BMW M5 Touring E61
Discussion
What sort of illness is this? Despite the foregoing of a completely reliable daily driver and a lump of my own money, I am still looking at this car which I have owned for just under a week and is now sat on the back of a trailer yet I am still marvelling about how good it looks.
Before I get into why my 2007 BMW M5 Touring E61 is sat on the back of a trailer I want to talk about how I came to own it. I’m lucky enough to work in covering international cycling for television and three or four years ago I saw virtually the same spec of car that I now own crawling out of the VIP car park. I had heard about them before, I knew that they were quite cool but, with the sun dipping in that particular corner of stunningly beautiful France, the presence of that car literally stopped me in my tracks – what a thing. It was being driven by Mathieu Van der Poel, one of the biggest talents of his or any other generation. A few weeks later, at another race, I collared him about it and he confessed just how much he loved it (and bizarrely given how much money he was worth) that he had it insured as a van.
I then spent a long time checking in and out of values and flirting with ownership. The road to acquiring the car (predictably) stemmed from mission creep. I had my supremely faithful (well, until it hit 50k miles) Golf R Mrk.7 estate stolen from my driveway one night and a hurried purchase of a Renault Mégane RS300 EDC followed. The Mégane was superb – a riotous little Tarmac rally car – but when you didn’t want it to be as stated it kind of grated. It was frenetic to drive, had a tiny sixth and a tinier tank and really struggled to get its power down on anything but super-smooth asphalt.
“I’ll get a tatty E92 M3,” I cleverly thought. But I have bikes. And kids. And a dog. And so the hunt for a cleanish one, with the rod bearings done AND the folding rear seats (why was this ever considered to be an OK option?!) came to nothing and the idea of getting another estate flashed across my brain and then… here we are.
The car itself has 88k miles with a FSH and stamps from 2400 miles, Space Grey Metallic paint and black leather interior. The only modifications being a full Eventuri plenum and intake kit along with a set of Hayward and Scott rear mufflers. It was at a dealers too so there was a bit of back up and, well, I just really, achingly wanted it.
Edging out of the lot into the inky darkness of a winter evening amidst the lights and kamikaze-like Deliveroo bikes of Brighton in a V10 super estate that you don’t know is extremely focusing. But, as in just about every car of this vintage, everything was beautifully to hand and by the time I’d cleared the M25, the car was starting to feel like home. At 70/75mph it cruised with ease as it should – a big, leathery 5 Series.
After a stop over at a mates that night, I got it up the road to Scotland the following day. Letting the V10 sing on roads I know as well as feeling the whole car pivot and balance beautifully underneath me was an amazing feeling and everything that I’d hoped that it’d be.
The only flies in the ointment being the slightly too-loud rear boxes (which I may yet simply get used to), a CarPlay upgrade which now and again seems to crack on minus volume and the red inlets of the Eventuri intakes behind the kidney grilles. They really stand out to my eyes and will need to change colour ASAP.
Six days into ownership it wouldn't start. All the terrors that I'd stuffed inside an internal box marked 'blind ignorance/hope' came floating to the surface. The car was trailered to Rob at RD Motorsport (could not recommend them enough if you're near Edinburgh and have anything M) who rang me a few days later with the sweetest words in the automotive lexicon; 'Can you hear it running?!'.
A new battery was installed to give us a clean base to work from with Rob cautioning that it felt like one of the electrical systems wasn't powering down properly and potentially causing a slow parasitic drain. The car is now back home and I'm back to being besotted with it. The more I drive it, the more I love it and simply put, it's everything that I hoped it would be.
I've put threads together for previous cars in the past (although never on PH) as I find them both a really useful ownership log but they've often been really useful in terms of knowledge sharing too. These cars are so special and often so feared so I thought it may be constructive to keep a 'warts and all' account of life dailying an M5 Touring in case anyone out there is as curious as I was.
![](https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/410869/202411283876695?resize=720[/img]</a> <a href="https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/410869/202411283895929" Target="_blank" >[img]https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/410869/202411283895929?resize=720[/img]</a> <a href="https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/410869/20241128389875" Target="_blank" >[img]https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/410869/20241128389875?resize=720)
Before I get into why my 2007 BMW M5 Touring E61 is sat on the back of a trailer I want to talk about how I came to own it. I’m lucky enough to work in covering international cycling for television and three or four years ago I saw virtually the same spec of car that I now own crawling out of the VIP car park. I had heard about them before, I knew that they were quite cool but, with the sun dipping in that particular corner of stunningly beautiful France, the presence of that car literally stopped me in my tracks – what a thing. It was being driven by Mathieu Van der Poel, one of the biggest talents of his or any other generation. A few weeks later, at another race, I collared him about it and he confessed just how much he loved it (and bizarrely given how much money he was worth) that he had it insured as a van.
I then spent a long time checking in and out of values and flirting with ownership. The road to acquiring the car (predictably) stemmed from mission creep. I had my supremely faithful (well, until it hit 50k miles) Golf R Mrk.7 estate stolen from my driveway one night and a hurried purchase of a Renault Mégane RS300 EDC followed. The Mégane was superb – a riotous little Tarmac rally car – but when you didn’t want it to be as stated it kind of grated. It was frenetic to drive, had a tiny sixth and a tinier tank and really struggled to get its power down on anything but super-smooth asphalt.
“I’ll get a tatty E92 M3,” I cleverly thought. But I have bikes. And kids. And a dog. And so the hunt for a cleanish one, with the rod bearings done AND the folding rear seats (why was this ever considered to be an OK option?!) came to nothing and the idea of getting another estate flashed across my brain and then… here we are.
The car itself has 88k miles with a FSH and stamps from 2400 miles, Space Grey Metallic paint and black leather interior. The only modifications being a full Eventuri plenum and intake kit along with a set of Hayward and Scott rear mufflers. It was at a dealers too so there was a bit of back up and, well, I just really, achingly wanted it.
Edging out of the lot into the inky darkness of a winter evening amidst the lights and kamikaze-like Deliveroo bikes of Brighton in a V10 super estate that you don’t know is extremely focusing. But, as in just about every car of this vintage, everything was beautifully to hand and by the time I’d cleared the M25, the car was starting to feel like home. At 70/75mph it cruised with ease as it should – a big, leathery 5 Series.
After a stop over at a mates that night, I got it up the road to Scotland the following day. Letting the V10 sing on roads I know as well as feeling the whole car pivot and balance beautifully underneath me was an amazing feeling and everything that I’d hoped that it’d be.
The only flies in the ointment being the slightly too-loud rear boxes (which I may yet simply get used to), a CarPlay upgrade which now and again seems to crack on minus volume and the red inlets of the Eventuri intakes behind the kidney grilles. They really stand out to my eyes and will need to change colour ASAP.
Six days into ownership it wouldn't start. All the terrors that I'd stuffed inside an internal box marked 'blind ignorance/hope' came floating to the surface. The car was trailered to Rob at RD Motorsport (could not recommend them enough if you're near Edinburgh and have anything M) who rang me a few days later with the sweetest words in the automotive lexicon; 'Can you hear it running?!'.
A new battery was installed to give us a clean base to work from with Rob cautioning that it felt like one of the electrical systems wasn't powering down properly and potentially causing a slow parasitic drain. The car is now back home and I'm back to being besotted with it. The more I drive it, the more I love it and simply put, it's everything that I hoped it would be.
I've put threads together for previous cars in the past (although never on PH) as I find them both a really useful ownership log but they've often been really useful in terms of knowledge sharing too. These cars are so special and often so feared so I thought it may be constructive to keep a 'warts and all' account of life dailying an M5 Touring in case anyone out there is as curious as I was.
Great choice of car 
it's all the car you ever need really.
Car not starting could be anything and could cost between £0 and £thousands, it's all part of the fun
I had mine recovered once but turns out it was just a loose battery connection!
BTW I'm pretty sure every E61 has fold down rear seats as standard, on the E60 saloons they were an option.
it's all the car you ever need really.Car not starting could be anything and could cost between £0 and £thousands, it's all part of the fun
I had mine recovered once but turns out it was just a loose battery connection!BTW I'm pretty sure every E61 has fold down rear seats as standard, on the E60 saloons they were an option.
I ran one from 2014 - 2016 as a daily, and did around 30,000 miles. Indianapolis red with a cream interior.
Was an absolute riot. Did have its problems, but I bought it with eyes wide open, had the BMW warranty and a great local BMW dealer. the warranty paid for itself over and over again.
Drank like George Best out on a bender with Oliver Reed, was lucky to see double figure MPG on the school run and never more than 24-25 MPG even when driven sedately on the motorway. Used it in all weathers, and with winter tyres on during the cold weather.
It was utterly addictive when you put your foot down and let the revs rise.
Between 80 and 120 on the autobahn of course, I reckon it was quicker than the 996 Turbo S, I had previously.
Even quite liked the SMG gearbox.
Do keep an eye on the battery health, they do kick up the odd weird message once charge and voltage drops......
Would have another, only if I could warranty it!!
Was an absolute riot. Did have its problems, but I bought it with eyes wide open, had the BMW warranty and a great local BMW dealer. the warranty paid for itself over and over again.
Drank like George Best out on a bender with Oliver Reed, was lucky to see double figure MPG on the school run and never more than 24-25 MPG even when driven sedately on the motorway. Used it in all weathers, and with winter tyres on during the cold weather.
It was utterly addictive when you put your foot down and let the revs rise.
Between 80 and 120 on the autobahn of course, I reckon it was quicker than the 996 Turbo S, I had previously.
Even quite liked the SMG gearbox.
Do keep an eye on the battery health, they do kick up the odd weird message once charge and voltage drops......
Would have another, only if I could warranty it!!
theric177 said:
EmailAddress said:
It's like the host can read it, but the website can't.
If you get any trouble in the future try a random image host from a google search.
Oddly, I didn't enjoy my one at all.
TL:DR - great engine, wrong application.
Sure, the engine was epic when really on it, but most of the time it was the family bus and so driven at normal speeds etc. At which point it felt lacking in the way my current E63 5.5 doesn't. The E63 makes me laugh just burbling around at normal speeds, but then thumps you down the road from idle. The V10 you really had to work to make it go, which most times you weren't game to do with the family onboard. So it then becomes a slightly pointless lump of a car, returning sub-7 MPG around town.
SMG gearbox actually quite entertaining and I enjoyed it.
The biggest gripe however was the sodding fuel tank, which for a big, heavy thirsty car, was laughable. Cheap to brim, as it only held as much as a teacup, so as a grand tourer, it fell down by needing to be filled up every single day, which grew tedious.
Glad I got to own it, but I don't miss it at all.
Now, if you could shoehorn that V10 into the back of an Ultima... there's a few E46 M3's with them in also. That'd be a whole different ballgame.
TL:DR - great engine, wrong application.
Sure, the engine was epic when really on it, but most of the time it was the family bus and so driven at normal speeds etc. At which point it felt lacking in the way my current E63 5.5 doesn't. The E63 makes me laugh just burbling around at normal speeds, but then thumps you down the road from idle. The V10 you really had to work to make it go, which most times you weren't game to do with the family onboard. So it then becomes a slightly pointless lump of a car, returning sub-7 MPG around town.
SMG gearbox actually quite entertaining and I enjoyed it.
The biggest gripe however was the sodding fuel tank, which for a big, heavy thirsty car, was laughable. Cheap to brim, as it only held as much as a teacup, so as a grand tourer, it fell down by needing to be filled up every single day, which grew tedious.
Glad I got to own it, but I don't miss it at all.
Now, if you could shoehorn that V10 into the back of an Ultima... there's a few E46 M3's with them in also. That'd be a whole different ballgame.
What a great choice. Does this one have a tow bar too?
We’ve been running ours for 4 and a half years (and 30k-odd miles) and it has been lovely. The biggest issue (other than the size of the fuel tank) seems to be finding something to move to next.
Re: your battery drain, it’s worth double checking whether the recall on the battery cable has been done, as I’ve noticed that ours has be more temperamental since that was changed. Apparently you can run without the battery cable too, although I haven’t tried.
We’ve been running ours for 4 and a half years (and 30k-odd miles) and it has been lovely. The biggest issue (other than the size of the fuel tank) seems to be finding something to move to next.
Re: your battery drain, it’s worth double checking whether the recall on the battery cable has been done, as I’ve noticed that ours has be more temperamental since that was changed. Apparently you can run without the battery cable too, although I haven’t tried.
Edited by DBA086 on Thursday 28th November 16:38
Cactussed said:
That said, I hope the OP really enjoys himself and gets lots of opportunities to pin it round to 8500 rpm, because its bloody brilliant when you do.
Enjoy!
Thanks mate! I live in a pretty rural area so thankfully it doesn't have to do much in the way of urban crawling about. It's definitely much happier rolling than duking it out in town. SMG - enjoying it way more than I thought I would given the flack it gets! Don't know what you thought but using the actual 'lever' combined with a lift on upshifts smooth things out massively and it kind of just adds to the immersive experience of that V10. The paddles feel really antiquated compared to the snappy feel of the EDC in my old RS300. They have that 2000's feeling of being a button as opposed to something with any kind of connection. Enjoy!
Cactussed said:
Oddly, I didn't enjoy my one at all.
TL:DR - great engine, wrong application.
Sure, the engine was epic when really on it, but most of the time it was the family bus and so driven at normal speeds etc. At which point it felt lacking in the way my current E63 5.5 doesn't. The E63 makes me laugh just burbling around at normal speeds, but then thumps you down the road from idle. The V10 you really had to work to make it go, which most times you weren't game to do with the family onboard. So it then becomes a slightly pointless lump of a car, returning sub-7 MPG around town.
SMG gearbox actually quite entertaining and I enjoyed it.
The biggest gripe however was the sodding fuel tank, which for a big, heavy thirsty car, was laughable. Cheap to brim, as it only held as much as a teacup, so as a grand tourer, it fell down by needing to be filled up every single day, which grew tedious.
Glad I got to own it, but I don't miss it at all.
Now, if you could shoehorn that V10 into the back of an Ultima... there's a few E46 M3's with them in also. That'd be a whole different ballgame.
I don't want to derail the OP's thread, but the E63 is on my short list of next car. I'd love to hear about your experiences with one.TL:DR - great engine, wrong application.
Sure, the engine was epic when really on it, but most of the time it was the family bus and so driven at normal speeds etc. At which point it felt lacking in the way my current E63 5.5 doesn't. The E63 makes me laugh just burbling around at normal speeds, but then thumps you down the road from idle. The V10 you really had to work to make it go, which most times you weren't game to do with the family onboard. So it then becomes a slightly pointless lump of a car, returning sub-7 MPG around town.
SMG gearbox actually quite entertaining and I enjoyed it.
The biggest gripe however was the sodding fuel tank, which for a big, heavy thirsty car, was laughable. Cheap to brim, as it only held as much as a teacup, so as a grand tourer, it fell down by needing to be filled up every single day, which grew tedious.
Glad I got to own it, but I don't miss it at all.
Now, if you could shoehorn that V10 into the back of an Ultima... there's a few E46 M3's with them in also. That'd be a whole different ballgame.
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