Used Car of the Day: 2002 BMW M5 Dinan S

by Tim Healey

Published: January 5th, 2024

Dinan is a big name for BMWs, and so today we bring you a 2002 BMW M5 Dinan S.

It's on its third owner and has 225,000 miles on the odometer. The tires are new and there's an X-pipe installed.

The seller says the car has been well-maintained and is in good shape but the suspension components and engine and trans mounts are worn.

The seller also has a long list of spare parts available.

The asking price is $19,000 and you can click here to see this California-based car 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 37 comments

Redapple2 on Jan 06, 2024

I want a recent X5 Diesel. Is this stupid?

Like Reply
- See 3 previous
- Tassos on Jan 06, 2024
  
  No, this is very wise. Diesels are ideally suited to a large, heavy SUV, and will get you the same MPG that a much smaller, lighter car gets. Too bad in the US Diesel is more expensive than gas, in my summer home (where I got the diesel for) it is much cheaper than gas, making it a total no brainer, but you STILL have the advantage of the HUGE Torque, which you can only find in AMG or M vehicles in ICE.
  
  1
- Lou_BC on Jan 06, 2024
  
  Diesel tends to be more expensive but not enough to offset mpg gains. One has to like the power characteristics over a gasser to warrant buying one, especially in smaller displacements.
  
  Like
- MaintenanceCosts on Jan 08, 2024
  
  Given how silky and torquey the gas turbo six is, without the extra emissions and maintenance headaches, I'd get a gas one. But the current X5 is really nice and wanting one is not stupid.
  
  Like
- Redapple2 on Jan 08, 2024
  
  I worry about the; 1 poor quality /high maintenance and the cost /frequency of a german car. 2 is the choked down diesel with 9 layers of complexity worth it
  
  Like
Tassos on Jan 06, 2024

Those were the glory years of BMW, with three very beautiful designs, from the 1999-05 3 series, the 1997-2003 5 series (which was actually a rather small car, much closer in size to the 3 than to the Magnificent 7, which I was very lucky to enjoy a stunning example from 2005 to 2017 (a 98 740iL).

The M5 had a modest (by today's standards) 394 HP and the Dinan (I had to look it up, neither Tim nor the Seller bothered to tell us even the most important spec) 470, a healthy rise, but still lower than the standard V10 M5 that followed this model, an ugly exterior M5 that is not very popular today, unless it has the Manual.

About this ridiculous "find": If it was a pampered Flagship Lexus LS460 from 2007-2016, with the same 200+k miles, I'd take a risk. NOT if it is a BMW, and an M5 in particular.

It is really not worth the aggravation and the possibly HUGE cost of the expected and inevitable repairs.

Do you think Tim is a Masochist? He seems attracted to these way overpriced money pits like flies are to excrement.

But even if he is, WHY in the WORLD does he think WE are, and keeps WASTING OUR TIME with his daily, invariably LAUGHABLE "recommendations"?

Like Reply
- See 2 previous
- EBFlex on Jan 06, 2024
  
  " WHY in the WORLD does he think WE are, and keeps WASTING OUR TIME with his daily, invariably LAUGHABLE "recommendations"?"
  TassosGhost talking about itself again.
  
  1
- Tassos on Jan 06, 2024
  
  I’M A WASHED UP ACADEMIC LOSER WHAT CAN I SAY
  
  1
- EBFlex on Jan 06, 2024
  
  "I’M A WASHED UP ACADEMIC LOSER WHAT CAN I SAY"
  We know 'lil guy.
  
  1
- Lou_BC on Jan 06, 2024
  
  "I’M A WASHED UP ACADEMIC LOSER WHAT CAN I SAY"
  Much less....
  Much less!
  
  Like

Recent Comments

Jalop1991 Our MaintenanceCosts has been a smug know-it-all.
MaintenanceCosts If I were shopping in this segment it would be for one of two reasons, each of which would drive a specific answer.Door 1: I all of a sudden have both a megacommute and a big salary cut and need to absolutely minimize TCO. Answer: base Corolla Hybrid. (Although in this scenario the cheapest thing would probably be to keep our already-paid-for Bolt and somehow live with one car.)Door 2: I need to use my toy car to commute, because we move somewhere where I can't do it on the bike, and don't want to rely on an old BMW every morning or pay the ensuing maintenance costs™. Answer: Civic Si. (Although if this scenario really happened to me it would probably be an up-trimmed Civic Si, aka a base manual Acura Integra.)
El scotto Mobile homes are built using a great deal of industrial grade glues. As a former trailer-lord I know they can out gas for years. Mobile homes and leased Kias/Sentras may be responsible for some of the responses in here.
El scotto Bah to all the worrywarts. A perfect used car for a young lady living near the ocean. "Atlantic Avenue" and "twisty's" are rarely used in the same sentence. Better than the Jeep she really wants.
3-On-The-Tree I’ll take a naturally aspirated car because turbos are potential maintenance headaches. Expensive to fix and extra wear, heat, pressure on the engine. Currently have a 2010 Corolla and it is easy to work on, just changed the alternator an it didn’t require any special tools an lots of room.