Used Car of the Day: 1991 BMW M5

by Tim Healey

Published: October 31st, 2023

Today we feature a 1991 BMW M5 that has high miles but a clean title.

This one has 191K miles and is lowered, riding on Eibach springs with Bilstein struts in front and Konis in the rear.

There's also a cat back exhaust and a performance chip.

The car apparently runs and drives well, but has some minor cosmetic issues, such as dings and scratches.

This appears to be a decent daily driver with just enough performance mods to be fun. It's based in Missouri and you can check it out here.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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Comments

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9 of 29 comments

Kwik_Shift_Pro4X on Nov 01, 2023

What was the last year of real BMWs? I'm on the hunt for a 3 or 5 Series wagon.

1 Reply
- See 6 previous
- Merc190 on Nov 01, 2023
  
  According to Jeremy Clarkson, that would be the E39, it was all mechanical and you could mend it with a hammer..
  
  2
- Analoggrotto on Nov 02, 2023
  
  E46 went on a little after the E39 so one could argue that it was the last of the good ones. E90 is decent.
  
  1
- Kwik_Shift_Pro4X on Nov 02, 2023
  
  So it definitely looks like I have to go older. I believe last year for wagons was 2019 in Canada. However, I do not want something too techy. I'd rather have something my local Euro mechanic can handle, especially diagnostic. I should maybe see what his limitations are or what he says from his experience.
  
  1
- Astigmatism on Nov 02, 2023
  
  The E90s drove well but I can't take the interior styling. I still think the E46 was the sweet spot for the 3-series (I say as someone who had an E46 330ci and now daily drives a G20 M340i), but they're getting long in the tooth and you'll need to find one that's been babied. E39 5ers were magnificent cars (my dad had one, they're very much dad cars), and the wagons (if you can find a nice one) are classy AF; here's one that sold last spring: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1999-bmw-540i-47/.
  
  Incidentally, there's what seems to be a well-cared-for E34 540i 6MT on BaT right now, which doesn't have quite the classic panache of the M5, but does have a V8 and a slightly nicer interior: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1995-bmw-540i-68/
  
  1
- MaintenanceCosts on Nov 02, 2023
  
  There's something about the E34 that the E39 just can't match. I don't know if it's because the later car feels too steroidal with all the V8s, or if it's because the earlier car's exterior styling is more graceful, but I'd rather have an early E34 535i in my driveway than any variety of E39.
  
  1
- Astigmatism on Nov 02, 2023
  
  My parents had both at different times, and I admit that the one I keep hunting for is a mint E34.
  
  1
- Art_Vandelay on Nov 03, 2023
  
  E36 is my personal cutoff and that one is a bit of a pain
  
  Like
Alan on Nov 02, 2023

I always had a soft spot for the 80s/90s 3 and 5 Series, especially the M's. My cousin in France had a late 90's 7 Series diesel.

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