Here's the deal:

First off I broke a promise to myself that I would not speed anymore but I think it was worth it

On Garden State Parkway South Last night coming back from the Lord Of the Rings for the 4th time (i know, what a dork) anyways I see the halo lights in my rear view wayyyy back in traffic, wondered what it was. A second later this car is directly behind me (ok so I'm driving 75 and he was just AT LEAST 40 - 50 car lengths behind me and now he's on my ass.... I estimate 130ish mph.) I switch lanes and let this GORGEOUS silver M5 w/ the alluminum deep dish rims on ther rear get by..... but wait his nose dips down, he downshifts and the car slows down like a vette! He's matching my speed! OMG, how unlucky of me! I'm about to get EMBARASSED in public by this Bavarian Beast.

It's dark out so I put on my interior light and sheepishly gave him a thumbs up and pretty much a but it's to no avail he WANTS TO RUN. So! Never one to let down the crowd.... we slow down to 45ish (Traffic up our asses) and HE LETS ME GUN IT! HE GIVES ME SPACE LOL. I drop into second and laughably growl up to 70ish and I'm in third trying to tap V-Tech he's 6-7 car lengths back and then.... all I see is a silver flash of light SHUTTER my car from the right hand side. He plays with me like a cat w/ a dead mouse batting me around and messing with me. It's all good though, we get off at the same exit and I roll up next to him at the bottom of the light.

The guy was really cool, he was in his late 40's very friendly. He asked me if I liked the M5 I went on to prattle off the specs LOL like a complete car dork. I basically told him he's driving my dream car. He tells me he likes my car I tell him to stop BSing me and he cracked a smile LOL. WORST PART OF THE STORY was he tells me "I was passing you in 4th gear that whole time" which I believe other than when he first launched on me I saw the car dip w/ the shifts. It's nice to see someone w/ such a BEAUTIFUL car have a nice attitude, not all the beamer guys are snobs.

ANYONE WHO CLAIMS ANYTHING AGAINST AN M5, EVEN SAYS THEY KEPT UP LOL IS A LYING SOB

 

Just curious who is faster the new 333 HP M3 or 400HP M5?

 

hehe, i think i ran into the same M5 a few weeks ago. The guy was white, wearing a suit and very friendly and nice. I was passing a few slow moving cars and ended up right next to the M5. The car in front of me was going slow so I had to either cut in front of the M5 to pass the guy in front of me, or slow down to go behind the M5. I looked over, the guy smiled and pointed to the space in front of him with his open hand( as if hes saying go ahead, u can go in front of me) So I did, and passed the guy in front. He then got next to me again, i pointed to his car and gave him the thumbs up and this time he smiled and pointed at his eyes then himself (saying watch me), and he takes off, within a few secs he seemed like he is a mile away. Some beamer guys are really nice.

 

That is an awesome story I have to show it to my brother who is looking for a good deal on an M5 - he will drool

 

What kind of person keeps a dead mouse in his car?

 

According to most places, the M3 is faster - but by a hair. It is a tenth of a second faster to 60 and they tie to the 1/4 mile.

 

Yes, the M3 is slightly faster, but between the two, I would take an M5 ANY DAY OF THE WEEK! I'd sell vital organs to get ahold of one.

 

I would wet my pants with excitement if I could get the chance to race a new M5. I'd love to lose to one of those.

 

my girlfriends 30 year old cousin just bought a silver m5 and i got to drive it. real flashy car, i'd say. theres alot of gizmos all over the interior of the car and the side mirrors even flip upwards. wtf!!! but the real aww came when i turned the engine on and took a quick spin around the block. MAN! plenty of power and bling bling just sitting behind the wheel. ill tell u from that experience, 13.3 quarter mile sounds about right. -seung

 

I drove my friends oldman's silver/black M5, not the most exciting of combos. I liked it, hate the clutch feel


This guy off the Viper board had an M5 (has a Viper ACR, E55, E46 M3 Convt currently-traded the M5 for it). He is known on the board as being an incredible driver.

This is what he thought.....


1) No cupholder-officially there's one, but it's useless. If this is your daily driver that's unexcusable and will get old VERY quickly.
2) No in-dash CD option available. Very annoying.
3) There's a big built up armrest with no storage whatsoever underneath. They should've hollowed it out.
4) It has the worst clutch known to man.
5) It pushes like a sled. Absolutely no reason why that car needs to weigh almost 4100 pounds. Feels like 80% is on the nose. Totally inexcusable for an M car.
6) Most of them burn tons of oil and aren't too reliable for an $80K BMW.

 

How is your Viper? Is it really harsh and un-forgiving ride as most reviewers claim? why didn't you go with Z06?

 

Of the people I've spoken to and the countless reviews I've read, the only complaint I ever heard was the stiffness of the clutch, but that wasn't even a complaint.

The comments I heard were more along the lines of...
"...this is the best car to drive this side of a $200,000 exotic."


I'm not discrediting your opinion, I'm actually very interested in it, as it hasn't matched anything else I've heard to date.

 

Its the same thing with the 540 6spd....don't get me wrong, both would be a pleasure to own, but the clutch just doesn't work for me. The guy I wrote about above, those comments were directly copied from the VCA board. This guy is like a serious race car driver, he wasn't thrilled with the clutch either.

 

Hmm...thanks for telling us. I've really got to drive it now. I guess its good to see a more realistic opinion of the car besides only praises. Without driving it, I still think the car is phenominal to say the least.

 

Greatest race of my life was vs a M5, basically we both floored it at 100mph and IT WAS NOT CLOSE!!!!! I was going 152 and I could not see his badges or plates (at least 10 car lenghts ahead) he had to be doing 170...

I'll never forget seeing the car hunch down (must have dropped it to 3rd) and the exhaust spit out!!!!

 

The late model Vipers are really good, its definitely a tough car to keep going straight (its all over the road from those huge tires).....it feels like a race car (so, yes its not the most comfortable)-gives off ridiculous amounts of heat as well. With the mods I did, its ungodly fast- waaay too fast for the street.

I already had a 99 Vette 6spd, so the ZO6 didn't come to mind....it is a great car though and would have been much easier on the wallet, plus its very driveable. Taking the Viper out is like a NASA launch, its an event.

I can't leave it anywhere....just the other day, was at the far ass end of the Home Depot parking lot (I mean far) and I see like 5 young kids running towards the car as I pull up to park (don't even know where they came from)- so I left and came back later.

So, I applied for a previous Viper owner voucher for the new 2003 SRT-10 convertible...don't think I am going to get it though.

 

Definitely go drive it, you will love it....overall, the M5 deserves the praises it gets. It really comes down to the fact that there are very few $70k cars I wouldn't be thrilled to drive- one being the Qvale Mangusta, barf.

 

Hey Beltfed, who's the guy in your avatar, Mr. Gattling?

Man if I saw a shiny viper roll up into home depot I'd be running towards it too.

 

Actually, thats Carl Walther up there in the corner....Richard Gatling also deserves to be up there, but only one Avatar per customer .

Ha, I could just see you sprinting across the parking lot....