First introduced in September 1988, and finally reaching U.S. shores in December of the following year, the E34 M5 took everything about the E28 edition, and made it better. This 1991 edition in Alpine White (paint code 218) and with Dove Gray interior is a pristine example of the 310-bhp sedan. Its $10,000 asking price reflects age and mileage, although, from the pictures at least, it's hard to discern any wear and tear on the car apart from some wrinkles in the nappa leather. Also in its favor are the ninja star M-System II wheels, which are much prettier than the turbines.

The S38, 3535cc six is hand-built, and mated to the car at the BMW Motorsport facility in Garching, just outside of Munich. Unlike previous M-editions, the E34 was intended to be a world car from the get-go, and hence was able to be sold in most major markets with little revision. The Getrag 280 is easy to shift, and the lightened flywheel helps you stay in the engine's sweet spot while rowing your own.

Later generations of M5 abandoned the straight six for V8, and eventually V10 motors, leapfrogging horsepower ratings by 100 with each new version. While those cars provide performance that also jumped from above-the-ordinary to un-freaking-believable, there's something innately special about rocking a BMW with the engine form which made the company famous. Also, there's little chance that you could find either of the V8 or V10 cars for ten grand.

What about that ten-large? That price is less than any new car, sans a Versa penalty box, and even if you were to drop $5,000 a year in maintenance and upkeep, after 3-years you'd still be spending less than a leather and six-equipped Accord or Camry. And you'd have been driving an M5 that entire time!

So, seeing as this appears to be a clean example, and with the knowledge that the E34 in general, and the M5 in particular don't have any glaring durability or drivability issues, how does that $10,000 price sit with you? Is that low enough to make not buying this Bimmer a bummer? Or, is that still M-possible?

You decide!

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Yesterday's candidate showed that Gibraltar wasn't the only interest Great Britain had in the Mediterranean. That twee Capri garnered a 60% Nice Price vote, despite having a ten grand point of entry. Today, we're moving to drama-filled LA, and are looking at something the whole family can enjoy- well, at least you'll keep telling yourself that.

When BMW introduced the first E28-based M5 at the '84 Amsterdam Auto Show, it made the Dutch drop their hash pipes and prostitutes, and sit up and take notice. That car's M1-based 3.5 litre six, nestled in the engine bay of the roundel-brand's mid-sizer took the ‘60s American muscle car recipe and added 4 doors worth of schnitzel to it.

The M5 was a hit in the U.S. as well, expanding the M brand to BMW's mainstream models along with the smaller M3. The E28 car was followed by the E34 in 1989, still with the six, but eventually bumped to 3.8 litres. Nine years later saw the arrival of a new M, and one that was powered for the first time in M5 history by something other than the traditional and venerated straight six. The E39 car rocked a V8 behind its iconic twin kidneys. Based on the M62 motor - and designated S62 - this 394-bhp aluminum-block monster elevated the M5 from very fast to holy crap! and kept the car competitive with the E55s and XJ-Rs that were thrown into battle against it.

Offered up by a dealer in the Los Angeles suburb of South Gate is this 2002 M5, in cobalt, with just shy of rolling six on its clock. These had an original MSRP in the U.S. of $69,900, but time and depreciation have taken their toll, and you can now pick up this clean example for $19,995. For that price, you're getting a 4-door family sedan with the performance of a Porsche 911. Stock, 60 is only 4.6 ticks away, but this car isn't stock- it has been breathed upon by Dinan, with the S2 package giving you a 76-bhp gain through air management and computer re-noodling. Speaking of noodles, the Dinan headers are a thing of beauty on these cars, although the seller didn't bother to snap a shot for our benefit. Other Dinan modifications include a shorter final drive (3.45:1 versus 2.81:1), stiffer springs and shocks, unique forged alloy wheels, wider tires, and front brake cooling ducts. There's also a lightened flywheel between the engine and the slick 6-speed transmission, and some bling for the trunk lid. All these mods (with the exception of the bling) worked to shave a half-second off of the zero-60 time, and were good for a claimed tsunami-outrunning 191-mph top end. Shee-it!

Back in 2002, this Dinan S2 package added $35,000 to the price of the already $70-grand M5, but today you can get the whole shlemiel for less than the cost of a non-leather equipped Accord. Sure it's an RCH away from one hundred grand on the odo, but it's also no longer a hundred grand out of your bank account.

So, what do you think of this budget super car? Is $19,995 enough of a deal to make you brave all the threats LA can dish up? Or, for that price, is it an unnatural disaster?

You decide!

UPDATE: I was contacted by a Dinan dealer (try saying that five time fast!) who ran the VIN on this car, and it appears that it's not rocking the S2 package, but just the cold air intake and strut brace. Now, those alone were several grand new, and this car remains on the low end of the KBB spectrum, but you might want to reevaluate your vote.

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Piper Motorsport is behind this build. We'll let them talk you through it:

Welcome to the build of the "Franken M3". The car is a current project of ours which started September of 2007. The idea behind this project was to build the ultimate BMW using the best of the best from BMW's line up. Some may argue whether or not the E30 M3 had much to improve on in the first place? Of course not! The E30 M3 is and always will be a great performer in factory trim and truly is a classic. We've simply started with an E30 M3 and built a whole new breed of the BMW M series.

To start we stripped the car of everything suspension, engine and drive train related and tossed it aside. Come to think of it, nothing but a few miscellaneous body panels and interior pieces have remained thus far.

Next, all new E90 (06-07 BMW 3 series) front and rear sub frames with all associated suspension components where assembled on a chassis jig and adjusted to fit within the stock body of the M3. To achieve this, the stock front frame rails have been removed and new rails where constructed to adapt the new sub frame. We've even raised the front shock towers to allow proper suspension travel for the E90 suspension. The rear of the car was completely cut and removed, excluding the exterior body panels of course, then re constructed to fit the new rear suspension package. This includes the fabrication of new rear shock towers, frame rails, spring mounts, wheel tubs and all related sheet metal work.

Many have asked us, where's the roll cage? Just look closer. Knowing that the customer wanted some form of interior re installed, the roll cage was integrated into the body. The A and B pillars have been sectioned and removed. The bars are inserted into the body making the cage virtually invisible. Door bars are normally just too intrusive on a street car so the inner rocker panels were also sectioned. A hefty piece of box steel was then welded in place connecting the front of the cage to the back while offering some additional side impact protection as well. Essentially all that will be seen after interior is installed will be the rear X and harness bar.

Now for the part everyone's been waiting for, the infamous S85 M5 V10 power plant. This motor was chosen for obvious reasons and it's been matched up with the M5 6 speed manual transmission, differential and half-shafts. The installation of the engine actually started during the first few steps of the suspension assembly on the chassis jig. The new E90 front sub frame was completely reconstructed, among other things to adapt the new engine. Firewalls generally get in the way when stuffing big motors into little cars, so the firewall and transmission tunnel have been removed and were later reconstructed around the new engine and trans. We were very happy with the final placement and balance of the engine, in fact the top of the cylinder heads are just shy of sitting lower than the top of the wheels themselves.

Once the motor was in place and the firewall sealed up, then it was time to wire the car. Rather than spending countless hours ourselves, we decided it was best to contact the best at Apex Speed Technology in CA to complete the task. They worked with a Pectel SQ6M12 management system and wired the car front to back. They made multiple trips from CA, spent countless hours, worked late nights and weekends but we couldn't be happier with the results. There are many neat features that one would never expect to see on an E30. Such as programmable and adjustable traction control, full variable camshaft control for all 4 cams, full electronic throttle control for both throttle banks, driver selectable Anti-lock Brake system, Digital Pi OMEGA dashboard with multiple pages to monitor all vital functions and a Ole Buhl Racing power management system with electronic load control and power distribution

As you could imagine, with the new suspension and wheel/tire combo the fender clearance became an issue. So we've extended the front and rear fender flares to accommodate the wider track which gives it a more aggressive, but subtle look. To finish it off a stainless steel dual exhaust system with twin mufflers exit through the rear bumper.

After our job with the metal fabrication was finished our friends at Old School Enterprises took on the body work and paint. After a very short turn around time the car was back at the shop with a beautiful, no tint silver paint job. The attention to detail is outstanding. With body work and paint to such a high standard, the M3 hardly looks modified.

We'll only show a glimpse of the paint until the final product is unveiled.

So where are we at now? We've recently received the car back from Ai Design with an all new interior. They have done a fantastic job which to the untrained eye has an OEM factory finish.

Before pictures are posted of the finished product the M3 will make its way back to Old School Enterprises one last time for the finishing touches.

Stay tuned...

[via Piper Motorsport]

Sorry European footballers, you missed the boat, your chromed cars are now as fashionable as the macarena and trucker hats. Gold-plating is now the mark to hit, and if you can manage a chrome (platinum!) stripe, all the better.

Considering this particular example is but a mere BMW M5, there's quite a lot of room to move up the ridiculously expensive supercar ladder of gold-plating. We salute you, probable Russian gangster, for showing the world how it's done. [English Russia (where else?!)]

M5board poster, Resinears, is not a happy camper and for a perfectly good reason. Awoken in the middle of the night, he found his garage-parked E39 M5 clobbered by a stupid kid who thought drifting an SUV through a residential neighborhood was a good idea. Here's his account of the pricey situation:

1:20 a.m. Tuesday morning, some dumbass takes his mom's SUV for some late night drifting in my quiet residential crescent. I've found out that what the cool kids are doing is skidding a vehicle by locking up the ebrake. When you're 15 or 16 and don't have a license, you don't have the skills. He made my two car garage into a three car garage. He's lucky he wasn't killed by the accident. Funny thing is that his mom and dad's insurance company is trying to avoid paying because of his lack of license or express permission to drive. That means I could be on the hook. I really don't need this right now...

Both of my cars were in my garage. The impact drove my M5 into my tools and workbench (about 6' forward). Estimated damages to the car are $15k, but I'm guessing it will go higher after looking at the quote and catching a few missed items (didn't get the right kind of headlight kind of stuff). The other car is can drive, but sustained some body damage. The house is gonna be about the same as the car when it's all repaired.

[via m5board]

The music is a little too Night At The Roxbury for us, but we can let that little detail slide.

[via YouTube]

Spied by a reader of MotorTips, this odd looking BMW 7-series was parked at a supermarket in a town roughly 100km outside of Munich, Germany. At first glance it appears as if this BMW 7 was merely modified by its owner with new quad-exhaust, bigger black-painted wheels and lower profile tires, but the badges appear to be covered in order to mask the cars identity. Upon closer inspection, it appears as if this suped-up seven may in fact be a early build prototype for an upcoming BMW M7 super sedan.

BMW has never officially mentioned an M version of its luxurious 7-Series sedan, but with the AMG-tuned Mercedes S63 and Audi S8 gobbling up sales, albeit in small numbers, it only makes sense that BMW gets into this game. Also adding pressure is Aston Martin's upcoming Rapide and Porsche's ghastly Panamera, two luxo-sport sedans that will surely be game changers.

[motortips via wcf]

A lot of you were enraged when we referred to the 2009 BMW Z4 as a hairdresser’s car. Today we bring you the non-hairdresser version of the Z4 and it’s not the M Roadster.

OK, we lie, it was an M Roadster at one point, but the owner wasn’t content with the paltry 343 HP inline six it was packaged with from the factory. No, they needed more -– much more. The six was ripped out and replaced by what some call a technical marvel or possibly just the 2005 Engine of the Year — the 5.0-liter V10 from the BMW M5 / M6.

It appears the M5’s donor V10 fits perfectly under the hood of the Z4 and it likely packs quite the wallop when the go pedal is stomped. But when you decide to go, it’s not the stock 507-hp that you’ll be feeling, but a Hartge-tuned 551-hp instead. All this power is routed through a six-speed manual gearbox allowing this non-hairdresser’s Z4 to rocket to 60 much faster than the stock M5’s 4.7 seconds.

The Z4 appears mostly stock from the exterior with the exception of a set 20-inch Hartge wheels – a true sleeper indeed. The asking price for this little beast is a non-carpocalypse friendly 97,900 Euros which rounds out to roughly $140,000 U.S. For that money, you could almost buy five standard M Roadsters to strut your pretty self in, but we’d rather have just this one so we could lay to rest the hairdresser debate once and for all.

[Carscoop via Mobile.de]

First, we're conflicted by the idea of a golfer taking delivery of such custom-car awesomeness, but considering it was his dollars and dreams that made it so, he can't be a normal golfer. Second, we need complete detail images, performance specs, and burnout and hoonage videos, immediately. We're actually a little hurt the car didn't debut by power-sliding through a herd of kangaroos while leaping through a ring of fire. Finally, the Deni Ute Muster — how did we not know about this event? It's got a list of ten commandments (.pdf) which reads like every out-of-control tailgate party we've ever been to. And over 6,000 utes in one place! In Australia! Plane tickets. We need them. (Thanks for the tip Chris) [CarAdvice.au]

Car Magazine, which snapped these shots, is reporting that the 2011 M5 will gain a breathed-on version of the BMW X6's 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 producing a whopping 540 HP. Why? The current V10, despised by some but loved by others for its quirky rev-happy nature, will only meet emissions regulations for two more years. If the big V8 does find its way into the M5, expect a much lower revving, torquier drive. The magazine also reports that the M5 is likely to be manumatic only, which doesn't come as a surprise, but is still pretty disappointing. [via Car Magazine]

[M5Ute.com]

BMW of America spokesman Tom Plucinsky states the 2008 M5 does not record data, unlike previous models, because "the information was not accurate enough to reconstruct crash scenarios." Interesting. Despite this assertion from BMW, we're certain Florida's finest will be digging around in the black box for all the data they can get. When reached for comment, the president of my high school physics club said he could barely wait to add the V sub naught to his equations and solve for distance and aerodynamic effect, instead of the other way around. [via Ocala.com]

G-POWER HURRICANE: 340 km/h and 730 hp: The World's Fastest and Most Powerful Street-Legal BMW

The worldís fastest and most powerful street-legal BMW is made by G-POWER. The 340-km/h G-POWER HURRICANE is based on the latest BMW M5. At the heart of the high-performance sedan is a five-liter V10 engine with G-POWER EVO II supercharging system that delivers 730 hp / 537.3 kW.

To achieve the desired increase in power output of 223 hp / 164 kW for the fast-revving engine that normally produces 507 hp / 373 kW, G-POWER, in cooperation with ASA Automotive, has developed a high-tech supercharging system. The system uses one belt-driven ASA T1-12 compressor for each cylinder bank. Contrary to conventional mechanical chargers that waste a large portion of the additional power on being driven themselves, the ASA compressor has an efficiency rate of up to 80 percent. The ASA charger is also small, which allows G-POWER to install two of them in the tight confines of the M5 engine bay. With a maximum airstream volume of up to 1,200 kg per hour per cylinder bank the compressors are designed for an even higher power output. Boost pressure is limited to 0.5 bars.

The pre-compressed charge air is cooled down in a highly efficient dual-flow water-to-air intercooler system that is mounted above the engine. This measure optimizes power yield and, in combination with a larger water-cooled oil cooler with pressure reservoir, also ensures the engineís thermal health. Specially developed mapping for engine electronics and SMG gearbox controls coordinate the perfect interaction of all new components.

The inner workings of the four-valve ten-cylinder engine are optimized for even higher engine speeds with lightweight, precision-matched high-performance forged pistons from technology partner MAHLE. The supercharged V10 engine produces its maximum power output of 730 hp / 537 kW between 7,500 and 8,200 rpm. The high efficiency rate of the two superchargers, each spinning at up to 100,000 rpm and more, results in a torque diagram that rises early and at 3,800 rpm already surpasses the production engineís peak torque of 520 Nm, delivered at 6,000 rpm. The new peak of 700 Nm is reached at 7,200 rpm.

Acceleration performance benefits accordingly. With a sprint time from rest to 100 km/h of 4.2 seconds the two-ton sedan bests its production counterpart by half a second. With approx. ten seconds to 200 km/h the advantage grows to 5.0 seconds. The 300-km/h barrier is shattered in less than 29.5 seconds. Contrary to the production car the G-POWER HURRICANE is not limited electronically to a top speed of 250 km/h. Aided by the specially cooled G-POWER anti-slip differential the engine propels the car to a top speed of 340 km/h.

The enormous performance places extreme demands on aerodynamics, tires, suspension and brakes.

The G-POWER front apron, upon request also available made from especially light carbon fiber, replaces the production part in its entirety. Its large air inlets provide optimal supply of cooling air for all radiators and front brakes. At the same time the spoiler minimizes lift on the front axle at high speeds.

The G-POWER rocker panels smooth the airflow between the wheel houses and give the M5 and longer, lower and sleeker appearance. Lift on the rear axle is reduced by a spoiler lip attached to the trunk lid and the carbon-fiber rear diffuser for the G-POWER rear apron.

Even better driving dynamics and more exclusive looks are the hallmark of the G-POWER Silverstone 21-inch light-alloy wheels that fill out the space beneath the wheel arches perfectly. The drop-center rims have brilliant-graphite coated centers while the outer rim wells and spokes are polished. They are mounted in sizes 9.5 J x 21 with size 255/30 ZR 21 tires in front and size 10.5 J x 21 wheels with size 295/25 ZR 21 tires on the rear axle. Technology partner Dunlop provides the perfect high-speed tires.

The large wheels make room for the G-POWER high-performance brake system with six-piston fixed calipers and 400 x 36 millimeter brake discs on the front axle. G-POWER also offers an upgrade package for the standard M5 brakes that consists of high-performance pads and brake fluid.

The M5 handling can be made even sportier by installing the height-adjustable G-POWER coil-over suspension RS with nine selectable settings each for bound and rebound.

For upgrading the cockpit G-POWER offers sporty components made from exposed carbon-fiber trim or an ergonomically shaped NARDO EDITION sport steering wheel covered in perforated G-POWER Kjerba-Nappa leather that is a pleasure to touch.

The G-POWER HURRICANE is available as a fully converted car starting at 240,000 Euros. Any existing M5 ñ sedan and wagon ñ can also be upgraded with the G-POWER twin-compressor system, available for 89,000 Euros. The price includes all necessary modifications to suspension, brakes and wheels. Also available are any items from the extensive G-POWER tuning accessories lineup.

It could all be a joke. I've spent many hours with my Bavarian extended family and they consider themselves quite the humorists. They're always like "Massew, come back to Germany with us and we'll take you to a soccer game. We'll go on Wednesday. It's Helmet Day. Everyone named Helmut gets in Free!." Now you know where my sense of humor comes from. [Winding Road]