100K Mile 2001 E39 - Page 4 - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

BMWMPWR · 31st August 2007, 22:46

I think another good bet is to start test driving other examples in the area and take note of jiggles, wiggles, squeeks etc etc. Seat time helps you know what is "normal" and what is not. If you can't find two or more examples, make friends with other board members who can go with or check out the rides as well. You can gauge tranny, clutch feel, and question why does it feel like this, or that- blah blah blah.... too many things to notice if you could have something besides words, to compare/contrast. Isn't this why people go on dates before "committing?"

In all seriousness, this is of course on top of everything else you need to do in terms of due diligence such as mentioned above..

Good luck, and don't rush...

alijonny · 1st September 2007, 07:20

+1 totally agree. I drove 2 pieces of junk M5's before I got mine. I felt out the owner pretty good and actually never drove the car before I bought it. When I first got in my M5 to drive it home on prayer, everything was butter. 2000+ miles and no issues. It really depends on the previous owner(s). I got extremely lucky for the price I paid for my car, I was expecting much less. lets see how the next year pans out!

don't get me wrong either, going by what the owner says may be setting you up for trouble. play around with the owner, see if they get nervous or uptight when you ask them off the wall questions. anyone can tell you anything, most people don't have good poker faces. you will tell when they are slipping and then you walk. paper history is great also. get to be friends with your service writer at BMW and pull up records. you know.

and have fun. don't get stressed. the market is picking up on these and the prices are dropping, before you know it all 9,992 or less will be in happy hands. lol

HOVO · 2nd September 2007, 01:24

its fairly priced. ifyou add your 10k lets ay 34k is what your going to blow off for a car.. generally speaking you still wont be far into the LOW MILAGE section. 60-70k miles compared to soemting 90-100k miles isnt much of a difference especially the 39 m5. ive seen cars go well over 130k and still ticking strong. and ive seen cars at 40k miles just fall to peices.

best idea is to get the car inspected by a cirtified bmw shop.. leaky seals, worn bushings, oil covered undercarage etc etc...

the guy that said "TOO MANY MILES.... DONT BUY IT.." is a completely ignorant.

greg · 3rd September 2007, 05:00

Surprised it hasn't been pointed out here - good owner or not (I was a good owner) somewhere around 100K pretty much every U.S. spec car is going to develop carbon buildup. it doesn't hurt performance but it will light the "service engine soon" light meaning you won't be able to pass smog at the next registration. And it is VERY expensive to fix - somewhere around $8K, as theheads MUST be pulled to properly clean the secondary air passages. There's a good deal of info about this on the board. Doesn't matter how carefully the owner maintained the car, or how it was driven. If I could get a 30K mile car for $10K more I would do it.

stilov · 3rd September 2007, 05:34

is it decided that mileage directly correlates with carbon build up? I didn't worry abotu it b/c I don't have smog test here. I would also opt for the d/a software to shut the light off.