RE: BMW M5 (E34): PH Used Buying Guide

[Josco010]

Josco010 said:

You are so right. I'd say good luck to those who think they can have a decent e34 m5 for £10k. I know most owners who've owned these very special cars will not let it go for £15k. I for one will not even go look at any thing less than £17k period. i've had mine for 12 years now, i know what these cars entail and appreciate the effort that went into creating them. A word of warning, spend £10 k on a car then look for another near £15 to put it in good shape @ £6k for the EDC to be refurbed plus rust proofing and £10 large as already disappeared, forget the exhaust the steering, clutch etc. Lol yeah £10k indeed. Mine is for keeps anyways.

[Josco010]

Alex Gurr said:

I have had mine 11 years. Bought with 94,000 miles on the clock and now has 133,000. It has never left me stranded, but has required regular rolling restoration. Mine was OK when i got it, but had probably been looked after on the cheap by the last one or two owners. I think I have spent circa £30k on maintenance in the 11 years (it has just had a £7k bodywork and paint bill to address rotting sills). It is now immaculate and I expect expenditure to reduce as I am now back on top of everything.

Would i do it again? Absolutely yes. It is a stunning thing to drive. Fast, fun and reliable, but also capable of doing the everyday stuff without a complaint if you are so inclined!

Thats a bloody lovely car... Sweet.

[PomBstard]

I think these are fantastic cars, and I looked at a few to buy around 5 or so years ago. A mint example would have been about AU$20k. For reference, at the time I was looking at top-notch E28 M535is in the same bracket at good-condition E34 M5s. In the end I didn't think I wanted a four-door car for fun. Doh!

E34-3.2 said:

+1 body work on these cars is actually cheap. engine parts is another story but comparing with others cars of similar values of same age, I don't think that they are expensive to run. I got some quotes for the Body work of my 911 which will have bought me another M5!

Very true, work currently under consideration on the 928 would likely get me a half-decent E34 M5...

[mpcdonald]

Great car, but I can't believe it´s reliable. I had mine for just 1 year and had to spend 1000´s in repairs. When I bought it, was just 4 years old and around 40k miles. What went wrong. Airco failed, fuel pump, thermostat stopped working suddenly and cracked cylinderhead 5000€ without placing or valves. And when the car was in the garage for the repair, the garage went bust and I almost lost the car. Lost the money and the engine left open, I sold the car for just 4000€. And before you say something about maintenance, Full BMW history and it was a BMW dealer that went bust.

[3795mpower]

mpcdonald said:

Great car, but I can't believe it´s reliable. I had mine for just 1 year and had to spend 1000´s in repairs. When I bought it, was just 4 years old and around 40k miles. What went wrong. Airco failed, fuel pump, thermostat stopped working suddenly and cracked cylinderhead 5000€ without placing or valves. And when the car was in the garage for the repair, the garage went bust and I almost lost the car. Lost the money and the engine left open, I sold the car for just 4000€. And before you say something about maintenance, Full BMW history and it was a BMW dealer that went bust.

They mostly are reliable.
I've done 50'000+ miles in mine over a 19 year period.
It still enjoys trips to the redline.
It's never broken down and has only required sympathetic regular maintenance.

I do my own maintenance so I do a lot of preventative stuff such as underbody corrosion
Protection and replacing all cooling system hoses.
Using BMW tools I check the valve clearances every year regardless of miles done.

Frequent oil changes and always warmed up before being extended complete
The picture.

[Straight6er]

Thanks for the review.
The E34 M5 remains a great car, only let down by erratic parts supply & many key function parts now NLA. All this despite the promises from BMW Classic to support the last hand built //M saloon with those key function parts. We are attempting get Georg Blumoser , BMW Classic parts resource Manager to re-engage with the BMWCC make good on those discussions we had 7 years ago.
Seemingly innocuous parts that support key engine function are now gone. A shame. We are hopeful that this current state of affairs can be improved upon.... I have 2 E34 M5 restorations to complete. Time constraints just can't be applied to these classics that have lost much of the parts catalog since 2011.

I've run my 3.8 for 18 years & 115k miles, racking up a total of 200k miles & 500 laps of the Nordschleife combined with high speed trips across Europe. I've had my car recovered twice in all those years. An alternator charge fault & hydraulic ride height control valve dumping CHF11S all over the FDU. The rear EDC & SLS system supports the steering via a tandem vein steering pump so that was a full recovery moment. Many other failing parts have been changed or rebuilt totalling £40k.

The car was used by Richard Hammond for a Top Gear article in 2012. Those hard laps by us both at Dunsfold saw the end of the brake master cylinder that dropped a hydraulic circuit....down but not out, poor old girl. She's given so much & in return, just like every long term owner, I've replied in £££££ kind. The worst thing for these cars is long periods of inactivity. I removed parts from my own car to help a customer out. Little did I know that my own car would be out of action for 2 years due to "back order / NLA parts" The recommissioning was hardly ideal either.

Lots can go wrong. When, rather than if. Old complex car with a large harness that no one talks much about.. There's two extremes. An unmolested car & harness that give little trouble until you disturb them after 2 decades, or complete nightmare scenarios where numerous tampering of car combined with aftermarket alarms & associated gizmos have been installed to meet whichever feckless standard "Thatcham" used to pedal to insurance companies. Fortunately I have 3 hardback workshop manuals covering mechanical & electrical that I sourced, ironically after I'd repaired most of the cars foibles but was a god send for sanity checks these last years.

In summary of arguably the greatest handbuilt super saloon ever made.
I've restored them, rebuilt them, put racers together such that few surprises remain.
I've made friends because of the M5.
I've lost friends because of the M5 (not being psychic didn't help !)
The marque can be kind & cruel.

For all this, a near death experience with Pneumonia in 2017 forced some decisions & unexpected preparation upon us. Despite not being able to recall 3 months of my life, I clearly remember my wife to taking me out for what I thought at the time would be my last trip in my E34 M5. Hard to convey the mortality of that one, though I do recall the words of a fellow enthusiast "Ivan Dias" relaying a gem one liner when we were out at the Nordschleife a dozen years ago "You know, you're only looking after her for the next owner !"

2017 was a write off recovering from illness but the car & I live to tell the tale. For the first time in 12 years, my M5 will make the trip back to its true home in the Eiffel region for a few laps & a tour down to Munich.

I wish all owners of the E34 M5, luck & good fortune.

Edited by Straight6er on Thursday 28th June 09:00

Edited by Straight6er on Thursday 28th June 12:53