Did I make a mistake?

[TheAngryDog]

I do like the MPS and would keep it as well as an M5. I'll make a decision over the summer I guess, need to see if I can recover from this operation I've just had first.

I may put the £2k into the mps to get it to the 370bhp. I can always put it back to standard and sell the parts and get most of my money back. As I am working from home for the foreseeable future it's not like the mileage will be going up either.

How are you finding yours?

[a7x88]

Yea I'm enjoying it - bit different for me though, I came from a series of company cars, the last one being a 2.0 diesel Audi

It's nice to have something interesting again. It's just passed its MOT with me and its booked into have the VVT, full intake including turbo inlet and second decat next week, so just in time for Le Mans then plan on getting the HPFP and map from Justin to bring it up to the 300-320 mark. Will probably leave it there then unless my turbo goes pop at any point.....

Assume you'll be dumping the K04 for a GT and getting an uprated TMIC or going FMIC?

[Depthhoar]

TheAngryDog said:

There are some expensive M5's around!

£15k seems to get you into an E60. £11k seems to be the price for an E39 at the moment!

Re. prices: I guess a lot depends on which sector of the E39 M5 market you're looking at. Mid-market: £11k would get you a facelift version with 90-100k miles, maybe with loads of suspension work/preventative maintenance stuff....or not.

At the lower end of the market....there's some nice looking E39 M5s on BMW5 classifieds right now looking for good homes. £7.5, 140k-150k miles with a lot of maintenance. Enthusiast owners, too. (I see one is for sale in Stornoway which may as well be the Moon if you're in Aylesbury!)

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but leggier vehicles with intensive servicing/maintenance can be better/cheaper long term buys than lower mileage "FSH" (fluids and filters basically) cars with no/little evidence of critical suspension parts/engine sensors etc. having been changed.

As the saying goes, you pays your money and you makes your choice!

Edited by Depthhoar on Sunday 24th May 23:28

[lord trumpton]

Yes it was right to sell it.....most e39 M5 are rusty wallet hoovers these days. Nice cars but move on.

[lord trumpton]

Yes it was right to sell it.....most e39 M5 are rusty wallet hoovers these days. Nice cars but move on.

[TheAngryDog]

a7x88 said:

Yea I'm enjoying it - bit different for me though, I came from a series of company cars, the last one being a 2.0 diesel Audi

It's nice to have something interesting again. It's just passed its MOT with me and its booked into have the VVT, full intake including turbo inlet and second decat next week, so just in time for Le Mans then plan on getting the HPFP and map from Justin to bring it up to the 300-320 mark. Will probably leave it there then unless my turbo goes pop at any point.....

Assume you'll be dumping the K04 for a GT and getting an uprated TMIC or going FMIC?

I am glad you're enjoying it. I think I have seen some of your posts on MPSOC? I think you're getting a local company to do the VVT?

HPFP is a must really. I have one fitted to mine already which was done before my op as I was planning on a remap from Justin using VersaTuner, and then look towards going down the BNR route with uprated TMIC, Jetex, downpipe etc.

If my hearing returns to normal then if I keep the car I may still do all that, otherwise I'll sell it and see what happens, and whether I end up in another car. It is sitting on a knife edge.

Depthhoar said:

TheAngryDog said:

There are some expensive M5's around!

£15k seems to get you into an E60. £11k seems to be the price for an E39 at the moment!

Re. prices: I guess a lot depends on which sector of the E39 M5 market you're looking at. Mid-market: £11k would get you a facelift version with 90-100k miles, maybe with loads of suspension work/preventative maintenance stuff....or not.

At the lower end of the market....there's some nice looking E39 M5s on BMW5 classifieds right now looking for good homes. £7.5, 140k-150k miles with a lot of maintenance. Enthusiast owners, too. (I see one is for sale in Stornoway which may as well be the Moon if you're in Aylesbury!)

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but leggier vehicles with intensive servicing/maintenance can be better/cheaper long term buys than lower mileage "FSH" (fluids and filters basically) cars with no/little evidence of critical suspension parts/engine sensors etc. having been changed.

As the saying goes, you pays your money and you makes your choice!

Edited by Depthhoar on Sunday 24th May 23:28

I'd want one that I didn't need to spend money on considering the initial purchase price. £11k and then needing another £3k (as an example) spending on it does not make for good maths, even if it is man maths at work!

I've done the lower end before, not sure I want to go back to it. Frankly I should have waited a few more months before buying my old one, I'd have had around £8k saved up, which back in 2013 would've bought be a face lift and in better condition than the one I bought. The one I did buy did seem in good condition, but as I got to know it more I realised that this wasn't the case. Saying that, if I had've waited chances are I would not have bought one as I moved to London a month after I bought it, and I always said I'd never own a car if I lived in London, so I would just have kept my Vectra 3.2 Elite instead and done something else with the money.....

[a7x88]

TheAngryDog said:

I am glad you're enjoying it. I think I have seen some of your posts on MPSOC? I think you're getting a local company to do the VVT?

HPFP is a must really. I have one fitted to mine already which was done before my op as I was planning on a remap from Justin using VersaTuner, and then look towards going down the BNR route with uprated TMIC, Jetex, downpipe etc.

If my hearing returns to normal then if I keep the car I may still do all that, otherwise I'll sell it and see what happens, and whether I end up in another car. It is sitting on a knife edge.

Yea - I'm booked in for June 4th. He's not massively local (Bristol way) but comes highly recommended, so assuming all goes well there will be a good guy for us to use down South.

HPFP is next on the list - followed by a map from Justin. Just wanted the exhaust and intake on first.

The longer I own this the more it seems to be getting under my skin. I found it a little hard - for want of a better word - "guage" at first. As in how hard you could push it in the bends etc..... probably not helped by the fact its the quickest car i've owned and also the first 4WD.... but i'm really starting to gel with it now.

Edited by a7x88 on Tuesday 26th May 13:48

[Patrick Bateman]

£7500? Who would be doing that work, BMW?

[TheAngryDog]

3 new jacking points, new doors (rippled), new bootlid (rusty), dents removed from body work, rust removed from arches / sills and rear quarter, full paint job needed, Rod bearings and timing chain, new discs / trust arms, new suspension.

I did the sums and that's what it all added up to on a conservative level.

Oh, and the starting issue it had as it didn't always start first time despite a brand new fuel pump being fitted.

[TheAngryDog]

a7x88 said:

Yea - I'm booked in for June 4th. He's not massively local (Bristol way) but comes highly recommended, so assuming all goes well there will be a good guy for us to use down South.

HPFP is next on the list - followed by a map from Justin. Just wanted the exhaust and intake on first.

The longer I own this the more it seems to be getting under my skin. I found it a little hard - for want of a better word - "guage" at first. As in how hard you could push it in the bends etc..... probably not helped by the fact its the quickest car i've owned and also the first 4WD.... but i'm really starting to gel with it now.

Edited by a7x88 on Tuesday 26th May 13:48

Not long then. As long as it's done right you'll be grand anyway.

I'd been given the name of someone else to use but having seen a lot of negative posts about the guy on the Facebook group I will be avoiding using his services.

Are you replacing the full exhaust system?

You need to be a bit cautious in the bends from what I can tell. The standard diff mounts don't appreciate it

[a7x88]

Sure - its probably the guy down Portsmouth way? I've heard a couple of rumours. The guy i'm using is used to working on much nicer cars than mine - and having seen some if his work it is top quality. Guess I will find out soon

I don't think its the bends you need to worr about with the diff mounts - it's if you like launch the car hard

[Patrick Bateman]

Rod bearings and timing chain is speculative without any actual evidence, bit iffy to describe it as 'needed', likewise a full paint job.

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Tuesday 26th May 17:28

[TheAngryDog]

Patrick Bateman said:

Rod bearings and timing chain is speculative without any actual evidence, bit iffy to describe it as 'needed', likewise a full paint job.

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Tuesday 26th May 17:28

Perhaps for the rod bearings and chain, but if I was keeping the car it would've ended up being supercharged, and there isn't much point doing that on a 130k mile engine and not be belt and braces

Lol at the bodywork though! Replacing 5 panels, having rust dealt with, a keyed rear quarter and repairs to the nsf wing and front bumper, sorting scratches on the rear bumper doesn't warrant a full paint job?

Edited by TheAngryDog on Tuesday 26th May 17:59

[Patrick Bateman]

I missed the new doors bit. How on earth do they ripple??

[JamesL91]

You hit the nail on the head in one of your postings. It will always be a Mazda MPS that you're only "Meh" about. Some people I'm sure really like them. But I've found (the hard way really) that if a car is not inherently fun, it will never be fun even with performance mods.

I found that with the Impreza, it was a great "Point and squirt" car that I spent a bit of money on getting it to 343BHP.. manically fast but once the novelty had worn off.. it just wasn't fun. The 4WD system just means you stick to everything, there's no skill in driving it.. whatever you did it would save your arse. Fun sometimes, not always.

You may be able to find another motor that gives you the same joy as the M5 but is a bit newer.. but it may not be the Mazda!

[TREMAiNE]

Do you need the 5 seats and copious amounts of horsepower?

Would you consider coupes to get that same thrill the M5 gave you? You could pick up a solid RX-7 in that budget as well as a host of other Jap stuff!

[Patrick Bateman]

On that note, is there such a thing as a V8 coupé at a similar price with handling as good as the performance? (i.e. excluding the Monaro)

[Monkeylegend]

Patrick Bateman said:

I missed the new doors bit. How on earth do they ripple??

Constant full throttle acceleration with rear wheel drive.

[TheAngryDog]

a7x88 said:

Sure - its probably the guy down Portsmouth way? I've heard a couple of rumours. The guy i'm using is used to working on much nicer cars than mine - and having seen some if his work it is top quality. Guess I will find out soon

I don't think its the bends you need to worr about with the diff mounts - it's if you like launch the car hard

Yeah it is lol. Has the guy you're using done the VVT before on an MPS? I am sure you'll be fine!

JamesL91 said:

You hit the nail on the head in one of your postings. It will always be a Mazda MPS that you're only "Meh" about. Some people I'm sure really like them. But I've found (the hard way really) that if a car is not inherently fun, it will never be fun even with performance mods.

I found that with the Impreza, it was a great "Point and squirt" car that I spent a bit of money on getting it to 343BHP.. manically fast but once the novelty had worn off.. it just wasn't fun. The 4WD system just means you stick to everything, there's no skill in driving it.. whatever you did it would save your arse. Fun sometimes, not always.

You may be able to find another motor that gives you the same joy as the M5 but is a bit newer.. but it may not be the Mazda!

I think the car can be fun, and I was enjoying myself in it the other day when I went for a blast in it to see if I could actually manage to drive it for more than 10 minutes, and it could be made into quite a weapon, but it does lack a little something.

What did you replace the Impreza with? (if you have, of course). I had an Impreza back in the day, running around 280bhp I guess (when it ran right) and it was fun at first, the noise as it came on boost and how easy it was to slide around, but it let me down mechanically.

The M5 I found very very easy to slide around. It was very communicative, even with tired suspension, it would tell you weeks in advance about what it was going to do. Put it this way, it never caught me out, and I do not confess to being a driving god!

TREMAiNE said:

Do you need the 5 seats and copious amounts of horsepower?

Would you consider coupes to get that same thrill the M5 gave you? You could pick up a solid RX-7 in that budget as well as a host of other Jap stuff!

I need lots of horse power, but not specifically 5 seats, though I have only owned two car's (out of many) with only 2 seats, and one was a Fiesta Van LOL.

I have always had saloons, hatchbacks and one estate car. I just prefer saloon cars over all. I arent a massive fan of the RX-7, plus I do not think I could handle the noise it would make. I really am noise sensitive now after this operation.

Patrick Bateman said:

On that note, is there such a thing as a V8 coupé at a similar price with handling as good as the performance? (i.e. excluding the Monaro)

Not that I can think of?

Monkeylegend said:

Patrick Bateman said:

I missed the new doors bit. How on earth do they ripple??

Constant full throttle acceleration with rear wheel drive.

Car park dings and other things. It just looked cheaper to replace the doors, especially as the paintwork down the sides wasnt all that good either.

[Monty Python]

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...

You know you want to......