Chris C

But it is time to move on. I needed a bigger car with the ability to haul a couple of rugrats in the back. The B5 S4 was no longer cutting it even though it was a great car. I started researching the B6/B7 S4 and it was just waay too much money for a slower car with only a marginal improvement in back seat room. Unfortunately, Audi does not seem inclined to make a larger sedan available in the US with a manual tranny.

Just for kicks, I drove down to Boston to test drive a CPO '03 M5 with no real intention to buy anything just yet. After the test drive I was sold. It is an amazing car, but I will miss the AWD in the winter. I have already outfitted it with Nokian RSIs which are an awesome snow tire. I hope that will help me keep it out of the ditch. I will really have to adjust my winter driving style though. No more rally drifts 8-(. Fortunately, we will still have my wife's allroad for the really lousy weather.

This forum has been a great resource over the years and I really enjoyed meeting a lot of the folks here at a variety of QCUSA/Tracquest/ACCNA events. I'll still be lurking around (mainly on the allroad and New England forums) when I have time. Keep up the good work.

Chris<ul><li><a href="http://classifieds.audiworld.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds.cgi?db=autoparts&amp;website=&amp;lang uage=&amp;session_key=&amp;search_and_display_db_b utton=on&amp;results_format=long&amp;db_id=15492&a mp;query=retrieval">APR ECU fo

Rob O

I'm considering '03/'04 CPO E39 M5's as well. The dealer near me has a beautiful '03 Imola Red with around 37k miles; don't think its CPO and haven't inquired about price yet ... plus I think I'd really rather have as close to new as possible, or I'd just keep my car.

<img src="http://www.bmwnorthscottsdale.com/images/Photo/2002/BMW/M5/WBSDE93412BZ99962_1.JPG">

StoneMan

Likley one of the few true replacements for an S

lemond33

i have had my s4 for about a month and the handling does not compare to my M3..good luck with the car and u retain the speed)

RidgeS4

have fun Chris and great choice. Love the M5!!

Chris C

Mine was a '03 with an inservice date of 2/03 as a lease for the dealer's sales manager. It had somewhat high mileage (37,600) but was in pristine condition. It still smells new. For an additional $1100 I was able to extend the BMW maintenance warranty to 100k miles-so all services, clutch, brakes, etc are covered with a $50 deductable. I essentially have a new car warranty on it for 4 more years up to 100k miles. Best of all someone else took the huge depreciation hit (on the order of $30+k).

As far as comparisons to the S4 goes...the best advice I can offer is to go and drive it. My personal observations are: It is fast as hell. The car feels more solid, there are no rattles or creaks even on crappy roads. It handles very well, although I am using snows right now and the traction control is kicking in a lot. There is more room inside and it is more comfortable than the S4 (I had H&amp;R street coilovers on mine). The seats are more comfortable and more adjustable. The nav system is far better in the '03 M5 (DVD based) than in previous models and is head and shoulders above the Audi system (full screen moving map among other things). Stereo sounds better with DSP than the Bose system, but some have reported problems with the speakers.

A few dislikes: there is no storage under the center armrest for things like my iPod and cell phone charger cables. The cuplaunchers are actually worse than what Audi has, and finally I am concerned about wrapping the car around a tree in really heavy snow.

I think if you can get a '03 for around $50-55k you are getting a good deal. That's not much more than a new S4 and you are getting a lot more car for the money.

rktskicar

E46 or E36 M3?

Rob O

Thanks ... well played.

Imola_Tip_Soul-Ja

potential...Don't regret the move..other than handling..suspension mods are next for me.

BrokenRocket

coughkeepitcough