- Have you ever been angry that you like vegetables?
Like you go almost your entire life hating them, alright?
Like the mini trees, until you dose them in butter
and oil and cheese.
Which by the way, at that point,
mother, they're not healthy anymore.
Why would you even eat vegetables,
if they're no longer vegetables?
It's glorified popcorn.
It's lost the essence of being healthy.
Even though one of the mini like corn things you thought
were cute in grade school, maybe it was just me.
But anyway, ended up tasting
like the used part of your old eraser.
But then, as you grow up, you are for some reason
or another okay with eating vegetables.
That's how I feel about the new BMW M designing.
And since every single time a new design
from BMW actually comes out,
the previous generations,
either jump rope in value,
going one or going down in terms
of any value across the line.
But there's always been one car
that has gone down so far the proverbial pole,
you may be starting to think to yourself,
does it matter if the fenders rusted for 400 horsepower?
I'm Alex.
Alex.FI on Instagram.
And today we're gonna be talking about a car
that had, like the best of everything
of what a car is supposed to be.
A car that no matter what condition it's in,
is an absolute blast to drive, drift,
and pretend you are Ken Block
because you just happen to have a car
that can go sideways very, very easy.
A car that, while clean, can be upwards
of like 20 to 30, to even $50,000.
The Wish app versions are the same prices of 350Z.
Ladies and gentlemen, today we're gonna be talking about
you wanting to own an E39 M5.
(upbeat pop music)
(car engine roaring)
And if you're just jumping into this video,
boy, where is it?
Hi, thought I'd forget?
Don't forget to subscribe
so we can keep making bang videos like this,
and if you're looking for after market wheels, tires,
or suspension for your newly acquired BMW M5
or otherwise, be sure to hit us up over
at fitmentindustries.com.
This is for you, Dakota.
I hope it doesn't fall.
Plus, we have an aftermarket gallery.
It's pretty sweet.
Actually, if you do have an aftermarket kit,
you can add it fitmentidustries.com (indistinct)
But anyway, we'll get into it later.
The E39 M5 was introduced in 1998
at the Geneva Motor Show,
and was the first M5 to use a V8, baby,
and a newer, better aluminum front suspension
and a multi link rear suspension.
This is important.
And we'll get into that a little bit later, all right?
The engine itself was different,
not only for the extra two cylinders
but the fact that it came with electronically actuated,
individual throttle bodies,
double, not single,
double, VANOS variable valve timing, all right?
Not one VANOS, not one Euro VTech, but two.
All right?
This is a big deal.
It's what makes them a lot of fun to drive.
It is the Euro equivalent of VTech.
And V tech, even though it gets a little bit of brass,
all right, it is a fun thing to have on a car, okay.
And it came with a semi-dry sump oil system.
Pair with that you got a six feet
and you slap her on the trunk
and you're pretty much ready to roll.
This car was something else.
And the goal was that this car could take on the powerhouses
of the E55 AMG,
which at the time was also a powerhouse.
It was a 5.4 supercharged V8 and the Audi S8,
which was a naturally aspirated 4.2 liter V8.
They weren't doing very well.
And the M5 actually switches components
and shave weight where it could.
Because what it wanted to do was try to tighten
the driving experience of this big car.
And it did that because when you're behind the wheel,
it doesn't always feel like you're driving a two ton car
makes you feel like you just driving a car
with a lot of horsepower.
It was just like a longer, slightly happier M3.
It had a limited slip differential.
It could still climb up to seven K RPM
and with the V8, it was still naturally aspirated.
So there was no odd experiencing
as you screamed through the gears.
It was all just there, all at the right time.
It was just pure motoring bliss, all right.
All the time, forever.
And since the car was a five series
and commanded a higher price from the factory,
the interior was just as nice as the exterior.
The designers focused on having ergonomics spread
throughout the car.
Take a look at your shift boot,
and you'll notice that the boot shifter lurches left baby,
it takes up a little bit more space.
It's not directly in the center for the driver.
The seats have extra thigh support for those ladies
and gentlemen that just needed
a little extra thigh cushion, okay.
The leather, consistent throughout the car.
And when plastic was used, it was hidden pretty well.
Nothing on the inside of these cars was extravagant,
but nothing, nothing was ever missing.
Unless you buy a new one.
And they just happen to not come with like window buttons.
Any of those, some design critiques
weren't a huge fan of what they called the race boy design
of the M5 at the time,
like the quad outlets and the exhaust
and the fancy headlights.
They can just freak off.
That was actually a real thing.
People were actually upset about the quad tail lights.
I know, I'm not kidding.
They're probably the same people that loved when the C586
had their exhaust behind the bumper,
but who's laughing now.
In the early two thousands that E39
would make waves
and then get passed over for the next generation.
And for the most part,
people would actually forget about it just a little bit.
BMW has this thing where they're constantly coming out
with crazy new cars and people would always jump
from one generation to the next, to the next to the next.
But BMW still carried a little bit of that
like maybe a little bit of hate.
For just constantly changing something that it was good.
And when the E 39,
got surpassed by its next generation car,
a couple of people started to get angry
because you've added more tech, more gadgetry, more power.
If you starting to lose a little bit of that soul
that is in the E 39 M5.
And even though they are 20 years old now,
a little bit of an old soul, they're still fun car to drive.
And that was just the thing, if you look at this car,
it is a fantastic looking car because BMW does BMW things
and stuff, massive kidney grills,
and starts to get real weird with some of their stuff,
because they always need to be at the front
and center of design elements.
And sometimes people don't want that,
but there was something beautifully raw about this car,
the mechanicalness of it with the transmission
and the rev happy, balanced power of a 4.9 liter V8,
was something that started to get lost,
as the years progressed
and now we have people like you
and people like me, looking at them a little bit
like a Reese's peanut butter cup,
right before bedtime, after you've brushed your teeth,
that you probably shouldn't.
I mean, you know, why not?
Like, just try it, buy it, see what happens.
See if you like it.
Most enthusiasts look at this car
as one of the best four-door sedans ever built
with its understated design
and perfect mix of Leatherwood interior okay.
But we,
ladies and gentlemen are not here to talk about the history
of the E39 M5, oh, no, okay.
We're here to talk about you wanting to own one of these
burnout, happy four-door saloons.
So you want an E39 M5
well sit down in your plastic headlight tabs
and grab your favorite M shirt,
because we're about to sit down and talk about it
and what it's likely actually like one of those words,
didn't line up in that sentence,
to own one of these bad boys.
There's two things you're gonna wanna know.
Before you jump into this card.
Number (speaking in foreign language)
you now own one of the purest examples
of a naturally aspirated V8 saloon, sedan
that will likely get you an immediate ticket
in higher insurance.
It's just gonna happen.
You know, it's gonna happen.
We know it's gonna happen.
Save an extra $212 and 75 cents.
'Cause you're gonna get the ticket.
I'm sorry about the inevitable bust,
The car will probably give you at some point in your life
as well, because that is number two,
'cause you were buying a 20 year old four-door saloon,
borderline super car, at that point,
buying a used E39 M5 is a unique experience.
You can get one for $5,000.
You can get one for $50,000.
You can get them in the widest gamut, quality,
mileage, modifications,
and nearly all M5's on the lower side of the spectrum
will generally have higher mileage,
like 150,000 miles plus is pretty normal.
And they'll almost always be straight piped
because,
(Alex clears throat)
because it's a V8 like, what do you want?
What do you want me to say?
All right it's just raw.
Like it just, I don't know,
if people are gonna straight pipe they're V8
people do it all right.
Your own kids, $5,000,
you're gonna do it too.
There's usually rust around the wheel well,
and the door jam,
especially on the driver's side and the check engine light
will probably be on, this is the thing.
And let me tell you though, if you do this right,
you can have one banger of a car.
I'm telling you, this is a great car.
You just gotta be careful with which one you pick up.
The cars have a few quirks in the liability department.
For starters,
these are a couple of things
that you're probably gonna wanna keep your noggin on.
If you're looking to actually pick one of these up.
Their (speaks in foreign language) VANOS,
didn't come with a screw for the solar night cover
that led to vibrations and damage.
It was fixed in 2001.
But if you get a pre 2001,
you're gonna wanna make sure that was fixed.
There's carbon buildup.
That's actually a real thing for the E39.
If they wanna get it cleaned up.
So that you can have a happy car,
that's not choking on itself.
That's something else that you're gonna wanna make sure
that gets taken care of.
And probably the biggest boy,
the biggest thing with these cars,
which seems to be like an early 2000's thing
for almost all Euro cars is the timing chain.
The tension or guides are made of plastic,
which wear over time.
Now, not bad for a brand new car
when you don't really have to worry about it,
but it's bad for a 20 year old car with 200,000 miles.
Get those things fixed asap and assume whoever it is
that you're buying it from hasn't done it either.
These cars get to a mileage
and age point where people will say things are done,
but they were done 14 years ago.
All right which means you got to do it again.
You're on like the second cycle of a maintenance count.
So don't let them just trick you saying it was done.
Also plastic cooling components, cripple old BMWs,
something fierce, is probably why their interior
is actually so nice.
I mean, honestly, you got to cut corners somewhere
and it was probably in that area.
You wanna check the leaks prior to purchase
and plan on doing a dang near full rebuild.
If you're seeing a little bit of the coolant leak
on the ground, remember them tray covers,
if they have them will hide a lot of that.
And if you just want to, ignorance is bliss.
Just keep her on bushings,
heavy cars wear through bushings a bit more.
And it's just how she goes.
But if you're buying one that's been around longer
than you've been a thought in your dad's eye.
There's a chance that those bushings
haven't been replaced in a decade
and can cause some less than exciting driving
experience, tighten those bad boys up,
repair 'em and fix 'em.
And you probably experience a whole different car, tires,
suspension, bushings, different car, every time.
All right, but the pros almost 100% outweigh
the cons and reliability and the maintenance
and some of the parts stuff
that you're gonna have to do to the car.
When you pick it up,
when you grab one of these
and just give it a proper paint correction,
clean up the little bits and pieces here and there,
throwing a watch on it,
maybe a belt and then jump into some coil overs, wheels,
tires, tint exhaust intake.
And you have my friend,
one of the best looking Jason Statham,
owning bad-ass driving cars.
These cars look fantastic.
They just looked so good on a set of mesh wheels,
particularly BBS or even Ronal, tires.
Almost always bet with a decent set of tires
that you don't mind burning off
because you are going to burn it off.
The fact that it came with a manual transmission,
it's begging you to do something dumb,
lots we'll end up with NATO, Neo, Jens,
and federals, so they don't feel bad
when showing off at a red light
to somebody across the street,
that's staring at the car.
Wondering what the hell it actually is.
Suspension is almost always quarrel over
send us a huge improvement not only for the looks,
but for the sheer fact that 20 year old
suspension components just sometimes start to fade
and they just need a little help.
Se suspension is a good place to start if you're on a budget
or bill scene, if you're like the a, Oh, you got money,
money kind of guy or girl, whatever.
Pro tip,
you're better buying one with higher mileage
with more records than somebody with lower miles
and less records per service.
So make sure that if you are picking up a car
that every single point that there could be maintenance
records on, you grab
because you're going to need that.
Otherwise the car is gonna backhand you
and it's gonna hurt really bad.
Service is everything on the E39 M5.
The E39 M5 is a super saloon.
It's a car that will make you smile
and likely, never want to sell.
They aren't perfect,
but they're so good.
It doesn't even matter.
And you won't care.
A 4.8 zero to 60,
a six speed, manual transmission,
a limited slip, differential of V8, in a Euro car.
It do goes really well.
A great interior, what else could you want?
And the answer is nothing all right.
That's what?
Just make sure you cross your T's and dot your I's
in the maintenance department.
And then remember,
you're signing up for a little bit of heroic mode
and some of it, depending on the price
that you pick one up with.
But what do you think about the BMW M5,
particularly the E39?
And if you'd rather argue about the kidney bean grill
in the comments, I'm not opposed to it,
but let us know what you want us to talk about next,
Mr. Suzuki, cappuccino, man or female.
I see you, you wanna keep your eyes peeled.
Thanks, day 69, it feels like,
if you're looking for after market wheels,
tires is spread,
we sure should head and sub over a fitmentindustries.com
I'm out from Fitment industries
and we will see you later peace.
(upbeat music)