New here. Thinking about picking up an E60 M5.

[Mantic 0]

Recent life changes have meant I'm not beholden to anyone/thing and have some cash flow to potentially look at my dream car. Something to spark joy as it were!

I see a few e60 M5s listed between 60k and 110k kms, most seem to have basic maintenance records, one with acl rod bearing done and some with half the throttle actuators replaced.

I could stomach a few k a year in maintenance.

What else should I be considering before pulling the trigger? Private sale vs dealer? Pre purchase inspection? Local vs fresh import? Insurance (I see there's an autosure discount from joining this club?). I'm based in Tauranga (Mount) so would have to get it remotely checked / fly in to test drive. Also don't have a proper garage at my current place so wondering if being in the open air a km from the ocean will ruin it 

Appreciate your thoughts

[Olaf 3317]

Pre-Purchase Inspection by someone who *knows* the e60 M5 is essential. 

There are Autosure discounts as member of BMW Car Club NZ, not sure about anything offered by Bimmersport?  You'll have to be cautious about year of manufacture, you could find yourself outside of MBI coverage.

The e60 M5 is a very special car, very rewarding to drive.  Buy carefully, it could be the difference between very very expensive, or just expensive maintenance.

FWIW I was spending "more than a few k a year in maintenance" on my 545i... with an e60 M5 you're at the High Roller's table!  You could buy my 545i, spark the joy, and your accountant would be happy too and cash in your pocket  Food for thought.

Welcome to Bimmersport!

PS:  mostly made of Aluminium, so not scared of water and not generally plagued by rust (unless a badly executed panel repair).  The e60 (all drivetrains) likes to be cared-for, water is your enemy if drains are blocked and can kill a car with many of the computer modules being easily drowned.  Regular routine maintenance reduces that risk significantly.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Olaf
water

[m325i 709]

I reckon the play is buy two cheap ones. What are the chances the exact same things break on both? 

[Twistee 454]

Ideally lowest km with a service history, LCI is more than just cosmetic and there are hardware improvements on the S85 that came with the later built cars. As long as you have a warranty and are not going in blindly thinking that your case will be different and the car will be mint with the bare minimum of maintenance then you will be fine. There are plenty of us with E60/E61 with good ownership experiences unlike what the majority of keyboard warriors will have you believe, the common link is that we all feed the beast what it needs. They are a supercar, don't for one second think you are buying a high powered Camry.

@Jun was looking at selling a while ago, and that is a well sorted car that ticks all the boxes.

[aja540i 1906]

44 minutes ago, m325i said:

I reckon the play is buy two cheap ones. What are the chances the exact same things break on both? 

100% 

The exact same things will break on all of them, if you are lucky not at the same time though.

But budget more like 5-7k a year for maintenance and factor in the eye watering fuel consumption, if you can live with that do it! 

[treone 648]

1 hour ago, m325i said:

I reckon the play is buy two cheap ones. What are the chances the exact same things break on both? 

However, the (money) pitfall to be aware of with this scenario is that when you do something to one, you will do the same to the other, then vice versa. Thats when the money go-round begins, and you can’t stop it haha 🤣

my 2c if you are seriously considering an e60 M5 is - do it! 

Edited August 31, 2022 by treone

[Blackie 510]

You only live once

[Twistee 454]

YOLO Baby!! You don't buy a v10 anything because it makes sense to the banker. 

[Neal 544]

So many people talk themselves out of owning M cars. E46 bearings / smg / subframes , e90 bearings , e60 bearings , f80 crank hub etc etc. Plenty of perceived reasons as to why not to.

From personal experience  you’ve got to do it. And your choice is such a stonking car . Do it before you regret and wonder what it might have been like.

 

[GorGasm 563]

6 hours ago, m325i said:

I reckon the play is buy two cheap ones. What are the chances the exact same things break on both? 

Very high.

[GorGasm 563]

Costs are pretty shitty if things wear out.  4 throttle/idle actuators are a grand a pop, knock sensors $500 a pop.  Depends how much you end up needing to replace, you might not have to do much or you might get a string of dumb things letting go.  And if you are near bearing replacement mileage then that's a reasonable sum.

Things I didn't like about my M5:  The transmission is sh*t, they don't sound as good inside as outside, the fuel consumption is gnarly easily the worst I have owned.

Other than that, pretty good to drive.

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by GorGasm

[Driftit 2078]

18 hours ago, GorGasm said:

The transmission is sh*t

 

 

The reason I was not allowed to buy your one.

[Eagle 1662]

22 hours ago, Neal said:

So many people talk themselves out of owning M cars. E46 bearings / smg / subframes , e90 bearings , e60 bearings , f80 crank hub etc etc. Plenty of perceived reasons as to why not to.

From personal experience  you’ve got to do it. And your choice is such a stonking car . Do it before you regret and wonder what it might have been like.

Not necessarily a bad thing. On top on M problems you got all the usual wear items eg suspension which have M tax too. I think many buyers of these older cars can't afford to refresh them properly increasing their reliability and performance. They just end up driving them frugally them hoping nothing goes wrong in their typically short ownership.    

[Jun 233]

On 8/31/2022 at 3:32 PM, Twistee said:

@Jun was looking at selling a while ago, and that is a well sorted car that ticks all the boxes.

Yes me and my wife was contemplating about it due to her health issues.  Having sold my old R34 Skyline and likely to sell her Cayenne in the summer;  For now we have decided to keep her M5, but if the right offer comes we are open to the idea of letting it go. My wife is doing better now, in fact last Sunday's meeting up and breakfast with fellow BMWs was her first time to eat out in months.  So we are likely to keep the M5 as long as we can.

@Mantic you can see my start of journey on the thread below, some info there maybe useful in considering if E60 M5 is a car you would want to own 

I have a thread regarding our ownership, which I update every now and then. 

This guy in youtube is a good follow as well, fun fact when I bought our M5 there was 4 M5 at the dealer.  I picked ours out of the 4, while a few weeks after he picked the other one which he currently owns. 

https://www.youtube.com/c/MTechGuy

I think the M5 E60 is a great car, but its not for everyone.  What I think was the best thing about the ownership is not the car, but rather the people you get to know while owning the car.  People here in bimmersport, mechanics that will service your car and general car community.

[Jun 233]

On 8/31/2022 at 2:58 PM, m325i said:

I reckon the play is buy two cheap ones. What are the chances the exact same things break on both? 

@treone is doing this with his 840i ownership, I think is of those "in theory it sounds great but in practice not much" 

[Mantic 0]

Hey everyone - thanks so much for your detailed feedback!

Yeah I do see that low KMs and good maintenance records are key. The ones I see online at the moment are a bit so-so. Either past 100k kms or are imports with little to no maintenance records. There's one that was just delisted off trademe, guy sent me photos of various repair receipts, fuel pump/coils etc all recently replaced. 

I did actually see your thread @Jun! and thanks all for mentioning him. Agreed looks like a great community to join. Sorry to hear about your wife but glad she's doing better now! If you guys change your mind (right offer comes?) feel free to PM me.

I don't really know anyone who knows M5s (to do any pre-purchase inspections), and the M5s i've seen listed are scattered across the NZ regions (north and south island). I presume a generic AA PPI is a no go - would BMW mechanic/shops consider helping with that for a fee? There are some listings in Hawkes bay, nelson, otago, Christchurch that I'm considering. Naturally 2 in auckland however they're both a bit higher KMs (140k km, and 195k km on a rebuilt engine). There is one in Auckland that's 108k kms, seems like the person knows what they're on about.

E.g the following:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m5/listing/3728723402 - this one seems had the most work done & service history
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m5/listing/2421916203 - but an import w/ no maintenance history
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m5/listing/3724768272 - on the higher end I think for 108k kms

I suppose my main concern is that it's hard for me to check maintenance records remotely. There have been a few dealers selling em - normally I avoid dealers and go private (JDM for my past cars). Do you folks recommend any particular dealers say in Auckland / Nelson / Chch?

 

Thanks again all for your advice and tips.. really appreciate it

Quote

Yes me and my wife was contemplating about it due to her health issues.  Having sold my old R34 Skyline and likely to sell her Cayenne in the summer;  For now we have decided to keep her M5, but if the right offer comes we are open to the idea of letting it go. My wife is doing better now, in fact last Sunday's meeting up and breakfast with fellow BMWs was her first time to eat out in months.  So we are likely to keep the M5 as long as we can.

@Mantic you can see my start of journey on the thread below, some info there maybe useful in considering if E60 M5 is a car you would want to own 

I have a thread regarding our ownership, which I update every now and then. 

This guy in youtube is a good follow as well, fun fact when I bought our M5 there was 4 M5 at the dealer.  I picked ours out of the 4, while a few weeks after he picked the other one which he currently owns. 

https://www.youtube.com/c/MTechGuy

I think the M5 E60 is a great car, but its not for everyone.  What I think was the best thing about the ownership is not the car, but rather the people you get to know while owning the car.  People here in bimmersport, mechanics that will service your car and general car community.

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Mantic

[TermiPeteNZ 1318]

Hey Josh

They are an epic car and I love mine, but while the car is 'cheap', you need to have healthy budget for running costs, and they're not a sensible daily driver. If you buy one that hasn't had the road bearings done, then you need $5-7K available to cover that.

Good idea to get a specialist PPI if you can, but any PPI is better than no PPI 👍

HBQ695 was off the road with 'engine failure' - rod bearing/crank failure likely with rebuild 😕 So be cautious. was a $1 NR auction back in 2019...

The other two look decent, depending on whether you want OEM or aftermarket aesthetic.

[Twistee 454]

Don't rush buying an M5, don't limit yourself to what is on TM right now - none of those come close to JUN's one, at a bare minimum why not pony up for a flight to Wellington and see what a mint M5 is like in the flesh before looking on the open market. If you do convince his wife to part with it I will take my finders fee in petrol vouchers . 

[Jun 233]

PPI:

I believe Jon of Auto38 is still working on cars but not full time. I also overheard last weekend he was flying somewhere to do a PPI. I can DM you his number if you want and see if can make an arrangement with him. He has done a lot of work on my car and Pete’s car.

Trusted Dealer:

Both me and m-tech guy purchased our M5 for Paul Kelly at Christchurch. In my opinion mine had the best condition and low mileage 54k at the time. M-tech car is high miles but he managed to negotiate for PK to do the rod bearings before purchasing. PK arranged our mechanical warranty which was hard as the car is more than 10 years old. From what I know the mechanic that does the M5 there personally owns a M5. Since my purchase I gotten to know another mechanic over there who became a friend. So maybe PK is a good dealer that understands M5, as to trusted always look after yourself.

Example Car:

Happy for me to show our car. Definitely good to see a few cars before your purchase. I saw a local car here during our hunt, which was bought off a BMW dealer mechanic. Then when I flew to PK I test drove 2 M5, however my wife has already made her mind which car to get prior hand. I just wanted to see back to back that our choice was actually the better car in person. You can also see the factory option in our car, I rarely see one that is optioned all the way like ours: ventilated seats, rear heated, extended leather, alcantara headliner, etc. There is a M5 here in Wellington that is NZ new, you can see the difference between it and a JDM spec like ours.

Happy hunting, I think it’s one of the best parts of the ownership. Btw you can also purchase from Japan auctions. My JDM mechanic also imports cars, ex-Skyline racer. He gave me his account before to access the auctions, glad the process is not as easy as buying stuff from Amazon otherwise I would be bankrupt.

[Mantic 0]

Thanks everyone! I had recently got a Subaru WRX (well the JDM spec SGT), so am not really in a big rush on the M5 just yet. The V10 is calling though..

Cheers for the recommendations and connections on PPI and dealers.

Yeah @Jun would be keen to do a trip down to welly to check it out. Maybe closer to summer?

 

[Jun 233]

12 minutes ago, Mantic said:

Thanks everyone! I had recently got a Subaru WRX (well the JDM spec SGT), so am not really in a big rush on the M5 just yet. The V10 is calling though..

Cheers for the recommendations and connections on PPI and dealers.

Yeah @Jun would be keen to do a trip down to welly to check it out. Maybe closer to summer?

 

Hehehe, I do miss JDMs they are nice and practical.  Yes just message me when you are in town.