Yeah, if you look hard, you can find nice examples. I'd want a <50K mile car, in gray, black, blue or silver. I think the non-luxury seats hold up a little better (maybe not, its been my experience). One owner with a complete service history. Minimal or no modifications.

You can integrate BMW bluetooth and auxiliary iPod connection for ~$1,000, IIRC. Exhaust (mufflers only) and a little shorter shift throw are nice additions. Beyond that, diminishing returns factors in strongly.

Should be $30K with the above. Nothing can match it for anywhere close to that price.

 

Headers are worth roughly 30whp. They are on my list of things to do. That and eventually the ESS SC kit.

 

Haha.

Bilstein or Dinan suspenion > headers

 

Yep, that's on my list too. Now that I got most of the maintenance and electronics done, I am moving on to mods.

 

which was never produced

 

^Technically there is one factory example, but there have been a number of projects cars. One of these I saw in Switzerland back in 2002.

 

Man, they should have produced it. C'mon BMW

 

Yes! 550hp even without the headers. Check with Roman to make sure they include the headers in your tune.

 

When the time comes, I definitely will.

 

Great thread! I can weigh in a bit here. I've owned an E28 M5, fell in love with them when they came out in 1988 and finally bought my "new" one in 1996. Kept it until I bought my E39 in 2001. The E28 had straight pipes and a great sound. Wasn't as reliable as the E39 but I miss it. I loved the classic looks and they were truly a "stealth" performance car.

Now to the E39. I kidded a friend of mine at the time I bought mine, that it took him buying a 996 Twin Turbo with the X51 package before he found a Porsche faster than my M5. I assumed, wrongly, that the next generation (E60) would be even better than the E39. I had a deposit with the local dealer for three years. When BMW released the E60, I was terribly disappointed ($95k sticker- only a race car would grace my garage for that amount of money or a car of collector quality).

I decided to keep my E39 long term. Added short shift kit and tubi exhaust at the time, and as I call it, my "yuppie redneck car" had my attention again. Recently, I upgraded the suspension, PSS10's, which totally transformed the car again.

My plans are to continue to drive the car (and it is a driver rapidly approaching 100k miles) and at some point paint it, redo the interior and add BBS LM's. I cannot imagine a better car at any price and certainly not in the price range of $14-22k (no, not all E39 M5 cars at lower end are "turds"). We've seen E39 M5 cars at my shop, European Auto Gargage in Knoxville with 115k and 145k miles. Also, don't believe all the internet garble that you should not buy a 2000 or 2001 model. Like any car of this ilk, records are a key, a good PPI and finding one owned by an enthusiasts are always plusses.

At the end of the day, history and especially BMW history, will prove the E39 as one of the best cars built and possibly the best 4 door sedan ever built.