E39 540/M5 question

Hello,

I'm looking at geting an M5 & have seen loads about, I'm fussy about my cars so obviosly will only buy if its got fbmwsh etc. Only thing worrying me is the problems with vanos etc I keep hearing about. I'm not gonna have loads of money to keep chucking at it once I get it. Is the M5 gonna need specialist attention on a regular basis or can I get away with DIY servicing apart from the big stuff? Also what sort of mileage do the potential problems start showing? Cars I've seen are between 60 & 80k. Is it worth me settling for a 540 instead? Am planning on keping this car for a good few years so don't wanna buy something thats a money pit. Touch wood our E36 has been fantastic for a car of its age. Hence I'm only considering another BMW. Am only considering manual cars btw

Thanks,

Maybe some others will come in with some more specific info. The sevicing on these car is expensive and the warranty is now up to £1500 a year for cars over 60,000 miles (don't quote me), servicing is probably 600/900 for inspection 1 and 2 respectivly. Could get servicing done alot cheaper at an indy but that would invalidate the warranty. And having a M5 without a warranty needs a very brave sole indeed. I can't warrnaty mine anymore but I'm not to bothered cause just about everything that can go wronge has and been replaced!

I've often thought about a e39 M5 but I'm concerned that I'll have to go through the same big tiket items as per the e34 (1000s upon 1000s). These cars do tend to need alot of readies spent on them. Saying that they're worth it. 

You need to take guidance from some of the M forums, I can only speak from personal experience, but having now had an E39 2001 M5 for two years, I have put 50k on the clock, (it's now on 78k) I perhaps have been lucky as it came without a warranty.

Oil Service is normally about £130, Inspection 1 was £180 and Inspection 2 was around £380. But I have all this work done at a very good Indy.

Tyres have lasted well, my last set of rears delivered 37k miles and the front were in excess of 41k.

Vanos was a known issue with the pre-2001 facelift cars but again no guarantee that there won't be a problem with a 2001+ facelift car.

MAFs are known to give up the ghost at 60k+ but VAG (identical Bosch) ones fit at less than half price. (Although mine are fine). O2 Sensors (both pre and post cat) were replaced at around 55k miles.

Clutch can be weak so be sure to check out for any slippage as it can be expensive to replace.

Brakes are costly around £550 for full set of discs and pads all round.

MPG - I'm getting 22mpg .... but does like to drink TWS oil at £14 per litre, (about a litre every 3k miles but some can drink a litre every 1k miles)

Dependant upon your annual mileage the actual running cost is quite reasonable, distance between services is normally about 16-17k miles.

Insurance for me is £650 for business use, 25k miles pa, fully comp, protected NCD etc.

If you do go down this route you must get the car really checked out, I had mine inspected thrice, once by BMW and then by the AA and also then by the police who checked the car over for a full day.

This way faults were identified and used in the sales negotiations.

Newbie

What do you mean by remapping?

Also what does it cost to remap/superchip?

Regards

chippeduk do a remap of the ecu,which will get the very best out of the car! prices £175-£300.

superchip is obviously replacing the original chip with a re-worked one,again,getting some more power out of the car.£350-£450!

i have the superchip!!

remap supposed to be better and cheaper.