BMW M5 (E60)
Why 5.8: 8,250 rpm of V10 lunacy in a business sedan, SMG warts and all. Running costs cull the poseurs — whoever still owns one drives it, and budgets for it.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
The S85 is a 5.0 V10 off BMW's F1 programme, revving to 8,250 with a hard layered howl no other saloon has matched before or since. But it sits in a heavy insulated four-door and the stock exhaust muffles it below 4,000. Only sound deadening keeps it off the exotics.
10-cylinder · naturally aspirated · 8,250 rpm redline · rated 8.9 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €78k (2007) → €44k (2026), trending down · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
ISOFIX standard from the E60's 2005 launch on both outer rear seats; the metal loops sit in the gap between seat cushion and backrest.
E60 falls outside the E8x/E9x generation that got an optional front-passenger ISOFIX bracket — no front ISOFIX fitted.
BMW E60 owner-forum consensus (BimmerForums); E60 owner's handbook (owner-community sourced, not manufacturer documentation)
The long version
Nobody buys an E60 M5 by accident anymore — the rod-bearing maintenance schedule and SMG gearbox quirks are common enough knowledge in the used market that showing up as a buyer means accepting the deal already: cheap purchase price, expensive vigilance. That filter keeps the ownership pool small and informed, and the survivors tend to be owners who budget for the V10 the way a boat owner budgets for a marina slip. It dropped hard enough from new-car money to earn its badge here, and anyone still driving one is doing it because they specifically wanted this engine, not because it was convenient.