Bigdot

i was driveing around in my SL500 (lowerded, intake, exhaust, AMG wheels) when all of a sudden a tricked M5 starts tailgatin me. it is black, lowerded with HRE rims on it with a raceing number. the light turns red and then a brand new crossfire pulls behind me, he had his "fin" up and he too was lowerded with rims. so i am like, "oh, the M5 wants to race" i pop it into first and the light turns green, we rolled forward and then he punches it, so i do too. we are going about 30, nose to nose when he shifts, and falls .2 seconds behind and from there he slowley falls farther and farther behind. up the hill we go going 130MHP on San Juaquin RD when i see him far in my rear view mirror flash his lights so i slow dow. several seconds later he rolls by me with a thumbs up and i am doing the peace sign to him. about 30 second later the Crossfire rolls up and he to is giveing me the thumbs up. not a bad race considering my car is 11 years old!!

Improviz

If so, what mods have you done? You'd have to add over 100 horsepower for an SL500 to be a serious threat to a well-driven M5...I take it you're supercharged?

FThornton666

I think he means the old E34 M5 that would sound about right. Since that was a 3.8 liter, or is it 3.5 i forget but its an Inline 6.

Improviz

That would make more sense, although this model wasn't sold Stateside after 1993 afaik...I dunno. And the E39 didn't come out until 2000...

I iz vexed und perplexed!!

Bigdot

it was not the new M5 it was the older body style. i have not done many mods, i had an ecu chip but it messed up my tranny, other than that my exausht and intake are messed with.. we were also raceing on a upward slope if that has anything to do with it? *he knew how to shift thought**

Improviz

Did it look like this?

FThornton666

i think 94 was the last year for stateside M5s, and 1998 was the first year of production on the E39, not sure if that was the first year for US M5s to show up. I do know a E39 M5 can dust a R230 SL500 no problem, so his SL500 would probably come under the same outcome, but the E34 would be close.

Bigdot

no, it is the newer vertion than that. might i add that my 0-60 is 5.6 and my 0-100 is a tick over 13- (running 100octane)

Improviz

Well, I got my info from Edmunds.com...they don't list an E34 M5 in '94, but they do in '93....similarly, no E39's sold here before 2000...although they were in Europe before that (as were the E55s, CLK55s, and the new E60 M5...the Europeans always get the good toys first!)

Yeah, definitely. Those E34s were pretty quick for a six for that time...they were what, 310 horsepower and 3800 pounds or so, so they'd move pretty good...but the torque was only 266 max, so the 5L MB V8 should be aptly able to deal with it!

Bigdot

this is what it looked like, might i add that my car is the 1994** his a 97-98**

Improviz

Hmm, but those E39 M5's are more like in the 4.8-5.0 range 0-60 and hit 100 in mid-hi 11's...dunno, anything can happen on the street...if it was real, he probably wasn't a good driver (flubbed shift or rev limiter hit), or it could have been a 540 with add-ons (I've seen a few of those around). Anyway a well-driven E39 M5 will pull pretty hard, so I wouldn't count on doing this on a regular basis!

Bigdot

it might have been a fake!! i dont know, would raceing up a hill make a difference? becuse i pulled pritty well......

Bigdot

do you know what the 0-60 is of the non M5 (the 540?? maby?545? (i dont know bmws lol) there is a good chance this was a fake, but it had a raceing number and exauset and lowerded, he was an older man also. i dont like fake cars!!

FThornton666

in 2001 BMW made the 540I with sport package look just like an M5, so it may have been that. A 540 should be just about were you are, but alittle slower since it was probably stock.

Improviz

Well, going up hill should have slowed both of you down!

In a knock-down, drag-out run where both cars were perfectly driven, he'd have an enormous advantage: he's pulling about 85 more horsepower than you, has two more gears (I think; you're a four speed auto, yes?), and weighs about 165 pounds less.

But of course, this all is with him doing everything perfectly; if he got overly confident and didn't downshift to the proper gear, or couldn't drive very well, yadda yadda...it happens. Plus, in a time-distance race, if one car hops on it a second or so sooner, even if it's a slower car it'll take a *lot* longer for the other car to close the gap than if they'd started at the same time...weird, but true.

Or yeah, he could have been a faker...I've seen a few of those guys. One guy had a 5 series with everything added on to make it look like an M5--except the rear fascia with dual exhausts; he only had the single.

So of course, I tried to get him to run, but he knew what would happen and wouldn't go there!

But anyway, whatever happened, you got him and that's the important thing!

Improviz

The 540s would run 0-60 in the low-mid 6's with an auto, and with a real hotshot driver the manuals could get mid-upper 5's (the later ones where they switched to a 6 speed; the manual 5's weren't as quick).

Yeah, poseurs suck!! Hate those clowns...

Bigdot

the one i raced was a manuel because when he shifted he fell .2sec behind me. i am only 17 and my car is a stripped 500 (usually you strip the 320) so i dont think he knew that i have a stampeed under the hood!!

Bigdot

do you happen to live in socal? your clk looks familiar..

Improviz

Nope, I'm about 1500 miles east of that!

schwarzwagen

that was 2003, and for just that year becauase the e60 arrived.

schwarzwagen

540's have been 6-speed since day one, e34, e39, and e60.

Improviz

I stand corrected. I must've been thinking of the 3 series...

schwarzwagen

n/p, it happens to the best of us.

Erik

No thats wrong.

Both E34 and E39 have been both manual and auto from day 1, BTW the E60 is called 545i NOT 540i

I also belive you can get the E60 545i manual but I am not 100% sure.


Ops, I read you post once more and realized I may have missunderstood you. Did you mean the manual has always been 6 speed or that is have only been manual?

If you mean the manual always was a 6 speed you are correct....

blkandblu

so0o0o0 thanx to everyone that made this thread into crap!!! lol ahhh its cool!