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You don't really want a VR6...I had two (archive)
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Posted by Josh on March 20, 2001 at 21:31:02:

In Reply to: How do you justify buying an e28 M5? (longish) posted by Cory Zumbrennen on March 20, 2001 at 05:50:48:

Well I have to admit, I had two Corrado VR6's. They were great cars however there is a very serious downside in my opinion. Front wheel drive. I put Koni adjustables and Eibach springs 16" wheels (Borbet C) and many other bolt on things like a chip and stuff. I sold the first one, missed it to much and bought another. However I sold that and went through a few different cars and then bought the 88M5 on a whim. To be honest if you are willing to do much of the work youself and look at Megaparts.com rather than the dealer for your parts it is not that bad and you own a very special car.

Just my thoughts.

Josh
88M5

Hi all,

First off let me say that I love the e28 M5. My dad bought one new in '88. It came with the ellipsoid headlights and 17" gold BBS wheels. Anyway, I turned 16 in 1990, and he would let me drive the car fairly regularly. I even took it to my Junior prom. He's a cool guy my dad. He sold the car in '93 with about 20K on it.

As a result of experiencing the M5 right out of the gate I have come to define what a sweet car is by how well it reminds me of my dads '88 M5. He has a Porsche 993 C4 Cabriolet now, and it just does not seem as fast (it is though...don't worry:-)

So having been scarred by this car I have decided that I ought to just buy one of the damn things. Here's where the trouble comes in. I cannot fully justify it. My thought process goes something like this...

Okay so I can buy an M5 with 130K-150K for ~$10K, but if/when the engine dies well a rebuilt one from a dealer is $13K!! Plus labor! Boom I have close to $25K in a 14 year old car with close to 200K miles on it. Hmm mabye I should just get a '95< M3 for the $25K in the first place. Then I could buy an extended warranty if I want. It's faster, newer, as good looking in it's own way. I'm sure I can get a 3.0l M3 engine for a hell of a lot less than $13K. Hey what about an S4? It's about as fast. I could get one of those w ~100K for around $14K, cheaper parts, AWD (it snows in Colorado), greater parts availability. Or hey how about I buy a GTI VR6 and supercharge it. I could probably pull that off for around $10K. 250hp in that light little car. I bet it'd be faster than the M5. And used VR6 engines are like $2500. Or I could spring for a lower mileage M5 and spend $15K-$16K. But it still feels like a time bomb, and at $15K-$16K, we're approaching M3 territory again.

So how do you all justify ownership? Is there a rational way to buy one or do you have to do it out of love? How do you make it work on paper? I already know the esthetic value of the car, and how I love it's soul. But really how long will the M5 engine hold out? And what will it cost to rebuild it? Who rebuilds them? What's the highest mileage seen on a non-rebuilt engine? Thanks for any responses and opinions.

Cory




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