I bought my M5 a year ago today and 16,768 miles later, the Beast has a total of 62,946 miles on her now. It has been a wonderful year with a car I enjoy driving today as much as the first day I bought her. In spite of a thorough PPI by a long time BMW mechanic at a dealership, the car had a disintegrating guibo which ended up bending the driveshaft and I had to replace both in the first 300 miles. The PPI also missed a broken rear sway bar bracket and as a result he did a free oil and filter change for me. He also missed the fact the car had run flats on it, which I found out when I thought the vibration was a wheel balance issue. My only mistake in my test drive was not driving faster than 75 mph where the vibration was pronounced. I also replaced the FSU in the first 500 miles.
I've averaged 16.9 mpg, and changed the oil every 3500 miles with TWS, and only had to add a total of a half quart of TWS in between changes. I've been VERY HAPPY with the two sets of Michelin PS2 tires I've had on the beast. The only thing that has failed after straightening out the vibration has been the thermostat. I've changed all the fluids, the belts, the radiator hoses, the spark plugs, the fuel and air filters, and upgraded to the Beast heavy duty sway bar brackets. I also had the leather interior professionally refinished.
I've grown to like the 2000 pre face lift lights, but want to upgrade to the newer nav system and nav screen this year as well as the 540 short throw shifter. I'm on the orignal battery, so that will probably need changing eventually, but it's doing fine now, as is the original clutch. I love the seat heaters and the seats almost as much as the performance of the M5, and as we all know, it corners like it's on rails without jarring your teeth out with a race car ride. I've had many sports cars from Corvettes to Porsches and nothing has thrilled me or driven as well as the E39 M5. I bought this car for a weekend driver, but ended up driving it every day and have found driving it on a regular basis seems to agree with the M5. Only regret is that I didn't discover the M5 earlier in life!
I've averaged 16.9 mpg, and changed the oil every 3500 miles with TWS, and only had to add a total of a half quart of TWS in between changes. I've been VERY HAPPY with the two sets of Michelin PS2 tires I've had on the beast. The only thing that has failed after straightening out the vibration has been the thermostat. I've changed all the fluids, the belts, the radiator hoses, the spark plugs, the fuel and air filters, and upgraded to the Beast heavy duty sway bar brackets. I also had the leather interior professionally refinished.
I've grown to like the 2000 pre face lift lights, but want to upgrade to the newer nav system and nav screen this year as well as the 540 short throw shifter. I'm on the orignal battery, so that will probably need changing eventually, but it's doing fine now, as is the original clutch. I love the seat heaters and the seats almost as much as the performance of the M5, and as we all know, it corners like it's on rails without jarring your teeth out with a race car ride. I've had many sports cars from Corvettes to Porsches and nothing has thrilled me or driven as well as the E39 M5. I bought this car for a weekend driver, but ended up driving it every day and have found driving it on a regular basis seems to agree with the M5. Only regret is that I didn't discover the M5 earlier in life!
I have a little less then a month until I have had a year of ownership, it will be right around 15000 miles on the car, this is the MOST I have driven in one year with a car! This has been the best BMW that I have owned, and this is number 12!
