So I've been deemed mission essential and still required to go into work on a daily basis. Grapefruit juice, banana, and oatmeal every morning to stay healthy have been wide awake on my way in and yesterday I noticed a V10 M5 for sale for like $12k. Today I stopped by to casually look at it and appears to be in decent cosmetic shape inside/out/under. It has 88k miles, I'm guessing a salvage title based on the price (it's the wee hours of the AM when I'm heading in), and/or some mechanical mishaps.
Outside of chewing up rod bearings and spitting out oil what else goes wrong with these things? Am I high for having allusions of a glorious V10 engine note on my way to work vs. my currently safe and reliable DD of a Honda Civic Si?
Someone else's thread about a Porsche Panamera had me looking at ~2013 M5s and then this thing crosses my path.
I hear the struts are expensive being adjustable and all that.
In for answers as I always have found these interesting. That V10 wail in a sedan body is lovely
Rod bearings are the big killer, but these also had the typical SMG issues unless you're lucky enough to find a 6mt equipped one.
The fuel economy is also laughably bad, but the noise more than makes up for it.
These are a black widow car for me. I know it would ruin me financially, but I can't help but want one
Doesn't this model have the troublesome SMG transmission among other issues?
Internet has nothing but bad things to say about these if you believe that stuff.
Test drove one in 2011. A beautiful brown with a saddle brown interior. 6MT and good fun to drive. The car salesman looked a little pale when I had barely settled into the seat before I stabbed the big M button on the steering wheel (if I'm gonna drive a 500 hp sedan I want it to have all 500 of those ponies available).
Not a sports car to be sure, it's still a pretty big car, but a really healthy sports sedan and very comfortable. The seats had active bolsters that pressed against your sides in corners, that was a weird little quirk that I could see being costly to repair when it inevitably fails.
This particular example is silver on black with the SMG. Nothing to write home about in terms of uniqueness. I just know they sound amazing but not sure if that's worth the asspain.
I hear the F10 with the S63 4.4L TT V8 is much more reliable and has a proper DCT if you can't find a 6spd.
rothwem
New Reader
4/2/20 12:39 p.m.
Did the M5s have the active sway bars (dynamic drive)? I know you could get them on the regular E60s, and they had a tendency to leak fluid.
https://www.eeuroparts.com/blog/demystifying-bmw-dynamic-drive-active-roll-bar-systems/
A friend of a friend bought a used one a decade or so ago, and the engine shredded 300 miles from home. The new V10 was $45,000cdn in a crate beside the car at that point. He tossed the keys at the service manager and rode the bus home.
Streetwiseguy said:
A friend of a friend bought a used one a decade or so ago, and the engine shredded 300 miles from home. The new V10 was $45,000cdn in a crate beside the car at that point. He tossed the keys at the service manager and rode the bus home.
These are the kinds of things that will deter me from making bad decisions.
https://youtu.be/bCp_4uVtT-Y
The first three minutes are all I would need to see.
12-15k is typical price for them with a clean title. I'll own an m60 m5 one day. Vanos, SMG, rod bolts, other issues be damned.
Oh and I have to post this in every e60 m5 or exhaust thread:
There's a reason these are so cheap and it's because they literally suck every cent out of your bank account
In reply to yupididit :
What lunatic does a 4 gear pull on a dyno to what sounds like 160 mph? That had every possibility of ending badly.
In reply to docwyte :
It's like my friends looking at a Quattroporte....they are dirt cheap now for a reason.
Another time a regular at Cars and Coffee bought a new R35, next month he sold it off after learning about the "8K brakes" Ironically my dad just did the brakes on his Alpha 7 with EBC for about 1500
KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:
Test drove one in 2011. A beautiful brown with a saddle brown interior. 6MT and good fun to drive. The car salesman looked a little pale when I had barely settled into the seat before I stabbed the big M button on the steering wheel (if I'm gonna drive a 500 hp sedan I want it to have all 500 of those ponies available).
Not a sports car to be sure, it's still a pretty big car, but a really healthy sports sedan and very comfortable. The seats had active bolsters that pressed against your sides in corners, that was a weird little quirk that I could see being costly to repair when it inevitably fails.
Hehe. This reminds of me of when I test drove a BRZ a few months before I bought one.
The salesman was not happy with me turning off the traction control and sliding it through the industrial park "test course."
At one point he finally grabbed my arm and said, "OK, that's enough. I get the point."
KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to yupididit :
What lunatic does a 4 gear pull on a dyno to what sounds like 160 mph? That had every possibility of ending badly.
The lunatic that blessed me with that music lol.
I'm definitely in the yupididit camp here. When I have appropriate spare change rattling around, this is on the short list.
Somewhere I saw a recent review of these and as part of the review he took it to an indy BMW shop. The shop owner actually said something like "if you skip the SMG, get the manual, and don't mind DIY'ing stuff, they're not actually that bad to maintain. If you get one with an SMG and take it to a shop - mine, your local indy, or a dealer - they will eat you alive."
yupididit said:
Oh and I have to post this in every e60 m5 or exhaust thread:
They put way too much trust in the threads of that temporary tow hook....
maj75
HalfDork
4/3/20 8:33 a.m.
I have the M6 version of this car. Rod bearings are like the IMS issue. No issues with my car and the motor sounds wonderful. The SMG is livable but I would preferred a true manual. I'm looking for parts for a possible swap to manual.
maj75 said:
I have the M6 version of this car. Rod bearings are like the IMS issue. No issues with my car and the motor sounds wonderful. The SMG is livable but I would preferred a true manual. I'm looking for parts for a possible swap to manual.
What is it about the SMG that is such a pain? Is it the actual driving characteristics or the maintenance?
HFmaxi
Reader
4/3/20 10:29 a.m.
DirtyBird222 said:
Outside of chewing up rod bearings and spitting out oil what else goes wrong with these things?
Everything. A friend of mine just had to have one and it was one thing after another, everything was super expensive, lots of very special tools. It was always easting batteries or just random weird things.
In reply to Brake_L8 :
Thank you for that howling laugh! I needed that.
So it's like every other Bangle era BMW, got it.
