I worked at a BMW dealer as a lot attendant in 2003 at age 19. We hired another 18 year old lot attendant who I had to train as he knew nothing about cars. His first assignment was to gas up a 2003 M5 for delivery. He came back with a huge smile on his face and told me "YES, every BMW is going to be like this!" 😂 I had to explain that NO, not every BMW will be like this. The E39 M5 may look like a family sedan but it's actually the fastest car on the lot right now. 🤣 I still love the E39 M5. Such a sleeper.
The E39 M5 was as reliable as that E55 at the time and really reliable compared to the V10 rod bearings that followed and then the hot vee turbo charged V8 S63s with cheap plastics everywhere under the hood that followed since and every M5 that followed got BLOATED on top it
@@vanhanliiton7232 benz paid for slightly better recycled plastic then bmw.. and yeah the E39 M5 was just as reliable as the E55 of you think otherwise your delusional at minimum
Fun fact. You can swap that E55 motor into the same year C43 AMG and it instantly becomes the fastest sedan in history. They actually built less than 100 of them for special order customers but they were so rare and unheard of no one tested them at the time.
@@Changingtesting there were 2 whole generations of C class from 1994 to 2007 that predate the w204 C class that started in 2008. Including 6 different AMG models, 3 with V8s.
@@Changingtestingthe c36 amg was the first amg car after the merger lmfao they’ve been around forever. They had a c class dtm car in from 94 onward in DTM
@@RetroCarReviews Yea the E39 is handsome although I had an E55 for years. Great car, not pretty, but FUN! E39 is not designed for the long term unfortunately.
@@juusbox Yeah you right w210 aged better, E39 is just overrated i drove my buddies recently and its so shit even compared to the worst w210 i had lol.
While I appreciate both BMW and Mercedes….. I think the BMW won this battle. Better looks and performance. Reliability issues with the 39 are definitely exaggerated. And the luxury appeal of the mercedes interior isn’t great enough for me to sacrifice everything else for that. Both great cars though!
Unfortunately, reliability is not exaggerated, we have both 210 e55 and e39 540 for many years (bought e39 when new in 02 and 210 used in 05). Overall 210 is much easier to work on also a lot less headache. Mechanical wise 210 is so simple, even my 12 years old son can figure out how to fix it. E39 is a complete different story though, engine is huge, there is not much room inside engine bay to work on, meanwhile mechanically it’s very complicated car compares to 210, so it’s not diy friendly. During my ownership, 210 never strand us on road, meanwhile e39 failed multiple times (especially after 2013, so we decide to get rid of it). I still kept our 210, and it still in very good condition
I've driven both and own atm W210 E55. Interior really isn't even much more luxurious compaired to M5. M5 is more fun and drives better (fast) but i still prefer E55. More mature and classy. Sill fast enough. And if you want one car with automatic then AMG is quite ok choice.
Because the Benz is a far better car, better build quality, more solid all around. I’ve been driving E classes before they were E class. Put 250,000 miles on my 1984 300D, owned 3 W124’s that all had over 200 K on them. Wouldn’t trade my W210 for any BMW, or my 1990 300CE.
@@keithgreenaway2690 That's great and all, but those are all different cars, it's not "any bmw" and it's not "any mercedes" it's an e39 m5 and a w210 e55, and history, and prices, have shown that the e39 m5 is superior
Buying a 20 year old M5 nowadays is a totally gamble. Most of them have been beat to hell and are maintenance nightmares. Even a neglected E55 will make it to 200,000 miles pretty easily.
Bmw are really unreliable and poor craftsmanship especially of that era .. Mercedes e55 was truly amazing and still stands out in a crowd of ugly humpback suv’s , if u happen to spot one on the road today.
@@BlackonBlackE46 i would say they can run strong all the way up to 250,000 miles. before major issues happen. and a e55 blue book value is higher than any bmw of that time
