2002 BMW M5 E39

Built in July 2002, this BMW M5 (E39) was first registered in September of that year by Fairfield BMW in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. By all accounts the first owner (possibly the dealership itself) ticked a good number of the options boxes on the order form, including going off-piste into the BMW Individual bespoke programme in order to specify what your writer thinks is by far the best colour in BMW’s palette - Estoril Blue. The vendor believes there are only a couple of handfuls of Estoril blue m5's in the country.

Within a year, the car had moved to Sevenoaks in Kent, to an owner who clearly got the most out of the car, adding 50k+ miles over his seven years of ownership.

In late 2009, the car was acquired by its third owner from south Buckinghamshire who had the car for just under three years before it was bought by the fourth owner, our vendor, in October 2012. He was very pleased to have found a really good M5 and up until the last few years, he used the car almost daily.

Having owned many different models - he maintains that the E39 is the best saloon car ever and that its M5 variant is the best M5. In fact, he goes as far as to say that it is simply “the best car in the world”!

So, why would he sell such a thing? Well, as with most car collectors, he says that you can’t keep everything and there are other cars he’d like to own. But he also says he will buy another one day - “it will be the last car I own when I eventually stop driving”.

This M5 is finished in colour code 335 “Estorilblau-metallic” or Estoril Blue, an absolutely beautiful, radiant shade of blue that stands out as very special among the hordes of depressingly grey cars on our nation’s roads.

The paintwork is largely very good with no evident damage. Unsurprisingly for a car of this nature, there are stone chips and scuffs on the nose - most having been touched in - and a few age-related marks here and there. Being picky, the angel-eyes headlamps are slightly milky too. Overall, though, this is a fabulous looking car that has clearly been looked after and polishes up incredibly well.

By this era of BMW, the only brightwork remaining on the car’s exterior is the chrome of the kidney grilles - when they were still appropriately sized - and these look in very good condition, with no obvious pitting.

There’s a small amount of windscreen damage - a tiny stone strike towards the top of the screen on the driver’s side - something to keep an eye on but it doesn’t affect the driver’s vision.

The car sits on its 18-inch double-spoke BMW Style 65 alloy wheels - created for the E39 M5 and painted in the correct Chrome Shadow colour. They were refurbished just over 10 years ago but could now do with another refresh as the coating is starting to bubble and flake in places and there are a few scuffs around the rims. All are shod with Michelin Pilot Sport tyres, which have sufficient tread for now but may need replacing soon dependent on use.

The interior is upholstered and trimmed in ink black leather, using a coarser grain Nappa hide for the seat facings and door card inserts and also Silver Aluminum Savoini dash trims to add textural interest in what would otherwise be a sea of smooth black leather.

There is no obvious damage to the upholstery but as you would expect from a car approaching 100k miles, the driver’s seat, steering wheel and gear shift have a tell-tale shine - with a little more creasing on the seat bolsters as is typical. The leather around the steering wheel is contrast-stitched in the BMW M colours of blue, violet and red - and there are plenty of M-logos around to remind you (should you need it) that this is no ordinary 5 Series.

It is a well-equipped car, the BMW Individual sill plates hinting that the first owner went above and beyond the obvious optional extras. It has dual-zone climate control, trip computer, parking sensors, 6 CD-changer and also an upgraded stereo and sat nav with multi-channel audio output. There’s also a glass sunroof - and we mustn’t forget the pop-out cup holders! The vendor reports that all equipment functions exactly as it should.

Beneath your feet, the black carpet is in good order and is protected by fitted overmats front and rear. Up above, the dark headlining is also clean and taut.

Opening up the bonnet, there’s not a great deal of the thumping V8 to be seen, although the two heads are just about visible to either side of the large plastic-covered plenum sitting on top. The large diameter twin intakes and filter boxes suggest just how much air it needs to breathe to deliver all that power. There is a tiny amount of rust around the latches but otherwise the bonnet, the engine bay and all its contents appear in very good, well-maintained condition.

The protective undertrays at the front of the car have a few scratches on them, but that suggests that they have done exactly what they were designed to do, saving anything mechanical from being damaged by a badly profiled speed bump or debris in the road. The recent MOT noted that the brake pipes are going a little crusty in places but nothing worthy of more than an advisory.

Immediately obvious under the back of the car is the absence of silencers at the rear - just straight pipes from cats to tailpipes, although the OEM back boxes have been retained with the car. The vendor says that whilst the standard M5 exhaust sounds good, you have to be really motoring to be rewarded with a great soundtrack. With the back boxes removed, he says you get the superb but subtle V8 rumble at any speed, but it also howls like a no-limits Can-Am car when you’re pushing on!

Inside the pretty spacious boot, the carpet and linings are in reasonably clean condition, with a few modifications (and acres of Dynamat) to house a combination of OEM and after-market Kenwood audio components. Set into the nearside inner wing are the sat nav drive and CD-changer. The original toolkit is mounted under the boot lid and appears largely complete, and a fully demountable tow hitch is stored beside the battery.

Due to needing plenty of room for the silencers under the boot floor, the M5 didn’t come with a spare wheel - just a can of foam. So the vendor put together his own “get you home” kit consisting of a jack, E46 space-saver wheel, an appropriate hub spacer and some longer wheel bolts.

The M5 has a current MOT valid until February 2024, which it passed following replacement of several suspension parts - documented in the most recent garage bill from Povall Mechanics in Oxfordshire. There are still a handful of advisories, including a suggestion that it will need new boots on at least three corners before too long.

The history file contains numerous MOT reports and invoices for repairs and maintenance, always with genuine BMW parts, throughout the car’s life.

The book pack includes the service manual which includes the following stamps:

Aug 2002 - PDI - Fairfield BMW, Leigh-on-Sea

Oct 2002 - 1,032 miles - Fairfield BMW, Leigh-on-Sea

Oct 2004 - 9,746 - Cooper BMW, Sevenoaks

Dec 2005 - 22,835 - Cooper BMW, Sevenoaks

Aug 2007 - 37,534 - Cooper BMW, Sevenoaks

May 2009 - 53,167 - Cooper BMW, Sevenoaks

Apr 2010 - 60,611 - DNK Developments, Beaconsfield (mobile)

Apr 2012 - 68,214 - DNK Developments, Beaconsfield (mobile)

Jun 2013 - 77,491 - Mark Purcell BMW specialist, Oxford

Nov 2013 - 83,046 - Mark Purcell BMW specialist, Oxford

Feb 2015 - 89,815 - Mark Purcell BMW specialist, Oxford

Other highlights within the history include wheel refurbishment and replacement of the exhaust back boxes with stainless steel tubes in 2012. The original quad exhaust back boxes have been retained, should a future owner wish to go back to stock. Also, the stereo / sat nav unit was completely replaced and upgraded in 2010, along with the fitting of a Kenwood amplifier.

The only other insight worth noting is that the car went through a dozen new tyres in the 7 years from 2005. That’s equivalent to a complete change every 15k miles, rather than 20k which, according to The AA is a typical minimum “under normal driving conditions”. Make of that what you will, this is a car to be enjoyed after all.

We’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating: this model is the king of a new breed of collector cars, and modern classics of the superior kind like this have been moving up significantly in interest and value over the last few years.

This example has been regularly driven and very well maintained and serviced - including the all-important running in service that many missed - by main dealers or marque specialists, and repaired when needed using genuine BMW parts throughout. The well-populated history file backs up these claims.

We think that this largely original and (exhaust aside) unmodified, post-facelift E39 M5, with a rare BMW Individual specification, will sell for between £20,000 and £30,000. It is also selling with NO RESERVE, so maybe a cheeky bid might just win it.

Although this would make a fabulous weekend toy, it drives so well and so effortlessly that there’s no reason that this E39 M5 couldn’t return to being a high-performance daily for the discerning driver or BMW enthusiast.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located in Steventon, Oxfordshire; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.