Jun 032013
E39 M5 engine, the S62
This weekend I found a video that really conveys the excitement of BMW E39 M5 ownership. Parker Nirenstein lovingly describes his 2001 M5 while promoting his purchase assist company Vehicle-Virgins.com:
I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment. A few corrections and clarifications to the video:
- He quotes $92,000 as the original price of the car new, it was more like $75,000 according to my VIN printout. It is possible someone paid that much in 2001, since BMW often sells new models in high demand for well above MSRP. Totally agree the car today represents an incredible value for those who know to shop carefully. I paid more when I bought in 2011 than the $17,000 he mentions, but my car was in great shape with low miles.
- He’s too harsh on turbo lag. While I’m also a lover of naturally aspirated engines, technology has progressed and many turbocharged cars, especially BMWs, have little perceptible lag.
- A little more detail about why the E39 M5 acceleration is so amazing would have been interesting — eight individual throttle bodies delivering air directly to each cylinder, the first BMW V-8 with Double VANOS (constantly variable timing of both intake and exhaust valves), and a high 11:1 compression ratio.
Great video and I hope he finds some customers for his company. I’m a big believer in the dying art of the private party car sale.
Bonus video – As Parker notes in his video, when released in 1999 the BMW E39 M5 was the fastest production sedan in the world. BMW reinforced the point with this classic television spot: