So I drove Ian’s old M5 today. First off it’s a seriously clean car inside and out, wheels are spotless and it’s generally in good nick. Credit to him and the first owner. The Eisenmann is lovely without being obnoxious and crackles and pops on the overrun. It’s a surprisingly comfy car too, nice and smooth in standard 400bhp mode and properly quick in 500bhp “M” mode. It's also a bit of a hooligan and is quite tail happy compared to the e92, which is fun.
Elephant in the room is obviously the SMG, driving it in real world conditions (as opposed to in an e46 M3 in the mountains!) it’s definitely clunky and feels outdated, you have to really negotiate with it unlike the “sit in and bang through the gears DCTs” but I did get used to it on the drive and managed to get smoother shifts out of it. It would’ve been fantastic with a DCT or a manual but there is a novelty about it.
Thing is... back to back with the e92 - the M3 is tighter, sharper, harder, louder and feels significantly more robust. There’s an air of solidity about it that the e60 lacks, the e60 feels more fragile and gut feeling is it might end in tears...
There’s a reason there’s such a fuss over these cars though, that V10 is such a special engine and the e60 is one of my favourite BMWs lately. I still want one, but the lack of big ticket items being done on this one is just a bit unsettling.
Will have to have a long hard think about it.
It would be the ultimate 2 car garage though...! 😍
Shout out to Shane who came to look at it with me, his feedback was positive too.
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Originally Posted by Chillipepper
