Warning!
We have 15 years of archives. Links older than a year may have been updated to point to similar cars available to bid on eBay.
This site contains Ebay partner affiliate links, which may earn us a commission at no additional cost to you.
The Euro’d E28 M5 with just 62k miles Carter wrote up last week went for a reasonable $21k, showing that the market for M5s is strong but not skyrocketing. Extra-low mileage examples are few and far between, and today’s 28k-mile example is being sold by the notoriously high-pricing Enthusiast Auto Group. Forum guesses put the price as high as $80k, which may be what EAG is asking but is not what they’re going to get. While it certainly looks like a sheltered, sub-30k mile creampuff, the door-card speakers are a strikingly bad choice. Low mileage is great, but without full originality I don’t see the point.
The E28 M5 is seemingly following in the E30 M3’s footsteps as the next hot commodity in the semi-vintage BMW game. If you want a lot of the M5 look at a discount, a 535i such as this is the next best thing. We featured this car back in November of last year and it is back up for sale at no reserve with a few hundred miles more on the clock.
The below post originally appeared on our site November 29, 2013:
I think I like the new F10 M5. Despite the technology overload and a severe distaste for the sound-reproduction technology, any time I see one pass I dream of slapping on an exhaust that makes electronics unnecessary and letting the twin-turbo V8 do its thing – spinning tires. When the E60 M5 came out in 2005, I didn’t really get into it. The styling didn’t do much to improve the E60’s ugly genes, and all accounts seemed to find the SMG and V10 interesting at best, confused and pointless at worst. But now, as I see them ignored in parking spots, a few years removed from being the king of the hill, I see many parallels to the E28 M5 I hold so dear. The engine is motorsport-derived and batcrap crazy. It’s certainly a Bahn-stormer, and flies under the radar of most. The owner of today’s M5 must have some appreciation for the E28’s only-black US availability, as they have endeavored to completely black it out. The real headline here, though, is the fact that regardless of where your M5 affinities lie, there’s no question that low-$20s for a 500hp V10 is a silly performance deal.
The Bavaria down the street from me always gets a second look, and the progression to the classic E28 was a smooth one. Bridging the gap was the first generation of Bimmers named 5, and today’s E12 has been putting in some serious work since it was built over 30 years ago. It looks fantastically late-70s/early-80s with gold wheels matching the pinstriping. The grey paint has a few blemishes but overall this car still shows classy and sporty in a way few cars of this era can. Think about what the American car companies were putting out in 1981… and then stop because it’s horrifying. One thing I love about 80s cars is they represent one of the last generations that can be maintained and continue running forever. With the computer invasion, I find it hard to believe that an E60 5er will ever see 300k miles. This 528i, however, has covered those miles gracefully and is ready for someone to help it go another 300k.
Last night I had a conversation with a friend in the market for a new mid-sized luxury sedan. After a lot of back and forth, I realized something that has been plaguing me with most new cars lately: there’s just not much out there that speaks to me. Sure, cars on the whole are more reliable and feature-laden then they ever have been these days, but there’s a bit of uniqueness that is lacking, along with a general disappearance of engagement in the driving experience that has perpetuated across the landscape as of late.
The E39 BMW 5 series is a bit of a touchstone for many enthusiasts, as they remember it as the last of the greats before more abstract styling and electronic aids found their way into the mid-sized offering. Styling was more evolutionary rather than revolutionary and the range of engines and transmissions satisfied most every need. This 528i represents the second year of E39 production and is equipped with the 5-speed manual gearbox, making it a good choice for 5er fans who want a more spirited drive.
