I've always been a fan of the E39 5-Series. In high school, during my japanese car days, I always knew that when I grew out of that phase I would graduate into a larger, quieter, and practical pinnacle of luxury. Ever since seeing my first face-lifted 5-series in 2001, I was sold.
Fast forward to almost 10 years, and I am finally in the position to pick one up. I sourced a very nice, BMW of SF certified, 1 owner 2001 525i. I got (what I thought) was a great deal, since the mileage was at 75k, and it had a complete service history. It also had the Style 5 wheels (I love them) and was on sport suspension, so it was a great looker as well. I had done massive amounts of research and knew in the near future it would be needing a coolant system overhaul, and the time to replace suspension bits was approaching as well. I went ahead and dived in anyway, and enjoyed that car very much. I ended up replacing the cooling system about 1.5k miles later when the radiator went, (thankfully in a parking lot, where I just pulled it into a spot and called a tow truck).
3 months after the purchase of my 525i, my family is shopping around for a 2nd hand car after my brother sold his project car (an 84 300zx with 300k miles, with an RB on an engine stand waiting to go in as soon as the stock motor croaked). He loved the car to ***** and had been a Z guy all of his life, owning a variety of 300's, 240z's, and 510's, but he had, like myself, hit the phase where it was starting to get ridiculous getting followed by local LE everywhere we go.
So after shopping for a bit he had decided he wanted to pick up something like what I had; a luxurious 4 door sedan that had enough pep and was as comfortable putting around in traffic as it would be at autobahn speeds. It was at this point that the pieces sort of fell into place for me..
Before picking up the 525i, I had been on bimmerforums and here at m5board shopping around, looking to see what kind of cars were for sale. I found a lot of sweet deals and great maintained cars, but unfortunately many, if not most, were too far away for me to realistically buy. After buying the 525i, however, I see VelocityGarage's M5 up for sale. The car is local, clean, and had been tastefully modified, pretty much how I would do the car myself. Here is an attached pic of his car during a show:
![mg_8724.jpg]()
![8-15-09-639-179.jpg]()
Needless to say, I was kicking myself in the head. For a few thousand more I could have been driving the top model E39. It has most of the amenities- PDC, heated seats, working power rear shade, m-audio, nav, brushed aluminum trim, matching color inserts etc. It had lots of miles, but just from looking at it and the mod list, I could tell it was more of a show car than anything. Show car guys usually take great care of their car inside and out, and felt like I missed the deal of a lifetime. I was upset for a while, but settled on the fact that my 525 saved more gas, and although a little (ok, a lot) less powerful, was good enough for it's size and weight.
But when my family decided they needed a car like the 525, I wasted no time.
![DSC0061s.jpg]()
In the end, I cut my family a great deal on the 525, and picked up the M5. So far, i've put about 2000 miles on it, and I've had a smile for each and every mile.
Not sure if I want to continue modifying the car. I've been hearing great things about the powerchip tune and will most likely be moving in that direction. As far as maintenance goes, I did it's first oil change 2 weeks ago, and VG let me know before I bought the car the 5series shimmy has appeared, so i'll be replacing the thrust arms, probably with the EAC units. I may have the Exotics Tuning front lip repaired and reinstalled, since it was damaged before the sale, but I'm not 100% sure as the car is slammed and that lip is too nice to be kissing concrete daily.
I was asked a few nights ago by another M-enthusiast over a few beers that if given the option, would I trade the E39 for anything else. Some of the new M-cars are nice, but I don't think there is one that can replace the E39. I think this M5 is going to the grave with me
Afterword:
As it turns out, VelocityGarage was actually a good friend of mine in middle school. We had lost contact since we both went to different high schools, but it's funny how a 4000lb hunk of steel can reunite old friends with the same tastes. After reconnecting, I felt even more confident he wouldn't sell me a POS thrashed on M5, especially coupled with the fact this is the 3rd M5 he's owned.
Fast forward to almost 10 years, and I am finally in the position to pick one up. I sourced a very nice, BMW of SF certified, 1 owner 2001 525i. I got (what I thought) was a great deal, since the mileage was at 75k, and it had a complete service history. It also had the Style 5 wheels (I love them) and was on sport suspension, so it was a great looker as well. I had done massive amounts of research and knew in the near future it would be needing a coolant system overhaul, and the time to replace suspension bits was approaching as well. I went ahead and dived in anyway, and enjoyed that car very much. I ended up replacing the cooling system about 1.5k miles later when the radiator went, (thankfully in a parking lot, where I just pulled it into a spot and called a tow truck).
3 months after the purchase of my 525i, my family is shopping around for a 2nd hand car after my brother sold his project car (an 84 300zx with 300k miles, with an RB on an engine stand waiting to go in as soon as the stock motor croaked). He loved the car to ***** and had been a Z guy all of his life, owning a variety of 300's, 240z's, and 510's, but he had, like myself, hit the phase where it was starting to get ridiculous getting followed by local LE everywhere we go.
So after shopping for a bit he had decided he wanted to pick up something like what I had; a luxurious 4 door sedan that had enough pep and was as comfortable putting around in traffic as it would be at autobahn speeds. It was at this point that the pieces sort of fell into place for me..
Before picking up the 525i, I had been on bimmerforums and here at m5board shopping around, looking to see what kind of cars were for sale. I found a lot of sweet deals and great maintained cars, but unfortunately many, if not most, were too far away for me to realistically buy. After buying the 525i, however, I see VelocityGarage's M5 up for sale. The car is local, clean, and had been tastefully modified, pretty much how I would do the car myself. Here is an attached pic of his car during a show:
Needless to say, I was kicking myself in the head. For a few thousand more I could have been driving the top model E39. It has most of the amenities- PDC, heated seats, working power rear shade, m-audio, nav, brushed aluminum trim, matching color inserts etc. It had lots of miles, but just from looking at it and the mod list, I could tell it was more of a show car than anything. Show car guys usually take great care of their car inside and out, and felt like I missed the deal of a lifetime. I was upset for a while, but settled on the fact that my 525 saved more gas, and although a little (ok, a lot) less powerful, was good enough for it's size and weight.
But when my family decided they needed a car like the 525, I wasted no time.
In the end, I cut my family a great deal on the 525, and picked up the M5. So far, i've put about 2000 miles on it, and I've had a smile for each and every mile.
Not sure if I want to continue modifying the car. I've been hearing great things about the powerchip tune and will most likely be moving in that direction. As far as maintenance goes, I did it's first oil change 2 weeks ago, and VG let me know before I bought the car the 5series shimmy has appeared, so i'll be replacing the thrust arms, probably with the EAC units. I may have the Exotics Tuning front lip repaired and reinstalled, since it was damaged before the sale, but I'm not 100% sure as the car is slammed and that lip is too nice to be kissing concrete daily.
I was asked a few nights ago by another M-enthusiast over a few beers that if given the option, would I trade the E39 for anything else. Some of the new M-cars are nice, but I don't think there is one that can replace the E39. I think this M5 is going to the grave with me
Afterword:
As it turns out, VelocityGarage was actually a good friend of mine in middle school. We had lost contact since we both went to different high schools, but it's funny how a 4000lb hunk of steel can reunite old friends with the same tastes. After reconnecting, I felt even more confident he wouldn't sell me a POS thrashed on M5, especially coupled with the fact this is the 3rd M5 he's owned.
