You can’t buy it, but at least you say you “never would’ve paid that” when it sells.
Fast station wagons are like Yetis here in America. Even if they do exist, the number we see regularly is extremely low- low enough to doubt their existence. However, across the Atlantic (and the Pacific for that matter), fast wagons are a pillar of car culture. People in Europe love them, and more importantly, they buy them, which is why Europe got a mashup of the BMW X5 and M5 for the E60 generation of the 5 Series.
In short, this BMW M5, up for auction at Collecting Cars, is all the forbidden European fruit. This one is an E60 wagon, which we never got in America. And it’s got a stick, which is incredibly rare in America. Talk about BMW twisting the knife in the back of its American M-lovers.
Collecting Cars
Collecting Cars
Collecting Cars
To be fair, it isn’t just the BMW of fourteen years ago that’s twisting the knife. Someone had to swap the gearbox a-la E46 BMW M3, ditching the car’s automatic for a more fun and conventional manual gearbox. We hear you in the comments already, motivated perhaps by jealousy. “But CarBuzz! What about the E60 M5’s awful reliability?? I’d never buy one of those because they’re so unreliable!” Happily, someone’s taken care of all that, and you can’t buy one anyway because it’s not legal for import.
The M5’s notorious rod bearing failure was addressed last year, which should give its new owner serious peace of mind. Also addressed were the M5’s similarly infamous VANOS lines. For good measure, the oil cooler, steering rack boot, oil, and motor mounts have all been serviced. With only 59,600 miles on the odometer, if that’s not peace of mind enough, we’re not sure what is.
Collecting Cars
Collecting Cars
Collecting Cars
Speaking of motor mounts, it’s a good thing they were replaced. Holding 507 hp and 383 lb-ft of torque down is probably pretty tiring. E60 M5s didn’t get any special juice over American models, but that doesn’t make this thing any less special- or powerful, especially when all that zoom is going to the rear wheels. Good thing it’s got new tires.
Currently, the bidding sits at $34,869 USD. That’s a lot of money for a 14-year-old BMW, but the S85 V10 is a supremely special thing. BMW hasn’t made a V10 production car since (perhaps because these blew up so often). Regardless, the winner is taking home something special. Maybe one day we’ll be able to get something this crazy in the States.
Collecting Cars
Collecting Cars
Collecting Cars
Collecting Cars
