E60 M5 mpg/running cost rant!
Discussion
I have been asked this way too many times...
To discuss this issue again and again on this forum as well as others, requires an in depth analysis of what, why and who are buying the E60 M5.
Why am I qualified to rant about this perpetual topic on a Friday late afternoon when I should be heading for the lake or running to the over crowded bars and pubs of London. Firstly, I am still at work and have to deal with American's, so my day isn't over yet, secondly; there is no lake near me, thirdly I don't consume alcohol. And Fourth, most importantly, I own an E60 M5.
Moving on, the price of these cars has dropped considerably and now the regular chav can have one. What does this really mean? The M5 is an expensive car to run (relatively speaking), it's not a mk2 golf gti or anything of the sort. This car has been blessed with pure F1 racing genetics and therefore requires specialist treatment. Specialist means more money due to more knowledge.
The regular chav cannot afford to go a specialist (and a specialist in most circumstances is either a BMW M division service shop OR a Munich Legends type of outfit). When the penny drops and the service costs and clutch change/repair costs etc are disclosed, the regular chav defecates on the service floor.
So what is this mpg, and "can I drive 100 miles to work everyday in traffic on M25" talk all about? Well, the petrol consumption is simple, for every £20.00 of V Power from my dear friends at Shell I am able to transport myself and family, circa, 60 miles in the London area. And for every full tank (£80) I am able to transport myself and family, circa 200/240 miles in London as well as outside the City. It's a 5L V10, 200+mph machine. It will not give you 500+ miles on a single tank of fuel, get over it.
As a comparison, my friend has a 4.2L supercharged XJR and his fuel consumption is absolutely criminal, every £20 gets him 35/40 miles at best, and a full tank at nearly £100 - maybe 200 miles. And the M5 will slaughter the Jag in any given race.
So, if you find the above scary and that you cannot afford it, then do not endeavour to purchase the car.
Overall and on a personal note, I find the car relatively cheap to run for the mileage I cover, believe me, my petrol 7 series was thirstier. And overall the M5 is probably the best 4 door saloon money can buy, given the high revving V10, decent reliability and ridiculous power coupled with luxury, practicality and comfort to suit!
The E60 M5 is sublime. I cannot think of a better car to replace it, forget the new F10, its not as fast on top end. Maybe a Porsche GT2, but not practical for a family man. Actually, there is nothing else to take its place.
Planning a trip to Europe with family, will have more details after I return.
To discuss this issue again and again on this forum as well as others, requires an in depth analysis of what, why and who are buying the E60 M5.
Why am I qualified to rant about this perpetual topic on a Friday late afternoon when I should be heading for the lake or running to the over crowded bars and pubs of London. Firstly, I am still at work and have to deal with American's, so my day isn't over yet, secondly; there is no lake near me, thirdly I don't consume alcohol. And Fourth, most importantly, I own an E60 M5.
Moving on, the price of these cars has dropped considerably and now the regular chav can have one. What does this really mean? The M5 is an expensive car to run (relatively speaking), it's not a mk2 golf gti or anything of the sort. This car has been blessed with pure F1 racing genetics and therefore requires specialist treatment. Specialist means more money due to more knowledge.
The regular chav cannot afford to go a specialist (and a specialist in most circumstances is either a BMW M division service shop OR a Munich Legends type of outfit). When the penny drops and the service costs and clutch change/repair costs etc are disclosed, the regular chav defecates on the service floor.
So what is this mpg, and "can I drive 100 miles to work everyday in traffic on M25" talk all about? Well, the petrol consumption is simple, for every £20.00 of V Power from my dear friends at Shell I am able to transport myself and family, circa, 60 miles in the London area. And for every full tank (£80) I am able to transport myself and family, circa 200/240 miles in London as well as outside the City. It's a 5L V10, 200+mph machine. It will not give you 500+ miles on a single tank of fuel, get over it.
As a comparison, my friend has a 4.2L supercharged XJR and his fuel consumption is absolutely criminal, every £20 gets him 35/40 miles at best, and a full tank at nearly £100 - maybe 200 miles. And the M5 will slaughter the Jag in any given race.
So, if you find the above scary and that you cannot afford it, then do not endeavour to purchase the car.
Overall and on a personal note, I find the car relatively cheap to run for the mileage I cover, believe me, my petrol 7 series was thirstier. And overall the M5 is probably the best 4 door saloon money can buy, given the high revving V10, decent reliability and ridiculous power coupled with luxury, practicality and comfort to suit!
The E60 M5 is sublime. I cannot think of a better car to replace it, forget the new F10, its not as fast on top end. Maybe a Porsche GT2, but not practical for a family man. Actually, there is nothing else to take its place.
Planning a trip to Europe with family, will have more details after I return.
Good stuff & glad you are enjoying it, I take my hat off to you aswell as I get sick of fuelling my V8 M3 & that is positively frugal compared to yours.
I only wished they had been available as a manual & if they were I would have got one over the M3, I just love the comfort, shape & slight Q car appeal to the M5...awesome car it is & 8 cylinders are never enough.
I only wished they had been available as a manual & if they were I would have got one over the M3, I just love the comfort, shape & slight Q car appeal to the M5...awesome car it is & 8 cylinders are never enough.
I see what you're getting at but the running cost rant is just as annoying as the "E60 M5 has F1 genetics". It really doesn't, it's a barge with a very complex engine. Just because it has the engine configuration of yesteryears F1 engines doesn't make it have F1 genetics, it's actually on the polar opposite.
F1 cars are engineered to go around a race track as fast as possible, the M5 is engineered to be the jack of all trades and on the E60 M5 they overcooked the drivetrain and forgot to put a big enough fuel tank in. (I'll wait for someone to turn up and tell me it doesn't need a bigger fuel tank because the M5 was born on the Nurburgring where you live one lap at a time.)
F1 cars are engineered to go around a race track as fast as possible, the M5 is engineered to be the jack of all trades and on the E60 M5 they overcooked the drivetrain and forgot to put a big enough fuel tank in. (I'll wait for someone to turn up and tell me it doesn't need a bigger fuel tank because the M5 was born on the Nurburgring where you live one lap at a time.)
Thank you! Good to have a positive E60 story with everybody jumping ship to either the M135i or F10!
My rekindled love story with the E60 was yesterday when I had a friendly encounter with a C63 over a long and empty motorway... sorry, private runway... and got to explore the V10 at full chat in 3, 4 and 5th.
My biggest misgiving remains the puny fuel tank, 100 litres would have been perfect.
My rekindled love story with the E60 was yesterday when I had a friendly encounter with a C63 over a long and empty motorway... sorry, private runway... and got to explore the V10 at full chat in 3, 4 and 5th.
My biggest misgiving remains the puny fuel tank, 100 litres would have been perfect.
Lol, get asked about running costs all the time on mine and when I say I get 13mpg average I get waffle about not good etc etc.
It is then that I remind people it is a heavy car, has 507 bhp, has a 5 litre v10 and can do 200 mph and if I wanted 30 mpg plus I would get something else that is not basically a supercar in a saloon body.
It is then that I remind people it is a heavy car, has 507 bhp, has a 5 litre v10 and can do 200 mph and if I wanted 30 mpg plus I would get something else that is not basically a supercar in a saloon body.
BlackPorker said:
Good rant. Couldn't agree more!
I second that, excellent reasoned rant!I get on average about 15mpg from mainly motorway driving and that for me is absolutely fine.
For these sorts of cars I think any perspective owner needs the mind-set that if finances are an issue to the extent they have to ask about mpg, an E60 M5 is not the car for them! That is ignoring on-going service and maintenance costs that can make the mpg overheads seem small fry!
Love my car BTW, with the only possible exception of my old E46 M3 CSL (that is a completely different car and does not meet my family needs now!) this is the best car I have owned to date! I have been so close on many occasions to going for the GT-R or even a GT3 RS but I just cannot come to part with it, the mixture of performance and practicality for a family man is very hard to beat! That said, if we had the same debate on the Mercedes or Audi forums they may have different ideas, they would be wrong of course but nevertheless I think we are all cut from roughly the same cloth in that performance and practicality wins out over £'s and p considerations! :-)
BlackPorker said:
Good rant. Couldn't agree more!
Totally agree.I went in with my eyes open, my car gets 12.9mpg and the new clutch just cost me £3.000.
But every morning at that point where the M4 westbound opens up from two lanes to three i get an experience that most people can only dream of! I drive a super car!
Happy E60 M5 owner
great rant!I did 450 miles over the weekend driving to Bristol/Bath for the weekend. I can confirm the V10 sounds very good reverb'ing off the sides of Cheddar Gorge
and for Babw - "The E60 M5 was introduced in 2005, inspired by the BMW Sauber Formula One team.[2] It has a multiple award-winning 4,999 cc (305.1 cu in) BMW V10 S85 engine redlining at 8250 rpm, and developing a peak output of 507 PS (373 kW; 500 bhp) and 520 N·m (380 lb·ft) of torque. The engine and transmission were designed from scratch for this particular model, producing over 100 hp more than the previous E39 4.9liter V8, whilst weighing only 2.2 pounds more. It was said to have been built as a tribute to the end of the V10 era in Formula 1. Unlike some other BMW engines which utilise Valvetronic to infinitely vary valve lift to eliminate the throttle plate, this engine has individual throttle bodies per cylinder. The E60 M5 was the world's first production sedan to feature a V10 petrol engine. As with some of its predecessors, the E60 variant of the M5 was both the quickest and fastest 4-door sedan in the world at the time of its release."
Hideous comments regarding 'If you don't want to pay BMW prices you shouldn't buy one'
Every M BMW from the dawn of time has been thrown onto the market with the comments that its space age engineering and beyond the ability of the home workshop.
I remember it with my 323i mechanical fuel injection which was 'designed by computer' because its was too complicated for a human being to understand, through to the 850i which was fly by wire, and everything in fibreoptics, to the E39 M5 which had a gearbox so complicated that it was put together using liquid nitrogen, and the variable valve timing would write off the car if it went wrong because no one could fix it. All BMW cars have a computer which prevents any parts being replaced unless BMW do it. etc etc
When you actually bothered to ignore BMW advice you found out that with some foyables these were all bog standard easily maintained engineering advance of the sort that with a little understanding could all be serviced by joe average. Valve timing was a copy of old fashioned oil driven overdrive technology, The gearbox in an E39 could be taken apart like any other, there wasn't any fibreoptics worth talking about in an eight series. It was all b
ks designed to make people think their cars were only maintainable at BMW. So successful were they at convincing everyone that even on well known internet enthusiast web sites these were repeat as fact, and cars without a BMW history were considered owned by chav who were just lucky their cars continued to run.
A well maintained car is a well maintained car. Its serviced regularly and bits that go wrong are fixed back to working or replaced. No need to make it about having money or not, or BMW or not, or even which way round you wear your hat.
Every M BMW from the dawn of time has been thrown onto the market with the comments that its space age engineering and beyond the ability of the home workshop.
I remember it with my 323i mechanical fuel injection which was 'designed by computer' because its was too complicated for a human being to understand, through to the 850i which was fly by wire, and everything in fibreoptics, to the E39 M5 which had a gearbox so complicated that it was put together using liquid nitrogen, and the variable valve timing would write off the car if it went wrong because no one could fix it. All BMW cars have a computer which prevents any parts being replaced unless BMW do it. etc etc
When you actually bothered to ignore BMW advice you found out that with some foyables these were all bog standard easily maintained engineering advance of the sort that with a little understanding could all be serviced by joe average. Valve timing was a copy of old fashioned oil driven overdrive technology, The gearbox in an E39 could be taken apart like any other, there wasn't any fibreoptics worth talking about in an eight series. It was all b
ks designed to make people think their cars were only maintainable at BMW. So successful were they at convincing everyone that even on well known internet enthusiast web sites these were repeat as fact, and cars without a BMW history were considered owned by chav who were just lucky their cars continued to run.A well maintained car is a well maintained car. Its serviced regularly and bits that go wrong are fixed back to working or replaced. No need to make it about having money or not, or BMW or not, or even which way round you wear your hat.
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