RE: The Brave Pill: BMW M5 (E39)

RE: The Brave Pill: BMW M5 (E39)

Author
Discussion

Depthhoar

673 posts

127 months

Monday 13th May 2019
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akirk said:
The brave pill is in buying one at this price point - yes you can buy them at four figures but that doesn’t mean that you should... like any car, buy as good as you can afford and you will have many less issues...

I have had mine for 2 years and driven just under 30,000 miles in it - only fault in that time was a slightly loose earth wire in the boot - otherwise faultless- but it is serviced early and often, inspected for rust every 6 months (none so far), fully valeted every couple of weeks - is looked after, and I have had two serious offers of 25% more than I paid and it is insured for a guaranteed valuation of 50% more than I paid... (there might also have been a couple of sets of tyres and quite a lot of petrol in that time!)

An addictive car that gets under your skin, only ever seen two others on the road during that time... so an unusual car as well...

Worth buying, but buy the best you can, then it will cost less - definitely no brave pill needed for this car if bought properly...
/\ This make so much sense./\

Buy a good one, look after it properly and it'll serve you well. Mine only comes out during the summer months but I've taken it to Italy, north of the Arctic Circle in Norway and latterly to Innsbruck and back for a conference. Incident-free apart from the oil filler cap springing a leak in Bodo, Norway.

Tasteful, svelte cars, and so addictive!

RichE60

28 posts

155 months

Tuesday 14th May 2019
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pSyCoSiS said:
Barchettaman said:
How does one of these compare to an E60 550i?

Anyone owned or driven both?
Driven both. My old man has a 2006 E60 550i M Sport Auto, and at the time I had my E39 M5.

Chalk and cheese cars. E60 definitely more refined and modern inside, but the M5 just felt more savage in acceleration.

However, get them both at 80mph and floor them, the 550i would have no issues in keeping up with it.

You do get the odd 550i manual, but most are auto. Rare cars in their own right, and if looked after, are very reliable machines. 367bhp, so they are no slouch and the engine suits the chassis well.
Owned both at the same time for a while.

Currently use a Silverstone Blue (w reg) like in the article as a daily. I did the 'face lift' and restored (new brakes, jacking points rebuilt, rust was sorted, bushes replaced with PowerFlex (including the subframe), paint correction, interior trim mended, bearings in the prop replaced, diff seals replaced etc. etc.). All the usual stuff you can find on the forums. E39 source is good for DIY walkthroughs, Ryans car was the same spec as above.

There are certainly some things that feel old tech like the sat nav, the halogen lights I had were dire so I replaced with xenons, the gear change is long in throw with the stick quite tall. Otherwise it feels pretty good, not unbelievably comfortable on a long journey but not bad. I will re-dye the leather soon as its gone quite shiny.

I've had electrical woes with the trifecta issue and the archaic sat nav/tuner/amp/CD modules in the back failing, have just replaced with a blue tooth setup and dumped the CD changer. There was a problem with the secondary air flow which was mapped off. MAFs went too at 120k so replaced.

Its also rattle city inside, so I have spent a while taking bits out, replacing, adding velcro pads or re-sealing. Need to do the chain guides and vanos solenoid and then I think that's everything....

This was all within 2 years of ownership, so buying one like the one here is not likely to be very cheap in my experience if not done. I think its also got the slightly inferior vanos on this year but perhaps the boffins can confirm. MPG is 19 for my normal driving.



The 550i E60 was actually featured (and sold) on here earlier this year which was a manual. The car doesn't like infrequent use causing the batteries to complain, the tyre pressure monitor is sensitive. Otherwise it was pretty darn good. The paint on mine seemed really soft and prone to blemish so I had repaired. Otherwise it was really nice to drive and reliable at 110K. MPG was 24-26 ish.

I would say the major difference in the driving experience is the way the weight is handled. E60 feels longer and more pendulous, but smoother when you wish to proceed more rapidly. Cabin is much nicer in the E60, I think the facelift is nicer than the pervious one too.

E39 feels more aggressive in sound (and pick up) but I don't think there is a great deal in the performance.

With those more rational points made, I never parked up and looked back at the E60 lovingly, as it doesn't feel like a 'classic' car somehow or one you would particularly want to cherish.

Hope that's useful.

jonwoodhouse

1 posts

81 months

Tuesday 14th May 2019
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Hi all, might as well stick my beak in on this one as it's my car - first up, it's interesting to hear a previous owner describe as a turd as I certainly don't think it is, though it's needed a fair bit of work since I bought it - from the shadiest dealer ever, that is true. I daily drove it for about 3 years and in that time the commute was a monthly motorway trip from Paris to Bristol, plus the odd work trip to the Alps, complete with mountain bikes in the boot. Didn't miss a beat during all that time.

I've been in two minds about whether I've wanted to sell it for a long time and all this lot has persuaded me that I don't. I've owned it since ~87K and the engine has been solid, though the chassis less so, as witnessed by the amount I spent on getting it sorted. It's not a concours example by any means, but a lot of what's been said has persuaded me (didn't take much) that I'd be better off spending the time and effort to get it as close to perfect as a 108K car can be - plus I do now have a bit of storage space to be able to do this at my leisure. That's just as well as it's not really a daily driver unless you really enjoy a £100 plus tank refill and abysmal MPG in city traffic. Does make a lovely, lovely noise all the time though - rattle excepted.

I would be really keen to know whether the clutch has done - aforementioned dealer said it might have been but with fk all documentation so I'm not inclined to believe that - but an original clutch on an S62 with 108K on it would seem even more like rocking horse poo.

Either way, if it needs work to get it done, it's probably worth doing because there's little to beat making the world go backwards very quickly when sat in a sofa with a bellowing Norse god chasing you. So, I've just swallowed my own brave pill, nice one Pistonheads...

Tango13

8,395 posts

175 months

Tuesday 14th May 2019
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I put a new clutch in mine at about 70k and it's lasted for 125k so far, still on the original MAFs and in possesion of all the dash pixels.


TurboRob

309 posts

172 months

Wednesday 15th May 2019
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jonwoodhouse said:
Hi all, might as well stick my beak in on this one as it's my car...

...So, I've just swallowed my own brave pill, nice one Pistonheads...
Shame you've come on here to read that about your car, tbh I just assumed it was a potential punter trying to drive the price down.

If you can afford to keep then keep - great cars.


R400TVR

542 posts

161 months

Friday 17th May 2019
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It always seems funny to me that these articles now eulogise the manual gearbox and lack of modes, but when the DCT and modes started, they did the same, saying that it gives the F1 driving experience and other rubbish. In my opinion, it's the magazines etc which are to blame for the near death of the true drivers cars.
This generation of M5 was the best and won't be beaten by heavy, turbo'd lumps.

AClownsPocket

899 posts

158 months

Sunday 26th May 2019
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jonwoodhouse said:
I would be really keen to know whether the clutch has done - aforementioned dealer said it might have been but with fk all documentation so I'm not inclined to believe that - but an original clutch on an S62 with 108K on it would seem even more like rocking horse poo.
Not while I owned it it hadn't, and there was no paperwork to say it had been done before I had it.

I'm certainly not a potential punter, but I can tell you I bought the car from Slough, and if you bought it after me, then the former keeper on the V5 will have the initials MC and lived on Teesside.

You bought the car from Driveline Sports and Performance who are the dodgiest bunch of bds I ever had the misfortune to come across.

I'm glad you are happy with it, I think because I bought it as a pup, it soured my experience of the M5. I'm a big fan of the E39, but I don't think I could ever be tempted back into that M.






Edited by AClownsPocket on Tuesday 28th May 19:29