New to E28 M5

[KamakaziX]

I'm 15 and I have driven both my dad's M5's ( e28 ) and I agree with a lot of the guys, not an easy way to start ( Trans. wise ). ( I have driven others ) But, that's just my opinion, speaking as a teen. Great, fun, cars.

[mooseheadm5]

http://www.streetsurvival.org/

Just to relay a few stories from my youth. My oldest brother's friend borrowed his dad's 735iL to take my brother to UVA for his first year. I was in the back seat. We found top speed in that car on interstate 81. For about 30 miles. We used a quart of oil on the 2 hour trip.

My older brother's friend got an E30 M3 in high school. He and my brother did terrible things in that car. I remember one backroad trip on a winding mountain road, passing on a double yellow line on blind corners with mountain drop offs on the side of the road.

This same older brother took his 535i out for a test drive (we worked on it all summer) one night and spun it at about 90 in a 45. He missed a concrete train underpass by inches. He would have died had he hit it.

I used to take my Peugeot wagon on fire roads and at full speed through gravel alleys. I jumped it, nearly Clark Griswold style once.

We all got lucky and didn't die. There was natural driving ability and learned skill involved. In addition, there were fewer drivers on the road in smaller vehicles with no cell phones. Nowadays, there are more drivers. They are not as well educated as they used to be. They drive cars that have no real connection to the road. They read, talk on the phone, text, eat, etc.- basically everything but pay attention to the road. They are out to kill you and your son. The last thing you want is to send your son out there into the world in a car that invites him to be a hooligan without him knowing how to handle it. The E28 M5 was a supercar in its day. It was raw. The only driver aid and safety items are seat belts and ABS. True, people used to drive without the nannies all the time, but the average car had 100 or so HP (my Peugeot was like 85) and there were maybe half the people on the road.

If you think that the M5 is a suitable car for your son, you may want to reconsider. If you think your son will be responsible and not drive like an idiot teenager, ask yourself if you would have been in his position. You are giving him a loaded gun. If you don't teach him to use it properly, he will wound, maim, or kill someone - maybe himself.

http://www.streetsurvival.org/

[nm335]

http://www.streetsurvival.org/

Just to relay a few stories from my youth. My oldest brother's friend borrowed his dad's 735iL to take my brother to UVA for his first year. I was in the back seat. We found top speed in that car on interstate 81. For about 30 miles. We used a quart of oil on the 2 hour trip.

My older brother's friend got an E30 M3 in high school. He and my brother did terrible things in that car. I remember one backroad trip on a winding mountain road, passing on a double yellow line on blind corners with mountain drop offs on the side of the road.

This same older brother took his 535i out for a test drive (we worked on it all summer) one night and spun it at about 90 in a 45. He missed a concrete train underpass by inches. He would have died had he hit it.

I used to take my Peugeot wagon on fire roads and at full speed through gravel alleys. I jumped it, nearly Clark Griswold style once.

We all got lucky and didn't die. There was natural driving ability and learned skill involved. In addition, there were fewer drivers on the road in smaller vehicles with no cell phones. Nowadays, there are more drivers. They are not as well educated as they used to be. They drive cars that have no real connection to the road. They read, talk on the phone, text, eat, etc.- basically everything but pay attention to the road. They are out to kill you and your son. The last thing you want is to send your son out there into the world in a car that invites him to be a hooligan without him knowing how to handle it. The E28 M5 was a supercar in its day. It was raw. The only driver aid and safety items are seat belts and ABS. True, people used to drive without the nannies all the time, but the average car had 100 or so HP (my Peugeot was like 85) and there were maybe half the people on the road.

If you think that the M5 is a suitable car for your son, you may want to reconsider. If you think your son will be responsible and not drive like an idiot teenager, ask yourself if you would have been in his position. You are giving him a loaded gun. If you don't teach him to use it properly, he will wound, maim, or kill someone - maybe himself.

http://www.streetsurvival.org/

Hello mooseheadm5:

Very nice and well thought out post.

One problem I see is that someone can not get a little bit dead. It is sort of all or none. I would argue that I could get just as dead driving my friends '72 Pinto (way back when) over the same roads my kid will now take either his 735i or the M5.

I probably drifted the Pinto more and generally drove further over the safe limits of that old POS than he will in his BMWs. Yet hitting an old growth Ponderosa at 50 in the Ford would pretty much have resulted in the same end as 100 in an M5.

Kids are going to do stupid things. We try to teach them otherwise and sometimes they listen. I do not agree that having a high performance car makes you more likely to race or to drive like a moron. It might change who you race with or which class of moron you drive like but a number of my high school friends cashed in their chips at a young age while trying to race in absolute pieces of crap. They are still just as dead.

[rcbmw]

M5 VIN 2791867 is a chilling reminder of the consequence of teen-driver error at high speeds in a vehicle without modern safety systems such as ASC+T or DTC:

http://bmwmregistry.com/detail.php?id=537

Best,
RCBMW

[Tucker]

Do what you want, but if I had a BMW nut son, I'd break him in on an E21 320i, E30 325i or E36 318Ti to teach some mechanical sympathy and driving skill in a balanced RWD car (ie smaller than a 735i), maybe mod them a bit as skill improves, then let him move up once those don't get wrapped around trees. To each his own. At the very least, it's good that you're encouraging that enthusiasm in a younger person because most kids don't have a clue now.

[88 M5]

noob to the board here. I had to input my own opinion here. Any given kid is going to drive how they will whatever car they have.

Giving your kid the opportunity to own and drive such a rare car may (MAY) at some point keep him from winding up hurt or dead. Or it may push him toward that. (hey, y'all. watch this!) Only you know your kid, and kids do listen. From the way you drive, he has probably picked up a tidbit or two that will keep his butt out of the fire. Just make sure he knows that luck runs both ways and to not depend on luck. The best plan I've seen is to make him race autocross in whatever car he will be street driving. A lot of times that will help kids keep that behavior on the track, with such an outlet for it. For those times it doesn't it will teach high speed handling manoevers (sp) to give him that extra help in coming home safe. Kids make bad decisions more often than adults, education is key and that starts (and with vehicles, usually ends) at home.

[edlocke]

Alright guys, lets be realistic here. I agree, from a car operating costs and collectability standpoint, this guy is nuts. However, from a relative speed standpoint, an E28 M5 just really isn't that fast. Sure it was fast for it's time, but it's time was 1988. Which of you would bet your hard earned money against a modern Mustang, Camaro, or Toyota Tundra for that matter if pitted against a tired old E28 M5 in the 1/4 mile. Sure the E28 M5 encourages aggressive driving with it's racy engine and superb handling, but the simple reality is, it only SOUNDS and FEELS fast in a straight

Craig Rhyne

My wifes Honda 7 passenger van is faster than my M5. Seriously

[Randomg]

I do not agree that having a high performance car makes you more likely to race or to drive like a moron.

I'm going to post my own personal experience in hopes that you might change your mind.

When I was in high school, I was a car nut. I read through autozine technical school, the physics of racing, all the car magazines, I wanted to be an automotive engineer when I got to college. I took my 95 Saturn sc2 to an auto-x and had a blast and wanted something that was more suited for the job.
Now I should specify that I'm not an idiot. I stayed away from alcohol in HS and have yet to do drugs, never smoked. I also did well in school. That said:

I used to race my saturn against comparable cars, civics, integras, other POSs. But I'd like to think I was never stupid about it, only in a straight line, never in and out of traffic, never over 70 mph. It was the most dangerous only when it was raining.

I wanted an 80s vette but couldn't talk my dad into helping me buy one because of the stigma that comes with it. My friend suggested an M5 and I eventually got my dad to help me out after he drove one and was pleasantly surprised with how nice it was for an 88.

I was 19 when I got the m5. Although my dad had helped my buy it, it really was my car, my mom doesn't like to drive manuals, my dad doesn't like the gas mileage, and my other siblings weren't allowed to drive it. I had the same feeling that your kid will likely have. I felt I had to be safe with the car, my dad had entrusted it to me, it was rare, it was nice.

For the first few months, the only thing I did was blasts through 2nd. Never took it over 80, never took turns fast. I remember the first time I hit 100 though. I saw some early 90s Jetta trying to race me and I gunned it to show him only to look down to find 100 on the dial. I was surprised at how stable it felt, which brings me to the reason why I think the M5 is dangerous in the hands of most kids.

The M5 is confidence inspiring. The car feels stable all the way up to its top speed (as mentioned in the car & driver review). Its engine eggs you on, it sounds that much better at WOT, its torque increases as you watch the revs climb. It's a blast to drive fast. The handling is also very forgiving, rarely has the car scared me with something I didn't expect it to do, and when that has happened it's been because of the road itself.

I never took my Saturn over 80 MPH. It started to feel unsafe, the engine started to struggle, I wasn't fully confident in the brakes. A year after owning the M5 I had taken it up to 140 to show up my friend's e30 (Probably the single stupidest thing I've ever done in my life). I think you're being incredibly naive after your kid complained about losing a race in his 735i. He's already admitted that he races! He's going to race in the M5 too, only that when it's a close race (which is the one that pushes you to the fastest speed because it's not clear who will win) the speed that you start to slow down at will be much faster in the M5. I've been lucky that I was never punished for the stupid stuff I did. If your kid makes it to my age after you give him the m5, he will be saying the same thing as me.

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e60-m5 ... illed.html

[Failsafe]

Probably not my business to post something in here, but I'm 16 and my uncle just bought me an '85 535i. I've never worked on cars before in my life and have driven manual on my dad's truck for a while now. The idea of giving your kid the BMW is pretty awesome but encouraging the racing isn't good :/ There's already been a lot of accidents at my school from racing or some other kind of car accident. Also, if you want to give him the car definitely teach him how to maintain it I'm completely lost on how to maintain/repair the car, so I rely heavily on the helpful people here who tell me what to do

Personal thoughts on the car though, I think it's manageable at 16 but just needs a lot of work and loooove :P