A unique 2000 BMW M5 E39 will be auctioned at Broad Arrow in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, on October 9. The car was built under Ferdinand Piëch's direction as part of an experiment with a ten-cylinder Volkswagen engine. The preliminary estimate for the car is 250,000–350,000 euros (24-33.5 million rubles).
Instead of the standard 4.9-liter S62 V8, the car received a naturally aspirated, all-aluminum W10 engine with a displacement of approximately 5.0 liters. According to current data from Broad Arrow, it produces 473 hp and 592 N·m — 79 hp and 92 N·m more than the standard E39 M5 engine. The six-speed manual transmission has been retained.
To install the W10, custom intake elements, an ignition system, and a coolant expansion tank had to be fabricated. ABS, traction control, and stability control are disabled, and the engine operates with a special standalone control unit.
The project existed outside of Volkswagen's official research program and was carried out under Piëch's direct instructions. According to the current owner, about 2 million euros were spent on its development. Piëch himself personally tested the car with temporary license plates. However, the exact mileage of the car is unknown: the standard instrument cluster was replaced with a Stack racing panel without an odometer.
In total, engineers built only three W10s. One engine is installed in this BMW, the second will be presented alongside the car at the auction, and the third is in Germany. No other road cars with such an engine existed.