A couple of weeks back, Matt Bird handed me the keys to BMW’s new 230i coupe (you can read his review on it here) for the long slog up to The Motorist for our most recent Sunday Service. Mainly because someone decided to reverse into my Fiesta ST, leaving a whacking great dent in the driver’s door that would stick out like a sore thumb against the pristine metal you lot bring along - but also for the fact that cruising at 4,000rpm for four hours each way can get a little wearisome.
It’s been a while since the ’30’ in BMW nomenclature meant the presence of a straight-six upfront, now signifying the most potent of the 2.0-litre, four-pot range. Of course, today’s turbos are so very efficient, with 230i’s 245hp and 295lb ft providing a decent amount of shove when needed. It’s just not very characterful, though. Not like a six-pot would be, even if it would have to be detuned to within an inch of its life to not step on the M240i’s toes. But that’s the downsized world we live in, folks. So let’s go back to a time to when ’30’ guaranteed you a six, ’50’ an eight and ‘M5’ a V10.
Yep, this magnificent E60 BMW M5 is currently open to bids and I can't be the only one who gets misty-eyed about Munich’s golden age of engines. Prior to the E60’s arrival, BMW delivered one of its greatest engines yet with the E46 M3’s S54 unit and was mulling the idea of dropping a V8 into its successor. The M5, meanwhile, was already powered by a big, grumbly V8 in the form of the superb S62, so it only seemed natural to chuck a couple more cylinders into the mix for the follow-up E60. That said, the S85 V10 was an all-new design, with links to the firm’s Formula 1 engine and a whopping 507hp available just below the 8,250rpm redline.
Just as F1-inspired was the paddle-shift gearbox, although while the transmissions used by Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya were cutting-edge sequential ‘boxes that could swap cogs faster than the blink of an eye, the M5 made do with a seven-speed automated manual (a six-speed H-pattern was sold in the States, but never made it over here, annoyingly). BMW SMGs have gone down in infamy for their slow and clunky shift times, and while the company tried to rectify that with adjustable modes for the E60’s gearbox, it isn’t exactly known for being buttery. However, drive it like a manual by lifting off with each pull of the paddle smooths things out no end. That being said, Everything M3s does offer a manual swap if you’d rather shift gears the old-fashioned way...
Not that you’d want to muck about with this example, given how spotless and original it is. Registered in 2007, this E60 has covered just 76,688 miles, all of them documented by stacks of service history. It’s completely unmodified, too, and had its throttle actuators replaced a couple of years ago for extra piece of mind. It really is a lovely thing.
Particularly in this combination of Silverstone II over matching Merino leather, the latter brightening up the M5’s interior nicely. Then there are the five-spoke allows, which are a nice change from the ubiquitous ten-spoke rims you often see on E60s. We’ll have to wait until next Tuesday to see how much it’ll go for - or you could get off the sidelines and drop a bid on one of the tidiest - and nicest spec'd - M5s we’ve seen in a long time.
1 / 6
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)