If you’ve ever owned or been around BMWs and especially the M performance models, you should know that they’re not the best cars for fiddling around with in your garage. But once you go down that tuning route, it’s hard to go back, which is what happened to the owner of this 2002 BMW M5 E39 sedan, which in factory trim, gained its power from a naturally-aspirated 4.9-liter V8 twisting out 400PS (395hp).
Even though there was nothing wrong with the motor, owner Ed Mui wanted more at a lower cost, so he swapped the Bavarian V8 for a…twin-turbo unit from a Toyota Supra.
In an interview with Eurotuner magazine in 2010, Mui explained the reasoning behind his decision:
“I purchased the car in 11/07 as a daily driver in Manhattan and vowed to keep it stock,” he said, pointing out that he soon changed his mind and started adding a number of parts. The problem, however, was the constant and expensive maintenance.
“Being around E-shift and all the 1JZ- and 2JZ-powered cars, I figured I could’ve spent all the maintenance dollars on mods if it were a Japanese import,” he added. “After spending several grand on the car, I didn’t even have any performance mods. So I started looking at prices and while everything would cost over $10k, I was disappointed to discover they wouldn’t increase the M5’s power by even 100whp. And with E-shift already doing several successful swaps, I thought why not the M5?”
Now, two years after that interview, Mui has decided to part ways with the Supra-powered M5.
“I really don’t want to give up this car, but I plan to move to Asia next year and will start the sale process for the car now,” he said on the Bimmerforums, where he has listed the car for sale at $22,000 or best offer.
Currently, the M5 has 98,000 miles (close to 160,000 kilometers) on the chassis and unknown on the engine.
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