Leeroy

I thought I'd update my post with an update and some pics. After buying the car I had it checked out by Phil Crouch who is something of an M Car guru. His workshop is cool and it was nice to see so many M models together. There was some bad news though, the most feared failure issue on the E39 M5 is rod bearing damage. It's fairly common on higher mileage cars and many treat it as a maintenance item once the car hit's 100K or so. This was diagnosed on my car, manifested as a tappety knocking sound at 2500rpm so I had this fixed. It also needed a new timing chain guide as it's made from plastic and starts to fall apart and float around the engine at - you guessed it - 100K miles. I also had two new traction control arms fitted and treated myself to a Vanos anti-rattle kit - this kit cures the 'dieselly' knocking sound which is typical of the BMW variable valve timing system. It's a common and accepted thing and gets louder over time, but it sounds so wrong on these cars - happily the V8 is the only sound to be heard now Finally the car got an Inspection 2 service which includes 'box and diff oil. My M5 was in the garage for awhile which was a killer during the 'honeymoon' period after buying it, but after a couple of weeks and £3.5K (!) lighter I got a very different car back. I got a really good deal on the car which swallowed up most of the repair outlay and looking on the bright side all the big ticket maintenance items are now done - I don't need to be paranoid about rod bearings failing and having a hole punched through the block! It is simply awesome, the power and noise are amazing and the thing feels so refined. One thing the car can't escape from is the weight, you feel it most (obviously) when braking but it's strangely well contained when on the move. The cornering speeds are outrageous - those fat tyres generate some serious 'G' but 400bhp is easily capable of overwhelming them when asked. Oversteer is very progressive and in the limited time that I've had the car I'd say it's actually easier to manage than the 350Z. I reckon it'd be a different story if you got too ham-fisted (or ham-footed?) at higher speeds and needed to contain that mass though. The recent costs have put a few jobs on hold, in time I need to sort a couple of minor rust spots and get the wheels refurbed. Once these bits are done I'll have a mint E39 M5 for well under £10K - my man maths concludes that this is amazing value for a true performance car icon Apologies fopr the crappy 'phone pics, I'll stick some nicer ones up when I've got some.

0-60 stats don't give any indication of how good a car is. I haven't driven a Type R so can't say if you'll prefer the Zed, but I do like big, lazy, torquey engines. Obviously the biggest difference from CTR to 350Z is the driven wheels and whether you prefer power from the front or back. Personally I prefer RWD because it gives you more options I actually think the 350Z has the ideal amount of power for the road - you can use all of it most of the time on the right road.

As everyone has said, go for the GT - for easier resale if nothing else. The extras are well worth it, GT's only seem to command a premium of a few hundred quid. Leather in the Zed isn't as hard to live with as bigger cars where the sun has more opportunity to get the seats hot anyway. And who wears shorts in winter? Happily, it's a buyer's market for proper cars these days, £6K should get you a good 350Z....

I've been a casual visitor here since selling my Zed, but I just noticed you post rtbiscuit - massive congrats on your news. I know what it's like to be waiting for that baby train to arrive, so I know you must both be over the moon now that it finally turned up, good luck with everything I can heartily recomend an E39 M5 for baby chaufering duties

Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo...for the odd international 'trackday' Porsche 959, for it's rarity and influence. Jaguar F Type V8, just because one drove past me at full chat the other day shouting the best V8 noise I've heard first-hand.

I think I read the follwing description of torque somewhere. My attention span is abysmal though, so it may be utter b*llocks. You have two cyclists in a race. Bear with me, it's more interesting than it sounds One cyclist is a beefcake and has wasted lots of time around other beefackes in the gym, which has led to him having legs like tree trunks. He's not very fit though, as he'd rather be bench pressing than running. His opponent is a skinny mofo, the sorta guy who only eats what he knows he needs to burn off during his lunchtime run, and he can run like Forest Gump. My money's on Mr Muscle so far. The race is a half mile sprint and they cross the finish line together, heres why ; The beefcake exerts lots of 'twist' or 'torque' through his crank and even though he's a bit heavy and seems very relaxed, he maintains a good speed. Even though the skinny dude's crank 'twist' isn't that powerful he peddles like a maniac and matches his opponent's speed. The beefcake could be a 350Z and the skinnydude a Civic Type 'R'......

Another one for the list, my other half had an 'L' reg 1.4D 106 for her first car, a 'Graduate' model no less. It was the most gutless car I've ever driven and I despised it, so much so that I crashed it twice. To be fair it was super reliable, did about 60mpg and could achieve hilarious lean angles

Fixed that one for you Builder49

Primer always looks good on an overcast day I find

Darkish wheels do look good on a sunset I reckon. Anthracite or gunmetal for me

Some interesting responses so far Top of my list is the Nissan Figaro, how not to do retro. Agreed on the 206, Guaranteed to be driven by mingmongs every time. Hyundai Coupes, no show and no go. I especially dislike the one which got so much undeserved styling praise - was it Pinifarina designed? Clearly he was tripping if so, that thing looks like it's melting

Nice, work Another nice motor saved from imminent recycling.....

Hey Gang Yep, the blue does look good - IMO the black and silver doesn't look great on the E39, although they work fabulously on the E60..... There are some really bad leather options on the E39 M5 as it goes, particularly bad are the blue and black and red and black combo's. I can't believe people ever thought that was acceptable when signing a cheque for over £50K on a 5 series I haven't forgotten about the 335i, it's still on the list of future 'Q' cars. I did see a tidy looking one with a Quaife diff up for sale (£13K) that I almost made a cheeky offer on as it sat around on Pishtonheads for awhile.

Shane, I bought a 12 year old M5 - so the wife and child might soon be on ebay anyway

Haha, you beat me to it!

It's the Le Mans Blue finish, looks really good. I need to get out and give her a good detail, I'll pop some pics up when I've done that

Thanks guys, I'll keep you posted

To be honest after the Zed the next car was going to have to be something a bit special. I really enjoyed the character of the 350Z and knew it's replacement was going to have to be RWD with a stonking 'V' engine. I came close to getting a 335i but just couldn't get excited by it. Let's just hope my Beast is a good'n and doesn't blow up in the next few weeks

I thought I'd update this thread with the news that we're now proud owners of a Le Mans Blue E39 M5. It wasn't an easy decision to be honest, it's a 2001 car so is clearly going to cost a fair bit to keep it sweet. Younger cars were on the shortlist (335i, S4 etc) which 'should' be more reliable but I decided I'd rather spend less cash on a sublime older car and leave a bit in the war chest for running it. I've only driven a few miles so far but it seems to run well and sounds out of this world - it has a Supersprint X-pipe which helps The downsides are a couple of rust bubble to sort, wheels to refurb, pixels out on the dash........actually let's just forget about the downsides for now

Schweet, nice one

Jons, you're right about the clunk for the arms - I used to own Rob's car and had the compression arm bushes done due to the clunking. Once Horsham had fitted the bushes and I drove off to test them, I was treated to a new noise which was the high pitched rattle - new drop links cured that thankfully. You enjoying the car still Rob (despite the new noises!)?

+1.....I've been eyeing SV8's up, I've reconcilied the image thing - the only thing against it is that RS4's are in the same price-range

Why did the bucket seats put you off dj - aesthetics or comfort? Wonder if the one you drove had a coked up intake? I'm in the same boat at the OP, currently thinking about getting an S4 or 335i wagon. Depending on available funds due to an impending bank account haemorrhage this might be reduced to an Octavia vRS (!!) or upgraded to an RS4 / E60 M5. The RS4 is a heap more dedicated than the S4, but how much you can appreciate this 'driving value' on a daily basis is debateable. The fact that they both consume low 20's is a nod in the RS4's favour but clearly maintenance costs will be more. Don't forget the expense of de-coking the intake every 10K-ish miles. In true Audi style, neither the S5 (and S4) aren't particularly focused (weight and understeer) they both sound awesome though

The mini-van at 1:55 is cool

It'd be a good ad if there was 2 seconds of CGI and 58 of 'The Real Deal'