You cannot apply those guide to our cars(long) (archive)

You cannot apply the numbers from Edmunds, Blue Book, NADA, etc. to a limited production car such as the E28 M5. Those numbers are pretty accurate for a Honda Accord where there are tens of thousands sold each week. However, how many E28 M5's change hands in the course of a year? Maybe 20 to 50, probably closer to 20. How many of those are recorded? How many of those report the actual price they sold for? I know in most states you can fill that amount in yourself when you register the car. Because the number is direclty proportional to the amount you will have to pay to register your car, many people will fudge that number.

The bottom line is that these cars are worth somewhere between what the seller is willing to take and what the buyer is willing to pay. A mint car with records may go for $18k, and in my opinion would still be a great deal for one of these wonderful vehicles. On the other hand, a car with the same mileage, no records, and weathered condition may bring $5k. Once again, well worth it as long as you are prepared to possibly put another $5k - $10k into the car. These cars sold for about $50k in 1987/1988. That's about $70k in today's dollars. Given that these cars are extremely rare, the last of the hand built M5's, and downright awesome, the fact that you can buy these for anywhere under $25k is amazing to me.

Anyone ever read Excellence, the Porsche magazine? People are always asking which 911 should I buy? The standard answer is to buy the nicest 911 you can afford. For some this may be a 1976 911s for $4000 with an engine that will likely blow up or need a complete rebuild in the very near future. For others it would be a $15k 911SC with a bulletproof engine and all records. For some money is no object and they just buy a 996 off of the showroom floor. But what's the fun in that when you could get a mint '73 Carrera RS for the same money? (-;

Anyway, the point is that you cannot look at those guides when purchasing a car like the E28 M5. You are better off looking at the asking prices for cars that are listed in the Roadfly classifieds, germanusedcars.com, traderonline.com, hemmings.com, and other classifieds. Keep in mind that most people pad their asking price a little bit because buyers will usually try to negotiate them down a little bit, but it should give you a good idea of what to expect to pay.

Good luck finding an E28 M5. You will absolutely love it!

-Sean

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