It’s hard to find a single owner “M” car these days, even harder to find one that was assembled by a single person. This 1993 BMW M5 checks both those boxes and has the added bonus of having traveled a paltry 9,880 miles in its 22 year lifespan. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t get sticker shock when I reviewed this listing. I get it, this is an extremely rare opportunity to drive a legendary vehicle in true showroom condition. If I had $63k to spend on a car I would go out and snatch this thing up right now. I mean, you’d have to be crazy to get a comparably priced new BMW instead of this car. By the time you put any kind of major miles on it the value will have only held steady or decreased very little. Aside from just being a fun to drive, final year North American M5’s are highly sought after for their minor cosmetic upgrades like the iconic “Throwing Star” wheels and the Shadowline Exterior package. The fact that these were the last handbuilt BMW’s available in America only adds to this car’s intriguing portfolio. Seriously, there’s so much to love about this car from an investment standpoint that you almost forget that it’s also just a damn fine car to drive.
The E34 M5 was powered by the S38 inline-6, the last M5 motor to share DNA with the legendary BMW Motorsport engines. It made 310 hp and 266 lb-ft of torque; not crazy by today’s standards but it’s enough to put a big old smile on your face. Europe saw powered bumped to 335 hp in ’91 and the addition of a 6-speed manual transmission in ’95 because it’s Europe and they get all the good stuff. Speaking of which, in 1992 the folks at M Division built their first estate car and it remains, in my humble opinion, the coolest fast wagon in the history of fast wagons. I will endeavor to find a solid example to write about in the near future as we are only two years away from being able to legally import those beauties. For now we’ll just have to make due with sedan examples like this one, I suppose it could be worse.
