2001 BMW M5 5.0L V8 from North America
Summary:
The ultimate car, but not for everyone
Faults:
Almost every rubber part broke, tore apart or leaks. Steering leak, vibration, engine ticking noise.
General Comments:
Always wanted an M5. I had owned previously a 4 cylinder 3 Series BMW, and I liked the performance and the sporty feel of the car. So finally had the chance to buy this car.
What's good:
- Extremely fast, 4 door, full size, V8, rear wheel drive sedan, with a 6 speed manual transmission. Very few cars can do all that; I can only think of the Cadillac CTS-V.
- Extremely great handling in high speed racing style driving.
- Simple but beautiful interior.
- One of the most beautiful all time cars from every angle you look at it.
- One of the most beautiful engine sounds when at high RPM.
- Amazing computer controlled stability system; makes the car so easy to drive, and can be turned off with one click to unleash the wild animal.
The bad:
- In the real world you don't need all this power. It will take you 4 seconds to get your license suspended. And to enjoy the handling and power of the car, you have to drive above 5000 RPM, and that will be above speed limit. So it's not an every day driving car. It's a track car.
- I find the quality of lots of little parts here and there not that great, as interior buttons fall off, and the seat's plastic moving parts break easily, and they are pain to replace and expensive.
- For some reason I didn't like the different feel of the steering in Sport mode and at different speeds; it feels artificial and not natural.
- The arm rest in the middle was kinda low, and it hurts after a while of driving the car.
The German engineers, to achieve perfection, they over did everything, and ended up with a complicated piece of art machine, but it's frustrating when it starts falling apart. So I guess it's a great car when new under warranty.
Compared to Japanese cars, the Japanese design is more simple with less parts, which makes a car more reliable.
Final result. If you need a luxury car, nothing beats a V8 Lexus. If you need a reliable performance every day car, there's nothing better than a small 4 cylinder Japanese car. If you want something with everything, the M5 is the ultimate machine, but it's not for every one. And now I know it's not for me. I was happier with my old 1988 2 door 5 speed Accord; smoked its tires in every take off, drifted at every corner, had great gas mileage and was a great reliable car. And most important, stayed within the speed limit and kept my license.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 5th January, 2013
5th Aug 2010, 13:25
Since my review I have had the car resprayed - twice actually, once badly, one well.
The black paint (actually it's very very dark blue, almost black... weird. I thought it was black for a year). It shows every swirl and imperfection which is frustrating.
Next on list to get done are:
1) Front seats to be re-trimmed. I am fed up with trying to recondition the worn leather. It's the one thing that really depresses me about the car.
2) Windscreen needs removing and replacing to replace rubber/plastic surround, it's been siliconed over and in the sun just keeps peeling off which now its been resprayed looks bad.
3) Major service - and I might get the Vanos rebuilt as it's a bit noisy after 120,000 miles - expensive but I think its worth it if I keep the car long term.
4) Engine clean - dusty as hell, never been kept clean although its only dust and not oil leaks or anything.
It has since been bumped one down the pecking order in my garage by the purchase of a 2003 Porsche 911 X50 Turbo. Later this year it's due to get bumped one more as I add a Mercedes 500SL to my collection below the 911. Still a beast though and I intend to keep it for many more years yet.