dkhkirkland

Hey all, new on the forum..just have a few questions and would appreciate some feedback. I've owned a few bmw's before but never an M..looking at getting rid of my evo x and getting an M5..it has 60k miles on it and is at a great price. it will be looked at by a bmw tech friend of mine in a few days. has SMG transmission.

Few questions i have:

The SMG Tranny, i've heard troubles with them..what should i look out for?
At 60k miles..what things should i check to know its been taken care of, what maintenance should be done once i pick it up?
How do i know if it has bluetooth? i see the phone buttons on the steering wheel, etc.
Any tips/tricks i should know? any cool features that aren't usually seen at first? How is the nav? i have one in my evo..but its mitsubishi so what do u expect? not much..

Thanks everyone! Appreciate any help i can get.

If i do decide to pick it up, i'll definitely be on here a lot. Just a little background on me, i've had two 5 series in my life..my first car ever was a 1985 528e(lol) my 2nd 5 was a 2002 530i. definitely moving on up with the M..I'm 23 years old, a senior network engineer for a real estate company here in dallas. Any questions for me, feel free to ask!

EuroCarFan

Welcome to the forum!

1) SMG Tranny - Early build 2006 M5s had more issues with the tranny than others but I've heard of some 2007s with problems as well. What year is the car you're looking at? There are some out there that were lemon-law buybacks due to tranny issues and that would be reflected on the paperwork. Those usually sell a lot cheaper than fair market value.
2) Service history - You should be able to ask a local BMW dealer to run the VIN to see if all scheduled maintenance was done. My car has a little over 60K miles now and from what I remembered, oil changes (I also do an interim one in between the scheduled intervals), microfilters, brake fluid flush, spark plugs...forgot what else. Having the service history checked will also reveal any unusual repairs.
3) Bluetooth is standard. Go to the Communication menu in iDrive to pair your phone.
4) Neat tricks? - All you really need to know is how to program the M button for max power. BMW Nav is okay. I think the one in my MDX is better.

Good luck with your search and hope you find one to your liking and be a permanent member on this great forum.

dkhkirkland

thanks for the fast reply man! yeah i was looking at one m5 that was a buyback and it turned me away from it..its a 2006..the tranny drives a little weird, it seems rough during shifts in auto mode and when coming to a stop. not sure if thats normal or not..ill definitely have the service checked out on it through BMW though, thats a good idea.

i did enable the M mode on the test drive..but didn't know you could tweak it! its a 2006..has 60k miles..but its only 33k..way less then what i was looking at originally

EuroCarFan

Yeah you can customize the M button. Push down on the iDrive button and it'll take you to some options, one of which is M Drive. Select that and you'll see the list of adjustable features ranging from power to traction control, to adaptive seats (assuming the car has that option).

I forgot one very important thing, does the car have an extended warranty through either BMW or a third party? You really don't want to have this car without a warranty.

dkhkirkland

im still trying to find out about the warranty..but if not yes i will definitely be purchasing one.

EuroCarFan

Well AFAIK, you can't purchase one once it passes the original 4yr/50K original warranty. Double check first.

dkhkirkland

Is there a way to add heads up display? or is that only a feature you can get from the factory? wasn't sure if maybe it was just prewired and you needed the device to get it.

EuroCarFan

I don't think you can but I'm not sure. It's a different dashboard as the unit is embedded in it. I've not heard of anyone retrofitting the unit.

dkhkirkland

nvm probably not worth it lol

nelson29

You can retrofit it, but like ECF said you need a new dashboard. PM Member BenAnd, he did it.