What it's Like To Drive a Better-Than-New BMW E39 M5 - One Take

hey guys this is the 20/20 out er8 performance decennial they only built 222 of these worldwide and only 50 are in the US and I am partnering with omae's to give one of these away in a sweepstakes you can take it home fully tax-free delivered to your door with 20k in the trunk the proceeds from this sweepstakes benefit a cause called dosomething.org which turns online activism into real world activism and you can sign up with any number of causes that you want to support and it'll tell you how to make real world change it's a great cause so hit the link in the description and find out how you can enter and take this very r8 home with you now enjoy this video good morning everyone and welcome to what should be a very interesting video this is a 2003 BMW m5 in Alpine white one of a hundred and thirty-nine made in that color of the 10,000 total ether t9 m5 s that came to the United States between 2000 and 2003 this car is owned by my friend Paul Zuckerman who you may know from the spikes car radio podcast he is a collector of fine vintage machines and a personal injury lawyer here in LA so if you're hurting someone else is to blame give this dude a call he drove up to the Malibu kitchen in this car the other day and I was blown away this is the cleanest a39 m5 I have seen since literally they were being sold new this car has 28,000 original miles on it and Paul has owned it twice it's been through eag enthusiast auto group twice and Paul owned it twice this is a second time around owning this car it is so mint that I can still see the original grain in the leather on the thick-rimmed steering wheel it's so mint that this brush metal is not scratched up at all it's ridiculously meant to you guys it this feels like a brand new car and I was in a couple of these when they were brand new because my friend's dad's had them when I was like graduating high school that's when these came out in 2000 and so the e39 m5 2002-2003 it's an enthusiast car for a reason it's the first v8 in an M car it's a 4.9 liter v8 making 394 horsepower and 370 pound-feet of torque zero to 60 and four and a half seconds top speed 180 now in 2000 this was like the first Europeans to Dan to ever have 400 horsepower the fact that this thing had four endorsed power that was a big deal this car was a huge deal at the time that it came out manual transmission is your only option it's got that vvt-i the variable valve timing on both the intake and the exhaust side and as the cars the production run of the m5 went on from 2000 oh one oh two oh three the cars did get mild improvements 401 it got a valve for a vana to stop the vanos accumulation it got new piston rings it got a different engine oil widened oh two passages for less carbon buildup and then an o2 it got a quieter diaphragm spring and the clutch pressure plate angel eyes had headlights the updated steering wheel with the thicker rim gray gauges and the better MMI this is a no three so it's got all that stuff in about the in the year 2018 according to Haggerty a number one condition a 39 m5 went from $45,000 to $70,000 average that's in one year eag enthusiasts auto group they've been on my podcast before Eric Schmidt has they are known for sourcing really good examples of cars refurbishing them as good as they can be and then selling them for all the money so if I had to guess this car is pry like a hundred G's it's a it's a huge money car so let's see how it drives [Music] things I notice immediately about driving this car that are no longer with BMWs clutch feel exceptional the rumble of that v8 engine and the engagement of it when you set off that the fact that I can just let that clutch out at basically a thousand rpm and just move off with that little bit of that low-end grunt that's beautiful for driving in traffic the clutch itself is really light now the steering is weighted just brilliantly it's really got a direct feel but without being overly sharp we're feeling like it changes a whole lot the corner it's very consistent I love the fact that it's got a little bit of body roll body-roll has become the enemy in the nurburgring era and i don't think that necessarily it's the right way forward as a road car some body roll is good it doesn't feel like I have a lack of grip it just moves a bit and it helps me the body roll actually helps me transfer the weight because I can feel the weight moving around in a bit more of a pronounced way the cars this cars 3,700 pounds which is 600 pounds lighter than Curren m5 of course it doesn't have turbos doesn't have the fast shifting gearbox all-wheel-drive all that kind of stuff that makes the doing five crazy fast but once you once the car is going that fast it doesn't even really matter it's just bragging rights can you enthusiasts really get from point A to point B quicker in the new m5 than this one when that happens when the cars get too fast you gotta go for the sensations right the sensations is what you need and the sensations of driving the e39 m5 are unavailable from the current BMW lineup at all and I have to stop again because this guy doesn't understand what it means to let an enthusiast but actually he might turn to the turnoff here we'll hold our breaths this cars had a couple of little modifications done to it over the course of its life not done by Paul possibly done an ehe it's got a dinette intake a dining catback exhaust a dining ECU it also has upgraded I don't know if they're upgraded but they're refreshed shocks the dining strut tower brace and dinin sway bars so none of these things change the m5 s character really in any way they just liven up the sensations that were already there [Music] Analia moroder ago fortunately brand-new pilot sport 4s tires 18-inch wheels I love how this engine feels when you rev it out I love keeping it between 4 and 7,000 rpm I love the way that when I get onto the brakes I can actually feel those front tires floating up I like how when I actually turn in the wheel feel that weight transfer over to the side a little bit this also has I believe a dine in short throw shifter I don't know if it's dining brand for sure but it is it is nice Alex Roy said five had a killer short throw shifter in it that I hated this one is much better really good really really direct-shift engagement it was a little not crunchy that's the wrong word a little stiff when it was ice-cold but 1015 miles of driving it warmed up and smooth right out oh this is a very kind truck will let me by thank you give him the old what have you don't think that was for me but I'll take it this car hasn't such the right amount of power weight and size to engage with three pedals in a stick it's hot it would be hard to overdrive this carbon cyclist if you're a good driver you can really engage with each of these things exactly the right amount of focus up at the top of the power man you're really making that 394 horsepower it goes good really beautiful spell proportions you know at 3,700 was a little heavy at the time but now I mean this thing feels like a feather way it feels like the right size you know it's roughly the same size as the as the current 3 Series it's not it's not a huge car it's really easy to rev-match sounded the edges fantastic out that dining exhaust it's a real joy to Dreyfus and mean it's a real joy it moves around but in this certain kind of way that's very interesting predictable is the word it's super predictable brakes are I mean there's street pads and fluids so a little soft maybe but good for good for 99% of the time we're gonna go in this sort of funky section here it's gonna have some really tight stuff and see how it does and the really tight stuff this is one of the funkiest sections of road I'm not sure it's ideal for an m5 but we're gonna we're gonna make it work you got it it's a really nice about a steering input so many things about this makes sense how good is his v8 engine he asked himself so good that in 2015 I test drove a Turner Motorsports z4 gt3 race car and it had this engine BMWs race cars were powered by this engine for 12 maybe 13 years after BMW stopped making this car they were not using the m3 s v8 they were using this v8 or a variant of it a by that it just occurred to me traction controls on let's turn that off and sport mode wasn't even on we had sport I remember when Paul told me this morning's that make sure you put sport mode on take off traction and see what we feel different here would be a tighter throttle response you know it dine in tune oh it is it's a substantially better than throttle response I have been missing out this entire time that was an ugly ship and I am sorry with a naturally aspirated v8 there's only so much power you can unleash from a tune right you're not going to gain a hundred horsepower like you would with a turbo engine just by doing a tune but you can really improve the throttle response the aggressiveness of the engine the way it tips in and so that's really what the Natuna is done here I like that there's basically no overrun when you get off the pedal you instantly get and I mean you instantly get engine braking it's right there now these guys chillin you like that bass note it's not a drone but it's a fantastic bass note I really like that this is gonna be a very tight section here with a lot of change in camber so it really will demonstrate how balanced this thing is over the ups and the downs firesquirrel there at the front twenty-eight thousand miles there's no creaks there's no squeaks it's incredible I mean you just right off that top there interesting gearing you know it's it feels gear like it's geared really short until you rev it to redline and you realize oh if I actually use all the power band it's not geared that short if you're just driving it around you know in the city you're shifting it like three or four whatever you go wow there's thing I'm in fourth already what's that about but then you wrap it out to seven and you know oh okay that that makes more sense and then you remember that the engine likes that Titans I mean 3,700 pound in five she dancing pretty good there's so much to like you that's changing camber it's agile baby incredibly agile very very good very very good there it is that's fantastic huh Wow so look I mean if what is the takeaway in period this came out before the rs6 and the supercharged e55 and in my opinion this is probably a better car than both all things being equal then the Mercedes or the Audi they in in more recent years you know new I want I like the c63 the best part of the the e63 s wagon the best and the new m5 doesn't really do anything for me now you've got a hundred thousand dollars to spend on a sports sedan do you go out and you buy a brand new m3 competition do you go out you buy a brand new c63 do you go out you buy a brand new rs4 do you go out and you buy a 16 year old BMW e39 m5 man me I would have having driven the new m2 it's ten threes and stuff like that I think I'd rather own this frankly I buy a really nice one of these save some money for maintenance and and I would drive this happily I think as far as an engaging luxurious well-made appropriately sized appropriately spaced sports sedan I'm not sure this has been beaten it's just get amazing this car I love this thing it rules I mean if I had the money to spend I could really see why you'd want to get the best example of something like this start from there and then keep it working and moving from there as opposed to buying a cheap one and then finding who knows what and it still won't even be as nice as this so it's an argument for buying the best so thank you to my good friend Paul Zuckerman for letting me have a go in this thing shoutout to EA G go up with the link to their appearance in my podcast in the video if you want to hear Erik from EA G's philosophy on BMWs thank you to all you for watching enjoy yourself

Channel: TheSmokingTire

Views: 205,848

Rating: 4.9312744 out of 5

Keywords: matt, farah, farrah, tst, the, smoking, tire, thesmokingtire, thesmokingtire.com, tyre, tires, smokintire, review, reviews, car, cars, autos, sportscar, fast, supercar, supercars, exotic, drift, exhaust, sound, bmw, m5, e39, e34, e46, m3, motorsport, V8, DINAN, EAG, mint, flyby, POV

Id: Y9XalOgX_YA

Length: 17min 18sec (1038 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 26 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/gamga200]

E39 will always have a special place in my heart. I have owned a 540i 6-speed, which was a load of fun! With the styling, performance, comfort, and features, E39's were such 'complete' cars. I miss my old gal haha.

[u/digistil]

I know it's been said a million times, but BMW really did nail the styling on the E39.

[u/I_FUCK_CHEETAHS]

Alex Roy jacket, in an M5? Was this on purpose?

[u/persamedia]

I wonder what Matt thinks of this thing compared top the GS-F?

I know he said he liked that GS-F alot (More than the new M5, or was that Clarkson?)

I really want to save for one of those and wonder how it compares to this one.

[u/LTChaosLT]

There is nothing sexier than E39 M5.

[u/rogersmj]

Stop, I can only get so hard.

I had an E39 540i about 20 years ago. Despite the dash being lit up like a Christmas tree half the time, still one of my favorite cars I’ve ever owned. Everything about it was just right...the power, the handling, the looks, even the smell of the leather and plastics.

[u/kriswithakthatplays]

No, stop that. I need m5's to stop going up in price so I can get one.

There are two within 100 miles of me and one is alpine white but needs a timing chain job. It's pretty much the Achilles heel of those engines since it's engine-out and a giant pain to do.

[u/Ellissd]

Those collector descriptions for cars are hilarious. I'm convinced they could make a Toyota Corolla from 2005 sound special.

[u/AlvinGT3RS]

Man I love these. Instantly fell in love with them in NFS high stakes