M5 E60 purchased - summertime in Joburg
Discussion
Hi all,
excuse the user name, applicable until recently. Sold the old school 911 and runabout 330i in readiness for this little fella. Like most it was a dream car when launched and now it's at reasonable monies / condition it was time to go for it.
Found this in interlagos blue, black leather with 100k's on it with full service history (motorplan as they call it here). Very helpful dealer who has had the front end resprayed and new tyres put on the front.
Can't ever really be described as a sensible purchase (got to stop looking at the range indicator......) but fuel is still semi reasonable here and I get v cheap insurance through work (equivalent of 30GBP per month). 2 year warranty will give me a little reassurance.
So far I have set my i-drive M settings as a priority ;-) and turned the HUD back on for the journey back from the dealer only just exploring the engine note and capabilities. Definitely need a quiet highway to find out who's limits arrive first.
There are a million reviews of this but, auto box aside, it is epic in every way. An incredibly commanding car on the road, it is so cool to know that a single stab of the right foot and (almost) everything is going to be firmly behind the badge!
Going to take it on a little road trip on Saturday out of the city to practise the gear changes and to see what 507 horses is truly capable of.
excuse the user name, applicable until recently. Sold the old school 911 and runabout 330i in readiness for this little fella. Like most it was a dream car when launched and now it's at reasonable monies / condition it was time to go for it.
Found this in interlagos blue, black leather with 100k's on it with full service history (motorplan as they call it here). Very helpful dealer who has had the front end resprayed and new tyres put on the front.
Can't ever really be described as a sensible purchase (got to stop looking at the range indicator......) but fuel is still semi reasonable here and I get v cheap insurance through work (equivalent of 30GBP per month). 2 year warranty will give me a little reassurance.
So far I have set my i-drive M settings as a priority ;-) and turned the HUD back on for the journey back from the dealer only just exploring the engine note and capabilities. Definitely need a quiet highway to find out who's limits arrive first.
There are a million reviews of this but, auto box aside, it is epic in every way. An incredibly commanding car on the road, it is so cool to know that a single stab of the right foot and (almost) everything is going to be firmly behind the badge!
Going to take it on a little road trip on Saturday out of the city to practise the gear changes and to see what 507 horses is truly capable of.
ok, 5 days in and all ok so far.
aside from being on first name terms with my man on pump 4 at the local Shell (averaging 16L to 100km) enjoying everything it has to offer. the commute to work is a fairly average process, lots of stop / start on the highway so will revert to the snotter polo for this shortly. however every other journey is a series of learnings given its capabilities. have owned a few quick and decent cars down the years like S3's, Elise, STi, 123d (don't laugh that thing was silly quick for an oil burner) but absolutely nothing in this class.
1 week verdict:
Gearbox - like knitting fog trying to get autobox changes right, it is possible but hellavu hard. best setting for clutch is 3 or 4 but quite frankly still not great.
Paddles/SMG - much prefer the SMG shift right now but slowly getting used to paddles, both much better than auto.
Engine - the reason for buying one of these. Does feel like it needs more low down torque but in reality you are still moving quicker than 95% of stuff, once you get into 3rd and press the loud pedal nothing comes even close. As you'd expect in one of these a few guys like to see if they can keep up. Last night was a RR Sport (not sure of exact spec as was dark when it entered highway on my left) it came up behind to signal the 'i want to drag race' stance of just getting his beams in my wing wirror kind of way. Fairly tight behind me for a few seconds but the M5 dropped 4 cogs from 7th to 4th at 140kph before doing its stuff, a simply incredible engine. And the noise............. :-))))))
Ride - excellent, soaks up our rotten potholes with ease. very compliant once you get used to the weight and corner entry speed.
Toys - mine is the most bizarrely spec'ed car in SA. No PDC but heated front seats!!! That and no Pro Logic are options I wanted but condition and colour combo was more important. Cool-range indicator updates as the pump is being dispensed into the tank, sadly it still only goes up to c.370kms.
Funny stuff - been cut up at roundabouts, never get flashed out anymore. Bit sad really but that's life.
In terms of roads it is a bit of a dichotomy here. Lots of open roads out of JHB but the condition of them is quite poor and they lack good bends to drive 'properly'. Went to Hartbeespoort yesterday, about a 100km trip but in truth too many slightly suicidal bikers and hard to predict slower traffic to let it fly. Better roads today other side of city.
I think will settle into a pattern of for normal days the polo will be used but if am seeing clients during week (eg not travelling into the CBD) and for weekends it will be perfect.
Overall no regrets just what everyone says about consumption and range and slow box. In context of the rest of the car though all bearable and a nice alternative to the rather more popular c63 here.
aside from being on first name terms with my man on pump 4 at the local Shell (averaging 16L to 100km) enjoying everything it has to offer. the commute to work is a fairly average process, lots of stop / start on the highway so will revert to the snotter polo for this shortly. however every other journey is a series of learnings given its capabilities. have owned a few quick and decent cars down the years like S3's, Elise, STi, 123d (don't laugh that thing was silly quick for an oil burner) but absolutely nothing in this class.
1 week verdict:
Gearbox - like knitting fog trying to get autobox changes right, it is possible but hellavu hard. best setting for clutch is 3 or 4 but quite frankly still not great.
Paddles/SMG - much prefer the SMG shift right now but slowly getting used to paddles, both much better than auto.
Engine - the reason for buying one of these. Does feel like it needs more low down torque but in reality you are still moving quicker than 95% of stuff, once you get into 3rd and press the loud pedal nothing comes even close. As you'd expect in one of these a few guys like to see if they can keep up. Last night was a RR Sport (not sure of exact spec as was dark when it entered highway on my left) it came up behind to signal the 'i want to drag race' stance of just getting his beams in my wing wirror kind of way. Fairly tight behind me for a few seconds but the M5 dropped 4 cogs from 7th to 4th at 140kph before doing its stuff, a simply incredible engine. And the noise............. :-))))))
Ride - excellent, soaks up our rotten potholes with ease. very compliant once you get used to the weight and corner entry speed.
Toys - mine is the most bizarrely spec'ed car in SA. No PDC but heated front seats!!! That and no Pro Logic are options I wanted but condition and colour combo was more important. Cool-range indicator updates as the pump is being dispensed into the tank, sadly it still only goes up to c.370kms.
Funny stuff - been cut up at roundabouts, never get flashed out anymore. Bit sad really but that's life.
In terms of roads it is a bit of a dichotomy here. Lots of open roads out of JHB but the condition of them is quite poor and they lack good bends to drive 'properly'. Went to Hartbeespoort yesterday, about a 100km trip but in truth too many slightly suicidal bikers and hard to predict slower traffic to let it fly. Better roads today other side of city.
I think will settle into a pattern of for normal days the polo will be used but if am seeing clients during week (eg not travelling into the CBD) and for weekends it will be perfect.
Overall no regrets just what everyone says about consumption and range and slow box. In context of the rest of the car though all bearable and a nice alternative to the rather more popular c63 here.
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