[dakoo41]

Hi All

New to the forum, I was hoping you could help with some M5 F90 questions I have.

I'm in the market to change my car and the M5 F90 is on my shortlist. I'm looking at either a normal M5 2019 plate or the M5 Comp 2020/2021 models. The car will mainly be used as a family vehicle - i.e. I'm not looking to take it on a track

Questions:
1) Family Car View: Does anyone have any views on how it performs as a family car? I've recently welcomed a newborn into my family and wondered what it was like to fit a child seat etc. I've seen some videos on youtube which state it's a great family vehicle.

2) Fuel: Can owners confirm what it's like on fuel costs? I imagine I'll be driving it smoothly-mid fast most of the time. I've seen an online review review where someone said they get around 280miles from a full tank which costs approx £150 to fill? I'm doing about 400 miles a month so would £200 a month on fuel sound reasonable? (I know there's loads of variables that come into play but was wondering what others spend).

3) Servicing and maintenance: I'm looking to buy the car with around 30-40K miles on the clock. What are the service and maintenance costs like. It would be good to see differences between minor vs major. I'll be doing all my servicing from BMW.

I'm also considering to go for a newer 530d or 545e as they probably suit my user requirement better but the M5 has been a dream car of mine for a while so I really want to make it work but I'm a little hesitant with the running costs.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from you.

[pmsteinm]

I can speak to number 1. I have 2 car seats in the back and they fit fine forward facing. The only issue might be rear facing behind the driver. I have my seat far back (I'm 6'2) and the upper back rest forward so a car seat would fit. But any time I unbuckle to get out the upper back rest moves back. This would hit a rear facing seat. As it is my daughter has to squeeze past the rear seat. There doesn't seem to be a way to disable this feature.

The posted pictures on a thread about rear seat protectors so you can see how I kid proofed the car.

Otherwise this car can be a family car. It is easy to drive smooth and just like a regular 5 series. I get 18mpg which beats my 09 CTS-V despite more performance (6.2L vs 4.4L engine).

Don't know about maintenance since my car isn't a year old yet. I do plan to keep it for at least 10 years.

[Sneaky Pete]

I've had mine from new in 2019. Its a proper jack of all trades. Brilliant car.
I've had my wife in the front, my daughter in the back between her 3 year old in a child seat and her 3 month old in a rear facing baby seat behind me (at 6 foot).
I get 20 mpg (UK) with overall running costs pretty much the same as an M3/4 recent generations.

[dakoo41]

Originally Posted by Sneaky Pete

I've had mine from new in 2019. Its a proper jack of all trades. Brilliant car.
I've had my wife in the front, my daughter in the back between her 3 year old in a child seat and her 3 month old in a rear facing baby seat behind me (at 6 foot).
I get 20 mpg (UK) with overall running costs pretty much the same as an M3/4 recent generations.

Thanks Pete. What’s it been like for servicing and maintenance? I’ve heard putting aside around £1k-2k a year would be about right?

[Mr. Jonathan]

I have the better half up front and three boys 9,12 & 15 in the back. No issue in terms of space.

[Sneaky Pete]

Originally Posted by dakoo41

Thanks Pete. What’s it been like for servicing and maintenance? I’ve heard putting aside around £1k-2k a year would be about right?

I've done 48k miles in mine so far and still love driving it at any opportunity.
I would think £2k wouldn't be far off for generally running costs.
The extended warranty is a grand a year and services/tyres probably averages out at £1k a year.
Fuel at 20mpg on top.
Still worth every penny.

[Maxlude]

1) it's a great family car, with a couple of caveats. Those fabulous M5 seats do take up extra space so the interior does not seem as roomy as the 540ix M sport I tested. Also the interior feels premium so you will cringe when your kid barfs or gets food and drink all over it. That said, I bought my M5C 6 months before our little one came along and he will be 4 this year. Car seats are no problem but you will need shoes off policy unless you don't mind them kicking the back of the front seat. It has all the top flight safety features and all the rest of the G30 5 series attributes like a big boot

2)Fuel. It has a 68 litre tank. If you only drive short trips in the city then your going to get 15mpg approx. On a long trip on motorways you can easily get 28 or more. I used to drive 165 miles to site and my range was 450-475. I once saw the range go over 500 when I was pootling down to Devon with the wife and baby and boot absolutely stuffed

3) servicing and maintenance. It will be more costly than a 530e or d or 540 as there are air filter per cylinder bank and 8 spark plugs, plus it takes 10 litres of oil but it's not bad considering the performance on offer. I think it's about £500 for an oil/filter, £800 for plugs service. I have a maintenance plan so prices are fixed. VED will drop to £180 after 5 yrs and my insurance is cheaper than my 330d. You may want to think about getting extended warranty. Tyres will be £400 each but steady driving can get 20k miles out of a set

Hope that helps

[adeuel]

I've had a 2018 and now a 2021.
Two boys that have aged up through both cars from car seats to boosters and now grown.
(My 14 year old is 6'2", lol)
He prefers the front seat if he has a choice, but fits fine in the back seat too.
Best family car out there.

[F30Andy]

1. I can get a 6 year old, 10 year old and 13 year old in the back.
The only issue is the rear heating controls.
They can not be locked like in the M3, so anytime one of the kids taps it with their feet it puts it out of "sync" and drives my OCD wild.
I would imagine with 1 child in a child seat, you will not have this issue.
Boot is also more than adequate and you will have no issue getting a pushchair/stroller in it.


2. From hard reserve, filling it with the good shit from Esso/Shell usually costs me around £110 to £120.
If you fill it with supermarket fuel it will cost you circa £100 to £105.
Only driving it short distances will kill your MPG and you will be lucky to get 250 miles out of a tank.
Driving it as you have stated you will, will probably get you around 300 - 360 miles a tank.
The best I have managed is almost 500 miles to a tank on majority motorway driving and nannying it with lots of average speed check sections.
On the other end of the scale I have emptied a full tank in just over 100 miles by driving it like it was designed to be driven.


3. If it is just an oil and filter change you are doing (minor service) it should set you back no more than £200 to £250 depending on your relationship with your SA.
Doing a full major AND doing all differential fluids and gearbox fluids and filters, KDS, etc. will set you back between £900 to £1400 again depending on your relationship with your SA.

The only other thing I can add to this is beware of the dreaded coolant tank leak.

I am regularly in the west midlands, so if you want to have a nosey around mine drop me a PM and I would be happy to pay you a visit the next time I am in Brum/Cov.

[pmsteinm]

The HVAC sync drove me nuts, so this was my solution:

[F30Andy]

Originally Posted by pmsteinm

The HVAC sync drove me nuts, so this was my solution:
Attachment 3399465

Erm.... Wow. And not in a good way
Does that actually work?


To the OP, I forgot to mention about brakes. And this is a very serious thing to consider.......

If you are not looking for a car with ceramics, factor in another circa £2k for whenever you need to do pads and discs.


I got rid of my first F90 because it had ceramic brakes.
Not because the brakes were bad but because it costs more to replace pads and discs than than it does to spec it from factory.
If I remember correctly they are a £8k option.
To replace them on a service (this was around 4 years ago) was £11k just for the parts.

Granted they will not need replacing as often as their traditional counterpart, but I am a high mileage driver and couldn't stomach the thought of having to spend that kind of money on consumables.

The traditional discs and pads are more than adequate, and to be honest, I would rather suffer brake fade once in a blue moon and brake dust all the dam time than a hit to the wallet like that.
The F90 is to take me to the track and not to use on the track, so steel brakes are just fine.

[F30Andy]

One last thing.......

Tyres.
Top end Michelin rubber will set you back between £200 to £250 a corner.

Depending on how you drive you can expect at least 20k out of a set.

Find a safe open space, put it into 2wd mode, go nuts.
You can expect anything between 30 seconds to 20 mins mins out of a set

[pmsteinm]

Originally Posted by F30Andy

Does that actually work?

Yes. It also keeps their feet from scuffing up the LCD screen. Once they are out of car seats and their feet actually rest in the footwell I can remove that. Prior to that my youngest would frequently rest her foot on the knob which I was worried will break.

[DarkM5]

state farm just upped my insurance policy almost $200 a month, no claims against the car in 2 years of ownership. only explanation was cost of repairs. its like another damn car payment now.

[MarcoF90]

Originally Posted by DarkM5

state farm just upped my insurance policy almost $200 a month, no claims against the car in 2 years of ownership. only explanation was cost of repairs. its like another damn car payment now.

Hopefully my insurance doesn't go up when I trade into an M5. My insurance is decent now but with high amount of thefts of wheels and cars in the northeastern region (which im not too far from) insurance rates have been going up

[pbonsalb]

Enough of the cars have been smashed up now that the insurers can determine the appropriate rates. Also, enough are used and cheaper that a different group of people are able to buy them, and it may be that these buyers are a higher risk.

[pmsteinm]

It was a 120k car new so you should expect it to be a high rate based on price of the car alone. On top of that it can encourage higher risk driving like other high performance cars.

The first year I owned my 2009 CTS-V it was rated the same as the base CTS. The next year my rate more than doubled when they figured out it needed to be in the highest risk category with all the sports cars.

Plus rates are going up because of the "transitory" inflation.