Budget Supercar: E60 M5

For E60 M5 money you could pick up a 996TT

I lost my daily driver E36 to a deer a couple of months ago. While shopping for the replacement, I too was shocked at the M5 price plummet. I was convinced I needed one. I test drove a 2001 540i 6-speed and an 02 M5 back to back and changed my mind. The 540 was >75% of the car for 50% of the cash and more appropriate to blast through snow drifts with in the winter. I hope to get a M for a summertime toy next though!!! Erik

This is not helping me as I found an E39 528 for $6.5K...

The 540/M5 ratio mentioned earlier no longer seems to be true. A 540i with a 6 speed will run you around 10k in FL. The two different $13.5k M5's linked by Dyinto earlier in this thread make not taking a step up seem foolish.

I'd call $13.5k pretty much the bottom of the pricing ladder for an E39 M5. This week, anyhow Those aren't typical prices, and I've seen the 540 go for less.

The guy I bought my M5 from - my boss - also had a 540i 6-speed for sale. He went from the 540 to the M5. I had the chance to drive the 540 for around a week, including a road trip to Denver. Nice enough car, but the M5 is that car turned up to 11. The 540 felt good, the M5 feels exotic. The 540 didn't incite lust, the M5 did. Janel, my wife/navigator/co-conspirator, thought the 540 was an "old man's car", I pretty much had to lever her out of the M5 when we took it for a test drive. No regrets here To each their own of course.

BTW, the selling price for the 540 was about 65% of the M5 price.

2002maniac wrote: For E60 M5 money you could pick up a 996TT

True, but you wouldn't have a 4 sedan.

I've spent some time with the E60 M5, and the M6 with the same powertrain. I hated both. It blew my mind that I could hate a car with 500hp but the intrusive electronics, and SMG ruined the car for me.

If you can find an E60 with a manual trans, and you are a techno- fanboi you may enjoy the car. But I hated it.

and yes, the robot seats are creepy as hell

dyintorace wrote: The e39 M5's are getting cheap! http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/ctd/1462609574.html - $13.5k http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/1445947377.html - $13.5k as well

lol i did a google search and found that someone posted my m5 for sale. yes the e39s are getting cheap but you have to be careful in the lower price bracket. mine was priced low to sell due to needing maintenance. i decided to do the maintenance instead and list it a little higher. looks like the tampa one already sold.

13.5 is not typical and i get a TON of interest until people find out that it needs an inspection I service, front brakes, and some other things. since nobody bought it at 13.5k I just fixed everything and will now list the car for 14.9k.

pretty solid cars but most require some diagnostic and work. if you hit a major problem it's major $$. parts are priced out for an $80k car, not a $15k car. labor can get expensive too if you get into diagnostic work. most things you can figure out on your own using m5board.