Westcoast M5

I don't think Canadian prices are going to drop, since the economy is strong and sales are at record level. The cost of the car in based on Euros, so if they can minimize the amount of US imports, which they are taking steps to do, I don't think prices will fall. More important is that lease rate - you will not get better than that IMO.

Happy Birthday - enjoy the car!

PS. If your wife needs to learn to drive a standard, I suggest your go to budget and rent something for a week for her to practice on. Not sure if you want to learn on a 500hp car with a new clutch. After one week I would expect she will be good to go.

AlexFW

I tested the M5 Touring on the road and the Sedan on track at the BMW course .
What I prefer of the V8 ?
The torque at 3500 rpm .
The V8 is smoother, sweeter .
A 545i/550i is lighter in the front, so better balanced .

The V10 has too less torque at lows and at high rpm it is noisy, althought very fast .


I started with the 545i because it was the most powerful E60 at that time .
I didn't turn it in an M5 (it's impossible), but only in a better 545i

Anyway, mod is funny





The only place when the M5 is better (I should say the engine and the LSD) is the track, but if you go often on the track you should get a Porsche GT3 RS or a Lotus, not that 1900 Kg tank .


A 550i has a better mileage and it goes from 0 to 125 mph in 17s, instead of 15s of the M5 .

In my opinion the best E60 is the 550i or the Alpina B5S if you live in Europe .

The only reason to get the M5 ?
It already has all best bumpers as stock

grover432

But isn't the clutch covered under the full maintenance service warranty? Oh I forgot the abuse part - may be your right. One of my long time employees has a new 335xi (manual). Maybe I'll trade him for a weekend. No one needs to know (my wife will be driving it). OK, you're right - I'll just go to budget - not for the clutch though - if she gets the gas, clutch and brake confused, the least I will have to worry about is the clutch - we'll be at the body shop! Getting ahead of myself though - first the test drive, then I need to get through 2 nights without losing sleep over how much fuel this car is going to go through. I think my daily driving averages about 50 - 60 km's, plus a bit more on the weekend and the 200km/weekend up and back to the lake + one road trip a year, so I'll do the lease with 24,000km's and give it to my brother for the last month of the lease if I have allot of km's left - he can drive it to California and back - he loves the open road.

Westcoast M5

I haven't looked into it but I'm sure the clutch is covered against "defects in materials and workmanship" but suspect you would not be covered if it is deemed to be abused in anyway, whether it's an inexperience driver or taking it to the track and launching it until you cook the clutch. I also think you need to be pretty careful with the clutch for the first 2,000 km while it seats itself and I would be concerned about the amount of power that can be pushed through the drivetrain. What I mean is it's one thing to ride the clutch on a Honda Civic and it's another slip the clutch while pushing 500 hp through it. A friend on mine bought a Porsche and his wife had never driven a standard before, but by all other measures was an excellent driver and very capable of handling the car. Rather than rent a car, she just signed up with a driving school and took a few lessons on how to drive a manual properly. As a result she has no bad habits. I have attached a really good Quick time video on driving a manual trans (E39 M5) that I will PM you.

As for mileage, it was one of the things holding me back. Granted I only drive it about 12,000 - 15,000km per year and sounds like you will drive much more. The bottom line is you have to pay to play. It's a 4000 lb car that goes 0-60 in 4.5 seconds - so no way around burning some hydrocarbons. On the one hand it's only money. Calulate the extra fuel you will burn versus a 550 and add that the price of car and accept it as the cost of owning an M5. That part is easy and you will get used to filling up all the time. The environmental guilt is a bit tougher. I tell myself that overall I'm still a good citizen...I walk my kids to school, have energy efficient windows, turn out the lights, recycle cardboard and plastic, use canvas grocery bags, etc. So you see all the good I am doing in an effort to reduce my M5 guilt has probably made the M5 "carbon neutral". Okay at 27l/100km maybe not. But I will buy a hybrid as soon as the make one that doesn't suck. I possibly will replace my wife's X3 in due course with a hybrid X6. In the mean time I will continue to enjoy my guiltly pleasure.

Honestly, I stressed a lot about the fuel economy before getting it, but it's really a non-issue now.

Ruf930

Westcoast M5 - that "rough" idle during warm up is normal. My 540i does the same thing. Dealer and other enthusiast say its normal for the larger engines.