YouTuber Blown Away by First Encounter with E39 M5
YouTuber Jack Scarlett was six years old when the E39 M5 came out. His first drive didn’t let him down.
The E39 M5 has been getting quite a bit of press recently. Matt Farah had a glowing review that you can see here. Now more reviews are popping up on YouTube by other auto reviewers. That no doubt has something to do with the fact that the second generation M5, which came out in 2000, is fast approaching 25-year-old classic car status. And there’s the fact that the E39 M5 is widely considered one of the best BMW sedans ever made. Which is saying a lot when you consider that BMW has made a lot of amazing fast four-doors over the years.
YouTuber Jack Scarlett recently got behind the wheel of an E39 M5 to see if it would live up to the hype. At least the hype he had in his mind. As a relatively young car reviewer, Scarlett was only six years old when the E39 M5 came out. “I’ve always believed that it’s just the coolest super-saloon ever,” he says. Scarlett is understandably nervous about driving one of his hero cars. After all, what if it lets him down? His childhood dreams will surely be shattered. “My whole life has been building up to this moment.”
Thankfully, nothing could be further from the truth. Scarlett is impressed from the moment he fires up the M5’s magnificent, 394 horsepower S62 V8 built by the wizards in Garching, Germany. “This car is also very well-placed in the M5 lineage because it’s the first M5 to get a V8 engine, but the last to have a manual gearbox.,” he notes. He’s only partly right there. BMW did produce a small number of manual E60 M5s for the U.S. market after some of its customers were horrified that the V10-powered M5 was initially only offered with an SMG, paddle-shift gearbox.
Scarlett notes that the E39 is modern enough to be comfortable and accommodating. But it’s also classic enough that it still feels thoroughly modern. And its clean, handsome styling was done before the controversial Chris Bangle-era, with its flame-surfacing aesthetics that were a riot of angles, curves and sharp edges.
He’s also impressed with the M5’s straight-line performance. It may have 200 horsepower less than the current twin-turbo M5 but the E39’s 4.9-liter V8 still provides strong performance. And the sound. “It absolutely wails… you compare that to the turbo, farty sound of a new M4 and there’s no comparison,” says Scarlett. The M5 also gets extremely high marks for its build quality. No surprise there since the E39 was produced during a high-point of BMW quality that has fallen off in recent years. After some time behind the wheel, Scarlett says he wouldn’t hesitate to take an E39 M5 over a new one.
As Hagerty notes, you can still pick up an E39 M5 for a pretty decent deal if you shop around. But based on all of these reviews coming out saying that the M5 is a pretty incredible machine, prices are no doubt on their way up. Remember when E28 M5’s were $10,000 or less? Yeah, so do I. Prices have pretty much shot through the stratosphere for that ‘80s super sedan. Though BMW produced more second-generation M5s, the E39 version will no doubt be following suit shortly. Get one while you can.