I'm looking at a 2000 M5 and wanted some feedback from the gruppe. I have an E30 M3 and have owned an E34 M5, but am in need of a sedan. I've looked at the M5 board and have noticed a few things like Vanos that need to be looked at. I know that some people said that my E34 M5 was not a good daily driver, but even though the parts were a bit pricey, I had a really good experience with that car up to 225k miles when I sold it. Does anyone have a high mileage E39 M5 that can comment on how expensive it really is to run? I love the 6 cyl. engines, but am still a little bit nervous about the V8's. Thanks for all of you input/feedback.
Mine isn't high mileage as I'm only up to 54k miles now after a bit over 8 years, but I've not seen anything significant repair-wise so far. I drive the car very hard at times (autocross, some track duty in past, etc), but other than that, it is a garage queen (no rain, etc). Many folks on the M5board have had long and reliable experiences with the car, and that is by far your best source for information on the net. A friend nearby has a 2000 M5 he bought in Oct 1999, and he just crossed 200,000 miles. He's spent a lot on maintenance over the past 10 years including having to replace rod bearings somewhere around 150k I believe. As far as expense to run of the S62, the only thing I've had to repair engine-wise since the car was new was one camshaft position sensor which was about $220 parts/labor. Other than that it has only had air filters twice (kinda anal here) along with new MAFs (there are two of them) that I put on at 48k miles since I got an incredible deal on them. Doing the MAF fuel flow test only showed the originals were down about 3%, but I replaced them anyway (again, serious about keeping this car as new at all times). Join the M5board and send a PM to tranck to ask about 200k miles behind the wheel of a 2000 M5. Speaking of which, if I were you, I would narrow my search to 2001-2003 models and buy the best condition one you can find. A follow-on thought is that if you aren't comfortable with the thought of an unexpected $3-4000 repair bill on a car like this (and maybe even a couple of them), pass on the M5. It is a $75,000 car with some seriously expensive parts.
Thanks - I'm guessing that the E34's were probably a little bit easier on maintenance, but not much. I'm okay with a 3-4k bill if it's over 100k miles (preferably way over). I realize that these were expensive cars, and a 5% repair is not really that much in relation to what it costs new. My E34 was $60k new, but I never had a repair over about $2.5k, although I did a lot of work myself and through an independent. I may give it a shot. I miss the power of an M5.
The S62 in the E39 M5 will fulfill that need in a big way. I feel that the S62 is by far the best engine BMW has ever produced. I'm saying that in reference to a car you will drive all the time in addition to perhaps a track or autobahn, etc. The combination of power (area under the whole torque vs rpm curve), tractability and efficiency is by far the best of any engine BMW has built. Look what happened with the next M5 with the S85 engine: huge drop off in low-end torque which was traded for a high-end torque bump. This is great if you keep it on the boil all the time between 6-8k rpms, but other than that incredible experience, using the S85 day-to-day is a real pain -- it's down over 40 ft-lbs at 2500 rpm compared to the S62, and it makes noticeably less power than the S62 all the way up to 5500rpms. Hence the difference between the E60 and E39 in typical driving is that you really miss the gut hit torque of the S62 (you have to be yapping those paddles to get the rpms up high and wring the engine as opposed to just cracking the throttle for a quick scoot in traffic), hence you then have to open the throttles wider at low-mid rpms to get the power you want, and that effects efficiency substantially. The E60 will suck gas like a 60's muscle car in around town driving, and with a meager tank size, you're stopping to fill up all the time it seems. Anyway, the S62 is a much better road car engine for all around use in a large and heavy sedan...much better torque spread, substantially more efficient, and a lot more fun to put up with day to day. When I think of the two best things BMW has done over the past 40 years, this engine is right up at the top of the list.
I have an '03 with 74K miles on it, and it's my daily driver (granted my daily commute is 6 mi each way - just enough to get the engine nice and warm). I set aside about $1,500 a year for maintenance costs, and come close to spending that much each year, not including new tires. Last yrs big hit was Inspection II, this year I had to replace window regulators, guibo, front bushings, and rear diff seals. Hopefully that will be it for awhile (new MAF's sitting in a box), so that will not be a new expense.
