Advice on 4.8is

[nate13]

Hello Xoutpost!

I'm reaching out for a sanity check... I've recently decided that I'd like to keep and restore my e39 M5 after winning the battle with the VANOS system earlier this year. With that done, it's painful to think about putting in any re-conditioning work while driving it in our brutal North Dakota winters and I really do love the car.

In a perfect scenario, I would add a 06 4.8is to the stable, which would serve as a winter driver as well as giving me flexibility to take on bigger projects on any of our cars. My wife drives our 2005 3.0i e53, and while it's not totally neglected, I haven't been able to stay ahead of the maintenance with the M5 occupying my free time. She would like to eventually transition to an 06' X3, so I'm billing a 4.8is as part of the transition; buy the 4.8is, fix up and sell the 3.0, and get a (green) X3.

I've identified two on the market that fit my list (black exterior, OEM trailer hitch, good condition), but both are quite different maintenance wise:

- 06 with 139k miles, 3 owners, valve stem seals complete, air suspension refreshed, and quite a bit of preventative maintenance. Only option difference is comfort seats. For sale by owner for $10.5k.
- 06 with 82k miles, 2 owners, valve stems seals have not been replaced, and unknown if any preventative maintenance. Sport seats. For sale by dealer at $11k.

I'm leaning towards the lower milage option, considering that the valve stem seals are not out of my comfort range, and almost 60k miles difference is significant in other components (drivetrain, transmission, etc).

Thoughts?