E39 M5 - Financial Suicide or Automotive Liberation?

[V8Wagon]

I am lusting after an M5 at the moment and am interested to know what you guys generally think of 'em? Worth the money? money pit?

I had an Audi S6 last year which I absolutely loved (4.2 V8), however I got rid as it was preposterously uneconomical and there were some other niggles with the car I wasn't entirely happy with. A year later I now have a 2.4 petrol Honda Accord which does everything I wanted it to do when I bought it. It is well specced, reliable, reasonably torquey but oh so dull. I have however had a pay rise in the meantime and I also maybe sold the Audi in haste as I now realise I am happy to accept low MPG if it means the car is a hoot to drive.

I am seriosuly thinking of bagging an M5 around the £7k mark as it is widely regarded as pretty much 'the ultimate driving machine' for the common man.

Any thoughts?

[Ozzie Osmond]

V8Wagon said:

Any thoughts?

It's all good - so long as you keep back 5% of the NEW cost of the car to deal with any unexpected repair bills.

So that's about £3,000

Is it still working for you?

[V8Wagon]

Ozzie Osmond said:

It's all good - so long as you keep back 5% of the NEW cost of the car to deal with any unexpected repair bills.

So that's about £3,000

Is it still working for you?

Hell, Honda's are good cars ain't they?

I've got a credit card! Man, it must be just luck of the draw eh? I know someone who bought one with 170k on the clock about two years ago and has had no problem with it whatsoever apart from consumables.

[billzeebub]

automotive liberation with a few provisos..

For me the warning signs with any used car (but the more exotic the more pertinent it is) would be number of owners, more specificaly number of recent owners. You can tell hte last 2 from the V5 without any further digging through service history etc. If some aspirational-wannabe has owned it for a year or so and then sold it on with minimal fettling when large expense in the offing for a bit under market value to a similar person who then treats it the same that is the time to be wary in my opinion. I always check the obvious stuff like recent receipts, no significant gaps in service history, standard look, how the owner comes across and where they live..

..this is particularly so in current times with the price of fuel making big engined cars very financialy tempting to the great unwashed/unknowledgable..

..even with a good one, from my own M-car experience I would say allow yourself at least a couple of grand a year for servicing/maintenance..I also am a memeber of a well-known motoring organisations Mechanical Warranty Scheme, a good level of cover and fairly straight-forward..

[The Stiglet]

V8Wagon said:

I had an Audi S6 last year which I absolutely loved (4.2 V8), however I got rid as it was preposterously uneconomical and there were some other niggles with the car I wasn't entirely happy with.

Any thoughts?

AFAIK the E39 M5 will cost even more to run. Most S parts are cheaper than the M parts, which are comparative to RS priced items. You also had more parts from the standard 4.2 A6 model in your S6 so the costs should have been lower. When you say it was preposterously uneconomical, are we talking fuel, insurance or maintenance - or a combination of all of those?

TBH, really can't see an M5 being cheaper...

[V8Wagon]

No, I know it isn't going to be cheaper. I'm prepared for that. The S6 was the first large engined car I'd owned and it was a bit of a shock however I've now had time to think about it and I feel it's a price worth paying for the entertainment and feelgood factor a special car can bring. It was the MPG that did my head in at the time, however I had other niggles with the car tbh.

I'd have it back tomorrow tbh. I sold it and for the same money got a 2.4 Honda. OK it was four years newer with half the mileage, but it surely is half the fun too!

[martin84]

V8Wagon said:

Financial Suicide or Automotive Liberation?

Both

[The Stiglet]

Well 'they' say you can get 27-8 mpg on a cruise in the M5. Overall, I think it's closer to 20-21 mpg. Which, I imagine won't be miles away from the S6.

Might be a good idea to post in the BMW M forum as well.

[M5Tom]

To keep it simple......it's all round a better car than the S6 but WILL be more expensive to run.......I can't recommend the E39 M5 highly enough though!

[V8Wagon]

Yeh. Google is my friend tbh and the web is full of people spouting off about the M5. I just really can't see past it at the moment, I was kinda hoping my car-lust had been put to bed and I could just get on with the Honda and think about other things! But oh, no! I'm obsessing about M5, M5, M5. I think it's an itch I need to scratch, though not being particularly wealthy and with two very young children....it's a (potentially costly) gamble!

I was getting 14mpg in the Audi around the town...rising to low 20's on a motorway run.

Pic from last year....

Edited by V8Wagon on Saturday 19th November 02:14

[M5Tom]

You won't know until you try! If you get a decent one and decide you want to sell it a month later you won't lose money!

[Waynester]

They do seem to be a popular choice, me for one, I almost bought one earlier this year. I say nearly, I just didn't find a good enough example before my plans changed & I purchased a house.. which by the way has 'the slowest 0-60mph time ever!!

When I was looking my budget was around £10k, the more you pay now the less you pay in initial ownership. That's the theory anyway.

£7k is a bit tight on an E39. Can be done but..as above..^

E34 maybe?

If you do get one:

1. You're a git

2. Let me have a go

[Quinten]

Far from being the only one who keeps tracks of his costs, but have a look at my garage: http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showcar.asp?car...

Then if you ignore all the Upgrades (as they are non-essential) and Insurance (as that will be specific to you) cost, you'll see I had to spend £1497 since May 2010 in parts and servicing, of which £550 was due to 4x new tyres. My vote is for Automotive Liberation

[scarebus]

I loved my M5 to bits, but 4 Vanos replacements (2 on each bank remember) cost over £4000.
Also 17mpg, 275 rear tyres, high oil consumption made it a short ownership

Edited by scarebus on Saturday 19th November 09:54

[rb5er]

Übersuicide

[Jellyfishfields]

Deciding to buy an E39 M5 is the easy bit, trying to find one worth buying is where it gets difficult.

If my own experience was anything to go by you'll be looking at a lot of cars before finding a good one.

[Sods Law]

TBH I would look to spend 10-11k, find one of the ones that still has the BMW waranty in place, move the waranty to Direct debit, and keep it going. This would add to the resle value and reduce the risk.

[sparks_E39]

I read about one that cost £20k over 3 years recently and I think it might have been on here. So yes pretty expensive .

[tonys]

Surely, if you have to ask ...................

[sparks_E39]

tonys said:

Surely, if you have to ask ...................

This isn't the Aston Martin board you know