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Originally Posted by M3UOND On the other hand, he could get a nice low mileage example of a 540, have it for a long time, and supercharge it--and suddenly would have more than M5 power and torque. |
True and nothing wrong with that. Still doesn't have the M5 suspension, breaks, exhaust, and a married of other stuff. Nothing wrong with that per say.
Back to the original question though, it's a matter of what can be afforded. Me personally, I'd take the high mileage M5 over a 540i though. I own an E39 M5 with 68k miles on it and honestly the cost to maintain/repair has been minimal and in the case of one of my friends 540i I've spent a lot less. But you can't really take 1 M5 owner compared to 1 540i owner. Statistically, ya the M5 does cost more to repair, but then again these cars are fairly seriously built and at this point the issues with E39 M5's are all well known. So, looking at any used M5 with miles and take a good look at the service record and you should have a pretty good idea what needs to be fixed or at least what will need to be fixed soon.
That said, I've found very nicely (as in cheep) priced M5's even on eBay. Around 22k to 25k. Given the posters 30k budget that leaves around 5k to put into repairs.
Another question I would have is, is this car going to be a daily driver? Weekend fun car? Weekend race car? All of the above? Mine is a summer time only BMW CCA event fun car and I also drive it on nice days. It is garaged all winter and never sees snow and rarely does it see rain. So obviously my maintenance cost is very different. If it was a daily driver, right off the bat I'd be buying tires more frequently for example. However... maybe not... BMW CCA goes through tires pretty quick
and I'm buying fairly pricey tires at that.
Anyway, I'd still go with the M5. Mostly cause, it's sooooooo much fun and every 540i driver just drools for a chance to go for a ride in it. I'd really hate to be that 540i driver wishing and wishing I spent a few more dollars to get THE Ultimate driving machine.
That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it!
