2005 BMW M5 5.0 litre V10 petrol from UK and Ireland
Summary:
The Ultimate Driving Machine
Faults:
It's early days yet - only had the car 3 days, but I love it so much I thought I'd let the whole world know :-)
When I bought the car the check control revealed 'low windscreen fluid' - after buying screen wash I noticed a patch on the driveway, investigated and found the screen wash bottle to be leaking - simple fix.
Upon driving the car home the navigation system did not know where anything was north of Peterborough; turned out that reloading the firmware sorted the issue.
It's used half a litre of oil already, but that's not a fault on a modern BMW.
General Comments:
Light years ahead of its predecessor in every way!
Performance is mind altering! Not to be left in untrained hands, the E39 M5 can be a bit of a handful, but this is something else!
Handling is far superior to the E39; it steers with the precision of a much smaller car and the electronically adjustable suspension maintains the car's pitch in the most aggressive situations.
It's all a matter of horses for courses - I sold my E39 to buy one of these and never looked back. I am pretty sure that others would feel the same way after driving one of these!
The E39 was pretty close to perfection - give it more power, better steering and gear change and it would have been perfect, but BMW have cracked it with the E60. It is perfect, in every way. The gearbox is nowhere near as bad as Clarkson makes out, and the turn signals do work and self-cancel, the sat nav lady can be deactivated, and the whole malarkey about been able to adjust the length of time the lights stay on after exiting the car?!?!?
It's a MAN's car! - men like having buttons to press, the more the better!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 2nd September, 2016
12th Aug 2019, 19:25
Thanks for the update, glad you like the car. The 5 series has been a favourite of mine since the late 80s (E34). Just love how they look (older ones), and that was the problem with the new ones - people are still divided on the looks of the car, but all modern cars look kind of weird now, and the 2004/5 onwards 5 series blends in with modern cars, but it really stood out as an oddball when new. No doubt, as you said, they are more advanced cars though. But the boxy/sharp 80s and 90s cars just had the best styling, that is all.
10th Aug 2019, 14:05
A follow up review, after 3 years of ownership...
Sadly the day came when I parted with this car, but just thought I would write a follow up of the three terrific years I spent owning this car, what a machine!...
So, what went wrong during my ownership:
1) Bluetooth module (MULF1) failed causing excessive battery drain. I replaced it with a MULF2 module and added USB support.
2) Windscreen wash bottle leaked, but I believe I mentioned that in my initial review.
3) Offside rear brake caliper seized, but that was due to the car being left standing for 7 months between September 2017 and April 2018.
4) Safety Gateway module reserve capacitors gone bad resulting in Seatbelt/Airbag lights on and 93F9 error, replaced module in the end, but lost servotronic steering values so the steering is a little heavy now, but I'm sure this can be easily fixed with perhaps the right module and coding.
5) Throttle actuators failed resulting in limp home mode (60 mph top speed).
6) Oil cooler leaked, replaced with genuine Behr cooler.
7) PDC sensors.
That's about it, apart from sundry items such as tyres, and service items.
The car was and is fantastic in every way! I don't care what the E39 M5 anoraks say, these are a quantum leap ahead of that car, check out my other review of the E39 M5 which I owned. Don't get me wrong the E39 is a terrific car, but not a patch on the E60, I am sorry if that offends but it's a fact.
The gearbox isn't half as bad as the critics describe. Sure, when pottering about the gearchange is lurchy, but when on full chat it comes into its own.
The S85 engine is known for rod bearing issues, but having consulted my mechanic friend we both concur that if the car is not treated with mechanical sympathy (thrash before warm for example), this will only encourage failure and this alone can attest to why these engines are prone for it.
I think that to not have the rod bearings done is only putting off the inevitable, they will need doing eventually, but hopefully not after they fail. It's all about treating the car with respect and getting the bearings done in the nick of time, because there is no way to really tell how bad the bearings could be.
I was so happy with the car that I just went and bought a E63 M6 as its replacement, so I am that pleased with them. Here is to many more years happy motoring.
See you at the show.