2001 BMW 5-Series

M5 Sedan

8 Cylinder 5.0 Liter

Manual

WBSDE93421BZ97832

Gasoline

Power Windows

It is time to part with my beast. :( I am forced to sell since I have to relocate. I am coming up on 76,000 miles (at 78,000 it would be 20,000 miles under my ownership) Those of you that haven't seen the thread about my car it is located here:http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/71807-e39-m5-ebay-warning-7.html#post2053880 Here is my reply to that thread when I actually found out everything: [I]"First let me start off by thanking desmotesta for sending me this link. All the time that I have spent on this forum researching, learning as much as I can about these cars I never thought of searching for my own VIN# to find the true history behind my car. I also want to thank you guys for keeping this thread alive so it would allow the true history behind this car to be brought to my attention. Now onto the truth about this sale and what I honestly knew about the car. I purchased this car last summer in a "Sight Unseen" situation. Given the dozens of E39 M5's that I have driven and what I have seen some of these cars go through all I was thinking was here I have myself a 58,000mile M5 for sale at $23k, with a "clean" carfax report. At the time I had an old 635csi laying around that was pretty beat and I offered them to take it in on trade and they accepted it and appraised my car sight unseen at a fairly high price so at this point I almost had to accept the deal. Through all of the negotiating and paperwork we agreed on a final sale price and trade-in price and both ended up pretty happy. I decided on a day to head down there with a relative to pick the car up and we drove the E24 down. Upon arrival I took a quick glance over the car which looked extremely clean, the interior was spotless with some minor blemishes, paint looked good although it felt a little "hard" to be an OEM paint job. My cousin who was with me happens to be a detailer noticed right away that the car was at least resprayed on the hood and left side. It didn't look like too bad of a job so I figured what the hell. The only thing that was going to turn me away from this deal after driving down to St. Louis was if the Vanos was extremely loud or if the car had a serious issue of some sort. I started it up, motor was extremely quiet, everything worked, I took the car for a quick drive and it felt freakishly strong so I still accepted the deal despite the suspected paint work. I signed the papers and we drove off, St. Louis - Chicago the car drove immaculate, perfectly straight, no issues, everything worked perfectly. I took the car the next day into a shop to have everything looked at and we replaced some control arms, belts, front brakes, various bushings, power steering lines and that was really all it needed. Inspecting other parts on the car we noticed the radiator looked new, cooling lines, oil separator lines, guibo, and almost all the typical wear and tear items on these cars. Noticing all of these new parts it settled much easier in my stomach and pushed me away from caring if the car was resprayed since everything was practically new! Later, I noticed the subframe had a new BMW Part # sticker on it so I looked into sub-frames cracking on these cars and found that although rare it could and has happened. After finding that it has happened to people I said alright, maybe it cracked and he replaced it with a new one at least it's already done and I wasn't stuck with that job. The more and more I have driven the car the more I have fallen in love with it. Over time all I could really tell is that more than likely either half or the entire car was resprayed and I had to live with that. It wasn't a bad respray, just not an OEM paint job. Later on I replaced the rear tires and tossed on some left over fronts that are a bit noisy and just drove it daily! In recent time I began debating on selling the car for an E60 M5 or just keeping the car since I haven't had any issues with it... Knock on wood. I have never seen the CEL come on, or any other lights, I broke the cup holder accidentally and one of the rear shades broke, that's literally all I have had to do. My alternator got noisy a few thousand miles back but still worked fine so I replaced it. The only reason I haven't replaced the shocks is because my decision on keeping this car or selling it is still undecided. At the price I would accept I don't think replacing all shocks and mounts would be worth it for me and if I kept it I would do coil-overs instead of an OEM setup. Just this week, desmotesta sent me this thread and I couldn't believe I haven't seen it in the past. It cleared up almost the entire story for me and all of the questions I had about this car and to be honest, at first glance I was extremely upset and let down. As the days have gone on I have come to realize, what's the reasoning for being upset? I got outplayed by a stealership but in the end it really wasn't such a bad deal. Yes, if I went back in time and googled the VIN # I probably wouldn't have purchased the car given the fact that I would have found this thread but after almost a year of owning the car, I really can't complain. I apologize for anyone who thought I knew this vehicles history and was trying to "rip" someone off, that was not the case in any sense hence why I took it down. And just to clear up the last buyers situation, he flew in from NYC with a $1,600 check instead of a $16,000 check and I wouldn't accept anything other than a bank certified check for the full amount owed. He flew back the same day and called me three days later saying he bought a CLS55 instead and that he needed a car asap and couldn't fly back to drive it home. In turn he covered the eBay fee's for it showing up that it sold. In the end, I want to thank you guys for doing the right thing and directing me to this thread which somewhat depicts my vehicles history. I will debate these next few days on either keeping the car or listing it with the full story behind it so that the next buyer knows the cars history."[/I] As far as the vehicles condition it really is a clean car and it drives great. I have never had the CEL illuminate, and this has really been the least problematic BMW I have ever owned. If I didn't have to sell it and I had the money I would replaced everything it needs which is the following:[LIST][*]New Tires[*]New Shocks and Shock Mounts[*]New Cupholder[*]Right Rear Vertical Shade (Missing)[*]Probably respray the hood (a few chips)[*]Alignment[*]Grease up the steering column (It creaks occasionally going up and down)[/LIST][/LIST] Aside from those items the car runs absolutely great, it is an extremely strong M5 that impresses me every time I step on the pedal. Recent maintenance:-Oil Changed ever 3,000 miles (Most recently at 75,000)-Powersteering lines at 59,000-Control Arm Bushings at 59,000-Rear Ball Joints at 59,000-Trans and differential Fluid at 59,000 Other than that the car really hasn't needed much more, and if I could keep it I would definitely be completing the needed maintenance but unfortunately I am forced to sell due to a relocation. I need this to sell as soon as possible so I will offer it at $15,500 Let me know if you have any questions!