I am one of those people that gets very bored with the same car after a while. Normally around 3 years and I'm looking to change to something else. Something faster perhaps. Something more practical? Maybe.
Well, for the last 3 years I've owned a 2006 335d E92.
I went the diesel route for practicality as I was doing lots of long trips at the time but I still wanted a performance car. Couldn't argue with 286bhp and 428ft/lb torque. It was the fastest car I'd ever owned. It swallowed up miles at an alarming pace so easily that I even treated it to a weekend at the Nurburgring, some 1500 miles round trip in all which included a stint on the 155mph limiter on the autobahn. All good fun. (I like to think I'm a perfectionist when it comes to cars. they have to be in absolute peak original condition wherever possible or sensible so the limiter wasn't removed.)
Except it wasn't too fun. Don't get me wrong I was nearly hitting the limiter on the track at times and I know the track perfectly fine. Except, a minibus overtook me. Golf TDI's were overtaking me and those pesky rental Suzuki Swift 1.3's were overtaking me constantly.
I spent the whole drive home considering my options.
I could have modified the 335d, quite a lot actually, but that goes against my perfectionist ways. I could have brought a track focused car instead. Perhaps a Caterham, or an older Lotus Exige.
Anyway, my wife and i are looking to start a family in the near future and I would have to sell the E92 either way to fund the next car. Realistically it had to be a 5 door. But that doesn't mean it has to be slow!
Cue my rushed purchase of an M5.
Actually, this is not the M5 I went to buy. I made arrangements over a 3 week period to pick up an Interlagos Blue / Silverstone Grey Leathered M5 from London. (I live in Northern Ireland) All went well, the financing came in, the travel arrangements were made and I'd even got as far as travelling over to England ready to go pick it up the next day. Then the seller rang me at 1030pm. The dash was a disco. Warning lights everywhere. It needed looking at. The next day he told me a mechanic had diagnosed it as an ABS sensor fault. I wasn't convinced so I rang the garage myself. They informed me it was ABS pump / DSC Controller malfunction and would be somewhere in the region of £3'000 to fix. Arse. Annoyingly after all the travel arrangements and sorting out the transport for the car back to NI I was now without the car.
I checked UK wide adverts, eager to keep the ferry travel the next day, and lo and behold another M5 in the exact same colours (although almost totally standard spec!) came up for sale that very morning. Totally standard was fine for me. It has everything my 335d has and more.
I rushed 100 miles north to view it. In darkness. (I mentioned the rush thing didn't I?) I could instantly see it was going to be a project car. The previous owner has ruined the paint in an attempt to polish it. Scratches and burn marks in it everywhere. The interior is generally fine although grubby and the leather looks more green than grey. These were issues I could sort out easily myself.
The owner informed me it was recently serviced and had a recent clutch and flywheel along with newly throttle actuators by a company local to him near Manchester. None of this he could prove so i took it with a pinch of salt. I would carry it all out over the next year just to be sure.
The owner also mentioned that the front bumper was damaged. It was split in fact under the headlight. He told me an old lady pushed a trolley into it at the supermarket. On inspecting the car as best I could I could tell this was BS as the bumper was damaged in multiple places and didn't line up on the car properly. The wheel arch liners were worn away slightly by the wheels and many bolts for many plastic panels were missing under the bumper. He has clearly crashed it and i very much doubt he could afford to repair it. He had taken £1000 off the price already for this and in reality the car was competitively priced in my opinion. When I test drove it for 30 minutes, everything worked fine. No engine warning lights, full power delivery, every button doing its job except the parking sensors. The parking sensors are showing a fault which I believe is a broken PDC sensor and due to this the hill assist function is also not working. Again, I thought this was something I can easily fix.
So I bought the car and went 1 mile down the road to fill it up for the journey back to NI. Then the dashboard disco came on. Ar*e
Stupidly I drove the car 100 miles home in limp mode. must have averaged about 20mph tops. Hills were almost impossible. Borderline dangerous.
The next day I reassessed my options at my parents house.
And I remembered I had breakdown cover for any vehicle! Should have remembered that the day before really! So, at least I can get the car back to NI. (Back of AA truck!)
The car then went straight to BMW dealership to be repaired. Throttle Actuator Bank 1 + Dignostics = £1400.
So with that repair out the way I decided to make moves to repair the front bumper over the Christmas period. On daylight inspection of the car it was very easy to see the aluminium support bar at the front was caved in. He's crashed this car fairly hard. B**ger again.
I managed to source a new aluminium crash bar quite cheap (£150 on ebay) and I am now in the process of fitting it. So my car currently has the front end off.
Oh yeah, and the headlight felt a little bit loose so I investigated there too. B**ger three.
All in all I am hoping to get the car back together in the morning and then at least I just need to source a new bumper and some missing mounting bolts here and there and the car is cosmetically together again.
As soon as this is all done I can start the rest of the 'To Do' list. It isn't small. First thing, full service on the engine and health check on the clutch / actuators / ABS system etc. Then its all new brakes using standard discs with Ferodo DS2500 pads and stainless braided lines. (One of the only upgrades I actually feel is worthwhile!
So that's my journey so far. A sharp dive into M5 ownership but I absolutely love it when it is working well and would'nt change it for anything. This won't be a 3 year car. This will; be mine until somebody offers me a House as part ex. (Sensible me returns..) Im hoping to update this thread when I can if there is anything interesting to discuss.
Well, for the last 3 years I've owned a 2006 335d E92.
I went the diesel route for practicality as I was doing lots of long trips at the time but I still wanted a performance car. Couldn't argue with 286bhp and 428ft/lb torque. It was the fastest car I'd ever owned. It swallowed up miles at an alarming pace so easily that I even treated it to a weekend at the Nurburgring, some 1500 miles round trip in all which included a stint on the 155mph limiter on the autobahn. All good fun. (I like to think I'm a perfectionist when it comes to cars. they have to be in absolute peak original condition wherever possible or sensible so the limiter wasn't removed.)
Except it wasn't too fun. Don't get me wrong I was nearly hitting the limiter on the track at times and I know the track perfectly fine. Except, a minibus overtook me. Golf TDI's were overtaking me and those pesky rental Suzuki Swift 1.3's were overtaking me constantly.
I spent the whole drive home considering my options.
I could have modified the 335d, quite a lot actually, but that goes against my perfectionist ways. I could have brought a track focused car instead. Perhaps a Caterham, or an older Lotus Exige.
Anyway, my wife and i are looking to start a family in the near future and I would have to sell the E92 either way to fund the next car. Realistically it had to be a 5 door. But that doesn't mean it has to be slow!
Cue my rushed purchase of an M5.
Actually, this is not the M5 I went to buy. I made arrangements over a 3 week period to pick up an Interlagos Blue / Silverstone Grey Leathered M5 from London. (I live in Northern Ireland) All went well, the financing came in, the travel arrangements were made and I'd even got as far as travelling over to England ready to go pick it up the next day. Then the seller rang me at 1030pm. The dash was a disco. Warning lights everywhere. It needed looking at. The next day he told me a mechanic had diagnosed it as an ABS sensor fault. I wasn't convinced so I rang the garage myself. They informed me it was ABS pump / DSC Controller malfunction and would be somewhere in the region of £3'000 to fix. Arse. Annoyingly after all the travel arrangements and sorting out the transport for the car back to NI I was now without the car.
I checked UK wide adverts, eager to keep the ferry travel the next day, and lo and behold another M5 in the exact same colours (although almost totally standard spec!) came up for sale that very morning. Totally standard was fine for me. It has everything my 335d has and more.
I rushed 100 miles north to view it. In darkness. (I mentioned the rush thing didn't I?) I could instantly see it was going to be a project car. The previous owner has ruined the paint in an attempt to polish it. Scratches and burn marks in it everywhere. The interior is generally fine although grubby and the leather looks more green than grey. These were issues I could sort out easily myself.
The owner informed me it was recently serviced and had a recent clutch and flywheel along with newly throttle actuators by a company local to him near Manchester. None of this he could prove so i took it with a pinch of salt. I would carry it all out over the next year just to be sure.
The owner also mentioned that the front bumper was damaged. It was split in fact under the headlight. He told me an old lady pushed a trolley into it at the supermarket. On inspecting the car as best I could I could tell this was BS as the bumper was damaged in multiple places and didn't line up on the car properly. The wheel arch liners were worn away slightly by the wheels and many bolts for many plastic panels were missing under the bumper. He has clearly crashed it and i very much doubt he could afford to repair it. He had taken £1000 off the price already for this and in reality the car was competitively priced in my opinion. When I test drove it for 30 minutes, everything worked fine. No engine warning lights, full power delivery, every button doing its job except the parking sensors. The parking sensors are showing a fault which I believe is a broken PDC sensor and due to this the hill assist function is also not working. Again, I thought this was something I can easily fix.
So I bought the car and went 1 mile down the road to fill it up for the journey back to NI. Then the dashboard disco came on. Ar*e
Stupidly I drove the car 100 miles home in limp mode. must have averaged about 20mph tops. Hills were almost impossible. Borderline dangerous.
The next day I reassessed my options at my parents house.
And I remembered I had breakdown cover for any vehicle! Should have remembered that the day before really! So, at least I can get the car back to NI. (Back of AA truck!)
The car then went straight to BMW dealership to be repaired. Throttle Actuator Bank 1 + Dignostics = £1400.
So with that repair out the way I decided to make moves to repair the front bumper over the Christmas period. On daylight inspection of the car it was very easy to see the aluminium support bar at the front was caved in. He's crashed this car fairly hard. B**ger again.
I managed to source a new aluminium crash bar quite cheap (£150 on ebay) and I am now in the process of fitting it. So my car currently has the front end off.
Oh yeah, and the headlight felt a little bit loose so I investigated there too. B**ger three.
All in all I am hoping to get the car back together in the morning and then at least I just need to source a new bumper and some missing mounting bolts here and there and the car is cosmetically together again.
As soon as this is all done I can start the rest of the 'To Do' list. It isn't small. First thing, full service on the engine and health check on the clutch / actuators / ABS system etc. Then its all new brakes using standard discs with Ferodo DS2500 pads and stainless braided lines. (One of the only upgrades I actually feel is worthwhile!
So that's my journey so far. A sharp dive into M5 ownership but I absolutely love it when it is working well and would'nt change it for anything. This won't be a 3 year car. This will; be mine until somebody offers me a House as part ex. (Sensible me returns..) Im hoping to update this thread when I can if there is anything interesting to discuss.