I know there are a few M5 owners/gurus on here and I was hoping I could get some insight from them. I'm looking at a 2000 M5 with 100k miles on the odo. The build date on this particular car is 11/99. I've done some research on the E39's and the main concerns I have come up with are:

-Excessive oil consumption
-vanos failure
-sway bar bracket failure
-MAF's
-Carbon buld-up, but previous owner payed BMW to fix this lil problem to the tune of $8100 :D

Any other problems I should look out for? Any helpful insight would be greatly appreciated as the deal is somewhat time sensitive.

Thanks

Where is Durka? Calling out Durka!!

Clutch Failure
Throttle Body Actuator failure
02 Failure
Window Regulators (if any of them are slow you will need to replace them soon and they are NOT cheap)

Does the car have a full maintenance history? How much are they asking if you don't mind me asking? (is it a local car that I know?)

Just my two cents (non-guru)

Some minor issues and changes addressed in the my 01 and up. Such as angel eyes, cylinder heads (consumes less oil) DVD nav, bigger nav screens etc. and some other stuff.
Not much of a price difference between 01 and 00. Might want to look at 01's since they consume less oil..they don’t give away TWS!
MAF's are no big deal..from time to time stuff needs to be replaced to make sure the beast runs well.
Bottom line get its history and make sure you do the BMW PPI carfax etc etc...oh and make sure to bring it on the next AKA Rally since there weren’t enough e39’s last time

Steve, it was actually a change to the piston rings, not the cylinder heads. Granted, PT's '03 burns no more or less oil than my '00 and I have an extremely early '00 (first 200).

Steve, it was actually a change to the piston rings, not the cylinder heads. Granted, PT's '03 burns no more or less oil than my '00 and I have an extremely early '00 (first 200).


My bad..but the disclaimer does state "non-guru" ;)

No worries :)

Thanks for the input guys, lots of helpful info there. The car has a folder full of maint. records since new and the carfax and autocheck both came back clean. The main problems I found with the car; a clutch that is on it's way out, the fan blower doesn't work(probably a resistor), a clunking noise from the front end over bumps and it will need some paint work. I'm gonna get it up on the lift tonight to get a better look at a few things. I have a thought of a price I want to pay, but the owner hasn't worked one up for me yet. What do you guys think?

Sounds like it's pretty beat and will need somewhere between $1500-$4k worth of work. It's not always a resistor and I've seen more than a few e39's where the entire dash needs to come out.

If you can get a good price and you’re comfortable then go for it. What color combo is it? Is it a combo you’ve been looking for? If it’s not at a great price or something specific you’ve been looking for then I’d say take a look at the enthusiast sites, like m5board.com, most of the cars on the site are well known and other members can vouch for the car.
Again don’t forget the BMW stealer PPI, I paid like 140.00 for mine, they were bang on for what was wrong and how much to fix. Well worth it. I’m just sayin...

Thanks for the info guys. It's royal red on caramel leather. I'm going to call the local BMW dealer to get some more info on the car today and look into the PPI. I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks again for all of your help.

Carmel sweet..pimpin interior!

Well, I decided against the M5 I was looking and went with an '02 M3 6spd, bone stock, one owner car with 77k miles. I put the car on the road yesterday and it feels good to be back in a bimmer!

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj385/JonnyKrud/4314843f.jpg

Nice purchase!

Congrats! What's on the list for mods?

shitloads of mods available for this thing..gl

First "mod" will be snow tires asap!

Then coilovers, wheels, and exhaust come spring time.

http://revmat.ch/sick-deal-blizzak-lm-t4380.html?t=4380