DesiE60

Over at my local dealer you aren't allowed to go fast at all. Or rev it out of normal range (any car for the matter). So the test drives are just relaxed 2 mile routes. You'd have to find the dealer policies.

Generally I would stray away from demo's because I just don't like the idea of so many other people driving the car before it becomes mine. Even if it's verified it hasnt been abused at all.

Hoping the guy before you broke it in correctly who wouldn't tear the roads up in that car lol?

But many people are finicky and can afford to just cut loose a car after a few thousand miles, if something else has caught their eye. (if i had the capital I'd do it too )

Manx_M5

This was a major concern of mine too, but ended up buying a march 06 m5 with 3600 miles on the clock. The guy who owned it was known to the dealer and my mate in the motor trade, he didnt have the best of reputations with his car.. but i was assured he followed the run in procedure and was through the 2000 miles quite quickly as he used it for a few trips to europe. Mine was owned by a property developer who wanted out of it to put into a development and supposidly didnt want to part with the car.

I think what im trying to say is ask the cars history, ask who owned it, what does he/she do for a living, etc etc then you can build up a picture of how the cars been used.

At the end of the day the car has a warranty so if something is amiss it will be fixed..

The dealer was gagging to sell the car i bought as it had been sat in the showroom for a month, i ended up getting them to drop ?4500 on the window price.. its a buyers market at present so use this to your advantage.

Figure out what spec you want and keep looking at BMW approved website every day, do not use the email dealer feature as they dont get back to you for a few days, you have to call them direct as the best price ones sell quickly! I started getting really cheaky and simply asked what their best price was on the car as my first or second question. Most dealers i spoke to dropped 2k in the first phone converstation!

Good luck, if i can be of any help pm me.

tom

dlevi67

Get a quote on the insurance first... especially with LHD

gIzzE

Don't buy a LHD one, you will loose thousands when you come to sell it and it will be a mare to sell.

I would sign up on www.bm3w.co.uk and ask on there, loads of the guys are getting rid of them, and they have all been run in, had the 1200 mile service and are in showrrom condition, main reason they are all selling them is the fuel consumption, or rather the small fuel tank, nothing more than that.

I can't beleive you have drive one yet? I really don't think you would want a left hand drive one once you do, seriously, you need to be able to have full view for overtaking etc. and not be worrying if anything is coming that you can't see.

Georgos

What kind of crap is this? That u dont want to buy a demo i can understand but no second hand is really nonsense. That would mean that if u buy a new one that it would be useless after half a year or one year. Thats crap man! If u buy the car at a bmw dealer they give u guarantee.
And the time that cars were so fragile is history man, an M5 is made for speed so it can handle speed. And believe me, its pretty difficult to go to the limit with an M5 day in day out, traffic just wont let u.
So just buy one second hand at a bmw dealer, really no problem.

Manx_M5

Personnally I couldnt have afforded a "new" m5 to the spec i wanted, and deffo couldnt have been arsed waiting for the delivery date. So getting a 4 month old car at a similar spec for ?8k off list price was my best option.

I wouldnt have bought a m5 privately though, i think buying from a local dealer is the way to go in case anything does go wrong.

gIzzE

Did you meet the guy who owned the car previously? I would guess not?

With a performance car like the M5 I would rather buy privately to be honest, you get a chance to meet to previous owner and find out why he has chopped it in, you will also be able to judge what sort of person they are.
None of the M5s are out of warranty yet, so there is no benifit in buying from a dealer as long as everything is done right, and by that I mean agree with the seller that it will go to BMW and have a multi point check before the car is collected, and get a proper hpi check etc.

I am not saying that buying from the dealer is going to give you a bum car, but there are two ways to look at everything.
Best bet is get on the forums and buy from a owner that is known and where the car is known, there are two for sale that have been run in properly and been pampered on www.bm3w.co.uk at the moment I think, get in touch with those guys.

Manx_M5

Yeah i understand your point and its very valid.

Thing is I live on the Isle of Man, we have one BMW dealer and they can be funny enough when you have bought a car from them; Let alone if you buy a car from the main land and bring it over. I just wouldnt have been able to expect the same level of service.

I should probably shut up now ;-)

subterFUSE

I will make this really simple for you.


YOU DON'T NEED A TEST DRIVE.


I drove an M5 on the racetrack at the Performance Center. It's sick.

Trust me. No test drive needed.



If you can afford the gas.... it's a no brainer.

dckoch

I just Bought 2006 M5 with 6500 miles and I am the third owner. I bought it over the internet from a dodge dealership, in Florida. A young kid traded it for a yellow dodge charger. He told the dealer that the girls did not look at him in the M5. So that?s why he traded the car in.

Aside from the smoke smell (Dealer Lied when I asked if it had been smoked in) and Marijuana residue (I am not joking) Car is a "10". I had my local service advisor look up the car, options and Service history before I bought it. Had car cleaned up locally and got all of the smell out. Mechanically fine and drives great. Regardless vehicle has a great warranty so I have no worries.


David