Someone Just Paid $477,000 For This Insane Volkswagen-Powered BMW M5
Ever heard of a BMW M5 with a Volkswagen engine? No, we’re not making this up. Someone really stuffed an experimental Volkswagen W10 into one of BMW’s most iconic sports sedans, and the story gets even better when you find out who was behind it. Built in March 1999, this unusual E39 BMW M5 was originally powered by a naturally aspirated 4.9-liter V8 producing 394 horsepower. But that engine eventually made way for something far stranger: a 5.0-liter Volkswagen W10 developed under the direction of Ferdinand Piëch, the former Volkswagen Group boss known for his ambitious engineering projects.
Volkswagen Swapped The BMW V8 For Their Own W10
So, why would Volkswagen put its experimental engine in a BMW? Piëch reportedly wanted to explore the possibility of a Volkswagen performance sedan that could compete with the BMW M5. And what better way to test that idea than with the car Volkswagen wanted to challenge? The result was a seriously unusual machine. The W10 produces a reported 473 horsepower and 437 lb-ft of torque, giving it more muscle than the BMW’s original V8.
The engine’s layout is just as weird as the swap itself. Instead of using the conventional arrangement found in a typical V10, Volkswagen’s W10 used a narrow-angle design to squeeze 10 cylinders into a compact package. It was paired with the M5’s six-speed manual transmission, while the car’s traction control, stability control, and ABS were deactivated during development. And here’s where things get even more interesting. According to the engineering team’s account, Piëch used the car as his personal transportation during testing. Imagine pulling up next to an ordinary-looking E39 M5 without realizing there’s an experimental Volkswagen engine hiding under its hood.
This BMW Is One Of Three Ever Made
According to Broad Arrow Auctions, only three W10 engines were built. One ended up in this BMW, another remains in Germany, and the third was offered alongside the car as a display engine. The W10 was part of Volkswagen’s experimental engine development, which later included W-layout engines such as the W12 and the Bugatti Veyron’s quad-turbocharged W16. The W10 itself never became a production engine, making this BMW a particularly unusual piece of automotive history.The car recently sold at Broad Arrow’s Zoute Concours Auction in Belgium for €411,250, or approximately $477,000 based on the exchange rate. That’s a lot of money for an M5, but how many others have an experimental Volkswagen engine under the hood?
Source: Broad Arrow Auctions
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