First year m5?

So what is the story on these m cars? Are they as great as an e30 or e36 m3? More luxury, less performance? I have noticed a few in the $8-10k price range, and they look like pretty nice cars.

examples http://slo.craigslist.org/cto/2044322177.html http://santabarbara.craigslist.org/cto/2048029894.html http://santabarbara.craigslist.org/cto/2044307811.html

I dont know alot about them other than having seen one in person, but from what i understand its basically a 535is with a 6 cylinder version of the E30 M3 engine.

S38 is an EXPENSIVE piece of machinery to maintain.

But if maintained is a wonderful engine. If it needed it, a rebuild by someone who knows what they are doing and with OEM parts will likely be $10k+

I think they're awesome, but definitely a car whose appetite for money/maintainence will easily dwarf that of an Alltrac.

Maintenance expenses aside, I don't see early M5's getting much cheaper than they are now. BMW only made about 2,000 of these (not sure how many made it to the US), so they're collectible and will eventually appreciate.

Great cars, but unless you want to spend money on repairs get a good one that's been maintained. Besides the engines, there's a lot of leather surfaces in the interiors that can be expensive and difficult to replace if they're beat up.

For the money required, I would stick to something newer myself, but they are pretty cool. An M5 that crashed in an early One Lap of America made quite an impression on me back in my youth. The idea of a fast, sporty sedan was pretty new back then.

z31maniac wrote: S38 is an EXPENSIVE piece of machinery to maintain. But if maintained is a wonderful engine. If it needed it, a rebuild by someone who knows what they are doing and with OEM parts will likely be $10k+

I kept hearing that number before buying our (non-running) E34 m5. Most parts can be found relatively afford-ably (compared to the "10k" number oft quoted). There are good aftermarket sources for parts like Pistons and rods, and I'm told a 535i crank can be reworked for the S38.

Relative to a M30 (535i) engine, it certainly is much more money to rebuild, but it isn't as catastrophically expensive as a lot of the folks on "r3v" would lead me to believe.

All that said, a turbo 535 would over more hp for less $$$ overall, and be easier to find parts for.

I'm strongly considering fixing up the E34 M5 to be SWMBO's DD.

I've got a friend with one of those grey-market M535i or whatever they are(I am BMW-ignorant), that he'd sell for about 1/2 your price range, FWIW.

Those are my favorite M5.

my brother's was lots of fun and pretty reliable while he owned it.

he sold it last year for $5k, but it had been sitting for 2 years and it was a driver in new england.

i find them to be more exciting to drive than the e34, though not quite as good at soaking up miles (much better than my e30 m3 though!). my favorite one is a caged e28 with a sweet e34 engine (might even be a 3.8) that i saw up at Mont Tremblant.

petegossett wrote: I've got a friend with one of those grey-market M535i or whatever they are(I am BMW-ignorant), that he'd sell for about 1/2 your price range, FWIW.

The M535i has a single cam engine, the same thing as a euro spec 535i (I have one myself, see my avatar.) However, the engine was rated at 218hp, compared to only 178hp for a US spec 535i. Plus, they come with the cool Mtech body kit, sport seat interior, better springs and shocks, and dashboards with German words on them.

Also, there are things you can do (like turbocharging) that will make them a lot faster than an M5.