RE: BMW M5 (E39): PH Heroes

[POORCARDEALER]

ChemicalChaos said:

I still don't get why people fawn over 5 series, even though it is an M5, so much. The interior plastics are horrible, as is the design of the dashboard. A mixture of elephants arse rubber, and tacky and fragile feeling plastic "metal" finishing strips.

Then there's the engine. Yes it sounds nice, if in a slightly muted kind of way. But..... woeful cooling issues with undersized radiators that silt up irreversibly, weak head gaskets that go at about 120k miles, hugely complex and expensive vanos units whose oil seals fail and give you a huge power dip instead of coming on cam, as well as making the engine rattle like a diesel at idle (all 3 of which of which happened to the lesser M62 version in my Range Rover), and of course the crap plastic timing chain guides that break too.

It may be a few years older, and much more rust prone, but I'll take a Lotus Carlton instead thanks.

Having owned a Lotus Carlton I find your comment abut interior plastics an odd one....my M5 is leagues ahead in quality over the Vauxhall.

My car has done 142K miles and has needed nothing barring a diff seal and consumables.

[dickyf]

where are all the early cars? i see loads of angel eyes but very few early cars. Ive been looking for a good example for a while.

[AreOut]

newer ones are better made (VANOS etc.) and usually consume less oil

[TheAngryDog]

Patrick Bateman said:

You sound fortunate but I would suggest it's a naive way to enter ownership if you want one to drive as they should.

Curious as to how many cars are still on original dampers etc.

Both of mine were I believe when I sold them - 129k and 141k miles respectively.

Khaki Suit said:

I done the exact same thing. Everyone had M5's at the time so I thought I'd be different and pick the Merc. Hated the E55, although mine was the W210. It was very front end heavy, too smooth to feel fast and rusted like no-bodies business. Although I see from this thread the M5 was no better for rusting.

I've still never owned an E39 M5 (and probably never will now) but I've had other E39's and the handling was leagues ahead of the Merc IMHO.

My old M5 on tired suspension handled better than my current W211 E55. The E55 is like a sledgehammer though whereas the M5 just feels like a quick car.

ChemicalChaos said:

I still don't get why people fawn over 5 series, even though it is an M5, so much. The interior plastics are horrible, as is the design of the dashboard. A mixture of elephants arse rubber, and tacky and fragile feeling plastic "metal" finishing strips.

Then there's the engine. Yes it sounds nice, if in a slightly muted kind of way. But..... woeful cooling issues with undersized radiators that silt up irreversibly, weak head gaskets that go at about 120k miles, hugely complex and expensive vanos units whose oil seals fail and give you a huge power dip instead of coming on cam, as well as making the engine rattle like a diesel at idle (all 3 of which of which happened to the lesser M62 version in my Range Rover), and of course the crap plastic timing chain guides that break too.

It may be a few years older, and much more rust prone, but I'll take a Lotus Carlton instead thanks.

• checks posters, notice it is ChemicalChaos, realises comments are bks*

The M5 doesn't have a weak cooling system, the interior is actually a very good one, much better than my 2004 E55. No head gasket issues on either of my old ones at 129k miles and 141k miles. VANOS units while a little noisy (they were never designed to be quiet from the start) were perfectly fine.

Timing chain guides seemed fine on my cars at 129k and 141k miles, no signs of chain slap. It doesn't suffer the coking issues of the Audi S/RS V8 / V10 engines, doesn't suffer timing chain stretch of the Vauxhall 2.8 V6 Turbo engines etc. TBH the S62 V8 is pretty reliable all things considered.

[Khaki Suit]

TheAngryDog said:

Khaki Suit said:

I done the exact same thing. Everyone had M5's at the time so I thought I'd be different and pick the Merc. Hated the E55, although mine was the W210. It was very front end heavy, too smooth to feel fast and rusted like no-bodies business. Although I see from this thread the M5 was no better for rusting.

I've still never owned an E39 M5 (and probably never will now) but I've had other E39's and the handling was leagues ahead of the Merc IMHO.

My old M5 on tired suspension handled better than my current W211 E55. The E55 is like a sledgehammer though whereas the M5 just feels like a quick car.

The W211 is a different beast though. So tuneable with the charger whereas the earlier W210, which I had, was a large N/A bore tbh. I'd say the W211 was more of competitor for the E60?

[AreOut]

I had to copy this comment from youtube...

"Overall best balance, driver`s car, M Division Philosophy embodied and organic Feel: E39

Crazy beast, overwhelming power, race heritaged exhaust note and never ending power delivery: E60

Technical perfection to an almost robotic feel, refined and safe for the casual driver while presenting a monstrous power output: F10

Hand made Cult Classic that every M Fan should drive at least once, should be appreciated taking in consideration the era when it was released. : E34

Don`t really think of these generations as competitors, they all have singular approaches."