Discussion
E60 M5s are coming down in price and are reaching a point where they could be considered as an alternative to something more sensible like a 520d.
Fuel consumption is clearly an issue,as is insurance, but are there any other major issues that would prevent the M5 being used as day to day transport?
Fuel consumption is clearly an issue,as is insurance, but are there any other major issues that would prevent the M5 being used as day to day transport?
Things to worry about if its a daily driver:
Fuel - obvious! Expect 10 - 15mpg and 200 mile top ups.
Tyres - wear very quickly and £250 a corner
Insurance - higher cost for a daily / high yearly mileage driver.
Service - quite regular (mileage / idrive dictated) but not massively expensive to be fair (does add up though). Biggest one is the 30k service which will sting you up to £1500.
BMW Warranty - small things do go wrong from time to time and can be very expensive to fix. Dont buy a car with over 60k on the clock or you wont be able to get a warranty. Buy the monthly warranty, not the annual one. An example of a small problem with a big bill is the tailgate wiring issue on the E61. I had mine go wrong at Xmas and had it not been for the warranty i'd have been forking out around £1500 to sort it.
Oil - 1 litre top ups every 1k to 3k depending on the road speed. 70mph cruises will require more regular top ups than 30mph crawls.
Its not a cheap car to run by any stretch of the imagination, but at the same time there are more expensive equivalents out there. Fuel is the biggest issue as they only drink VPower or similar.
Fuel - obvious! Expect 10 - 15mpg and 200 mile top ups.
Tyres - wear very quickly and £250 a corner
Insurance - higher cost for a daily / high yearly mileage driver.
Service - quite regular (mileage / idrive dictated) but not massively expensive to be fair (does add up though). Biggest one is the 30k service which will sting you up to £1500.
BMW Warranty - small things do go wrong from time to time and can be very expensive to fix. Dont buy a car with over 60k on the clock or you wont be able to get a warranty. Buy the monthly warranty, not the annual one. An example of a small problem with a big bill is the tailgate wiring issue on the E61. I had mine go wrong at Xmas and had it not been for the warranty i'd have been forking out around £1500 to sort it.
Oil - 1 litre top ups every 1k to 3k depending on the road speed. 70mph cruises will require more regular top ups than 30mph crawls.
Its not a cheap car to run by any stretch of the imagination, but at the same time there are more expensive equivalents out there. Fuel is the biggest issue as they only drink VPower or similar.
Edited by ecain63 on Saturday 16th July 09:39
inkiboo said:
I'm running with the idea of getting a E61 M5 and when (not if) the SMG spits the dummy, chucking in the manual box from the E39. They offer it in the States so it should be relatively easy.
A V10. A manual box. An estate.
I'd keep it forever.
Dunno about it being easy! Not even sure its the box from the E39 thats used.A V10. A manual box. An estate.
I'd keep it forever.
The trouble with doing a manual conversion on this type of car is that: A: its going to be a b
h of a job, B: Its going to be even more of a bh of a job than you first thought, and C: its going to cost you a packet, which you'll never get back on resale. One big issue is that you'll need to find a US spec ECU and TCU to replace the Euro spec ECU and SMGTCU in your car and then have it adapeted to accept your Euro chassis and harware. The US cars have different rev limits and criteria to the Euro ones and the manual ones have a completely seperate set of rules and components again. I dont think it'll be a straight forward job at all. In fact, i think you'd be mad to undertake such a project without massive cash outlay and heartache. The manual conversion on the C5 RS6 took 7 years to come to fruition due the complex coding and integration of a manual system into an automatic car. It was a big job mechanically too. New drive shafts to take the torque and odd shaft lengths, a clutch to suit the car, 1st and 2nd gear adjusted rev limits so you dont smash the box with too much power / torque, etc etc. I know for a fact that the E60 / 61 is an even more complex beast and the complications of mating a manual box, adapting the downshift blips etc, adapting a 5 or 6 speed box instead of a 7 speed, fitting a proper manual clutch as opposed to a computer operated one, blah blah blah, is going to be horrific!! I cannot even begin to consider the work required. If you have the money then im sure somebody (Evolve or CA maybe) would undertake it for you, but i'd expect a £20k bill for the 6-12 months of hard work they'd need to do the job. And then theres the issue of, 'is it actually reliable?'. ...................
Dont do it mate. You have 3 much more sensible options on this route:
1. When the SMG Clutch dies you just get a new one fitted & £2700 (or read my 'judder' file and claim on warranty).
2. Get something else with a manual box already installed.
3. Pay the extra duty to get a US car shipped over and live with the LHD life and no chance of resale.
Madness i tell thee!!
inkiboo said:
From speaking to various people it is a lot cheaper and a lot easier than you are suggesting. Obviously if it isn't then I won't attempt it but given how ste the SMG box is, it is something worth looking at.
Hmm! I'd never say the SMG was a ste the SMG box is, it is something worth looking at.te.com box, not in a million years. Its more of a Marmite box. If you have the patience and the time to get to know it then its actually pretty fantastic. If you are too hung up on the fact you have to actually learn its ways then I can see how you might get frustrated with it.Early SMG's had issues I agree but it seems the later ones suffer only from 2 ailments. 1: release bearing failure, 2: user error or abuse. The first is managable with a warranty and a loud voice, the other is curable with a pinch of mechanical sympathy.
Eddie
Manual M5's are supposed to be poor, engine doesn't suit a 6-speed box. BMW didn't want to do it and only a huge level of demand from the USA forced them to engineer it. They didn't make the option available anywhere else because I'm lead to believe from reviews and comments from a couple of people who've driven then that it just doesn't work.
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