Located in Seattle, this E39 M5 has silver paint matched to a black interior. The owner is a BMW CCA member, so it would be reasonable to assume that this car has been maintained properly. For security’s sake, the VIN has not been published but is readily available at the dealer. Except for the Dinan front brakes, the owner has kept this M5 stock. It’s got heated seats, a nav system and metal interior trim. Asking price is $28,000. Only a single picture has been posted with the ad so we can’t comment on how the car’s condition looks overall. Interested parties will have to contact the seller, who has included telephone and email info, for more details.

See the ad here.

Catching the snow-covered badging also speaks a bit about how this M5 is used. To be sure, BMW did not intend its M5s to be garage queens but rather daily drivers, in any weather. Seeing the snow on this M5 hints at the fact that this particular car is being used through the winter. Some M-car lovers may cringe at this but isn’t the M5 a family sedan first and a high-performance car second?

See fantastic hi-res pic here.

Aesthetically, these RD2s look very nice on the E39 M5. The spokes look very delicate and contrast nicely with the fat lip that you’d find on a wide rear wheel. Performance-wise though, one wonders if these wheels have the strength to take some hard driving. The S62 is quite the torquey beast and the spokes seem to be a bit on the thin side, seeing that they have see-through centers. We’ll see how these wheels hold up over time. The original poster has some mods on his car that looks to have improved the power nicely and his addition of cosmetic mods has made his E39 M5 a more rounded beast.

See the pictures here.

Another compelling feature of the new car is the engine, which is a V8 in the mold of the E39 M5. Again, this seems to be a more proper mill for the M5, as just like the E39, the F10 has gobs of torque low in the rev range, which makes for much better drive-ability. Although the S85 V10 is in a league of its own, it could only really be enjoyed in the upper rev ranges. Of course, since the competition now boasts of 500 horsepower motors, it’s only fitting that the engine on the new M5 be fitted with turbos to exceed that kind of output. You would think that because of the turbos, the F10 M5 would have a subdued sound. But BMW’s M division is a master of engine tuning, so extracting the right tone from the fuel-efficient, turbocharged motor is child’s play for them. Those who’ve missed the earthy, goose bump-inducing growl of BMW’s 32-valve V8 in an M5 will the rejoice at the return of an 8-cylinder beast that surpasses the performance of the V10 in every way.

And the sounds this F10 M5 makes with a stock exhaust set up are incredible… it’s likely going to slow sales for the aftermarket exhaust tuners, because the factory exhaust set up sounds great.

Watch and listen to the video below and decide for yourself.

This street version by MKO is also scary in its own right. Aside from being a pristine restoration, peek under the hood and you’ll find the 400 horsepower S62 that inhabits the engine bay of your beloved E39 M5. More than that, this E9 restoration also has the 6-speed transmission, ABS, DSC and other relevant electronic gadgetry found in the E39 M5. With less than 1800 kilos to propel, the 400 horsepower V8 should be able to scare the owner and passenger of this restored classic too. That is, if the prospective owner doesn’t get scared away by the 130,000 dollar asking price in the first place.

Find the car here.

Single turbo setups are discussed too, including their benefits in terms of less complexity and easier tuning. Because of things like VANOS and the way the stock ECU calculates fuel mixture, fabricating a turbo setup is the least of one’s worries when turbocharging the S62. Supercharger setups as a proven solution are also discussed, in view of the fact that the intial twin turbo setup being discussed targetted “only” 600 horsepower. But even at those relatively mild levels, the increased stresses all the way to the rear wheels need to be considered too.

Find the thread here.

As you will see, these cars are very evenly matched, and who will win or lose in a variety of faceoffs will depend a lot on the driver. Whether a specific course will favor one or the other will once again depend on the track as a course with plenty of tight curves will probably favor the E36 M3. A course that favors a torquey car will most likely help the V8-powered M5. On the street, the E39 M5 would be the better choice as a daily driver in terms of comfort. On the other hand, the E36 M3, with its relatively smaller engine will have better fuel economy.

The best situation of course would be to own both cars, dedicating the E36 for fast road and track day use and keeping the E39 M5 stock for use as a daily driver.

What’s curious is why this car is being sold off after only such a short time. E39 M5s are a blast to drive and any enthusiast owner considering its sale would keep it for a longer time than 3 months just to enjoy the car thoroughly. Normally at this point, only serious E39 M5 enthusiasts would even bother with looking for such a car and going through the trouble of inspecting it and go through the motions of buying a used and potentially expensive to repair car. The seller says he’s now wants a Subaru STI or an M3 project car and is asking $20,000 for it. He’s open to trades too so the seller is pretty open about making a deal on the car. One wonders if this is just a case of buyer’s remorse. Let’s hope so because it would be a shame to pass on a less than stellar E39 M5 to another enthusiast.

See the posting here.

It turned out that the culprit was an improperly tightened set of bolts that attach the bearing housing to the hub assembly. Not knowing that there was such a set of bolts, this owner didn’t know of a potentially disastrous failure had the hub and bearing assembly separated. Once again, the collective knowledge of like-minded individuals contributed to what turned out to be an easy fix.

As a side note, we love owners who do whatever work they can on their E39 M5s. Aside from saving money in labor costs, working on your BMW M5 enables you to learn about your car and anticipate what things can go wrong or merit some extra attention.

See rear wheel bearing discussion thread here.

The end result is an M5 that has the stanced look that so many people love. As a piece of eye candy, it certainly is pleasing to the eye and the wheel fitment is spot on. We agree with a couple of the comments saying that the wheels are a mite too thin profile wise, but the owner says those are what he could get considering the size and fitment considerations. Not many will agree that an M5 dropped like this would be a practical daily driver. The reduced suspension travel may have the suspension bottoming out on the stops in not-so-smooth roads. But the point here is that the owner is quite happy with the way the car looks now and we have to agree.

See a stanced E39 M5 here.