E39 M Sport Manual

Idbatterim

Hi, am interested in getting a well specced E39 m sport, but a manual. But they all seem to be auto, or if not auto not where near as well equipped. I suppose the only option is play the waiting game or go over to England right? Also the difference in the 01+ fuel consumption between the 520 and 530 appears to be negligible, despite the difference in hp between 168bhp and 231bph. So the extra cost would effectively be the tax, the fuel and insurance would be negligible in difference I take it?

voxpop

Ive a 523 manual (97) and Id go for 525 or 530 when buying again. The 523 is a little low on power and the 520 would be even lower especially with an autobox.
As you say 530 and 525 would be very similar on mpg at around 30mpg average - 530 is the one to go for if you can afford the extra tax.

I would think you will find it very hard to get a manual and good spec - you can pick up more diesels in manual, but generally they have a very poor specification.
People will tell you that the auto is a great box - but for me there was a big difference between the manual 523 and an auto 525 - i preferred the manual 523 honestly. As a daily the auto is fine, but for the times you want to gun along a back road - nothing beats a manual.

Idbatterim

the 520 in an auto would be a joke for a start, the 525 auto takes 8.9sec to hit 60, the 520 manual takes 9.1 The least I would go for in an auto is a 525. Although I really dont want an automatic. I just cant believe how cheap 01+02 E39 msports are going for! Ill put this in perspective, I purchased a 00 coupe in May 08, for E11,500. I put on an msport bumper, rear led light, rear lip spoiler, angel eyes and mv2 alloys. If I now bought a 01 or 02 5 series m sport, I can get it for not much more than a third of what I paid for the 318ci! Also the m sports already come with nice bumper, alloys and a sort of angel eye for the 01+ plus cars.

voxpop

They are cheap to buy but still expensive to maintain - anything around 100k miles and you really need to start looking at suspension overhaul and cooling system overhaul unless its already done. You could easily spend a grand on top of asking price to get it right and thats if there is nothing badly wrong. Just something to be aware of.

The 525 auto I drove felt a bit slow tbh - it improved when using tiptronic, but seemed sluggish. Maybe just my imagination or me not knowing how to use an autobox.

Idbatterim

yeah thats why i'm against the 525 autos. Id prefer a 520 manual than a 525 auto. The newer engines introduced in 05, the 525 went to 218bhp and 530 to 258bhp.