e60 m5 vs amg 55
Discussion
A few years ago I was asking exactly the same question as I really did not know what route to take, I was an E39 M5 owner at the time.
To help me I asked the owner of a well respected indy who I know reasonably well whose business always did my servicing etc. The outfit are a BMW & Merc specialist and without hestitation he warned me off the Merc and said of the two the BMW was a no brainer.
He said the Mercs were far more unreliable, repairs were more expensive (ridiculously so) and build quality nowhere near as good,for me that pretty much made my mind up. I did fancy a bit of CL600 action but armed with his viewpoint and experience I went with the E60.
As it turned out I did have a few problems with the E60, I am not a high mileage user but in the first year it was in three times for work - it was not under warranty.
Being a low mileage user I decided against the warranty deciding to go with a 'war' chest instead. I am now a convert and would not have one without said warranty and thus now support the majority viewpoint on warranties.
The reliability of the M5 and M6 from my experience and a fair few others on here, I have now owned both over a 3 year period, is not great they are far from bullet proof. I guess the more of a thoroughbred a car is the more that can (and does) go wrong.
It is all down to personal choice which route you take, I could not decide but after taking his viewpoint on board I avoided the Merc like the plague. The BMW is likely to cost a few quid but should be the lesser of two evils.
Hope this helps.
To help me I asked the owner of a well respected indy who I know reasonably well whose business always did my servicing etc. The outfit are a BMW & Merc specialist and without hestitation he warned me off the Merc and said of the two the BMW was a no brainer.
He said the Mercs were far more unreliable, repairs were more expensive (ridiculously so) and build quality nowhere near as good,for me that pretty much made my mind up. I did fancy a bit of CL600 action but armed with his viewpoint and experience I went with the E60.
As it turned out I did have a few problems with the E60, I am not a high mileage user but in the first year it was in three times for work - it was not under warranty.
Being a low mileage user I decided against the warranty deciding to go with a 'war' chest instead. I am now a convert and would not have one without said warranty and thus now support the majority viewpoint on warranties.
The reliability of the M5 and M6 from my experience and a fair few others on here, I have now owned both over a 3 year period, is not great they are far from bullet proof. I guess the more of a thoroughbred a car is the more that can (and does) go wrong.
It is all down to personal choice which route you take, I could not decide but after taking his viewpoint on board I avoided the Merc like the plague. The BMW is likely to cost a few quid but should be the lesser of two evils.
Hope this helps.
stats007 said:
The V10 is a masterpiece, however the lack of torque I found frustrating - it also sounds horrible at idle. By comparison the 55k develops peak torque from 2650rpm and is just a monster.
A lot of people say that, even those who own or used to own M5/M6s.It's true that V10 lacks a bit of torque in comparison to 55k or 62NA
but I don't feel that at all on track or when driving enthusiastically on country roads.
It may be the case when you drive around town with use of low rpm range but it's certainly enough..
Use that wide rpm range properly, there's huge amount of torque and HP to be disposed at any gear.
I don't drive mercs just purely because they feel heavvy and drives a bit dull (sense of mechanical disconnection),
no offence to AMG owners..I love AMGs but M cars always came first to me..
sure you can have lots of fun drifting but you can do that in M cars anyways
and on the track, we're not Jeremy Clarkson.. most tracks wouldn't allow us to drift
I'm not going against you, just saying my thoughts..
I agree with the M5 route as I was looking at either an M5, E55 AMG or Audi RS4 but went with the M5 for the following reasons.
RS4 - Great car, went well, corners well, looks good, stops great, nice interior and the only reason I did not go for this is the fact that it does not feel special to drive at all. I did not get the same feeling I got when I got in the M5, which is all down to personnel opinion.
E55 AMG, as above really was great in most ways but the only way I can describe it again is it did not have the wow factor of the M5 and it felt like a large saloon and a bit disconnected.
M5 - Was the last car I drove and was instantly the one for me after driving all of them it was the one that had we still smiling after getting out, still thinking about how it drove and for me it just had that WOW factor the other 2 did not. Also for me the SMG III was great and I loved the way it worked, however that is certainly my opinion as many people can's seem to get on with it.
I think in reality the E55 and M5 are both great cars just different and I think the only way of making a decision is to drive both and after the drive make a choice based on which one you liked the best. For me it was the M5 for others it would be the E55.
RS4 - Great car, went well, corners well, looks good, stops great, nice interior and the only reason I did not go for this is the fact that it does not feel special to drive at all. I did not get the same feeling I got when I got in the M5, which is all down to personnel opinion.
E55 AMG, as above really was great in most ways but the only way I can describe it again is it did not have the wow factor of the M5 and it felt like a large saloon and a bit disconnected.
M5 - Was the last car I drove and was instantly the one for me after driving all of them it was the one that had we still smiling after getting out, still thinking about how it drove and for me it just had that WOW factor the other 2 did not. Also for me the SMG III was great and I loved the way it worked, however that is certainly my opinion as many people can's seem to get on with it.
I think in reality the E55 and M5 are both great cars just different and I think the only way of making a decision is to drive both and after the drive make a choice based on which one you liked the best. For me it was the M5 for others it would be the E55.
Better gearbox, smaller and nimbler, but that's it.
A great choice, but not if you've had an M5 first (in my opinion).
M5 is far mor comfortable and spacious, a fabulous tourer and is significantly faster on the highway, where it brutally exposes the superiority of that V10 over the V8.
Can't remember who said it, but words to the effect that the M3 is a boys' toy, but the M5 is the Daddy!!
A great choice, but not if you've had an M5 first (in my opinion).
M5 is far mor comfortable and spacious, a fabulous tourer and is significantly faster on the highway, where it brutally exposes the superiority of that V10 over the V8.
Can't remember who said it, but words to the effect that the M3 is a boys' toy, but the M5 is the Daddy!!
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