[ApexMaster]

Greetings all. I purchased a 2002 M5 on Friday and had the pleasure of driving it down from Santa Cruz to San Diego that day. I drove down the 101, since 1 is under construction at Big Sur. The power is astounding, the gearbox is great and the seat is probably the best I have experienced (with the only competition being the 2008 Audi S6). The purchase process was great with DeLaveaga motors in Santa Cruz. They answered all the tough M5 questions over the phone, and once I had a family friend check it out, I decided to buy a plane ticket. Everything is as advertised. Clutch is strong, ditto for suspension bushings. Breaks and tires are almost new, and all electronics work normal (except for pixels out on dash, and the nav is a bit off).

My first order of business will be to establish a relationship with a local mechanic (All German Auto in Encinitas - I have heard great things and have had a few good discussions with them). Then I'll tackle the following:
- Dash pixel fix
- Re-calibrate Nav so it doesn't think I'm spinning in circles
- Some sort of iPhone bluetooth / iPod music integration (potentially DICE)
- Short Shifter
- Back up camera?

Here is a list of rides I have had previously:
1967 Ford Mustang
1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
2003 Subaru WRX
2007 Saab 9-3 Aero
2009 Lexus IS250

Looking forward to benefitting from everyones vast knowledge and experience.

///Justin

 

[jrsuh85]

beautiful car welcome :wroom:

 

[Tiesto]

She is adorably beautiful..for me..i'll fix wut needs to be fixed..and will live with this beauty like this..stock and clean!

 

[atiyeh]

Congrats, funny thing.. I was looking at purchasing that very car. I ended up getting a closer Sterling Grey ... your story seems similar to mine. We both waited almost 10 years for it and finally got our dream cars

- George

 

[Kevin The Clean 1]

ApexMaster,

How many miles does she have on her... ?

 

[feeblebob]

Very nice and welcome! Patience pays, you got a nice one by the looks of it.

 

[jgfabs]

Lovely looking car.Welcome.

 

[Quicksilv3r]

Nice find, great color. Welcome to the family!

 

["S62"]

Congrats. You shall soon receive several bills within the following months

 

[ApexMaster]

Thanks everyone! Good times thus far, and I'm sure the grins won't stop.

atiyeh, that is hilarious - did you end up with the car out of Fullerton?

Kevin, she has 81,000 on her and has had inspection 2.

 

[M540i]

Nice car. I especially like the color. But I am slightly biased anyway. Heh heh.

 

[993 4S]

Congrats -- great choice, Sterling Grey is beautiful. Any ideas on the car's history? I'd be curious to know if this is my father's M5 that he leased back in '02. If so, I'm glad someone kept it in such great shape for you!

 

["S62"]

Apexmaster are you currently looking to mod it?

 

[Buxton]

Welcome and looks nice! Read what i posted on getting my new instrument cluster paid for complete by BMWNA. I only paid for labor that the dealer would charge under warranty to BMWNA which with tax in WA came to about $120 +/-

 

[BenTong]

Congratulations!

 

[ApexMaster]

993 - this was a Nevada car for most of it's life. Did your father lease out of Nevada?

S62 - I may do some, but nothing too serious or now. Which mods do you suggest?

NWWIE39 - I actually emailed and phone BMWNA yesterday and I await a response. Fingers crossed!!

By the way - my GPS thinks I'm going in circles and I tried doing donuts at Home Depot for a while to re-calibrate. It ended up doing well for a while... Until I got my foot into the accelerator in a big way... I'm thinking the compass has problems. Any thoughts? I will search this issue more on the forums, but I thought I'd ask..

///Justin

 

[Blown03HD]

Congrats on the car! Hey is that a sportsmoblie van in the first shot behind your car? Thoughts are awesome 4x4 expedition vans if it is one.

 

[Valley Motorwerks]

Nice find, I love the color!

 

[atiyeh]

Thanks everyone! Good times thus far, and I'm sure the grins won't stop.

atiyeh, that is hilarious - did you end up with the car out of Fullerton?

Nope, got one that was in LA. The interior was beat the hell and needed quite a bit of work, but the engine was mechanically very sound and ran perfectly. I've spent the last 2 weeks getting the leather refinished (it looks brand new now) ... and covering the wood trim w/ brushed aluminum 3m di-noc material to update it. Incredible transformation from when I bought it

 

[MikeyMike]

Lovely car! Welcome to M5B!