BMW M5 - Running costs??

GinG · 13 Feb 2009 at 12:58

Never really considered one of these to be a line of car I would have ever looked into.

However after reading up on the spec & the power these give they seem pretty awesome.

Book figures say 21mpg - what would it be on a day to day communte of A & B roads?

Also parts / services what would you expect to pay. Independants rather than BMW garages.

Ones I have seen range from 9k - 12k for 99 up.

Is the m5 worth considering? Whats the next spec that would be worth considering if costs are stupidly high???

mr tommo · 13 Feb 2009 at 13:02

Im not really clued up on the M5 or E39 5 Series, but the next spec down is the 540i.

However I think the 530i is the better choice over the 540i from what I've heard.

Hatter The Mad · 13 Feb 2009 at 13:19

Why are you looking at the M5 and not the M3 if your commute is A and B roads? It'll be a better drive (on those B roads) and return better economy.

TomO · 13 Feb 2009 at 13:21

540i is a bit of pointless halfway house are nearly all are auto - not 'the ultimate driving machin' really! 535i is even more pointless as barely anymore power than 530i but with may of the costs of the 540i.

M5 - I used to get 15mpg around town, about 23mpg on motorway ( i have a heavy right foot). you can get about 27-28mpg if you set the cruise at 70mph. i would say 21mpg is reasonable for A/B roads.

although fuel costs wont be the problem, I would imagine that servicing etc. would be worse at that age of car.

late 2000 they did a facelift, angel eye headlights, 16:9 sat nav etc. but also mechanical upgrades as later cars suffer less from vanos issues etc.

generally pretty reliable, but electrical gremlins might cost a fortune to fix as well as general service items being a lot more expensive that run of the mill cars. e.g. oil being very expensive castrol TWS 10-60.

GinG · 13 Feb 2009 at 13:27

Hatter The Mad said:
Why are you looking at the M5 and not the M3 if your commute is A and B roads? It'll be a better drive (on those B roads) and return better economy.

I do like the M3, however in my opinion the looks of the M5 are much better. So understated, and to have a 400bhp V8

Thanks for the break down TomO, parts wise what would you be looking at for brakes, suspension etc.

Coming from an ST24, which in the last 2 years has probabally cost £2k to keep it on the road I can imaging roughly the same cost for the M5 but rather than fixing just general maintenance / servicing??

TomO · 13 Feb 2009 at 13:30

GinG said:
I do like the M3, however in my opinion the looks of the M5 are much better. So understated, and to have a 400bhp V8

Thanks for the break down TomO, parts wise what would you be looking at for brakes, suspension etc.

Coming from an ST24, which in the last 2 years has probabally cost £2k to keep it on the road I can imaging roughly the same cost for the M5 but rather than fixing just general maintenance / servicing??

most only make 370-380bhp in standard form, although still a great engine and sounds nice when opened up with a decent exhaust - mind had a miltek which was quiet on the motorway bit had more volume at WOT.

mine was an 02 plate and i owned it 3-4 years ago, so it was only 3-4 years old when i had it. there was only 1 or 2 bits that needed to be fixed when i had it and they were minor things. not sure of ongoing costs really.

edit - on my E60 M5 - cost for dealer to change pads front and rear was £650!!! and the parts were like £350 of that - a lot for pads!

Spamalot · 13 Feb 2009 at 13:32

GinG said:
Coming from an ST24, which in the last 2 years has probabally cost £2k to keep it on the road I can imaging roughly the same cost for the M5 but rather than fixing just general maintenance / servicing??

Over two years I would have thought you'd be looking at about 5 times that figure, if not more.

How many miles do you do? Over a grand for a set of tyres every 10K will add up on its own.

OllyM · 13 Feb 2009 at 13:36

Best person to ask is PeterNem, will point him in the direction of this thread later

Scania · 13 Feb 2009 at 13:53

TomO said:
edit - on my E60 M5 - cost for dealer to change pads front and rear was £650!!! and the parts were like £350 of that - a lot for pads!

- Its an expensive car sure, but thats still a lot for pads!

Was that a "London dealer" price TomO ? - I know a lot of BMW dealers within the M25 are pricey!

GinG · 13 Feb 2009 at 14:03

Would you really need a dealer to change disk & pads though?? One of the easiest things to do on a car, or is it totally different for this car??

I do about 7 - 10k a year to give you an idea.

Thanks

GinG · 13 Feb 2009 at 14:04

Spamalot said:
Over two years I would have thought you'd be looking at about 5 times that figure, if not more.

How many miles do you do? Over a grand for a set of tyres every 10K will add up on its own.

So your saying it will cost about 5k a year just to keep it on the road? :eek:

Is it similar costs for an m3??

[TW]Fox · 13 Feb 2009 at 14:16

Running an M5 is several leagues above running a Mondeo ST24 I can assure you :eek:

Aside from the huge insurance and fuel costs servicing is expensive (£350ish for Ins 1, £550ish for Ins 2), the tyres are expensive (£550-600 a set, the rear tyres are a very rare size, 275/35/18) and when things go wrong the costs can be fairly huge as well.

If you have a £15-16k car budget then spending £12k on an M5 is viable. If you have a £12k car budget then look elsewhere.

They are 4 door supercars. They cost £60,000 brand new and will accelerate to 100mph in the sort of time you'd expect from a Ferrari 355. As a result, the running costs are huge. Frankly if you have to ask and you go 'EEK' when people detail some of the costs involved it's a poor car choice. Insurance at 23 is also astronomical.

The E46 M3 is barely any, if at all, better. These cars are proper weapons, and the running costs reflect that.

TomO · 13 Feb 2009 at 14:32

R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
- Its an expensive car sure, but thats still a lot for pads!

Was that a "London dealer" price TomO ? - I know a lot of BMW dealers within the M25 are pricey!

yup, blackheath.

I got them to do it as the car was in for a service and thought it would be good to have all the work done on it by BMW for resale purposes, although i was suprised at the price and would have reconsidered if i knew that upfront!

I think tyre were a bit more than £600 a set, and if driven like its mean to be, dont expect much life out of the rear tyres, i think it was about 6-8k miles a set for me.

djbenjo · 13 Feb 2009 at 14:37

Is the E39 M5 now at the point where it will be being bought by people that will do the vast majority of the work on the car themselves?

GinG · 13 Feb 2009 at 14:39

[TW]Fox;13490350 said:
Running an M5 is several leagues above running a Mondeo ST24 I can assure you

Aside from the huge insurance and fuel costs servicing is expensive (£350ish for Ins 1, £550ish for Ins 2), the tyres are expensive (£550-600 a set, the rear tyres are a very rare size, 275/35/18) and when things go wrong the costs can be fairly huge as well.

If you have a £15-16k car budget then spending £12k on an M5 is viable. If you have a £12k car budget then look elsewhere.

They are 4 door supercars. They cost £60,000 brand new and will accelerate to 100mph in the sort of time you'd expect from a Ferrari 355. As a result, the running costs are huge. Frankly if you have to ask and you go 'EEK' when people detail some of the costs involved it's a poor car choice. Insurance at 23 is also astronomical.

The E46 M3 is barely any, if at all, better. These cars are proper weapons, and the running costs reflect that.

Thanks Fox,

I knew there was going to be a fair amount of difference between that and the ST24, it goes without saying. I had in mind approx £1-£1.5k a year which I would find exceptable.

Insurance isnt a problem, I seem to have been blessed with failr cheap insurance, M5 is under 1k, fully comp in my name with mother as named driver. I have done insurance on a new 911 and it comes in less than the M5.

Like you say these cars are in another league compared to the cars I am used to running, but unless I ask these things I will never know!!

[TW]Fox · 13 Feb 2009 at 14:39

djbenjo said:
Is the E39 M5 now at the point where it will be being bought by people that will do the vast majority of the work on the car themselves?

It's at the point where it'll be bought by people who'll buy one to thrash around for a few months whilst doing little maintenance and then sell on again before they lose too much money. This is a downward spiral and for this reason I suggest you ignore cars with a large number of owners.

I wouldnt touch a home serviced E39 M5, because how do you tell the difference between a car thats been home serviced by a reputable enthusiast and one thats been bodged on the cheap by a skint ***** who couldnt come to terms with the fact he couldnt afford the car?

[TW]Fox · 13 Feb 2009 at 14:40

GinG said:
I knew there was going to be a fair amount of difference between that and the ST24, it goes without saying. I had in mind approx £1-£1.5k a year which I would find exceptable.

If it was about £1k a year there would be one on my drive, thats about what my 530 costs! £1k a year in an E39 M5 would barely cover servicing and tyres let alone unexpected upkeep etc.

Hatter The Mad · 13 Feb 2009 at 14:43

GinG said:
exceptable

What?

SeatIbiza · 13 Feb 2009 at 14:44

M5 will cost the earth to run and a set of tyres will cost more than £60 for sure.

My 255/35/18 on the RS4 cost about £210 each....

Going on my car (similar power/age) i'd say the above are pretty right. My last service/repair bill however was £2,000 (the measly amouny your ST24 cost you for 2 years) and I'd expect an M5 of this age to produce similar bills (although mine had a new subframe into that circa £500 of the bill).

You have to consider that your previous car is a Ford (cheap) and the proposed car is a BMW (expensive) - even without it being an M5 it would instantly cost more to run like for like comparing to say a 530i...

All of that said I do love those V8 M5's - so go ahead and buy one and post some pics up

[TW]Fox · 13 Feb 2009 at 14:46

SeatIbiza said:
M5 will cost the earth to run and a set of tyres will cost more than £60 for sure.

My 255/35/18 on the RS4 cost about £210 each....

Then you are getting ripped off or buying Pilot Sports. I've been shopping for 255/35/18's for the Z4, the rears are about £150 each for good premium tyres. My 530 has 265/35/18 and these are also circa £150.

I really wanted an M5 and still do. I had to come to terms with the fact it just wasn't affordable when I looked into it properly. So I bought a pretend one instead.