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Quote de onewhippedpuppy
I've owned and wrenched on lots of older BMW and Porsche products. BMW is the cheapest made "premium" brand car that I've ever worked on, and I won't buy another. Seems that most big BMW fans drive nearly new cars that are still under warranty. VAG products are hit/miss, I had an older S8 that was superb.
What models of BMW have you owned and worked on? I'm wondering if something like the M5 would be better made since it was a more expensive car to begin with.
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I've personally owned two E36s, an E34, and two Minis (BMW engineered and built). I've looked at and driven many, many more. At 100k in the average BMW the leather is shot, many plastic interior trim panels will be faded/cracked and rattling, the headliner will likely be sagging, the wood trim will be cracked, the carpet will be worn thin, the displays will be fading, every suspension bushing will be shot, the cooling system will need overhauled, the rear subframe might be torn loose from the unibody, the VANOS will need overhauled, etc. Every European car has some of these issues, but BMWs seem to have all of them.
As for the M5, it is not "built" to any higher standard. The last hand built M car was the E34 M5, one of the few BMWs I would probably still consider. The E39 M5 is a garden variety 5-series that has some performance bits added. Which happen to be very pricey when there are issues, like VANOS rebuilds or frequent dual MAF replacement. I have looked at and driven multiple enthusiast owned E39 M5s and always came away underwhelmed, particularly regarding how the car has held up over time. I would personally take my previous X308 XJR, D2 S8, or a W210 E55 over an M5.