M5 pics and initial thoughts

[Josh (PA)]

I was able to get a few quick pictures of the m5 today before the snow came. It is now tucked in the garage with a few inches of the white stuff blocking the exit. Below is a posthumous collection of all of my waffling thoughts as well as some first impressions.

Long story short (or not so short) 2009 has been a roller coaster year for my family and I. We've been through difficult medical issues with parents, reached positive resolutions on looonggg custody battles over our children, ended 7 year (me) and 15 year (my wife) careers with our previous employer and embarked on new employment opportunities. The first 9 months of 2009 were extremely stressful and challenging for us but it all seems to be behind us now and the last 3 months have been calm, stable and wonderfully enjoyable. We knew when we bought the MDX a couple of years ago that we'd be adding a third car at some point, but we also knew that we had a tremendous amount of family obligations to support before we did anything. That gave us two years to window shop, compare options and basically brainf*** the decision process ad-nausium. I waffled between E46s, e39 530s, E90s, Audis, etc. Luckily (for me) during the time I was searching, used car values crashed, and somewhat oddly the prices of all of these different cars equalized in the $17k - $23K range. At the same time the prices of E39 M5s really tanked and good ones could be had for anywhere from $19K - $27k. The added value that an m5 provides over an E90 325 made the vehicle choice a pretty easy one for us, especially after some research on m5board suggested that the S62 engine is supposedly more robust than the M62 we had in the 540iT.

In October I started really looking in earnest. We were able to narrow our search down to Carbon, Blue Water or Sterling exteriors with Caramel as our #1 interior choice or black/gray sport as choice #2. Options didn't really matter, though I would have preferred the fold down seats. We focused mostly on 2003 cars (DVD NAV + end of model run bug fixes) but looked at anything from 2001 or later. This car popped up for sale in NY about a month ago and was perfect. It was a 2003 with M-Audio and extended leather. 60,250 miles, INDS Diamond warranty that was transferrable and good through the end of 2010, a new clutch and flawless interior. The seller was a bit of a PITA only because he didn't use email, rarely answered his phone and had no motivation to sell. Once we got a deal finalized he was much better and the final transaction was very smooth.

I picked it up yesterday and had a very careful but pleasant 300 mile drive home. I brought it home on my plates from the M3 and without proof of insurance (it was insured, I just didn't have the paperwork with me) so I had no interest in a visit from Mr. Law. The cruise control was set on speed limit +5 the whole way home while I averaged 26+ mpg. Even so, it still ate up the miles in an ultra comfortable effortless manner. Once home my wife and I took it out for a short joy ride. She absolutely loved it (so much so that she informed me she would be taking it to work on Monday), which was great because she had driven some less stellar examples and hadn't been overly impressed. The kids loved it too, all three fit well in the back seat. Last night I had a number of requests to hit the "fun button" (accelerator) followed by the contagious giggles of children as the V8 growled.

My initial impressions are that the car is absolutely fantastic in a bi-polar sort of way. Depending on your mood and driving input, it can be an ultra comfortable luxury sedan one second, then a whip lash inducing, barn burning crazy muscle car the next with a simple flip of your right foot. Any abrupt throttle inputs in first gear result in an instant chirp of the rear tires followed by the shuddering intrusion of DSC. Wheel spin in second is expensively easy, but the car really responds well to smooth inputs. Linear throttle roll on will pin you against your seat for as long as you have the fortitude to keep your foot planted. I'm really looking forward to some nice weather (and a legal PA registration) to get some better driving impressions. So far it has been everything we hoped for. I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present or more pleasant end to a tumultuous 2009.

Anyway, here are some pictures from my driveway:


Drivers Side (Note my fine PVC craftmanship on my daughter's soccer goal just above the hood)


Front 3/4 (This angle deftly hides our trash and recycling cans)


Inside (In hindsight, it would have looked much cooler if I straightened the wheel)


Drivers Seat (this pic more than any shows the lack of wear and tear, it is in really good shape)


Family Portrait (check out my sweet 25 yr old mohawk canoe in the background)


What it would look like if our two M cars were ever to race

Missing from these pics is the ugly red headed step child MDX. It got back at me today for leaving it out by magically springing a leak around the sunroof and dripping 32F water on my neck the entire time we drove around in the snow. I'm hoping a public apology to it here will cause it to fix itself.

[ZBB]

Congrats... Hope you enjoy it.

I miss my E39... The CTS is a great car, but a fat pig compared to the E39 and I really don't like the extra weight.

Of course, mine was only a 530... but I'm glad you ended up with an '03. Lots of little things that went wrong on earlier E39s never went wrong on mine. But I also had a fair share of issues with mine (the biggest one was a full replacement of the A/C system, which had rusted out internally when the car was only 2.5 years old -- but that was fully covered in the original warranty).

The only other thought is that I really wish my car had a tan interior -- mine had a grey interior and I never liked it to start, and never warmed on it...

[Theo]

Beautiful car Josh. Glad to see you love it. Going to get snow tires next?

Make sure, if it does not already have it, to get at least version 26 installed of the nav software. It includes the birdseye view which really makes the map much easier to read.

Let me know if you have any questions about the bluetooth install. Its pretty straight forward but time consuming. The hardest part is getting the module installed about the nav in the truck. Its super tight in there and very frustrating.

We looked for very similar combos as well. Sterling, Carbon and Imola on the outside and heritage black or two tone black/gray sport on the inside. The black/blue and black/red sport interior's are really hideous imho.

We only have M-Audio and PDC options. Would have liked the fold down seats as well and the rear sun shade but you cant be that picky buying used.

Congrats again and enjoy!!!

PS - I am very jealous you got to keep the M3 convert as well. I miss mine.

[Terri Kennedy]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

Anyway, here are some pictures from my driveway:


Drivers Side (Note my fine PVC craftmanship on my daughter's soccer goal just above the hood).

Nice!

Originally Posted by Theo

Make sure, if it does not already have it, to get at least version 26 installed of the nav software. It includes the birdseye view which really makes the map much easier to read.

Let me know if you have any questions about the bluetooth install. Its pretty straight forward but time consuming. The hardest part is getting the module installed about the nav in the truck. Its super tight in there and very frustrating.

It can't be any worse than on the E46 wagon, where it sandwiches between the body and the wheel well.

I can also answer just about any question on the I-bus stuff (NAV / entertainment / phone / etc.) and can also re-code all of that as well as the LCM and some other things. I can also do just about all of the diagnostics from a PC with the AutoEnginuity ProLine gizmo.

With an I-bus system you have lots of cool stuff available. While these have both been discontinued by their respective manufacturers, you can still find them used:

StealthOne - Valentine One interface that controls / displays on the NAV.

PhatBox - replacement for the CD changer that uses a hard drive. I have 2362 CDs in mine.

In addition to Bluetooth, you can add Sirius radio, though you may need a newer radio module. And the Aux input is easy, if you prefer an iPod or similar to a PhatBox.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by Theo

Beautiful car Josh. Glad to see you love it. Going to get snow tires next?

Make sure, if it does not already have it, to get at least version 26 installed of the nav software. It includes the birdseye view which really makes the map much easier to read.

Let me know if you have any questions about the bluetooth install. Its pretty straight forward but time consuming. The hardest part is getting the module installed about the nav in the truck. Its super tight in there and very frustrating.

We looked for very similar combos as well. Sterling, Carbon and Imola on the outside and heritage black or two tone black/gray sport on the inside. The black/blue and black/red sport interior's are really hideous imho.

We only have M-Audio and PDC options. Would have liked the fold down seats as well and the rear sun shade but you cant be that picky buying used.

Congrats again and enjoy!!!

PS - I am very jealous you got to keep the M3 convert as well. I miss mine.

Thanks,
I used to have the CD image for the ver 26 upgrade, but lost a hard drive a while back and never had a need to regain it. Do you have a link to the software?

The M3 has a brand new set of snows mounted on it, so that will be my bad weather ride at least for this season. We'll see next year if I sell that set and pick up one for the M5.

Originally Posted by Terry

In addition to Bluetooth, you can add Sirius radio, though you may need a newer radio module. And the Aux input is easy, if you prefer an iPod or similar to a PhatBox.

Is this in place of the CD Changer, or in addition to? An Aux Input would be nice. I rigged this into the M3 by soldering a headphone input cable at the cassette pre-amp so I could keep the CD and just trick the radio into thinking a cassette was in place. It worked pretty well, but if there was a better way to do it I'd love to know.

[Terri Kennedy]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

Thanks,
I used to have the CD image for the ver 26 upgrade, but lost a hard drive a while back and never had a need to regain it. Do you have a link to the software?

Here.

Is this in place of the CD Changer, or in addition to? An Aux Input would be nice. I rigged this into the M3 by soldering a headphone input cable at the cassette pre-amp so I could keep the CD and just trick the radio into thinking a cassette was in place. It worked pretty well, but if there was a better way to do it I'd love to know.

Aux and Sirius are in addition to the CD changer; PhatBox replaces the CD changer.

Aux installation instructions here, including schematics for the cable (it is trivially easy to make yourself if you're handy with electronics - the hardest part is finding the BMW connector). If you're buying it, you want 65-12-0-153-503. At $79 list, it is incredibly overpriced (even for BMW) for what it is.

The neat thing about the BMW Aux (both the official part and the homebrew one) is that there is an undocumented feature - the sensitivity of the input is adjustable by pressing the CD 1 through 6 buttons on the NAV display when Aux is selected, so you can adjust it for the correct level for different devices without having it be a lot quieter than the NAV instructions and not so sensitive that it distorts the input signal.

[ZBB]

There's also the Dension iPod adapter as well as the XM Direct kit. I had both on my car.

The Dension ICE Link Plus is similar to the Phatbox and also replaces the CD changer, but instead of dedicated Phatbox hardware, gives you an iPod cradle. It has a long enough wire harness that you can find a place to put it up front (I put mine in the tiny storage compartment in the center console -- I cut out the back so it would fit. The only issue was that the iPod was visible when in use, so I just would unplug it when I parked. I could have easily put the iPod in the trunk though -- the interface with the head unit was good enough to find playlists, artists, and songs (and I didn't have NAV -- it should work even better with that big screen and rotate knob). The only trick to installing this is for cars that have digital audio inputs for the CD changer (I would expect that to be standard on the M5) -- where an analog to digital adapter is needed and you need to find an empty fuse slot to plug this in (I used one on the passenger side of the trunk).

The XM Direct module used an adapter into the Sirius port. It worked well enough into fooling the car that you had Sirius installed, but allowed XM content. Now that the content is essentially the same due to the merger, the only big advantage of it is cost. You should be able to buy one of these adapter kits for ~$75 now on eBay.

I also had the Bluetooth module and can attest to the tight space for installing it -- mostly bolting it to the rack in the trunk is very tight and frustrating to do especially if you don't have a slimline socket set... Its doable with a wrench and regular socket set, but just take your time.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by Terry Kennedy

Here.



Aux and Sirius are in addition to the CD changer; PhatBox replaces the CD changer.

Aux installation instructions here, including schematics for the cable (it is trivially easy to make yourself if you're handy with electronics - the hardest part is finding the BMW connector). If you're buying it, you want 65-12-0-153-503. At $79 list, it is incredibly overpriced (even for BMW) for what it is.

The neat thing about the BMW Aux (both the official part and the homebrew one) is that there is an undocumented feature - the sensitivity of the input is adjustable by pressing the CD 1 through 6 buttons on the NAV display when Aux is selected, so you can adjust it for the correct level for different devices without having it be a lot quieter than the NAV instructions and not so sensitive that it distorts the input signal.

Fantastic links. Thanks.

[Theo]

Terry very cool info on the Aux input. Going to pick one of those up asap.

[lemming]

beauty.

v.happy for you