The E61 M5 Touring is one of the very coolest cars BMW has ever made, being a five-door family wagon with a 5.0 liter V10 stuffed under the hood. However, it can also be a bit of a headache for owners, due to its high cost of maintenance and, if you live in Europe, its SMG gearbox. North America was offered a manual transmission in the E60 M5 but Europe was not. Which makes this particular E61 M5 Touring quite tempting for UK customers, as it’s been converted to have a manual transmission.

Due to the aforementioned maintenance headaches, which include very expensive rod-bearing replacements, most enthusiasts shy away from buying used E60-gen M5s, as they’re often not worth the investment. Especially so in the UK, where customers were forced to deal with the frustrating SMG automated manual gearbox. However, if its annoying SMG were to be swapped out for a manual, would that actually make it tempting enough to forget those high-cost maintenance issues, especially if many of those issues were recently fixed?

This specific 2007 BMW M5 Touring, currently up for sale on Collecting Cars, is about the best case scenario for any UK enthusiast that wants an E61 M5 Touring. With just 59,600 miles on the odometer, it’s pretty damn fresh. Sure, there are some very minor scratches and paint blemishes but it’s a 15 year old car, it looks fantastic for its age.

It’s also had a ton of recent service done, with its rod bearings, VANOS line, and engine mounts done, among other things, at 56,285 miles. Which means it should run to at least 100,000 miles without any real issues, as its main points of failure were recently replaced.

The kicker, though, is its manual transmission. Instead of the six-speed SMG, this E61 M5 Touring sports a six-speed manual with a lovely stubby shift knob. When you add it all up; an M5 wagon with a naturally-aspirated V10 engine, a six-speed manual, and all the recent service records you could want; this E61 M5 Touring could be the most tempting we’ve ever seen. Especially in a sleeper color spec, like black on black. Check it out.

[Source: Collecting Cars]