E60 BMW M5 Manual V10 Finally Gains Collector Value as Market Awakens

Somewhere in the early 2000s, German automakers seemed to be racing against an invisible clock. Mercedes was stuffing enormous V8s into sedans. Audi was building twin-turbo V10 wagons on the back of its Lamborghini acquisition. And then there was BMW, which did something that still feels almost reckless: it put a naturally aspirated V10 engine—one derived from Formula One—into a family sedan, and offered it with a manual transmission.

For years, the market barely noticed. The E60-generation BMW M5, which arrived for the 2006 model year, was a technical marvel that collectors largely overlooked. But something has shifted. Clean examples with the six-speed manual are now selling for $70,000 or more, up from around $30,000 just a year ago. The car that once slipped beneath the radar is suddenly being priced like the singular thing it actually is: the only naturally aspirated V10 manual sedan ever built.

The S85 engine was unlike anything BMW had made before or since. Displacing 5.0 liters, it produced 500 horsepower and 384 foot-pounds of torque, with a redline that climbed to 8,250 rpm. The engineering was almost excessive by today's standards—individual throttle bodies, variable valve timing, a dry-sump lubrication system designed to handle extreme cornering forces. This was the noughties, when automakers still had the budget and the will to build things simply because they could. The engine shared no design DNA with any non-M BMW engine; it was built from the ground up, a road car wearing racing DNA.

But here's the crucial detail that explains why collectors are now scrambling: the manual transmission was offered only in North America. The rest of the world got the SMG sequential manual—a transmission that, for all its technical sophistication, felt jerky and slow-responding, more like a teenager learning to drive stick than a precision instrument. America's overwhelming demand for a traditional clutch pedal meant BMW built roughly 1,300 six-speed manual M5s against about 7,400 SMG versions. That scarcity, combined with the manual's mechanical purity, has made the stick-shift E60 the collector's choice. The E63 M6 also received this manual, but the M5's sedan lineage gives it the edge.

The price appreciation follows a pattern seen with other rare manual variants—the Ferrari F355, the Lamborghini Gallardo—where the three-pedal version commands a premium that reflects not just rarity but the knowledge that no manufacturer will ever build this combination again. A 32,000-mile example recently sold for just under $70,000. Ultra-low mileage specimens have traded for $132,000, though that represents the market's ceiling rather than its floor. The appreciation is being driven partly by nostalgia: those who had E60 M5s on their bedroom walls in the 2000s now have the money to buy them. The Honda S2000, classic Subarus, and hot hatches have all experienced similar revivals. The E60 M5 is another chapter in that movement, and for those willing to maintain it, it remains the best naturally aspirated, manually shifted sedan ever produced.

That willingness to maintain it matters enormously. The S85 V10 is a high-strung engine with serious vulnerabilities. Rod bearing wear is the primary concern—the oil clearances weren't designed robustly enough for the high-revving architecture, and replacement is typically needed every 60,000 to 80,000 miles. The cooling system is prone to failure. Throttle actuators fail regularly on higher-mileage examples. Spark plugs, coil packs, fuel consumption—the general upkeep of a V10 is notoriously expensive. A full maintenance cycle can easily exceed $10,000. Buyers are advised to seek examples with higher mileage but complete major service histories rather than chasing the lowest odometer readings.

What makes the E60's appreciation particularly striking is the contrast with what BMW builds today. The current M5 is faster, more capable, and equipped with a plug-in hybrid system that lowers emissions and running costs. It can corner like a supercar. But it doesn't stir the soul in the way a naturally aspirated V10 does. Looming emissions regulations mean fewer manual cars and less money devoted to pure performance development. The latest M5 feels somewhat unremarkable after a few days behind the wheel—competent, but distant. The E60, by contrast, is becoming the car for people who understand what was lost when automakers stopped building things this way. It's the perfect "if you know, you know" car in an era when conspicuous displays of wealth are falling out of fashion. And as regulations tighten further, the gap between what was possible then and what's possible now will only widen.