I figure that most of you have heard this question a million times, and I have read previous posts on the subject, but I'll ask it again anyway since it will put my mind at ease. I'm looking at purchasing a 2002 M5 with 36K on the clock. The carfax is clean, I called BMW NA and got the dealers names that serviced the car and called them. They of course couldn't give me the details of the service history, but did say there were no major issues that they saw. I'm getting a reputable dealer to do a pre-purchase inspection. Other than that, is there anything I'm missing. Since its out of warranty, I want to make sure all of my bases are covered.
The clutch did have a vibration when pushed halfway down or when letting it out. Does this mean that the clutch might need replacement? Will a service guy be able to tell?
I faced the same choice back in June. I didn't get the pre-purchase inspection thinking I could do it myself pretty well. I recommend having a professional look at it. I missed a couple of costly items, but I still got a 2002 M5 for $13,000 below Blue Book, and they only cost about $1000 to fix. Carfax doesn't show unreported accidents, by the way. The clutch should behave as you'd expect; so you've probably got an issue there. I'd get quotes for the items the pros find and negotiate the price down for those items, unless you're already getting a screaming deal.
I'd go for it. The M5 is an awesome car. Even though I had to give mine some initial TLC, I don't regret the choice. I was going to keep my 540i 6-speed and get a vintage Ferrari (you can pick up a 308 GTS for around $35K), but decided to go the M5 route instead because of this screaming deal, the exceptional performance, the engineering, the ergonomics, the ability to carry 5 people and still out accelerate that vintage Ferrari. Not to mention the M5 is safer...
PS: I got an extended (non-CPO) warranty to 100K for my car for around $2200 if I remember correctly. I used it on one of those items I mentioned. See if you have any warranty options through your dealer.
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Mark
2002 E39 Lemans Blue M5
Black interior, Rear fog lights, hardwired V1
I'm new to BMW's...was a Porsche guy...but in my Porsche days, getting a PPI done at a dealer was almost never done...you'd always go to a detail-oriented-fault-finding-perfectionist independent who knew the model well and could itemize all the things that was wrong with it. Just my $0.02.
Is this a totally private party sale? I've recommended folks find a BMW dealer (talk to the FINANCE guys) that is willing to CPO the car as part of the transaction of you buying it- the seller sells it to the dealer, dealer cpos it, and you buy it- all in one day. Costs you $1300 for the cpo, dealer gets $700 for their trouble. This is NOT officially sanctioned and you need to really be clear with the finance/bmw dealer that you are cool and it will be a no-muss, no-fuss deal. Do a search my ID and 'cpo'. I am NOT clear on whether or not they can cpo a car that is out of warranty
Also, there is a cpo checklist posted here (search again)... it is a great document for you to discuss what is in a "PPI". There is no globally recognized definition of a PPI. Go to any dealer and say 'do a ppi' and you have no idea what they will do.
Ask the dealer to just black out owner info on the records.... nothing wrong with seeing those. You can also get a print out of the BMW service history from any dealer- it is a list of 8 digit numbers that we can decode.
Thanks guys. The car is at a high end used car dealer. I manage to get the price to $40.6K. Sound like a deal? From what I have seen considering the 36K miles, it sounds good. The car is going to be inspected by an independent shop that specializes in BMWs and Mercedes. I trust him too. The delaers I called were in Illinois and Manhatten, so going to see them in person is not really an option.
I drove a few M3s, but they seem everywhere, and while it is a nice car, it just didn't impress me as much as I thought. I must admit, I am going to miss the low end torque of my Mach 1 mustang, but 10 minutes in the M5 made me forget all about it.
Hopefully the clutch pedal vibration is a non-issue. It does have me concerned though since I've read on here that it is a weak spot. I'll keep you guys posted.
One caveat on the PPI - get someone who is familiar with M5s
While there is a lot of negative critiques of dealer PPIs, I ran into the opposite problem with my first PPI--a highly regarded independent who worked with a lot of top-end cars, but who hadn't dealt with as many M5s. The significance is that the shop did a good job identifying problems with the car, but they couldn't tell me how typical the problems were with M5s, what they might lead to, etc.
I was able to post the inspection results on this board and get some good feedback, and based on that, I didn't get the car. But the next inspection I had done by the lead guy at a BMW dealership here who works on all the M cars and felt very comfortable with his analysis. Probably a case-by-case basis, but you definitely want someone who can tell you the significance of particular findings from the PPI, not just the findings themselves.
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The smile appears to be permanent!
Any $tealer should be able to print out a service history for you, they just have to black out the previous owners info., as far as a CPO YES will save you big $$$ down the road. Good Luck!
BTW; Welcome to the board
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2000 Silvr(354)/Blk(M1SW) 65k miles
Dinan Cans
Dinan Software
Mark, what company did you use? How easy was it to get taken care of?
Matt
My warranty is through "Premier Dealer Services, Inc." in San Diego, and is underwritten by "Great American Insurance Company, a member of the Great American Insurance Companies Group (R)" located in Cincinnati, OH. They paid my one and only claim so far, so I expect that they're legitimate...
Cost for the warranty was $2374 for 36month/100K miles.
PS: I paid $39,000 for my 2002 with 49K miles. At the time, Kelly Blue Book said $52,000. Looks from the deals I see here that it wasn't so spectacular, but it was the best I had found in a few months of looking.
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Mark
2002 E39 Lemans Blue M5
Black interior, Rear fog lights, hardwired V1
I figure that most of you have heard this question a million times, and I have read previous posts on the subject, but I'll ask it again anyway since it will put my mind at ease. I'm looking at purchasing a 2002 M5 with 36K on the clock. The carfax is clean, I called BMW NA and got the dealers names that serviced the car and called them. They of course couldn't give me the details of the service history, but did say there were no major issues that they saw. I'm getting a reputable dealer to do a pre-purchase inspection. Other than that, is there anything I'm missing. Since its out of warranty, I want to make sure all of my bases are covered. 
I recommend having a professional look at it. I missed a couple of costly items, but I still got a 2002 M5 for $13,000 below Blue Book, and they only cost about $1000 to fix. Carfax doesn't show unreported accidents, by the way. The clutch should behave as you'd expect; so you've probably got an issue there. I'd get quotes for the items the pros find and negotiate the price down for those items, unless you're already getting a screaming deal.
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