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Since red is a traditional Christmas color, I figured we would search out something extra special in that hue today. This 2002 M Coupe for sale in New Jersey is one of those 678 M Coupes to have the S54 engine under the bonnet, showing just under 22,000 miles on the odometer. I always marvel at cars like these which seemingly escaped the watchful eyes of the bean counters in accounting to wind up on the showroom floor. At a time when crossovers are proliferating the BMW lineup, it’s nice to look back at some cars that made this company’s bones as a car for driving enthusiasts.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve featured cars more modern than my predilection for ’80s German metal typically allows. Two were cars I’ve dreamt about owning since they were released, both in gorgeous deep-blue hues: the E39 M5 and MkIV R32. The Le Mans Blue M5 was an excellent, 75k-mile example with the sumptuous Caramel leather but came at a steep price – over $32k. The Deep Blue Pearl R32 had about 100k miles and asked $15k – a far cry from its MSRP and seemingly a good value for the performance. Today’s M5 throws the viability of either of those cars into question, bringing the many impressive strengths of the E39 M5 but at the same price as the R32. BMW maintenance may run more than VW, but it’s not like the MkIV is known for being bulletproof. With Tubi exhaust you’ll even be able to drown out the R32’s VR6 grumble while you enjoy luxury the VW could never match. It’s not the most attractive combo – silver on black/grey pales in comparison to the rich blue/caramel – but it’s a truckload of performance for the money.
Another week, another S54 powered BMW M Coupe. As a follow on to the 2001 M Coupe that Rob featured two weeks ago, here we have a similar vintage M Coupe with less miles wearing the it’s original equipment alloy wheels. Just over 1,000 S54 engined M Coupes were produced, with 678 making their way stateside between 2001 and 2002. Fewer modern cars have had the collectability factor that these Bimmers had out of the box. How high will values go? That remains to be seen.
I typically would stay far away from posting a car in the condition of today’s E28 M5, and not just because it hurts my heart to see rust all around the lower edges of the car. We’ve posted a few project cars, but for the most part GCFSB is interested in nice examples of fast, rare, and awesome German cars. This M5 inherently covers the first two, but falls far short of awesome. The reason I’m posting it is because the no-reserve auction is already well over $12k, more than I paid for my distinctly non-rusty M5 a few years ago. This one has a Euro bumper and headlight conversion that shares the major flaws on parts close to the pavement. The S38 has 167k miles, but certainly holds some intrinsic value if you look at this as some bidders probably are: a parts car, or at least a car that will need another parts car to become complete. It’s about as unoriginal and in-need-of-work M5 as I’ve seen that runs, yet is still getting scores of bids! The bottom of the market coming up like this is as strong of evidence of the E28 M5’s overall rise as any.
Ah, the E39 M5: the humble king of supersedans. Plenty of followers have come out with more tech, more power, and more luxury, but none have found the perfect balance that made the E39 M5 astonishing when it came out and still eminently desirable today. Its 394hp shocked when released, but it was backed up a chassis and 6-speed transmission equally ready to brawl. It’s a holistic package that gets blown away on paper by today’s sedans bordering on or exceeding 600hp and yet still represents the platonic ideal for many enthusiasts.
This example in Texas has a lot going for it. 75k miles is right in the middle of the 50-100k wheelhouse for these cars, enough to protect it from cream-puff prices but not too many as to worry about big maintenance. Le Mans Blue over Caramel is a lovely combination, but my association of this BMW interior with a friend’s E36 M3 would make me long for that car’s Estoril exterior as well. It looks to be in just about perfect shape inside and out, but even then the price looks a bit high.
