E60 / E61 M5 Buyers Guide

[ecain63]

Contigo said:

Well must be a charachteristic of mine then as it's almost undriveable in reverse in the morning on cold start. I never leave a car idling as it does more damage to the engine and most of these performance cars were designed to be driven as soon as fired up.

There is a reason why these cars have a cold start process you know! You should actually leave the car at idle until the exhaust note and rpm drops to normal levels before driving off. This way the car has got up to the correct oil pressure for normal driving. Also, on these cars the SMG fluid needs to get to the right pressure for the gear selection mechanism to function fully, which is why you can hear the SMG pump priming when you first open the door. Maybe this is why its jumpy for you, it might not be ready to go yet. Sometimes this can be a sign that the fluid is low.

Have you noticed how the rev limit adjusts as the car warms up too? Look at the redline position when you first start the car (around 6krpm or just under) and watch it as the car warms through over the first 8 miles (approx distance needed to warm and M5/6 to full operating temp).

BMW recomend that you change gear below 3krpm when the car is cold (ie below the 75 degree spot marker on the temp guage) and not to redline the car until 85 to 90 degrees has been reached. Not teaching the sucking of eggs here, but its to get the oil up to running temp so it doesnt damage the engine.

No egg sucking intended there mate.

Eddie

[Contigo]

ecain63 said:

There is a reason why these cars have a cold start process you know! You should actually leave the car at idle until the exhaust note and rpm drops to normal levels before driving off. This way the car has got up to the correct oil pressure for normal driving. Also, on these cars the SMG fluid needs to get to the right pressure for the gear selection mechanism to function fully, which is why you can hear the SMG pump priming when you first open the door. Maybe this is why its jumpy for you, it might not be ready to go yet. Sometimes this can be a sign that the fluid is low.

Have you noticed how the rev limit adjusts as the car warms up too? Look at the redline position when you first start the car (around 6krpm or just under) and watch it as the car warms through over the first 8 miles (approx distance needed to warm and M5/6 to full operating temp).

BMW recomend that you change gear below 3krpm when the car is cold (ie below the 75 degree spot marker on the temp guage) and not to redline the car until 85 to 90 degrees has been reached. Not teaching the sucking of eggs here, but its to get the oil up to running temp so it doesnt damage the engine.

No egg sucking intended there mate.

Eddie

Hi Eddie, yes to be clear this morning I did sit there for longer than normal and put the heated seats on and cleared the windscreen etc but I reckon about 2 minutes maybe I then pulled off in reverse and then noticed the jumpyness. I will indeed go and buy some more eggs to suck, oh wait do Mini Eggs count?

Thanks for the info!

[ecain63]

^^^^^^ Only if you share. lol

[Contigo]

After more playing in the car found a cable in the glovebox (was hidden) and it's only the iPod connector! This makes up for lack of USB and my IPod Video is now connected and working well.

[ecain63]

Cool! Little Brucey bonus there!

[Contigo]

To quote the M5 Manual (Knew I had read it before, same as Audi RS4/6 manuals too)

"Do not warm up the engine with the car at a standstill; it is preferable to set off, driving at moderate engine speeds"

[ecain63]

• * Edited ref E60 vs E61 rear tyre widths. Yes, they are actually different.

[smokey145]

Does anyone here suffer from a judder when pulling away from stationary in first or second gear(not that I make a habit of of pulling off in second btw) ? Really strange. I've had it in to BMW and they have said it is nothing to do with the clutch??

[contracttor]

smokey145 said:

Does anyone here suffer from a judder when pulling away from stationary in first or second gear(not that I make a habit of of pulling off in second btw) ? Really strange. I've had it in to BMW and they have said it is nothing to do with the clutch??

I had that for quite a while before my clutch went. A lack of grease on the guidebush is the likely reason. My clutch was done under warranty due to this. Have a look at posts from june last year for pics I'm on a pad so can't type it all out.

[ecain63]

smokey145 said:

Does anyone here suffer from a judder when pulling away from stationary in first or second gear(not that I make a habit of of pulling off in second btw) ? Really strange. I've had it in to BMW and they have said it is nothing to do with the clutch??

Have you read the first page of this (the bit under 'Clutches')? Check the 'judder' topics on there or use the search function.

[smokey145]

found the thread, cheers guys.

[anonymous-user]

Thanks for pulling together this detailed guide Eddie, has been invaluable over the last few weeks while searching for a Touring.

[ecain63]

cosmokmike said:

Thanks for pulling together this detailed guide Eddie, has been invaluable over the last few weeks while searching for a Touring.

Did you find one?

[anonymous-user]

ecain63 said:

Did you find one?

I did There's not that many for sale at one time, so your choices are limited anyway, but having all the info in this thread allowed me to narrow the choices down and also be aware of things about the service history that I needed to be careful about (run-in and 1200 mile oil service for example). Luckily the dealer I've ended up going through was also very knowledgeable about M cars and things to look for so it ended up with us both looking out for the same things.

Hopefully pick mine up by the end of the week.

[Skrambles]

I've been trying to find a good AUC m5 for quite a while - I've been looking for a facelifted car (late 07 onwards) with lowish mileage. There have been lots of high mileage pre-facelift cars and some real munter post-facelift cars. There are a couple of cars for sale at the moment that I'm interested in, but they have some issues that I'd like some views on.

Car 1: 2007 Black Sapphire

http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/bmwauc/details/0,,1156_...

Issues are that it has been in for warranty work every 6 months of so of its life; most of it appears to have been quite trivial (replacement battery etc), but the 1st visit was within 500 miles of new, for some insured repair work. I'm going to ask for more info about the damage, but did notice on inspecting the car that the bonnet was not sitting flush (at the front) on the passenger side: my inclination is to walk away from it for this reason, but am I being too screemish? Also, it has 2 KUMHO tyres and 2 bridgestones on it; I'd change them but is the use of KUMHO a bad sign? Finally, the running service was done at just under 1600 miles and the dealership failed to stamp the service book (which will need to be corrected).

Car 2: 2010 Space Grey

http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/bmwauc/details/0,,1156_...

Issues are that 32,900 miles seems high for a 2 year old m5. It doesn't have logic 7 or the USB port. Is the price too steep?

Thanks for any feedback!

[ecain63]

Ref the 1st car: The dealership will change the tyres for OEM fit ones if you are unhappy with the standard rubber (which i would be). It does show some lack of care by the previous owner though and by the dealership too. Have a good look at whole car in great detail, but by what you have said so far it looks like its seen better days and hard times. The run-in service isnt always stamped in the book but there should be an invoice to that effect. My book doesnt have a stamp as such, just a written note from the dealership in the delivery inspection box giving details of date, mileage and dealership. There is also an invoice as proof.

Car 2: The mileage is high for the age so resale will be difficult once youve clocked up a bit more. See if you can get them to drop the price to a sensible level. I reckon at that mileage you should be looking for nearer to £30k than £40k especially seeing as it has few media options ticked.

Eddie

[Skrambles]

Thanks Eddie. I think you're spot on about the first car and will probably give it a miss - having thought about it more, it's too much of a risk.
I'll go and have a look at the 2010 car next and totally agree about the price: it's got me scratching my head, wondering why they think it's worth £40k!

Simon

[JHeynes]

Hi,

Just starting to look into getting an M5 touring. Looking to find a '07 or newer. Could someone tell me please if the gearbox in one of these cars is the same as in an '05 M6?

I have driven an '06 M5 (awful gear change) and an '05 M6 (brilliant gear change). I must confess that I didn't check which setting they were both on.

I would be grateful for any info on this.....

[ecain63]

JHeynes said:

Hi,

Just starting to look into getting an M5 touring. Looking to find a '07 or newer. Could someone tell me please if the gearbox in one of these cars is the same as in an '05 M6?

I have driven an '06 M5 (awful gear change) and an '05 M6 (brilliant gear change). I must confess that I didn't check which setting they were both on.

I would be grateful for any info on this.....

Gearboxes are all the same. The tourers benefited from having updated software and the latest generation of SMG pumps but effectively the M5s and M6s all use the same system.

Cars often do feel different to drive. The cars are intelligent and a do adapt to the driving style but normally any difference felt is down to the generation of software or condition of the clutch, oh and the setting you have the car in. Stick to S5 for your change speed, this is widely known as the best setting.

[JHeynes]

Thanks Eddie.

I thought as much but just wanted to make sure before committing to anything. I hadn't appreciated that the settings could make so much difference.