mattvortex

has anyone any ownership and/or driving experiences of this beemer? having owned an impreza turbo for 3.5 years now i fancy something completely different! that big siilky engine does appeal to me and so does the silent luxury interior after the scooby(must be getting old!).would also like to know if the servicing is expensive and how frequent. any comments appreciated

Mouser

Rapid motorway cruiser. Hit the loud pedal and the computer drops to 6mpg!
Normal day to day driving surprisingly economical and very comfortable as you would probably imagine. Expect big bills if anything major goes wrong and they don't like wet bends as my brother found to his cost when he took out a farmers fence and totalled his.
Personally I still prefer my Scooby and I'm fast approaching the big 50.

M5_POWER

They should be fine, with mileage, you can get one with bmw warranty if you shop around, the warranty can be extented so you can fix your yearly budget.

Am sure if you find a good one, it will run forever. Just need FSH and low number of owners. What you have to remember is that the ppl that buy a 5 series are more likely to be the type of driver who does not hammer it. Also get the right spec,auto, satnav/tv, leather and a good colour.

If you find it a tad slow M5's are coming down in price now, an its the best of both worlds as with a switch of a button you can change the steering and acceleration setup. Its called sport button.

So you have 2 modes.

Normal- For dispatching gti's, impreza's, an everyday smooth driving
Sport - For Mitsi Evolutions, Porches and GTR's, very jerky though with sport on.

john banks

Continually tempted by a 540i or M5, but I don't think they would be remotely accelerative enough to be able to get rid of the Scooby. If only there were more modification options and you had the traction to be able to run a lot more power, but then the normally aspirated delivery and RWD are both its biggest assets and curses. Horses for courses.

LC Geezer

I tried a 540 recently. Was desparately disappointed by the performance, but started to feel smug and superior very quickly. Lovely, smooth motor but just not lively enough.

LG John

PMSL I like the way you set the bait for the new user in that sentance

Must admit a 540i would be tempting in the summer as opposed to the S2000 I'm after however I'd always feel I'd gone so far towards getting an M5 that I really should have grown some nuts and bought the real mcCoy

M5_POWER

[QUOTE=Saxo Boy]PMSL I like the way you set the bait for the new user in that sentance

Yep you have, John can i borrow your tracksuit and signing on book

Re: M5 being slow, please bring your impreza an i will show you just how quick it is all the way upto 186mph.Bring a tow rope with you an u will have the fastest imprezza in the world.

Think u need to sit in one and then you will realise. Yep Imprezza'a are good, and very cheap for what you are getting.

I had uno turbos' and rs turbo's so yeah you get a great feeling when on boost.

Its just i need refinement, leather seats, heated seats, electric seats, double glazing, electric blinds, television, teletext, satnav, pdc, obc, eletric folding mirrors, armreats front an rear, climate control front & rear, auxiary heating, etc.

It just depends on what you want, i like being able to speak to my passengers at 90mph without shouting.

LG John

Lol, I can't believe you took it I'll make it easy for you - John is a qualified doctor so I doubt he'll be signing on just yet.....and his UK scooby would obliterate an M5.

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

pmsl, can see the house calls now..

White Kappa towling tracksuit with bling diamond encrusted gold stethoscope

M5_POWER

Ha, Ha Saxo_boy you are bad, very bad.

U will laugh but i will be getting a P1 on April 9th, from the Subaru dealer at Bulldog Twford, its still advetised on the autotrader for some reason if you wanna see it, i left a 1000 deposit.Handled amazing an had the upgraded prodrive brakes and backbox.Was fast but just too noisy for me, its a present for my brother's 40th.

So i need to go JD Sports to get suited an booted.

LG John

You're buying your brother a P1 for his birthday!!!!!! I got mines a pint and a card By me bro please

M5_POWER

Yep though i will be selling his UK turbo after April 9th, its a 97 with 52K and FSH, blue with gold alloys, yep he's one them.So if u know anyone interested.

Its his 40th an you only live once yep.

He always moans about if he had the money he would buy a P1 and wipe the floor with my M5, so he can now.(try)

I gotto say the P1 was amazing to drive. I loved it.

john banks

Wasn't actually baiting LOL! Meant every word, I would far rather have the rest of the overall package of the M5, if only it accelerated better or could be made to without spending a fortune on a supercharger kit, and then having an expensive engine to replace if you pop it.

For interest, my last timed 0-100 was 8.7s 2 up in the wet (running a smaller turbo and less power than now, and about 100 BHP less than it will have soon ), will reach 7500 RPM in top, not taken it further, about 24 mph/1000 RPM, 10% more power and torque than an E39 M5, it puts it all on the road most of the time and about 400-500 kg less weight. I've passengered in an M5 and it was a nice package but not especially quick. Mine would probably blow up if held at more than 160 mph for a long time, but that isn't really the point for a road car in the UK.

I use a free stethoscope from a drug rep, and I don't own a tracksuit apart from the £10 one I got aged 12, which are now too short and only used when painting

So I'd love a nice M5 if only they were quicker, the new one is getting there, but the initial depreciation I would prefer someone else to take, the only sensible performance car purchase at £60K I can think of is a 996 Turbo when you look at depreciation and performance. But when you think you could buy a gary'd up Scooby and an old M5 and keep some change I just couldn't spend that wedge on a car, it feels way too extravagant and the patients would think I'm a flash git making too much money, which I'm not.

Andy M3

540 is silky smooth, if you want something refined but M5 quick then look at the Alpina range. The B10 is a lovely car indeed and well worth a sniff. They generate 375 PS and 510 NM 3800 rpm

Mark A

iTrader: (1)

The only way an M5 could get past John's Impreza was if it was launch from a cannon or dropped from the back a hercules and then he'd still need to give you a head start

mattvortex

thanks everyone for the comments on the 540i- gonna have to take one out and see if its for me. cant stretch to an e39 M5 as the cheapest decent ones are about 18 grand and i ccouuld get a nice 540i for half that! was interesting reading the M5 vs impreza comments! guys remember these are completely differnt cars designed to to excel in different driving areas. the M5 is a fantastic grand tourer type of car-fast, quiet, luxurios and the impreza is the point-to-point missile! both are fantastic cars that each have a speciality!

john banks

The M5 is a fairly good point to point missile as well It takes a lot of fiddling about with an Impreza (or a very good STi to start with) to make a more convincing performance machine. Turbos feels faster than they are, and traction is often confused with steady state cornering ability, which with DSC as well can be impressive.

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

amen to that

I'm a great turbo lover but they do give a bit of a false sense of speed. My own personal case being my mates 95 wrx running a few mods and a fandango Jap Map. This car feels very quick and strong, I bought am E36 M3 3.0L and it didn't feel fast at all. On a private test track though my car was actually a tiny bit quicker all the way to top end. I thought he'd wipe the floor with me up to 80mph but he didn't, the M3 was also missfiring at the time (badly enough to fail emmisions through a dodgy plug) and was noticeably quicker after a decent set of plugs went in.

I had a 95 wrx wagon last year which was standard and very slow lol, an E36 Evo came past me like I was standing still from a rolling 20mph coincidence meeting

I love the 540i, quality cars IMO.

LG John

Quite fancy an M5 myself - seems that £25k can get you a rather nice example these days that doesn't have overly hgh mileage. I'd argue that that is a better purchase than £25k worth of new scooby. It probably also argue its better than a £10k scooby with £15 chucked at it but admitedly the scooby would be faster.

I expect to spend around £18k on my next car in a few months. I've looked at M5s but the examples at that price are just too rough and long in the tooth. I've therefore set my heart on an S2000 but am still a little tempted to pick up a £10-12k sti-5/6 and throw £5-8k at it. Only problem is whilst the sti would be a fly machine it would also need a lot of attention have MUCH higher running costs and would be nearly worthless. As I've always said, often vs threads (not that this is one) are largely pointless as there are so many different ways to spend you money and so many compromises to be made. I'm sacrificing some outright pace for style, build quality, reliability and being able to drop the top

john banks

I think when the new M5 is sold the prices will drop a little further on the E39. I think £20k would buy a decent one by the summer?

Sith

Where can I get the performance figs for a MY97 540?

Ta.

M5_POWER

[QUOTE=Saxo Boy]Quite fancy an M5 myself - seems that £25k can get you a rather nice example these days that doesn't have overly hgh mileage. I'd argue that that is a better purchase than £25k worth of new scooby. It probably also argue its better than a £10k scooby with £15 chucked at it but admitedly the scooby would be faster.

I expect to spend around £18k on my next car in a few months. I've looked at M5s but the examples at that price are just too rough and long in the tooth. I've therefore set my heart on an S2000 but am still a little tempted to pick up a £10-12k sti-5/6 and throw £5-8k at it.

I think you can get a decent M5 if you take your time, just very important is the options u have, satnav/tv/text is a must and very important is WARRANTY. Even though thanks to the EU its gone up to 945 quid a yr, its so worth it. Mine has 59K miles on it, did not use it in the winters, as i brought a cheap saab 900 to do the donkey miles.

RE:S2000, boy they are slow, i remember this guy trying to get up a hill when i had an e36 M3 evo. They just have no torque, its the same story with the RX8. For me Torque is important, especially since i do a lot of motorway miles.

john banks

The S2000 is fitted with a nice torque multiplier though. Given that the rev limit is 35-40% higher than a normal 2.0 with gearing to match, the result is similar performance to say a 3.0 Z4. Similarly you could say an M3 has "no torque" as well, yet I understand the in gear increments are not far off an M5 with 100 lbft more, but far less proportionally higher weight... and what have they done with the new M5, not very much torque, short stroke = lots of revs. Result of these high revving high specific output NA engines = instant throttle response, light weight, no thermal management issues with turbos, good fuel consumption and emissions for their output (as long as there is a long enough top gear to cruise in). For German stuff it is quite common to have in the ballpark of 100 BHP per litre on the good stuff, whether turbo, super or normal.

LG John

Yet to drive the S2k which might scupper my plans a little but I like high revving cars that need to be worked to death to get the performance from them. Somehow more rewarding!

When I had the VTS I tried to prevent a S2k from getting past (not dangerously though) and he sailed past and pulled a considerable lead. Far more than uk classics would pull on my vts. I was very impressed at the time and equally impressed when I played with on on the way to knockhill in my modified scooby.

M5_POWER

John the M5 with 500bhp is something, but i think you have to look at at 911 turbo for that price, although i had a race with a turbo on the M1 south from bedford to luton, and it sounded great when he put his foot down, but it never ever pulled away from me i was in 5th gr an it was from 70 to 120 an it did not get waya at all. Which made me nervous as i really want one next yr.

But its still engineered as an out an out sports car. An hopefully the 911 wont dissapoint me.Especially if tuned to nr 500 bhp.

I think thats the way forward when you look i nto the amount spent

Jat

Mad Gypsy

Having recently driven a 996 turbo (420bhp + 413ft/lbs) I'm surprised to hear that one couldn't pull away from your M5. My 996 C2 keeps up with a friends M5 in a straight line, there's nothing in it. M5 236 bhp/ton, 996 C2 239 bhp/ton, 996 turbo 272bhp/ton.

The 996 turbo that I drove was bonkers fast! I've driven M3, M5, 996 C2 etc and in a straight line they don't feel that much different, but the turbo is in a league all of it's own and should give a M5, M3, and 996 C2 a proper spanking. I wouldn't let what happened put you off buying one, they are one of the very best sports cars in the world.

Almost bought a M5 over my 996, but being 28 I wanted a sports car, and as awesome as the M5 is, it just didn't feel like a sports car. Still can't believe you can buy one for 20k!

Within 3 years I plan on having a 911 Turbo or GT3 and the new M5, between them they offer the complete driving experience.

Tiggs

i had a 2000 540 sport........bar far the best car i have ever had.

fast.....not quick but still fast......in fact it was very fast for such a huge car and mine was an auto.

auto.....BMW gearbox with a big V8 is perfect- i havent driven a manual car since and prob necer will

luxury......comfy and toys aplenty (get comms pack if you can)

image....my sport had 19inch alpinas and tinted windows- it looked fast, expensive yet not sales rep. in fact, i never heard anyone say anything even slightly neg about it.

petrol...18mpg (very little m-way)

warranty GET ONE or get a second job. i had ££££££££'s of problems on mine that were only little niggles (park radar for example and aircon but cost a packet (or would have if it wasnt covered)


also...handling.....may not be an M5 but the handling was stunning for a large car. With traction control on you could nail it in the wet in confidence....flick it off and it would powerslide at will.

brybusa

0-60 in 6.2 for the auto , limited to 155MPH

The "older" E34 540 will kick out around 300BHP with a change of chip.

Read some comments here about scoobs staying with (e39) M5's...You sure ?

Last one I saw on the rollers made 430BHP with just a change of exhaust, estimated top speed around 190MPH..

I would have thought an M5 would see 90% of scoobs off ?

LG John

Johns scooby has 440ish bhp (more than M5!) and is 1260kg (considerably less than M5) - Pretty sure

brybusa

Well, as I said, that will fall into the minority of scoobs with 400+BHP wont it?!

With an M5 you have that figure from the off without the hysterics and worries of a 400BHP scooby

..and im pretty sure a M5 will still see it off after 60-70MPH, itll certainly top out far higher (limiter removed)than a un-aerodynamic scooby, 440BHP or not.

Go for a test drive in one, you will be impressed...

Lets be honest BM's are a different class and 99% of scoob owners want an E46 M3...?!