d let alone a 530d wtf Personally at 80 miles a day I wouldn't have an m5, but I'm poor( ph poor ) and besides petrol costs you have depreciation to consider which could make an m5 worth about a fiver after 3 years and 90k
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pwd95
7,126 posts
108 months
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Well, I did my best.......   P.S. OP, you can use the money you save with the Diesel to buy a pair of tartan slippers & a pipe & sit in the corner & wait for old age to gently creep up & take you.........
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Fox-
10,041 posts
116 months
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frosted said: A 530d is 85% of a m5 , now I heard it all. I normally would say go for the diesel option when people are comparing cars. There's f k all to compare between a m5 and a 535d let alone a 530d wtf On his 80 mile commute sat on the Motorway with the cruise control on there is precious little difference between a 520d and an M5. Though I rather suspect he's talking about E39's where frankly there is even less difference in such a scenario. If his typical usage involved hitting up some fantastic roads with the odd schlep across Europe etc etc etc then I'd agree there is a world of difference and the M5 is just hugely bette. It is, after all, a genuinelly talented supersaloon. But he appears to spend most of his time sitting on the Motorway at rush hour, one of the rare places where a Golf is probably better than a Ferrari.
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GBB
1,652 posts
29 months
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Fox- said: I should expand I guess.
Ever since I can remember, I've wanted an M5. I think I was about 14-15 when they first came out and I saw Tiff Needell on old Top Gear powersliding one around in airfield. Stuff the Ferraris, no thanks to Porsche, the M5 was the bestest car in the universe. Everything about it was just sublime. As soon as I could, I bought the closest thing I could possibly afford to an E39 M5 - an E39 530i Sport. At the time even the shabbiest of M5's were all over £20k. I simply couldn't afford to buy or run my dream car and the 530i looked pretty much exactly the same but was far more moderate in terms of purchase price and running costs. The idea was to buy the 530i, run it for 3 years until I was done with Uni and then realise my dream and buy that M5.
6 years have passed. I still don't have that M5 despite almost deciding to buy one on several occasions.
Why not? Mostly because the 530i is so good at just being an everyday car. It look almost exactly the same as an M5 outside. It looks almost exactly the same as an M5 inside. It does 35-40mpg not 25mpg on a run. It costs £300 not £600 for an Inspection 2 service. It's in perfect condition whereas a mint M5 is now like a needle in a haystack.
It's got to the point where I honestly think I'd end up begrudging an M5. I'd sit on the Motorway with the cruise set to 75mph having exactly the same experience as I did in a 530i only using a load more fuel. I'd crawl to the office in 20mph traffic having exactly the same experience as I did in the 530i only using a load more fuel. I'd shell out a heck of a lot more money in upkeep and gain almost no difference in daily usage. It's not that these costs are unaffordable but more that they'd just seem so.. un-neccesary for day to day usage.
Infact, other than those Sunday hoons where it would instantly come alive and remind me quite why I've always wanted one, it would be largely the same car only with much more cost to keep it perfect. I honestly think I'd begin to begrudge the big increase in cost for such a little increase in day to day experience.
And I don't want to begrudge in any way what is still my favourite car ever. I don't want practicality to ruin the dream.
One day I will own an E39 M5. It will be a mint, low mileage example and it will live in a garage and come out when it's sunny. Perhaps I need to scrub the M5 from my list and replace with a nice E39 530 Champagne.....
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Fox-
10,041 posts
116 months
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GBB said: Perhaps I need to scrub the M5 from my list and replace with a nice E39 530 Champagne..... I'm not, of course, saying that a 530 is basically as good as an M5. It's not. The M5 is the king of 5 Series and always will be. But of course whether you can justify it or not, given how good the regular models are, is an entirely personal decision that might not be as straightforward as it would seem.
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V8Wagon
1,067 posts
30 months
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Fox- said: Why not? Mostly because the 530i is so good at just being an everyday car. It look almost exactly the same as an M5 outside. It looks almost exactly the same as an M5 inside. It does 35-40mpg not 25mpg on a run. It costs £300 not £600 for an Inspection 2 service. It's in perfect condition whereas a mint M5 is now like a needle in a haystack.
It's got to the point where I honestly think I'd end up begrudging an M5. I'd sit on the Motorway with the cruise set to 75mph having exactly the same experience as I did in a 530i only using a load more fuel. I'd crawl to the office in 20mph traffic having exactly the same experience as I did in the 530i only using a load more fuel. I'd shell out a heck of a lot more money in upkeep and gain almost no difference in daily usage. It's not that these costs are unaffordable but more that they'd just seem so.. un-neccesary for day to day usage.
Infact, other than those Sunday hoons where it would instantly come alive and remind me quite why I've always wanted one, it would be largely the same car only with much more cost to keep it perfect. I honestly think I'd begin to begrudge the big increase in cost for such a little increase in day to day experience.
Gotta agree with this. I loved my Audi V8 for the 1% of the time that I actually really 'drove' it, the rest of the time the 14-17mpg going to Tesco's, work, picking the kids up used to really p*** me off. What with enormous costs for tyres and servicing and god forbid any 'bespoke' bits broke that weren't shared with the rest of the A6 range.
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