RE: PH Heroes: BMW E39 M5

[Zod]

Boulder said:

The E60 was very marketing led in its development,in comparison to the purity of this beast.

Oh, why do people have to come out with this crap. What exactly is marketing-led about the E60 in comparison with the E39?


I fully expect to see the same rubbish posted in a few years' time about how the E60 was so much pure than the Fxy.

Just ask Derestrictor, a man with the taste and sense to own both an E39 and an E63 M6.

Edited by Zod on Monday 28th January 21:00

[derestrictor]

I drove the freshly detailed M6 back from the land of permed calming down, yesterday and after a few days without, it was magnificent to be reacquainted, everything about this car is superlative.

The most remarkable thing is the way you adapt to the 'box: despite the vicissitudes of the process it can now be a 99% smooth experience which in conjunction with the full repertoire of everything else, is as close to perfection a motoring experience as I could wish for.

I am comprehensively smitten and just prey BMW eventually launch, if not a CSL variant, then some kind of King Kong V12 Crazed Bastard M6 Frederick The Great Evo Hellspurter follow up. 600 bhp. Glop.

[CommanderJameson]

derestrictor said:

I drove the freshly detailed M6 back from the land of permed calming down, yesterday and after a few days without, it was magnificent to be reacquainted, everything about this car is superlative.

The most remarkable thing is the way you adapt to the 'box: despite the vicissitudes of the process it can now be a 99% smooth experience which in conjunction with the full repertoire of everything else, is as close to perfection a motoring experience as I could wish for.

I am comprehensively smitten and just prey BMW eventually launch, if not a CSL variant, then some kind of King Kong V12 Crazed Bastard M6 Frederick The Great Evo Hellspurter follow up. 600 bhp. Glop.

Recently in Autocar (9 Jan 08), there was a group test of a Jag XF, Maser GranTurismo, Merc CL500 and a 911 Carrera S. The M6 was excluded, and the boxout in toto is as follows:

Autocar said:

We thought hard about including a BMW M6 in this grouping - hard enough to have one shadow our movements throughout the two-day duration of the test. But in the end we knew we were right to exclude it.

On paper it seemed to have the measure of them all: more power, cylinders and gears than any other and possessing clearly superior acceleration. But in reality it felt coarse and blunt compared with the cars that did take part. For all its speed, the M6 is not a great car to drive; its ride is too compromised, its steering too numb. It looks insufficiently special and travelling in convoy down tricky roads, it felt almost cumbersome. The 5.0-litre V10 powerplant and seven-speed sequential manual gearbox work brilliantly in a four-door saloon costing 65 grand, but less well in a coupé priced at £83,545.

In previous encounters on these pages, the M6 has already come out second best against both the 911 Carrera S and the Jaguar XKR. Had we put it up against the Maserati, we have no doubt at all it would have fared no better there, either.

Does this square at all with your experience of your M6?

Edited by CommanderJameson on Tuesday 29th January 12:15

[derestrictor]

Yes, of course, I spent £62k of my own stash on a donkey.

I sent a suitable rebuke to Autocar and received no response.

Suffice it to say, Sutcliffe reckoned it was sublime as a long termer and so do I.

The Maser GT isn't fit to pour the ice, much less mix it's drinks and as for the (admittedly glorious) XK-R, please...

[Orangecurry]

derestrictor said:

waxed lyrical, then said

I am comprehensively smitten and just prey BMW eventually launch, if not a CSL variant, then some kind of King Kong V12 Crazed Bastard M6 Frederick The Great Evo Hellspurter follow up. 600 bhp. Glop.

Now that's what I call an appropriate typo

[Chazaxl]

Sorry to dig up an old thread (actually, not sorry - lol).

I love the idea of an M5. Fuel costs - a minor issue - the big bad risk - moreso.

Have put in an offer on a E60 545i (2004 model) - is it even a semi worthy E39 M5 alternative?

Ignore the looks - I dont mind the E60 actually .....

Thanks

[Neil.D]

Chazaxl said:

Sorry to dig up an old thread (actually, not sorry - lol).

I love the idea of an M5. Fuel costs - a minor issue - the big bad risk - moreso.

Have put in an offer on a E60 545i (2004 model) - is it even a semi worthy E39 M5 alternative?

Ignore the looks - I dont mind the E60 actually .....

Thanks

Any update on the 545 if you got it?

[broncoupe]

Lets start with a sorry. Had E39 M5 for a short period some years ago for me it wasnt a good experiance. Everything about the car was right 1 owner from new full history etc but in 6 weeks it needed a new clutch flywheel, both AFMs i remember about £4500.00 worth. The biggest bug bear was i couldnt get comfortable.
In the intervening years i have had a sucession of AMG cars, but now find i want a reasonable weekend car from BMW thinking try another E39 or M3?

[ArmaghMan]

Chazaxl said:

Sorry to dig up an old thread (actually, not sorry - lol).

I love the idea of an M5. Fuel costs - a minor issue - the big bad risk - moreso.

Have put in an offer on a E60 545i (2004 model) - is it even a semi worthy E39 M5 alternative?

Ignore the looks - I dont mind the E60 actually .....

Thanks

No. No. No.
Tried one. Not in the same country for "sortedness"

[simer553]

Mmmmmmmm.... Always wanted one of these but 'cos I did huge milage had to settle for a slightly cheaper to run e39 i sport. OK - it only had 1 exhaust poking out the back but otherwise hard to tell the difference?

I do hope that the new generation M5 is equaly as good (if not as pretty...)

My Missus refused to drive my old E39 "..its too powerful for me" lol, she drives a legacy outback 3.0R now which could be described as 'not exactly slow'!

[LewisR]

Zod said:

Boulder said:

The E60 was very marketing led in its development,in comparison to the purity of this beast.

Oh, why do people have to come out with this crap. What exactly is marketing-led about the E60 in comparison with the E39?


I fully expect to see the same rubbish posted in a few years' time about how the E60 was so much pure than the Fxy.

Just ask Derestrictor, a man with the taste and sense to own both an E39 and an E63 M6.

Edited by Zod on Monday 28th January 21:00

I think that there's some mileage in that. I've owned an E39 528i & now an E60 530i. The interior of the E60 is one big cost-cutting exercise; cheap-looking plastics, deletion of interior boot release button, glove box torch, temp gauge and standard dual climate.

[nonuts]

Now that is some thread comeback!

[Bogracer]

Drove the RS6 at the time which was just awful despite the Audi salesman claiming it was better than an E39 M5, with it's dismal, dim automatic gearbox, boring 4x4 and rubbery feel. "It's not" I replied handing the keys back.

So brought a used M5 in the end and did 80,000 glorious miles all over Europe, Stevilo Pass, Nurburgring, Cannes, Monaco, Milan, Paris, Le Mans, wonderful car in everyday as you would expect from BMW M Division. Cosseting yet precise and engaging with a NASCAR V8 sound when pressing on, fast yet limo refined when you just want to just waft home. Reliability, clutches last 60,000 miles other than that routine servicing, 12 MPG round town, 22 on a longer run, er 7mpg around the Nurburgring.

If you like driving sideways - when you choose to - this is the car, wonderfully balanced and forgiving, Turn in under braking give it the boot and your are surfing on the throttle and steering!

A car you must own before you die.

Edited by Bogracer on Saturday 21st September 13:39

[RDMcG]

Best four door car I ever owned. In its time it was the best car out there.