Just performed the simple test of monitoring the voltage drop on the starter cable when cranking the starter.
I have a 2001 m54 gas 3.0i. The engine was slightly not cold (a few minutes of operation after sitting overnight then a minute or two rest when I realized I've been meaning to take this measurement for a while).
I started the car twice in a row the first was actually about 75/100v second start 63/100 and after waiting just 3-4 minutes took 75/100 again.
I'm going on gut to say my starter hasn't started the escalation of current into failure and is pulling between 200-225A.
That means 0.75/212.5 means about 3.5 mΩ cable resistance.
If you take the voltage drop measured from the cig. lighter socket to the B+ jump point under the hood and multiply by 285 you should arrive at starter current.
Somebody with access to a clamp ammeter could perform the voltage drop measure to get a more accurate value but this will get you in the ballpark.
It also will give you trend and comparison info. Eg. Take the measurement at 30C and 0C it will be a lot different.
So back testing: 0.75v x 285 = 285*0.75 = 213. The immediate restart (oil still on all the journal bearings etc) was .63*285 or 180A both numbers seem right on target.
I was able to have the shrink wrap on the B+ hold my positive lead to make it very easy to do the measurement.
At some point it will be nice to have a control taken to measure the current draw and voltage drop at the same time but the 285 figure will probably work very well for most people to get a sense of if their starter is wearing out.
I'll take the measurement on wife's car when I'm in the same zip code as the car to DOUBLE my sample size.
Best if your meter has a peak scale (in fact probably a requirement. I just tried to watch live and only saw .30v or something. Maybe with analog meter you can watch the needle.
After I get a bigger sample size and especially if I can get a simultaneous clamp ammeter reading I'll make a thread about the topic and post more details.
1.38v would be 392A for comparison.