BMW E61 M5 Touring
Discussion
I've been an M5 fan for years, this is my 6th M5 having previously had 4 E39's and a E60 saloon. Due to a growing family i decided to sell the saloon and buy the touring version. I may add, NONE of my M5's have ever given me any problems that the internet is full of-they have all behaved impeccably.
So, this particular M5 Touring was purchased by a very well know car enthusiast and Ferrari collector, it's been sold and serviced at the same dealer from day one by the M technician and he knows the car inside out as he's done all the servicing on it. I bought the car and tracked down the original owner for it's history as he traded it in at a main dealer for an F10 M5 after 5 years of ownership. Being an approved used car BMW throw away all the paperwork that the owner supplied with the car so imagine my delight when i wrote to him and he had ever bill from day one including the original order form, the bonus was that he only lived 20 miles away so we met up, chatted about everything petrol related and he gave me copies of all the bills and the cars life history.
I like my cars perfect so it's had a couple of worn bits of trim replaced and a good clean and it came up a treat. i purchased the car with 55k and it's now on 62k in 4 months! It's just returned from a 2700 mile jaunt around europe, over the alps, blasts up the autobahn and other than the usual oil top up's it was 100% perfect! I was amazed at how much attention the touring M5 gets, no one has ever seen one and they appear to be ultra cool in Europe (even had people taking pictures of it parked up!). On the German motorways it absolutely demolishes anything this side of a 650bhp Ferrari above 100mph-it's devastating at these speeds and i'd say it was quicker above 100mph than my stock R35 GTR was.
It just does everything, takes everything a family could want on holiday, provides great confidence at speed and on the twisties and looks great-it's very discreet unless you clock the usual M5 features and no one can believe an Estate car can make that kind of noise and speed.
I'll keep you all updated with regular updates on the car, these cars get a bad press on the internet about reliability but in my experience this is unkind. If you treat them with mechanical sympathy and have them serviced on time i can't see why you'd have issues. I suspect the ones with issues have had skimped servicing or owners that have not understood the phrase mechanical sympathy.
Anyway, here is a pic of the warrior upon it's return after all those miles in just 7 days! The wheels are usually bright silver by the way, thats brake dust thats all over them!
Epic cars, if you are thinking about an M5 V10 just do it, they are probably the most rewarding and inspiring M5 to date and there will never be another high revving V10 M5 ever produced-the F10 just left me cold, it's too refined and clinical.
So, this particular M5 Touring was purchased by a very well know car enthusiast and Ferrari collector, it's been sold and serviced at the same dealer from day one by the M technician and he knows the car inside out as he's done all the servicing on it. I bought the car and tracked down the original owner for it's history as he traded it in at a main dealer for an F10 M5 after 5 years of ownership. Being an approved used car BMW throw away all the paperwork that the owner supplied with the car so imagine my delight when i wrote to him and he had ever bill from day one including the original order form, the bonus was that he only lived 20 miles away so we met up, chatted about everything petrol related and he gave me copies of all the bills and the cars life history.
I like my cars perfect so it's had a couple of worn bits of trim replaced and a good clean and it came up a treat. i purchased the car with 55k and it's now on 62k in 4 months! It's just returned from a 2700 mile jaunt around europe, over the alps, blasts up the autobahn and other than the usual oil top up's it was 100% perfect! I was amazed at how much attention the touring M5 gets, no one has ever seen one and they appear to be ultra cool in Europe (even had people taking pictures of it parked up!). On the German motorways it absolutely demolishes anything this side of a 650bhp Ferrari above 100mph-it's devastating at these speeds and i'd say it was quicker above 100mph than my stock R35 GTR was.
It just does everything, takes everything a family could want on holiday, provides great confidence at speed and on the twisties and looks great-it's very discreet unless you clock the usual M5 features and no one can believe an Estate car can make that kind of noise and speed.
I'll keep you all updated with regular updates on the car, these cars get a bad press on the internet about reliability but in my experience this is unkind. If you treat them with mechanical sympathy and have them serviced on time i can't see why you'd have issues. I suspect the ones with issues have had skimped servicing or owners that have not understood the phrase mechanical sympathy.
Anyway, here is a pic of the warrior upon it's return after all those miles in just 7 days! The wheels are usually bright silver by the way, thats brake dust thats all over them!
Epic cars, if you are thinking about an M5 V10 just do it, they are probably the most rewarding and inspiring M5 to date and there will never be another high revving V10 M5 ever produced-the F10 just left me cold, it's too refined and clinical.
Agreed, the tank is a little silly-i still wonder who signed it off as a full tank would have only done about 3 laps at the Nurburgring when they were developing the car! It does not bother me anyway, i just live with it-with any other performance car you'd only get an extra 50 miles on the range anyway so its not a lot in the whole scheme of things. My GTR used to give the same range and had a bigger tank.
One of the other reasons i sniffed out a E61 M5 was that it's rare, only 162 left in the UK now which makes it rarer than a Delorean in the UK! Hopefully that will help keep values up in the future.
I did look at a 2010 RS6-V10 twin turbo but it was dull to drive, no 'rear end action' in that and it sounded like a muted V8 rather than a V10 and cost double the money this did! No brainer, this car does everything.
One of the other reasons i sniffed out a E61 M5 was that it's rare, only 162 left in the UK now which makes it rarer than a Delorean in the UK! Hopefully that will help keep values up in the future.
I did look at a 2010 RS6-V10 twin turbo but it was dull to drive, no 'rear end action' in that and it sounded like a muted V8 rather than a V10 and cost double the money this did! No brainer, this car does everything.
I do have a BMW warranty as i bought the car with 55k on it and full main dealer history. Usually i don't bother with them and i've had zero problems other than a £1600 bill for my saloon version thanks to a blocked drain hole the fried the DME module. As a result, i thought i'd play it safe considering the amount of electronics on the car.
In Europe, i was seeing close to 300 miles on a tank and i was cruising at 100mph plus in France (empty roads). Great car to do that distance in, in fact i was so ahead of schedule in it i decided to take the twisty route from Grenolbe to Nice-that was an epic drive down the N85 Route Napolean! The V10 bouncing off the hill sides is one that will live with me forever (as will the local in a Dacia Duster who was on my tail in every corner!!)
In Europe, i was seeing close to 300 miles on a tank and i was cruising at 100mph plus in France (empty roads). Great car to do that distance in, in fact i was so ahead of schedule in it i decided to take the twisty route from Grenolbe to Nice-that was an epic drive down the N85 Route Napolean! The V10 bouncing off the hill sides is one that will live with me forever (as will the local in a Dacia Duster who was on my tail in every corner!!)
I had a C5 RS6 as well, the first service i had it in for cost me £3k in just basic stuff and then a few thousand miles later the gearbox was on it's way out. All those Audi's RS6's from that era were badly built on the mechanical side of things and it's a constant case of changing parts out and listening out for the next problem. The inteiro is very dated now as well.
The E60/E61 on the other hand is a great drive, much more upto date and both of mine have cost nothing more than general service items. Mine just had the 'big' one at 60k which cost £750 at a main dealer.
You'd have way more fun in the BMW and less cost.
The E60/E61 on the other hand is a great drive, much more upto date and both of mine have cost nothing more than general service items. Mine just had the 'big' one at 60k which cost £750 at a main dealer.
You'd have way more fun in the BMW and less cost.
Mine is the same, covered under BMW warranty and i've not had to use it yet, same as my last one as well! Doh!
As i said on a previous post, you only ever hear the negatives on the internet, the positive experiences far outway the negative but if someone's car is working fine they generally don't come onto the internet to tell one and all about it hence the bad experiences look like problems plague every car ever made!
As i said on a previous post, you only ever hear the negatives on the internet, the positive experiences far outway the negative but if someone's car is working fine they generally don't come onto the internet to tell one and all about it hence the bad experiences look like problems plague every car ever made!
It's with a heavy heart that i've plucked up the courage to sell mine (the one at the start of the thread). It's now been cleaned and looks great but it's just not getting used and other than the Europe trip the miles have dwindled. Keep your eyes pealed, it will be going into the classifieds later this week.
I'll miss it, i really don't think there is a better one other there condition wise, spec wise and provenance wise with the paperwork it has. Took me a long time to find it and i know if i sell it and then want to go back i'll never find one like this.
I'll miss it, i really don't think there is a better one other there condition wise, spec wise and provenance wise with the paperwork it has. Took me a long time to find it and i know if i sell it and then want to go back i'll never find one like this.
This was my old car, Longintheleg has a great car there, it was serviced with an open cheque book by myself and the original owner who is an avid Ferrari collector! Performance wise i think there is little to touch these once you reach 6k rpm and above 100mph i reckon its quicker than the GTR I've just bought to replace it.
Great cars and a sure fire collectors machine in the future if it's kept in the same way i kept it!
Great cars and a sure fire collectors machine in the future if it's kept in the same way i kept it!
Mine had about 3 inches of paperwork which documented absolutely everything that was done to the car. I looked at loads, there was a large difference between the usual abused ones with little or no paperwork and obvious issues and the mint ones. You really do get what you pay for with them-you can sink 3k into one stright away and it will still need work doing so its' best to sniff out a good one and pay a little over the odds in my view.
The good ones are out there so keep looking!
I agreed with the note about Sterling, they tend to buy dogs, polish them up, take some fancy photos and then knock them out for fairly close to top dollar.
finally, sniff one out with the full leather, it makes such a difference to the ambiance of the interior.
The good ones are out there so keep looking!
I agreed with the note about Sterling, they tend to buy dogs, polish them up, take some fancy photos and then knock them out for fairly close to top dollar.
finally, sniff one out with the full leather, it makes such a difference to the ambiance of the interior.
Ok, so i started this thread back in the day. I then sold the M5 Touring that appears in the picture on page one to longintheleg and bought a GTR. I kept that for the best part of a year, epic car but it was black and they all have really soft paint so everytime i looked at it there was a new mark on it despite only having 9k miles from new! Then, buying a new house meant it had to go to free up cash. I then stumbled upon my old E61 M5 Touring that was for sale and knowing it was a minter and had a full history i ended up buying it back. I've been running it for the last few months and it's great to be back! The power delivery at 6k rpm plus is off the scale! I love it, don't know why i sold it in the first place!!
I think they have a cult following, i really can't think of anything thats better than an M5 Touring. I had a 3 month spell in a V10 RS6 estate and it was the most boring car i've ever owned. Lots of power but very heavy and it just under steers-typical Audi i guess.
I just love it, can't think of anything i'd rather have at the moment that ticks as many boxes as this does, plus it's still exclusive-i've not seen another one for 2 years!!
I just love it, can't think of anything i'd rather have at the moment that ticks as many boxes as this does, plus it's still exclusive-i've not seen another one for 2 years!!
I started this thread a couple of years ago now. The car is still going really well but i made a mistake and sold it and then missed it so much i bought it back again! However, it's with a heavy heart that it needs to go now as i've purchased an F10 M5 so if anyone is looking for a mint E61 with full main dealer history from the same supplying dealer and all the common problems sorted please let me know before i give it a clean, get some photos done and advertise it properly. I've got every bill from new and its under BMW warranty at the moment meaning it's had an 'open cheque book' approach to any issues that have come up. These things are pretty much depreciation proof now.
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