Affordable Performance With A Swapped BMW Wagon

Budget performance possible with elbow grease.

Fun, cheap, and affordable cars were plentiful at some point. Those who have been around cars for a while will recall the “original” and previous market prices. Unfortunately those have likely ballooned beyond comprehension due to limited resources and people holding onto them as collector items. However, it’s still possible to obtain affordable performance if you’re willing to build it.

BMW is self-coined as the ultimate driving machines. Their catalog is long with options ranging from budget daily drivers all the way to track-bred factory performance, with a bunch of options and tiers in between to choose from. Purchasing an out of the box performance BMW today demands top dollar – especially when they’re in well maintained shape.

A common theme across desirable cars is to look for the one grandma owned. Those are usually lightly driven and cared for diligently. They usually have an automatic transmission, though. With a bit of elbow grease, these can be transformed into a great budget performance toy.

Speed Academy did this with their BMW E61 5-series wagon. It’s offered in a large period of time between 2003-2010, with multiple options of drivetrain configurations and engine combinations. Their example is an inline-6 version with twin turbos – a great platform for modification and improvements in the future, paired with a 6-speed. Its wagon layout also makes it a cool “Dad-car” project that is fast, fun, and practical.

The nice part about building one from scratch is that you can address the maintenance items “while you’re there”. Engine mounts, rear main seals, pesky electronics, and fluid systems are now easily accessible. This build is very plug and play friendly, with all provisions to convert present. It gives opportunity to configure the build whichever way you’d like with the money you saved going this route.