BMW E39 M5: Talk to me about them.

BMW E39 M5:

I've noticed that these are slightly roomier inside than my WRX.

What do we know about them?

I'd shoot for the later years. Came with a leather dash, suede headliner/pillars. Power is unbelievable, and controllable. Ive had one sideways, one handed with a coffee in my hand - no drama! Clutches (from what I have seen in Service Depts.) last about 80k. But yea, later ones are nicer IMO, get the nice 3 spoke wheel, angel eyes... i think 01-03 model years...

Paging Keith, Keith Tanner to the white courtesy phone... He'll chime in here soon but IIRC he loves his.

Our E39 is a great car, but it craves a manual gearbox and limited slip. The M5 has both, as well as a whole other box of tricks. Keep in mind though that for a daily driver the M5's fuel economy numbers - 12 city / 19 highway - are pretty abysmal.

Ugh, those are truck numbers.

Of course, so is 400 horsepower...

Yeah... fast, comfortable, excellent sounding exhaust, great agility for a big fella. Hard on the wallet at the pump and on brakes. Eats them if you drive it hard. Known to gobble a clutch or two as well.

I believe MAF's are stupid money for them too. As with any modern BMW, cooling system stuff needs to be replaced fairly often.

Given the higher cost of keeping an M5, you might want to first drive a 540i/6 and see if it's enough. They're not stupid powerful, but they're still quick and used parts are cheap and plentiful. They're also surprisingly cheap to buy, so you can get one and do whatever corporate parts bin raiding your heart desires.

All E39-and-earlier 5ers are awesome to drive hard. I've never driven an E39 M5, but I just love the way any 5-series feels. You never quite get over the cognitive dissonance of driving such a big, comfy car that feels utterly at ease at the limit. Not as sharp or precise as a 3-series, but unbelievably controllable.

ppddppdd wrote: I just love the way any 5-series feels. You never quite get over the cognitive dissonance of driving such a big, comfy car that feels utterly at ease at the limit. Not as sharp or precise as a 3-series, but unbelievably controllable.

Well put. I get that even with my lowly E28.

ppddppdd wrote: Given the higher cost of keeping an M5, you might want to first drive a 540i/6 and see if it's enough. They're not stupid powerful, but they're still quick and used parts are cheap and plentiful. They're also surprisingly cheap to buy, so you can get one and do whatever corporate parts bin raiding your heart desires.

The 540i had crossed my mind.I'll have to take a closer look at them, particularly if I happen across one with the Sport Package.

My wife and I both wish our 530i had the sport package. The car is good looking already (black with black tint), but the bigger rims and a slightly lower stance would make the car look that much better.

I'm still getting to know my e39 M5 (pic below) but it is certainly an impressive car. The acceleration is simply brutal and its ability to hustle along is borderline shocking, given its heft. My car is bone stock, other than a Dinan cat back exhaust (and now a ZHP shift knob), which makes it sound all that much better. It's reason alone to stomp on it all the time.

Downsides are certainly MPG. Terrible! And the cooling system failed almost immediately upon purchase. Radiator end tank split. Parts are expensive, as noted above. But the car is so intoxicating that it's easy to overlook those issues.

ppddppdd wrote: Given the higher cost of keeping an M5, you might want to first drive a 540i/6 and see if it's enough. They're not stupid powerful, but they're still quick and used parts are cheap and plentiful. They're also surprisingly cheap to buy, so you can get one and do whatever corporate parts bin raiding your heart desires.

If you want a M5 just buy the M5. The 540i-Sport isn't that much cheaper, parts are still expensive, and fuel economy is within a couple mpg. The 540i still has all the typical cooling system problems. My friend went with a 540i because it was cheaper, but is now looking for an M5. It's a very nice car, but there is no substitute for an M5...

There's a '03 540 6 spd M package 110K miles,$12.5k advertised in Tarheel BMWCCA Footnotes that I received today. It's in Asheville NC. contact jon@lawriechat.net. I have no further knowledge of this car nor it's owner.

You're going to want to be real careful about the V8 cars at this point. They pretty much all need timing chain guides, which as you can imagine is not a cheap or simple replacement.

You have to remember that the car was pretty exotic when new - the fastest sedan in the world. So it's going to a little more high maintenance than your typical Honda. Parts are harder to find than for the other e39s. But what a car. The 540i Sport is nice, but the M5 is the daddy - we had the chance to try both extensively before buying. One thing they share is a complete disdain for speed. 90 mph feels like 30. It's just that the M5 piles on the speed like you would not believe.

Someday, I want to get mine down to sea level to pick up the extra 80 hp or so that I lose from altitude.

I agree that you want a later one. I think the breakpoint is 2001. They have less oil use and a number of nice ergonomic updates. For the MAF, there's a VW substitute that may or may not work. I replaced mine with the real BMW part - they're the same price as other E39 units, but you need two.

Thanks to the complex nature of the car, you're going to have to keep on top of things and learn some special skills to diagnose and fix the computer systems.

My fuel economy is around 16 in town and over 20 on the highway. About the same as a 2001 Tundra, but a lot more fun to drive! It feels like a treat every time I drive it.

Keith wrote: Someday, I want to get mine down to sea level to pick up the extra 80 hp or so that I lose from altitude.

That's a big loss! How high up are you?

How many miles do you guys have on your cars?

Mine is an '03 with just a hair under 90k.

I don't know your requirements, but I just drove a buddies 05 GTO. It has a tick over 400 hp and a tick over 400 ft-lbs as well. It only has two doors, but I am willing to bet repair costs and upkeep is a slight amount cheaper. The thing was a pretty neat car. That mileage issue? He was getting high 20's before we began hooning it.

I really want to LSx a 6 cylinder E39. It just seems like the right thing to do.

Luke wrote:

Keith wrote: Someday, I want to get mine down to sea level to pick up the extra 80 hp or so that I lose from altitude.

That's a big loss! How high up are you?

4700', dyno correction factors are 15-20%. When you multiply by 400, it's a lot! 80 hp is extreme, 60 would be more accurate.

Mine has 103k.

Not ot take away from the sweet M5 talk going on here but Friday I drove my friends 05 CTS-V from Cleveland to Columbus on Friday. Very nice, sounds great and the price was good too.

Only drove one once. Several years ago, I had the budget for a car like that. As apples/oranges and cantalopes as these cars are to compare, I had my field narrowed down to: Viper, Elise, E39 M5.

Wanted a private sale, but couldn't find a local E39 M5 in nice shape at the time. Went to a local dealership that had one, pretending we'd be interested to buy it (charging $5000+ more than what I could buy for in a private sale). After lots of questions, a copy of my license, etc...my wife and I were off on a test drive. The dealership is 1/2 mile off the highway, so that was the first place we headed. Gave it "some gas" going up the ramp and onto the highway. Thought I had it up to highway merging speed. Well, I did...if you call 85mph merging speed. Amazing speed, combined with all the other BMW goodies.

But in the end, it was the BMW horror stories of upkeep/ repair and part costs that scared us away. Went with the Viper. Not that it was cheap to fix either.

That is one unusual comparison list!