Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
They seriously aren't that bad? What about the 10w60 in the pan? LMAO!!!!!
Everything about the M-cars screams "fun summer vehicle" to me.... I hadn't even considered driving it year-round.
A friend of mine has an '05 M3, which gets winter tires in winter. His father has an E46 330xi, which gets all-seasons year-round. The M3 with winter tires is the better vehicle in the snow. One time the father got stuck in the snow, and my friend went out in his M3 and pulled him out. Not kidding. If you PM me, I'll send you his name on M3Forum so you can ask him.
Of course, the E46 M3 is lighter, and has a better diff and less torque, than an E39 M5. However, my friend in CT with the E39 M5 gets around just fine. My experience, even with my super-worn LSD, has been similar.
As with any decent LSD-equipped RWD car, the only disadvantage an M car will have in the snow (compared to a FWD or AWD car) is traction under acceleration in the worst conditions. Handling and braking in all conditions will be significantly better than with most cars because of their 50/50 weight distributions, relatively light weight, and good suspensions. Considering that turning and stopping abilities are much more important to safety than acceleration, that sounds like a fair trade-off to me. Adding in the potential for safe car control experiments in empty parking lots, it's a slam-dunk IMO.
Again, for emphasis: These are not cars on which you can just slap all-season tires and expect to be okay. I think it's safe to say that, if you expect to get around in the snow, you should have winter tires. However, if you do, you will be quite shocked by what the car can do.
As for the oil, everyone I personally know with a car that specs Castrol TWS 10w-60 uses that oil year-round. At least two have over 100k miles on them without a problem in sight. TWS has a pour point of something like -51º C, if I'm not mistaken. Warm the car up gently and you'll be fine.