RE: BMW M5 (E39): Spotted

[Stevearmstrong]

I still miss mine, one of the last 2003 cars and sold at the bottom of the market a couple of years ago.
Titan Silver with black leather as well, the torque in these is fantastic easily able to set off in 3rd gear.

[Patrick Bateman]

Welshbeef said:

How did these compare against its direct competitors?

Merc W211 E55 K
Audi C5 RS6
Jag XKRV8
Aloina B5

In straight line speed alone only the Jag in this list is slower and the Merc is hugely faster
Unsure about track times
M5 is the only stick shifter
Looks Merc extremely subtle, RS6 very obvious to anyone it's a sporty version, XJR very similar to the rest of the range, Alpina (who? /what is that) most people would never have heard of this vehicle.
E39 M5 very subtle - internal leather being two colours may give something away, and I don't think Joe public would be aware/notice the exhausts.

"Legendary" status in that list? Not sure what do you think? All are very good cars

Wrong Merc and Alpina, they're both a generation newer.

Ignoring any bias I may have, (I haven't driven any of the competitors) any review/comment I've ever read regarding the drive has always said it was the clear best of its generation.

[Seesure]

Patrick Bateman said:

Wrong Merc and Alpina, they're both a generation newer.

Ignoring any bias I may have, (I haven't driven any of the competitors) any review/comment I've ever read regarding the drive has always said it was the clear best of its generation.

Plus, I never considered the XKR as a direct competitor... Effectively a 2 seater coupe v 5 seat family saloon...?

Whereas the XJR would have been in the same space as the ///M - I almost bought an XJR when I was looking at my first M... was put off by a relatively small passenger compartment in the XJR...

[Patrick Bateman]

Seesure said:

Plus, I never considered the XKR as a direct competitor... Effectively a 2 seater coupe v 5 seat family saloon...?

Whereas the XJR would have been in the same space as the ///M - I almost bought an XJR when I was looking at my first M... was put off by a relatively small passenger compartment in the XJR...

He said XJR later in the post, think it was just a typo.

[9mm]

I bought one in 2006 to follow a 348. Paid about £22K for it iirc. I kept it for four years and 40K miles and really liked it. However, it did start to give a few problems as it aged and without a warranty it would have been a much more painful experience. I think the warranty bills and running costs were close to the purchase price of the car. They also rust and it's important to tackle any bubbles quickly. Lovely grand tourers but although highly accomplished, they're no sportscar. I wouldn't touch a high miler without a stack of bills. Vanos was a myth ime - affected M3s but not the M5.

[csampo]

I bought it!

I refrained from posting about it up until now because I didn't want to pre-empt the full appraisal by my local specialist, Redish Automotive, in case I'd bought myself into a rapid spiral of financial ruin. There are so many dogs out there, and this was the best I'd seen that was sensible money. However, I'm not a mechanic myself beyond the very basics and although I did have the car inspected before buying it, it wasn't by a specialist as the good local ones were booked up for weeks and other buyers were interested in the car. The inspection said the car was largely clean (aside from a slightly tired original clutch and minor diff leak), and it drove well, so I took the plunge. I paid a bit under asking, and had a healthy war chest ready...

...which, unsurprisingly, is going to be needed! Fortunately Redish have confirmed that it is a good example with very little structural corrosion for its age, healthy VANOS, but it needs quite a bit of suspension work on top of the clutch and diff seal to get it driving as new. I'd expected and budgeted for this, so in a couple of weeks it'll be back in for a full suspension refresh (including new OEM dampers), clutch, e60 short shift mod, and a couple of other minor bits and bobs.

That V8

I guess I should start a readers' cars thread for it...

Edited by csampo on Friday 10th July 15:06

[Patrick Bateman]

Where are you sourcing suspension parts?

I got lemforder parts from a mixture of allgermanparts and carparts4less. Saved a packet.

[csampo]

C3 BMW seem to have pretty good prices for Lemforder and Meyle HD parts; I'll only be using OEM for the dampers themselves.

[rfsteel]

9mm said:

I bought one in 2006 to follow a 348. Paid about £22K for it iirc. I kept it for four years and 40K miles and really liked it. However, it did start to give a few problems as it aged and without a warranty it would have been a much more painful experience. I think the warranty bills and running costs were close to the purchase price of the car. They also rust and it's important to tackle any bubbles quickly. Lovely grand tourers but although highly accomplished, they're no sportscar. I wouldn't touch a high miler without a stack of bills. Vanos was a myth ime - affected M3s but not the M5.

I recognise that photo, I've been the owner of this beast since 2010, since owning, I've done another 30k, and in that time I've gone through 2 radiators, 1 set of rear tyres, 4 services and had the rod bearing changed as a precaution and a pair of discs and pads.

[Patrick Bateman]

csampo said:

C3 BMW seem to have pretty good prices for Lemforder and Meyle HD parts; I'll only be using OEM for the dampers themselves.

Lemforder is OEM.

Have you had a look at the ones I mentioned? They were cheaper than C3 when I did mine last year.

[csampo]

I have and it looks like there is very little in it AFAIK. The gap from OEM to Lemforder branded is huge; between the individual suppliers the difference seems much smaller. I will have another look later...