Hi folks, I haven't posted to here in a long long time, probably almost 7 or 8 years! I used this site a lot when I just bought my 2006 M5 and I always enjoyed the discussions and deep wealth of knowledge the people on this site freely gave out. I just wanted to give one last thread discussing my long term ownership of the legendary V10 E60 M5.
I bought the car used with about 40,000 km on the odometer from the dealership. I put about 150k on it over the next 10 or 11 years or so and the machine has been absolutely wonderful for it. There were times that I was daily driving it for years in there, and other times that it was a special occasion car that I would take on road trips. I drove that thing clear across the continent and it was the most dependable car I ever had. Sadly though, I finally had to give it up with about 190k on the odometer when I took it to the dealership for its normal oil change and maintenance and they told me they found metal shavings in the oil which meant I needed to do the rod bearings. I also had some struts, bushings, and some seals in the engine that gave me an estimate of $12,000 to repair. The car with that many km on it is probably only worth around 15-20k so I felt it was pretty much mechanically totalled so I let it go to car wrecker / mechanic and said good bye to my blue beast.
I don't regret driving it one bit. Especially in the later years I used that car to drive to see my beautiful wife and put some very serious km while we were courting. I was also lucky enough that I drove it to my wedding and it will forever be remembered in my wedding photos (in the background, but I'll know it was there). Once covid settles down a bit, I suspect I'll pick up a nice 2018-2019 when the prices go back to where the residual values have normally been.
So, now that that is out of the way, what people here might actually care about. Total cost of ownership.
I kept all my bills and receipts for work done on the car (always at the dealer) and when I finally let the machine go I decided to spend some time with the calculator. The machine cost on average about $4,600 in maintenance and repairs per year. The total cost for it over the 11 years was $50,480 CDN. I also had about $2000 for insurance and registration. Sometimes the number would go up or down depending on the whims of the insurance company but it always seemed to average out to that. The depreciation of the machine was $62,000 after it was all said and done. I averaged about 13.4l per 100km over the life of the car however I did not calculate the price of fuel because I always figured you can't change the price of gas so there was no point worrying about it. All in though, the car cost awfully close to $1150 bucks per month. The best $1150 bucks a month money can buy.
The car had pretty much all the normal failures that the M5s had, the smg unit, the vanos, the throttle actuators, suspension, tires, etc. However, no matter what the machine always got you home. It felt like it was milled from a solid block of aluminum and I wonder if there will be another machine like it in the future?
I will happily answer questions about the machine and my time with it if anyone cares otherwise, try to keep all four wheels on the ground and a smile on your face!
I bought the car used with about 40,000 km on the odometer from the dealership. I put about 150k on it over the next 10 or 11 years or so and the machine has been absolutely wonderful for it. There were times that I was daily driving it for years in there, and other times that it was a special occasion car that I would take on road trips. I drove that thing clear across the continent and it was the most dependable car I ever had. Sadly though, I finally had to give it up with about 190k on the odometer when I took it to the dealership for its normal oil change and maintenance and they told me they found metal shavings in the oil which meant I needed to do the rod bearings. I also had some struts, bushings, and some seals in the engine that gave me an estimate of $12,000 to repair. The car with that many km on it is probably only worth around 15-20k so I felt it was pretty much mechanically totalled so I let it go to car wrecker / mechanic and said good bye to my blue beast.
I don't regret driving it one bit. Especially in the later years I used that car to drive to see my beautiful wife and put some very serious km while we were courting. I was also lucky enough that I drove it to my wedding and it will forever be remembered in my wedding photos (in the background, but I'll know it was there). Once covid settles down a bit, I suspect I'll pick up a nice 2018-2019 when the prices go back to where the residual values have normally been.
So, now that that is out of the way, what people here might actually care about. Total cost of ownership.
I kept all my bills and receipts for work done on the car (always at the dealer) and when I finally let the machine go I decided to spend some time with the calculator. The machine cost on average about $4,600 in maintenance and repairs per year. The total cost for it over the 11 years was $50,480 CDN. I also had about $2000 for insurance and registration. Sometimes the number would go up or down depending on the whims of the insurance company but it always seemed to average out to that. The depreciation of the machine was $62,000 after it was all said and done. I averaged about 13.4l per 100km over the life of the car however I did not calculate the price of fuel because I always figured you can't change the price of gas so there was no point worrying about it. All in though, the car cost awfully close to $1150 bucks per month. The best $1150 bucks a month money can buy.
The car had pretty much all the normal failures that the M5s had, the smg unit, the vanos, the throttle actuators, suspension, tires, etc. However, no matter what the machine always got you home. It felt like it was milled from a solid block of aluminum and I wonder if there will be another machine like it in the future?
I will happily answer questions about the machine and my time with it if anyone cares otherwise, try to keep all four wheels on the ground and a smile on your face!
