M5 Touring - Hopefully not a duplicate thread
Discussion
I'm looking at getting an M5 Touring, either 2007 or 2008, and I have a few questions that hopefully people on here can help with. I've read through the most recent 30 pages or so of posts on this forum, I've looked on m5board (which seems to be a bit too US focused) and I've ordered and read the March 2011 issue of Total BMW.
Lot's of what I've read makes a big deal out of the running costs. Fuel and Tyres I think I can live with. My 156 GTA only does between 220 and 300 miles on a tank (Approx 62 litres of vPower), and gets through a pair of front tyres in under 10,000 miles (although they're probably half the price of tyres for the M5). Assuming I have a BMW insurance based warranty, what else am I looking at. I'm comfortable with £2,000 / year for servicing (excluding tyres) and another £2,000 / year for "unexpected" items. Is this realistic?
Then it comes down to buying the right car. I've seen posts that mention that any BMW dealer will give you a full service printout from the last 7 digits of the chassis number. Is this correct? I can understand this if you're buying that particular car from that dealer, but for some random car that you've looked at, that seems unlikely to me. Is there something I'm missing here? Also, is there any way to get some kind of diagnostic output that tells you what kind of life the car has had? I know you can get this for a recent 911 or a GT-R, where you can find out how many launch control starts it's done, how many times the engine has hit the rev limiter and all sorts of other useful information. Can you get anything like this for an M5?
If the service history shows the clutch has been replaced is this a good thing, or a bad thing?
If the car has the optional tow bar fitted, is this definitely a bad thing? Using an M5 to tow a race car is one thing, but the occasional trip to the tip with garden waste in a trailer is better than using the interior of the car for the same.
Is there anything wrong with buying a car that started life as a dealer demonstrator?
Given that the car I buy is likely to be 4 years old I'm not expecting to be able to find a one owner car, but what about a 4 year old car with 3, 4 or more owners? This rings alarm bells for me, but maybe it's common practice on high performance cars.
Lastly, prices. There doesn't seem to me to be a massive price difference between cars from BMW dealers, cars from independent dealers and cars from private sellers. The price differences seem to be mostly down to mileage. Again, from what I've read there were about 120 right hand drive E61 Tourings sold in the UK, and currently there are probably between 15 - 20 for sale, many of which appear to have been for sale for a while, and the sellers have been gradually dropping the prices. I'm aware there is potentially a major difference between the warranty you might get from an independent dealer and the warranty you get through BMW, but is there any difference between the warranty you get when buying an "Approved Used Car" from BMW and the insurance backed warranty you take out from BMW when that one expires? (apart from the fact you pay for it). If there is no difference, then if the pricing is good enough to outweigh the hassle factor I would assume that buying a car from an independent dealer, taking a further discount instead of their warranty and buying a BMW warranty and waiting a month may well turn out to be worthwhile. Having said all that, from my very non-scientific scan of the cars advertised at the moment, the premium for buying a BMW "AUC" does not appear to be that high. However, it may be that the prices advertised by the independent dealers have significant room for negotiation. Does anyone have any first hand experience of advertised vs. actual prices? What are BMW dealers like with giving discounts on 2nd hand cars?
What's the deal with the red leather interior. In photos it doesn't look that appealling, is it any different for real? Should it impact the price?
Apologies if this is going over old ground, but I have done a fair amount of forum searching before starting this thread.
Lot's of what I've read makes a big deal out of the running costs. Fuel and Tyres I think I can live with. My 156 GTA only does between 220 and 300 miles on a tank (Approx 62 litres of vPower), and gets through a pair of front tyres in under 10,000 miles (although they're probably half the price of tyres for the M5). Assuming I have a BMW insurance based warranty, what else am I looking at. I'm comfortable with £2,000 / year for servicing (excluding tyres) and another £2,000 / year for "unexpected" items. Is this realistic?
Then it comes down to buying the right car. I've seen posts that mention that any BMW dealer will give you a full service printout from the last 7 digits of the chassis number. Is this correct? I can understand this if you're buying that particular car from that dealer, but for some random car that you've looked at, that seems unlikely to me. Is there something I'm missing here? Also, is there any way to get some kind of diagnostic output that tells you what kind of life the car has had? I know you can get this for a recent 911 or a GT-R, where you can find out how many launch control starts it's done, how many times the engine has hit the rev limiter and all sorts of other useful information. Can you get anything like this for an M5?
If the service history shows the clutch has been replaced is this a good thing, or a bad thing?
If the car has the optional tow bar fitted, is this definitely a bad thing? Using an M5 to tow a race car is one thing, but the occasional trip to the tip with garden waste in a trailer is better than using the interior of the car for the same.
Is there anything wrong with buying a car that started life as a dealer demonstrator?
Given that the car I buy is likely to be 4 years old I'm not expecting to be able to find a one owner car, but what about a 4 year old car with 3, 4 or more owners? This rings alarm bells for me, but maybe it's common practice on high performance cars.
Lastly, prices. There doesn't seem to me to be a massive price difference between cars from BMW dealers, cars from independent dealers and cars from private sellers. The price differences seem to be mostly down to mileage. Again, from what I've read there were about 120 right hand drive E61 Tourings sold in the UK, and currently there are probably between 15 - 20 for sale, many of which appear to have been for sale for a while, and the sellers have been gradually dropping the prices. I'm aware there is potentially a major difference between the warranty you might get from an independent dealer and the warranty you get through BMW, but is there any difference between the warranty you get when buying an "Approved Used Car" from BMW and the insurance backed warranty you take out from BMW when that one expires? (apart from the fact you pay for it). If there is no difference, then if the pricing is good enough to outweigh the hassle factor I would assume that buying a car from an independent dealer, taking a further discount instead of their warranty and buying a BMW warranty and waiting a month may well turn out to be worthwhile. Having said all that, from my very non-scientific scan of the cars advertised at the moment, the premium for buying a BMW "AUC" does not appear to be that high. However, it may be that the prices advertised by the independent dealers have significant room for negotiation. Does anyone have any first hand experience of advertised vs. actual prices? What are BMW dealers like with giving discounts on 2nd hand cars?
What's the deal with the red leather interior. In photos it doesn't look that appealling, is it any different for real? Should it impact the price?
Apologies if this is going over old ground, but I have done a fair amount of forum searching before starting this thread.
omniflow said:
I'm looking at getting an M5 Touring, either 2007 or 2008, and I have a few questions that hopefully people on here can help with. I've read through the most recent 30 pages or so of posts on this forum, I've looked on m5board (which seems to be a bit too US focused) and I've ordered and read the March 2011 issue of Total BMW.
Lot's of what I've read makes a big deal out of the running costs. Fuel and Tyres I think I can live with. My 156 GTA only does between 220 and 300 miles on a tank (Approx 62 litres of vPower), and gets through a pair of front tyres in under 10,000 miles (although they're probably half the price of tyres for the M5). Assuming I have a BMW insurance based warranty, what else am I looking at. I'm comfortable with £2,000 / year for servicing (excluding tyres) and another £2,000 / year for "unexpected" items. Is this realistic?
Then it comes down to buying the right car. I've seen posts that mention that any BMW dealer will give you a full service printout from the last 7 digits of the chassis number. Is this correct? I can understand this if you're buying that particular car from that dealer, but for some random car that you've looked at, that seems unlikely to me. Is there something I'm missing here? Also, is there any way to get some kind of diagnostic output that tells you what kind of life the car has had? I know you can get this for a recent 911 or a GT-R, where you can find out how many launch control starts it's done, how many times the engine has hit the rev limiter and all sorts of other useful information. Can you get anything like this for an M5?
If the service history shows the clutch has been replaced is this a good thing, or a bad thing?
If the car has the optional tow bar fitted, is this definitely a bad thing? Using an M5 to tow a race car is one thing, but the occasional trip to the tip with garden waste in a trailer is better than using the interior of the car for the same.
Is there anything wrong with buying a car that started life as a dealer demonstrator?
Given that the car I buy is likely to be 4 years old I'm not expecting to be able to find a one owner car, but what about a 4 year old car with 3, 4 or more owners? This rings alarm bells for me, but maybe it's common practice on high performance cars.
Lastly, prices. There doesn't seem to me to be a massive price difference between cars from BMW dealers, cars from independent dealers and cars from private sellers. The price differences seem to be mostly down to mileage. Again, from what I've read there were about 120 right hand drive E61 Tourings sold in the UK, and currently there are probably between 15 - 20 for sale, many of which appear to have been for sale for a while, and the sellers have been gradually dropping the prices. I'm aware there is potentially a major difference between the warranty you might get from an independent dealer and the warranty you get through BMW, but is there any difference between the warranty you get when buying an "Approved Used Car" from BMW and the insurance backed warranty you take out from BMW when that one expires? (apart from the fact you pay for it). If there is no difference, then if the pricing is good enough to outweigh the hassle factor I would assume that buying a car from an independent dealer, taking a further discount instead of their warranty and buying a BMW warranty and waiting a month may well turn out to be worthwhile. Having said all that, from my very non-scientific scan of the cars advertised at the moment, the premium for buying a BMW "AUC" does not appear to be that high. However, it may be that the prices advertised by the independent dealers have significant room for negotiation. Does anyone have any first hand experience of advertised vs. actual prices? What are BMW dealers like with giving discounts on 2nd hand cars?
What's the deal with the red leather interior. In photos it doesn't look that appealling, is it any different for real? Should it impact the price?
Apologies if this is going over old ground, but I have done a fair amount of forum searching before starting this thread.
Dealership Service History Printout: They cannot print the whole history im affraid, they can only print out history from that particular dealership if the car has been there for work. However they can tell you what other dealers the car has been to so you can phone them. They can be funny about client confidentiality though so dont be suprised if they can only give you a brief summary rather than the complete invoices. Lot's of what I've read makes a big deal out of the running costs. Fuel and Tyres I think I can live with. My 156 GTA only does between 220 and 300 miles on a tank (Approx 62 litres of vPower), and gets through a pair of front tyres in under 10,000 miles (although they're probably half the price of tyres for the M5). Assuming I have a BMW insurance based warranty, what else am I looking at. I'm comfortable with £2,000 / year for servicing (excluding tyres) and another £2,000 / year for "unexpected" items. Is this realistic?
Then it comes down to buying the right car. I've seen posts that mention that any BMW dealer will give you a full service printout from the last 7 digits of the chassis number. Is this correct? I can understand this if you're buying that particular car from that dealer, but for some random car that you've looked at, that seems unlikely to me. Is there something I'm missing here? Also, is there any way to get some kind of diagnostic output that tells you what kind of life the car has had? I know you can get this for a recent 911 or a GT-R, where you can find out how many launch control starts it's done, how many times the engine has hit the rev limiter and all sorts of other useful information. Can you get anything like this for an M5?
If the service history shows the clutch has been replaced is this a good thing, or a bad thing?
If the car has the optional tow bar fitted, is this definitely a bad thing? Using an M5 to tow a race car is one thing, but the occasional trip to the tip with garden waste in a trailer is better than using the interior of the car for the same.
Is there anything wrong with buying a car that started life as a dealer demonstrator?
Given that the car I buy is likely to be 4 years old I'm not expecting to be able to find a one owner car, but what about a 4 year old car with 3, 4 or more owners? This rings alarm bells for me, but maybe it's common practice on high performance cars.
Lastly, prices. There doesn't seem to me to be a massive price difference between cars from BMW dealers, cars from independent dealers and cars from private sellers. The price differences seem to be mostly down to mileage. Again, from what I've read there were about 120 right hand drive E61 Tourings sold in the UK, and currently there are probably between 15 - 20 for sale, many of which appear to have been for sale for a while, and the sellers have been gradually dropping the prices. I'm aware there is potentially a major difference between the warranty you might get from an independent dealer and the warranty you get through BMW, but is there any difference between the warranty you get when buying an "Approved Used Car" from BMW and the insurance backed warranty you take out from BMW when that one expires? (apart from the fact you pay for it). If there is no difference, then if the pricing is good enough to outweigh the hassle factor I would assume that buying a car from an independent dealer, taking a further discount instead of their warranty and buying a BMW warranty and waiting a month may well turn out to be worthwhile. Having said all that, from my very non-scientific scan of the cars advertised at the moment, the premium for buying a BMW "AUC" does not appear to be that high. However, it may be that the prices advertised by the independent dealers have significant room for negotiation. Does anyone have any first hand experience of advertised vs. actual prices? What are BMW dealers like with giving discounts on 2nd hand cars?
What's the deal with the red leather interior. In photos it doesn't look that appealling, is it any different for real? Should it impact the price?
Apologies if this is going over old ground, but I have done a fair amount of forum searching before starting this thread.
Diagnostic / Black Box check: Yes you can have the car downloaded at a dealer.. They then send the files to BMW Germany and they can tell instantly every single aspect of the cars life. ie. clutch temps, useage, abuse etc. Its essential you get a car with as little abuse as possible as they can cherry pick what the warranty will cover if they find your car was beaten like a boyed up 1.0 Nova.
A new clutch is a good thing and not unusual so long as its been done along with the flywheel, release bearing and guide bush (and make sure it has been greased properly). They tend to last around 30'000 to 50'000 miles and will sting you around £3k for the job. Ive managed to get a few guys clutches done on warranty after the mysterious 'Judder' appeared. Read the thread i started back in Feb / March time. Town driving will kill the clutch a lot quicker (maybe 20'000 miles) than motorway stuff (up to 100'000 miles in Marks case). Always drive in paddle mode, auto is dog-toffee.
Dealer demonstrators are normally very well specced to prove the brand so never a bad thing. They will have a good service history too. Point to note, ensure the car you choose has had its run in service at circa 1200 miles.
Tow bar: Was not an option on the M5! Your call at the end of the day. I wouldnt do it but i know there are people who have them fitted and tow caravans quite happily. Audi RS warranties are voided if a towbar is fitted, im not sure if the same applies to the BMW M range.
Dont let the owner thing get to you. It was an exec toy when it was released and most were moved on after only a few months showing off with the golfing crowd. From there the cars end up with the the well-heeled family guy as a break form the Range Rover. A year passes, maybe two and the bills are looming. Along comes the PHer or the M5Board enthusiast and this is where we are now. The car will be fine in 90% of cases (higher percentage of good cars compared to the E60 just by the nature of its appeal) as they are normally owned by sensible, cash happy owners who dont mind the BMW stealer bills. The upside to this is the sparklingly clean history. A one owner car is obviously a better prospect.
No difference in warranty if you buy the car from BMW or if you buy the BMW Warranty from Mondial privately. They are the same thing. The only thing you will need to do if you buy the warranty yourself is wait the obligatory 30 day run in period (unless you buy a private car with warranty running). Its a nervous period but the warranty is a MUST! And get the monthly payment option as the price wont change with the mileage or age (loop hole). Note: you cannot buy a fresh BMW warranty for a car with more than 60'000 miles on it.
Red leather never photographs well, however in the flesh it looks really good. It doesnt wear too well though and if its not looked after it'll look like a cheap hookers minge flaps (sorry, was too tempting not to write). I quite like it, but thats me. I went for black leather in the end but in hind sight.......... (cannot complain really).
Hope that helps.
Eddie
p.s. 222 cars came to the UK, after 4 years only 160 or so remain on the road. Thats good odds???
Like you I'm looking for an M5 with a strong preference for the E61 touring.
I've looked at 4 cars recently and there's very variable quality even at BMW main dealers. Two of the cars I looked at had clearly not been cherished (dings, stone-chips, scratches, coffee stains, nackered kickplates, peeling trim), one had had the entire passenger side resprayed at some point (a paint depth gauge is your friend). Looked at one today I might well have bought, but for the derisory trade in from the group's porsche centre on my boxster (£2.5k less than it was under-written at elsewhere a month ago!)
So overall, given the number of E61 M5's in the country, be prepared for a long and drawn out search.
Gary.
I've looked at 4 cars recently and there's very variable quality even at BMW main dealers. Two of the cars I looked at had clearly not been cherished (dings, stone-chips, scratches, coffee stains, nackered kickplates, peeling trim), one had had the entire passenger side resprayed at some point (a paint depth gauge is your friend). Looked at one today I might well have bought, but for the derisory trade in from the group's porsche centre on my boxster (£2.5k less than it was under-written at elsewhere a month ago!)
So overall, given the number of E61 M5's in the country, be prepared for a long and drawn out search.
Gary.
Two things - towbar was an option and can be retrofitted. It does not void the warranty either.
Secondly, you can buy warranty on cars with more than 60k miles, but the cost doubles to £2.5k
BMW dealers are happy to negotiate a price
The AUC Monaco Blue for £30.85k is great spec - I have the same car - and I am sure you can work from there.
Secondly, you can buy warranty on cars with more than 60k miles, but the cost doubles to £2.5k
BMW dealers are happy to negotiate a price
The AUC Monaco Blue for £30.85k is great spec - I have the same car - and I am sure you can work from there. Cheburator mk2 said:
Two things - towbar was an option and can be retrofitted. It does not void the warranty either.
Secondly, you can buy warranty on cars with more than 60k miles, but the cost doubles to £2.5k
BMW dealers are happy to negotiate a price The AUC Monaco Blue for £30.85k is great spec - I have the same car - and I am sure you can work from there.
Tow bar: Every day is a school day. Still wouldnt fit one though. Just wrong on an M in my opinion.Secondly, you can buy warranty on cars with more than 60k miles, but the cost doubles to £2.5k
BMW dealers are happy to negotiate a price
The AUC Monaco Blue for £30.85k is great spec - I have the same car - and I am sure you can work from there. Warranty: Its my belief that you cannot buy a warranty for a ny BMW car with more than 60k miles unless the warranty is a renewal for an existing policy. Thats what i was told by Mondial. The price also only increases if you buy the annual policy, not the monthly one.
As eddie has already said, red leather looks much nicer in the flesh than in pictures, I had imola red leather in an M3 a few years back and I always preferred it over black. With prices where they are I'd hold out for a car from a franchised dealer, it's worth it for the quibble free warranty, my last three cars have been AUC M's and I'd always go main dealer over third party / private just for peace of mind - I know others will disagree but each to their own.
BTW I always thought that the AUC warranty was more comprehensive than the extended warranty?
BTW I always thought that the AUC warranty was more comprehensive than the extended warranty?
Edited by CSLchappie on Sunday 4th September 22:28
ecain63 said:
Warranty: Its my belief that you cannot buy a warranty for a ny BMW car with more than 60k miles unless the warranty is a renewal for an existing policy. Thats what i was told by Mondial. The price also only increases if you buy the annual policy, not a monthly one...
Trust me, you can buy whatever warranty you want on a car over 60k miles. I have the email from Mondial with the various options in front of me. The cost is double vs. sub 60k miles cars. The loop hole with the monthly payment is not quite as you put it either...It only works on cars which are sub 60k miles. If your car is over 60k and you are putting a new policy on it, even the pay monthly will be massive...
The cut off point for new warranty policies is 100k miles or 10yrs. Mondial gets funny about what is covered and what is not.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for all the replies.
Would a complete re-spray of one side be picked up by a thorough check of paperwork (including an HPI check)?
My real qustion on the towbar is "should I avoid a car that's got a towbar fitted?", I've seen a couple advertised that mention it.
I hope to buy something with 30k - 50k miles on it, and even with a 50k car I won't be going over 60k in year one, so I would hope the warranty thing is straightforward.
I know this has been asked before, but what exactly constitutes a "great spec"? Sound Systems don't bother me at all, neither do air conditioned seats. Wheels are a very subjective issue and every car seems to have the aluminium trim. What else is there?
Would a complete re-spray of one side be picked up by a thorough check of paperwork (including an HPI check)?
My real qustion on the towbar is "should I avoid a car that's got a towbar fitted?", I've seen a couple advertised that mention it.
I hope to buy something with 30k - 50k miles on it, and even with a 50k car I won't be going over 60k in year one, so I would hope the warranty thing is straightforward.
I know this has been asked before, but what exactly constitutes a "great spec"? Sound Systems don't bother me at all, neither do air conditioned seats. Wheels are a very subjective issue and every car seems to have the aluminium trim. What else is there?
Cherb, I think we are both trying to say the same thing. Getting it to read right on paper is the difficult bit. Anyway, the OP will work it out.
Spec wise, all M5's have the tag, 'great / massive / huge / great spec'. Its what actually goes into the spec list that makes the difference. Leather comes in a couple of different varieties in terms of style and amount of coverage. Colour is personal so take your pick. Logic 7 stereo is a must and the tv facility is cool but not essential. Auto open / close tailgate is handy also. Wheels come in 2 styles, the standard M5 types and the M6 style. Because of the E61's unique wheel offsets its near impossible to switch between styles once you have the car. So make sure your car has the wheels you want, unless you're happy to pay the wedge BMW are asking for new rims.
Eddie
Spec wise, all M5's have the tag, 'great / massive / huge / great spec'. Its what actually goes into the spec list that makes the difference. Leather comes in a couple of different varieties in terms of style and amount of coverage. Colour is personal so take your pick. Logic 7 stereo is a must and the tv facility is cool but not essential. Auto open / close tailgate is handy also. Wheels come in 2 styles, the standard M5 types and the M6 style. Because of the E61's unique wheel offsets its near impossible to switch between styles once you have the car. So make sure your car has the wheels you want, unless you're happy to pay the wedge BMW are asking for new rims.
Eddie
omniflow said:
Would a complete re-spray of one side be picked up by a thorough check of paperwork (including an HPI check)?
No, there was nothing on the records for this. And a HPI check wouldn't pick it up unless what had necessitated the respray was an accident writing off the car...and at a main dealer this isn't going to be the case. omniflow said:
My real qustion on the towbar is "should I avoid a car that's got a towbar fitted?", I've seen a couple advertised that mention it.
A tow bar wouldn't really bother me. It's hardly likely to have been in constant use on this sort of car, and I doubt any 8000+ rpm ragging would have taken place with a caravan or trailer behind.omniflow said:
I know this has been asked before, but what exactly constitutes a "great spec"? Sound Systems don't bother me at all, neither do air conditioned seats. Wheels are a very subjective issue and every car seems to have the aluminium trim. What else is there?
Full leather was an expensive option and the main thing that seems to differentiate.Gary.
I would agree with Hedgeman... Mine has no towbar, but I will be getting one retrofitted by Sytner in Harold Wood as I would like to tow my race car to meetings. Does anyone seriously think I would be doing launch control starts with a trailer with a Porsche on it? 
Paint work - ask why the side was resprayed? When I bought mine, it had quite a few stone chips on the bonnet and the PU. I saw the car in person before, and Sytner offered a full bonnet and PU respray as part of the deal. It was done in their bodyshop, so I did not mind and actually felt was getting a decent deal as now the paint looks mint from every angle. If the side has been resprayed because someone drove a dumper truck into it, I might have a problem with that...
Specs - most of them are well specced, after all it was a 70k+ car when brand new. As Eddie says, Logic 7 is a must, the rest could be horses for courses and down to how much you may want to spend. It took me 8 months to buy mine. I paid more than my initial budget, but I also got higher spec than what I wanted initially. I realised that I could not live without the full leather option...
Here is a spec list of mine:
Full leather in Black - it really lifts the interior
Soft close doors - very useful if you have kids
Logic 7 - has made me enjoy music again
M-seats - I like the extra support
BMW Assist/Telematics - no idea what it does
I think all the other stuff comes as standard on the M5 - like cornering lights, high beam assist, auto tail gate, extra power sockets, blah blah...
Get one. The best car that I have owned - not the fastest, not the pretiest, but it far exceeds the sums of its parts...
Paint work - ask why the side was resprayed? When I bought mine, it had quite a few stone chips on the bonnet and the PU. I saw the car in person before, and Sytner offered a full bonnet and PU respray as part of the deal. It was done in their bodyshop, so I did not mind and actually felt was getting a decent deal as now the paint looks mint from every angle. If the side has been resprayed because someone drove a dumper truck into it, I might have a problem with that...
Specs - most of them are well specced, after all it was a 70k+ car when brand new. As Eddie says, Logic 7 is a must, the rest could be horses for courses and down to how much you may want to spend. It took me 8 months to buy mine. I paid more than my initial budget, but I also got higher spec than what I wanted initially. I realised that I could not live without the full leather option...
Here is a spec list of mine:
Full leather in Black - it really lifts the interior
Soft close doors - very useful if you have kids
Logic 7 - has made me enjoy music again
M-seats - I like the extra support
BMW Assist/Telematics - no idea what it does
I think all the other stuff comes as standard on the M5 - like cornering lights, high beam assist, auto tail gate, extra power sockets, blah blah...
Get one. The best car that I have owned - not the fastest, not the pretiest, but it far exceeds the sums of its parts...
Just picking up a couple of your comments :
- BMW warranty is a must. Whilst it’s rare my M6 needed a new engine whist I had it which would have been £15k+ (from a main dealer) without the warranty. Personally I’d always buy a car like this from a main dealer even if it was a few quid more.
- On the subject of funny coloured seats back in around 2004 I bought a E46 M3 with Kiwi leather (basically it’s yellow). I liked it however no one else in the world did. I got the car a bit cheaper when I bought it because of the interior. There was lot of sucking of air through teeth when it came to trade in time and I traded it in for a bit less then a car with a normal interior would have made. If you like the seats / can live with them and buy at the right price not a problem.
- Finally for the money these are very special cars. Engine is fantastic. I still have fond memories of mine.
- BMW warranty is a must. Whilst it’s rare my M6 needed a new engine whist I had it which would have been £15k+ (from a main dealer) without the warranty. Personally I’d always buy a car like this from a main dealer even if it was a few quid more.
- On the subject of funny coloured seats back in around 2004 I bought a E46 M3 with Kiwi leather (basically it’s yellow). I liked it however no one else in the world did. I got the car a bit cheaper when I bought it because of the interior. There was lot of sucking of air through teeth when it came to trade in time and I traded it in for a bit less then a car with a normal interior would have made. If you like the seats / can live with them and buy at the right price not a problem.
- Finally for the money these are very special cars. Engine is fantastic. I still have fond memories of mine.
Vroomer said:
ecain63 said:
p.s. 222 cars came to the UK, after 4 years only 160 or so remain on the road. Thats good odds???
Where did that statistic come from?If true, does it mean 28% are written off?
Sorry wasnt 160 or so, its 181. Still a loss of 41 cars.
http://howmanyleft.co.uk/?q=bmw+m5
The detailed information page (http://howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/bmw_m5_touring) shows 203 new registrations from 2007 to 2010 and 181 currently registered with 4 SORN. So 18 either written off or exported since registration. So roughly 10% no longer with us.
And looks like roughly 1640 E60 M5s
And looks like roughly 1640 E60 M5s
Ah I admire your interest for the E61 M5, what a stunning car. Hope I can help, as I had similar concerns a few months ago in search of my M6.
With a warranty, tyres will be your greatest cost at circa £300 a pop. Your £4,000 a year is way too generous, I'd imagine a quarter of that would suffice inclusive of tyres.
Launch control numbers can be found in diagnostics.
For the work history, any BMW dealership can provide you an internal print out of any work carried out at by a BMW dealer. Insist on it, I had to.
A clutch change is perfectly normal around 30k miles, give or take ten for city/motorway bias. Rather have it done than not.
Multiple owners is to be expected, this car has halved in price whilst petrol prices have doubled.
Buy AUC (and pinch them for a 2 year warranty) and buy on condition, other than that enjoy!
With a warranty, tyres will be your greatest cost at circa £300 a pop. Your £4,000 a year is way too generous, I'd imagine a quarter of that would suffice inclusive of tyres.
Launch control numbers can be found in diagnostics.
For the work history, any BMW dealership can provide you an internal print out of any work carried out at by a BMW dealer. Insist on it, I had to.
A clutch change is perfectly normal around 30k miles, give or take ten for city/motorway bias. Rather have it done than not.
Multiple owners is to be expected, this car has halved in price whilst petrol prices have doubled.
Buy AUC (and pinch them for a 2 year warranty) and buy on condition, other than that enjoy!
ecain63 said:
The total UK car figure came from BMW. The 160 or so that remain comes from 'how many left'.
Sorry wasnt 160 or so, its 181. Still a loss of 41 cars.
http://howmanyleft.co.uk/?q=bmw+m5
Ignore that site, it's widly inaccurate. Apparently there's only 10 VW Corrado VR6 Storms left, when in fact there are probably more actually for sale at the moment. Errors down to overpaid and unmotivated civil servants...Sorry wasnt 160 or so, its 181. Still a loss of 41 cars.
http://howmanyleft.co.uk/?q=bmw+m5
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