Re: M5 or M3? (archive)

The E36 M3 is the lower maintenance engine. The E34 M5 engine is quirky in comparison and can suffer from sudden failure to a far greater extent that the M3, particularly the S50 US. If you're looking for reliability get the M3.

Neil Deshpande
http://www.neilwerke.com
1992 M5 - sponteneously self-destructed while parked!

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I�m sure you�re all sick of this, but I�ve been through the archives and I still need more advice. I�ve been looking at many different BMW�s and up until last week I thought I had settled on the 91 M5. My brother in law has had several M3�s and loves the M5 but thinks they are too fragile compared to the M3. In his opinion, the M5 engine is always on the verge of self-destructing and requires much more care than the M3. He knows of people who have hammered on their M3�s and made it to 180k with no major problems. Is that possible with the M5?

I�m pretty easy on my cars although I like to be able to get into it now and then. I will only drive this car about 8k miles a year and I�m looking for a well maintained car with 70-80k on it. Is he right? Is this car going to be a fragile money pit? If I keep up with the routine maintenance is it going to be as reliable as other BMW�s I�ve owned? How much do you spend in a year to maintain a car like this? Should I just shut up and get an M3?

Thanks for any help

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