New daily driver???

[94jedi]

Ok so this isn't easy but I'll come clean here...my daily driver...is a 2014 Toyota Prius lol. Aside from the stellar gas mileage, it's killing my soul. I'm trying to keep miles off the e90, partially for resale value (even though I doubt I'll ever sell it) and because my commute (highway mainly) is pretty rough on a car. Between the stop and go traffic to the rock chips and road rash, I'd just rather avoid that kind of wear on the M3. So that brings me to my question - I'm considering another daily to replace the prius. I just need a bit more fun in my daily commute. Naturally, I'm looking at M cars. I daily'd an e46 M3 for a while but it was just a bit too much...a bit too raw, too dated, not so comfortable, so I sold it. I'm considering the M5 now. I don't have the luxury of affording an F90 or even an F10 so I'm looking back in the archives a bit. I'm considering an e39 M5 or an e60 M5. So, given the choice, which would you pick as a fun daily? I'll mod the car slightly but won't go crazy (just not my style, I like OEM+). I love both, but to me the e39 IS what an M5 is all about. The e60 though...the big brother to our cars, I just can't ignore a chance to own a V10. So which is it? What's your choice and why?


(borrowed pic, not mine)

[SDPLV]

Funny, I'm considering getting a hybrid (such as a Prius) and saving my poor E90 from the stupid commute, which is only getting 8-11mpg. I got 101k miles on it and its very well maintained but I hate the idea of putting commuter miles on it on these roads.

Problem with E60 or E39 is still having to spend a lot of time at the pump, not keen on doing that.

I'd do an E39 M5 all day because I don't think I'll ever appreciate the SMG coupled with a V10 on these roads.

[shimmy23]

Been there done that with the commuter car experience. I'll never do that again. Life is too short to not enjoy this car. Drive and drive it all the time. Any and every smile this car gives me is worth it.

LOL at saving the miles for resale value. I bought the car to enjoy it not save it and sell it

[Yvette]

Dont understand people buying another dd car when they have m3. M3 is a perfect dd. You are driving prius to save mileage on m3, but you are spending your time with prius. Not that prius is a bad car, time is priceless imo. Go enjoy your m3. Its just a 30k car. You are gonna be spending more money to maintenance the m5.

[MJBO]

Originally Posted by 94jedi

I'm trying to keep miles off the e90, partially for resale value (even though I doubt I'll ever sell it)

I won’t ever understand this mindset. Why did you buy the car if not to drive it? I’ve had my car six weeks and put 2500km on it. Probably would have been more but I’ve been interstate three times in that period.

And you’re thinking of an older M car to daily rather than the comfy, modern and relatively reliable E90 M3? How are highway miles rough on a car, they are the least wearing miles a car can do?

[Law]

E39 M5
but might I suggest E39 540i

The E60 M5 is a magnificent and special car.
The sound and feel of the S85 at its stratospheric revs is simply unmatched by anything else in its current price range.
But it is for those same reasons that make it a big no-no as a choice for daily driver.
You'll likely be back in the same dilemma because it'd also be a waste to have that kind of wear on an S85. Mind you, the S85 suffers from similar potential problems as the S65 (rod bearings, throttle actuators) while also suffering from potential VANOS issues.
With only 1,364 6MT E60 M5s, chances are it'll be SMG, which is another potential nightmare; and if you do find a 6MT, you'd either put a lot of miles on it and sell it soon after, or you'd want to keep it for a long time and be back in the same dilemma yet again!

So that leaves the E39 M5.
They are old cars now and have their share of headaches but the real challenge now is finding one in respectable condition at a reasonable price.
Within the last 5-10 years, prices for good examples have shot up to the point where if you do find a good one, you'd be stuck again, not wanting to "waste" such a car by letting it slowly decay from daily-duty.

Which is why I suggest an E39 540i 6MT.
It's still got a respectable NA V8 (4.4L M62), 6-speed manual, and the handsome looks of the E39 (look at those M Parallel wheels!) while being nowhere near the asking price of a good condition E39 M5.
All the other creature comforts are the same, and while it's no M-car, you still get performance to boot.
It'll still drive like a BMW since it hailed from a time when even non-M BMWs still drove very nice and you'll have 282 HP on tap, which doesn't make it a rocket, but is enough for keeping up with daily traffic and certainly beats flooring a Prius!

[pbonsalb]

There are a lot of cars with more soul than the Prius, so you have many choices. How about a Hyundai Accent? You can get one with a 6 speed and it will leave the Prius in the dust. And you can preserve your nice car, the E90M3, for its next owner.

Seriously, though, I would not buy an E60M5 or E39M5 thinking it would be a more economical daily driver than the E90M3. Given their ages and issues and fuel economy, likely just the opposite. I also don’t think or that the E90M3 is any more worthy of preservation than those cars.

I’d like to get a 991.1TT for a beater. Rack up the miles. Put snows on it in the winter. Get the PDK to make it faster and easier to drive in traffic.

[SoCalRPM]

I agree with your logic and methodology on paper, OP. A Prius is highly practical. With that said, I previously owned a Civic Hybrid and it was the biggest automotive mistake of my life.

I get it. Maybe the e9x will be a future classic or collector's item and we'll all wish we had put less miles on the car. But we can't predict the future.

A lot of us also neglect to remember that the M3 IS a HYBRID. BMW built the M cars to be the perfect hybrid between the regular series and a more performance oriented variant. They are the perfect blend of practicality and sportiness that can be driven to the office or thrashed on the track.

BMW didn't intend for these to be weekend warrior cars or they would've treated them more the way Porsche treats their GT cars, i.e. Saving weight by deleting door handles, back seats, etc... you know, all the stuff that makes our cars good daily drivers.

We bought these cars for smiles per gallon, not miles per gallon.

[HadesM3]

e60 m5 has horrendous MPG. If you have a long commute it will be expensive compared to a Prius

[Transfer]

Barf. Burn the Prius and buy a GTI or Golf R if you can't be burdened with driving your M3. Why would you consider another M car for your commuter? You make no sense. Get it together man.

[1MOREMOD]

Yeah what he said. Unless it's a total shit box you are gonna have the same worries as the e90m3

[330ciprem]

Cmon guys - OP is just asking for reasons to buy another M.

[1MOREMOD]

E46 m3 would be fine daily

[sibhusz06]

You know I was actually about to buy a GTI(wife has a GLI) as a daily but then when I saw how the little the price delta is between a used M3 and GTI, your getting so much more value with the M3 not to mention a car in a different league. Although you'll get maybe 5mpg more on average, gas prices are currently low enough where mpg shouldn't be much of a concern.

If your looking for a second car, the regular e90 328s are a bargain right now and much more enjoyable than the GTI.

[94jedi]

Originally Posted by SDPLV

Funny, I'm considering getting a hybrid (such as a Prius) and saving my poor E90 from the stupid commute, which is only getting 8-11mpg. I got 101k miles on it and its very well maintained but I hate the idea of putting commuter miles on it on these roads.

Problem with E60 or E39 is still having to spend a lot of time at the pump, not keen on doing that.

I'd do an E39 M5 all day because I don't think I'll ever appreciate the SMG coupled with a V10 on these roads.

Agreed, I'm just not an auto, SMG, or even DCT guy. Yes, the last two aren't autos and yes they're faster, but I just need to row the gears myself.

Originally Posted by shimmy23

Been there done that with the commuter car experience. I'll never do that again. Life is too short to not enjoy this car. Drive and drive it all the time. Any and every smile this car gives me is worth it.

LOL at saving the miles for resale value. I bought the car to enjoy it not save it and sell it

Originally Posted by Yvette

Dont understand people buying another dd car when they have m3. M3 is a perfect dd. You are driving prius to save mileage on m3, but you are spending your time with prius. Not that prius is a bad car, time is priceless imo. Go enjoy your m3. Its just a 30k car. You are gonna be spending more money to maintenance the m5.

Originally Posted by MJBO

I won’t ever understand this mindset. Why did you buy the car if not to drive it? I’ve had my car six weeks and put 2500km on it. Probably would have been more but I’ve been interstate three times in that period.

And you’re thinking of an older M car to daily rather than the comfy, modern and relatively reliable E90 M3? How are highway miles rough on a car, they are the least wearing miles a car can do?

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

There are a lot of cars with more soul than the Prius, so you have many choices. How about a Hyundai Accent? You can get one with a 6 speed and it will leave the Prius in the dust. And you can preserve your nice car, the E90M3, for its next owner.

Seriously, though, I would not buy an E60M5 or E39M5 thinking it would be a more economical daily driver than the E90M3. Given their ages and issues and fuel economy, likely just the opposite. I also don’t think or that the E90M3 is any more worthy of preservation than those cars.

I’d like to get a 991.1TT for a beater. Rack up the miles. Put snows on it in the winter. Get the PDK to make it faster and easier to drive in traffic.

Jeez, I guess I pissed you lot off. I never said the e60 or e39 would be more economical, I was just thinking of having a little fun w/ either of these M5's as they can be had for cheap and I won't feel bad commuting them. Not too concerned w/ gas mileage to be quite honest. As for the Prius, it's a good little car. We've had it for a while; it just does everything we need it to do. We haul stuff in it, we run to the store in it (so I don't have to wait until the damn 10w60 warms up lol), we take it to the gun range somehow piss off both liberals and conservatives...

Originally Posted by SoCalRPM

I agree with your logic and methodology on paper, OP. A Prius is highly practical. With that said, I previously owned a Civic Hybrid and it was the biggest automotive mistake of my life.

I get it. Maybe the e9x will be a future classic or collector's item and we'll all wish we had put less miles on the car. But we can't predict the future.

A lot of us also neglect to remember that the M3 IS a HYBRID. BMW built the M cars to be the perfect hybrid between the regular series and a more performance oriented variant. They are the perfect blend of practicality and sportiness that can be driven to the office or thrashed on the track.

BMW didn't intend for these to be weekend warrior cars or they would've treated them more the way Porsche treats their GT cars, i.e. Saving weight by deleting door handles, back seats, etc... you know, all the stuff that makes our cars good daily drivers.

We bought these cars for smiles per gallon, not miles per gallon.

I hear ya on that. Believe me, some days I say to myself "drive it like you stole it" ...and I do, within reason of course. But then some jerk dings my door or a truck drops river rocks right in front of me and I'm glad I have a prius to absorb the commute-abuse.

Part of the reason I want to keep the miles off it is because I want it to last for a loooong time. I've said many times on this forum that I don't think I'll ever part with this car, unless I have to.

Originally Posted by Transfer

Barf. Burn the Prius and buy a GTI or Golf R if you can't be burdened with driving your M3. Why would you consider another M car for your commuter? You make no sense. Get it together man.

Originally Posted by 330ciprem

Cmon guys - OP is just asking for reasons to buy another M.

Honestly, I think this is it. M cars of this era are spectacular. I've always wanted an M5, I'm thinking this might be a way in...

Originally Posted by 1MOREMOD

E46 m3 would be fine daily

I did that for about 6 months...not a fan of coupes, they look great but the doors are too long. It was a f*#king hoot driving that thing every day though. I'd get to work smiling as long as the weather was nice lol.

[GotV8?]

If Not for winter snow in my area, I would drive my M3 every day of the year, time is priceless and we should enjoy our cars as much as possible, I truly feel that it is another world when we are out driving and listening to our engine and connection we have with our Machine!!! Everyone has different mindsets and needs. Just enjoy the "Ultimate Driving Machine"!!!!imo

[pbonsalb]

I drive my E90M3 year round in NH and we get a lot of snow and very cold temps. I have snow wheels for winter. I put snows on my turbo E36M3 as well. I bought and modded the cars to drive not park. But I will probably get a practical AWD car like a 991TT or E63AMG or new M5 in the future.

[94jedi]

I definitely get the point you guys are making that these cars are meant to be driven. They're not exotics, despite sounding like it; they're made to be driven. A quasi-exotic for the average Joe...or Gunter, as it were. Again, to be clear, I didn't buy this car with the intention of storing it in the garage never to be driven, rather it just happened that we have a 3rd car in the family (after selling my e46 M3 daily driver which was the 4th) that happened to be a prius. It makes sense, at this time to drive the Prius and let it absorb the road rash, parking lot dings, etc. relentless sun, interior heat, etc.

[BPe90M3]

Your lucky to be able to be considering 2 superb cars as your daily. My '08 A4 quattro is definitely not very fun, but it gets the job done.

If I could pick, I would go with the e39. Id much rather have the 6MT over an SMG. Also, the E60s are much more expensive maintenance wise, but if you like one over the other why not go for it!!

[tooloud10]

If an F10 is out of your budget (starting around $10k?) I wouldn't try to justify any iteration of M5. I guess the M3 doesn't seem like an odd daily driver to me--it would be far cheaper to just drive it and keep it maintained and looking good than to add another M car to the garage.

[94jedi]

Originally Posted by BPe90M3

Your lucky to be able to be considering 2 superb cars as your daily. My '08 A4 quattro is definitely not very fun, but it gets the job done.

If I could pick, I would go with the e39. Id much rather have the 6MT over an SMG. Also, the E60s are much more expensive maintenance wise, but if you like one over the other why not go for it!!

I had a B5 A4 (1998) and it was a blast...after I added a t3/t4, an additional 10lb's of boost and a bunch more fuel.

Originally Posted by tooloud10

If an F10 is out of your budget (starting around $10k?) I wouldn't try to justify any iteration of M5. I guess the M3 doesn't seem like an odd daily driver to me--it would be far cheaper to just drive it and keep it maintained and looking good than to add another M car to the garage.

I've considered the F10 M5, but I don't think I can afford that (I mean I can, but it's just not wise at this time - plus I don't do car payments unless I get 0 %). Even the pre-LCI models are in the high 40's at this time. I've never driven one either, but the F80 M3 kind of biased me against F gen M cars. But who knows...maybe I'll change my mind later.

[New2Roundel]

So let me get this straight---you own a prius as a commuter and you want to change to some ancient M car? That makes pretty much no logical sense. We're not talking about a fun car, which generally don't by their nature, make sense. But why in the world would anyone want to put miles on a classic/near classic M car? Not to mention parts availability as well. Then there's the obvious issues with fuel mileage and general maintenance costs.

Commuter cars are disposable vehicles that you shouldn't feel too bad about if something happens. They are relatively cheap to run as well. With that, I wouldn't consider any of the cars you're looking at, as at this point in time, they would make horrible daily drivers.

A Prius is boring, no doubt. But you don't need to go full boring either. Personally, I'd rather own a GTI than just about any other commuter. Maybe a mkVI Golf R as well. If it has to be a BMW, I'd go for a basic (maybe with just the sport package) F30 330.