Thinking of an E39 Sport as a daily runner

[lugy]

[Morat]

For the price of a set of wheels and tyres, you'd probably be better off getting a cheap 4x4 in summer and saving the 5er from all the salt, grit and lunatics doing Torville and Dean impressions.

[atlantis]

Love my sport but never use it when theres snow around

s'pose with winter tyres and a few bags of cement in the back you would be ok

[lugy]

That's very very nice atlantis. I'm sort of humming and hawing over this one though, I really want it but I'm not sure if it's a good idea.

Financially it's not really adding up, twice as much to insure it than my Vectra and £143/6 months for road tax but then you can't really compare it to a 170k 100hp diesel hatchback I guess.

This is the car in question;

[jimbom30cab]

great car, perfect spec and looks the business, get it....you won't regret it (i have one and i love it)

[lugy]

As Peter Griffin would say, that's all the motivation I need to actually do this.......

Well after we speak to the "bank manager" that is.

[atlantis]

That looks realy nice mate, with a good spec.

had mine 4yrs now just come up to 100k with very little trouble in the time iv'e had it

nip over to forum.bmw5.co.uk for all the info you need for buying and what to look out for. Sorry cant do links

[B7]

Go in eyes wide open on this. I run a 530i sport daily and be prepared for a number of bills. Personally I don't think the wheels on that do it any favours, and it looks like the bills have already started to mount up.

If you need a loan to buy it, you'll need another to run it properly.

[ETERNITY]

Go in eyes wide open on this. I run a 530i sport daily and be prepared for a number of bills. Personally I don't think the wheels on that do it any favours, and it looks like the bills have already started to mount up.

If you need a loan to buy it, you'll need another to run it properly.

I am also in the market for a 530i sport

what kind of work have you had to do.

thanks

[lugy]

Go in eyes wide open on this. I run a 530i sport daily and be prepared for a number of bills. Personally I don't think the wheels on that do it any favours, and it looks like the bills have already started to mount up.

If you need a loan to buy it, you'll need another to run it properly.

I've been keeping an eye on your thread which (along with others) brought me to the hum and haw situation.

The money part shouldn't be a major problem though I certainly don't want a money pit - I already have one of those in the form of an E30, it's just it could probably be better spent elsewhere more sensibly, like a newer Vectra than what I have.

I'd tend to agree on the wheels, it used to wear some ACS 18" ones but they now seem to be back on the owners E36 Touring which has been Schnitzer-fied. I'm sure I could sell the wheels to someone from Birmingham though!

[ETERNITY]

Go in eyes wide open on this. I run a 530i sport daily and be prepared for a number of bills. Personally I don't think the wheels on that do it any favours, and it looks like the bills have already started to mount up.

If you need a loan to buy it, you'll need another to run it properly.

I am looking at one this weekend

530i sport

Its an champagne edition, sapphire black

160k FBMSH

what do I look out for

thanks

[pony]

I always LOVED the E39 shape and especially the E39 M5 but whoever owns this must be the happiest 5 Series owner alive except for the M5 owners of course....

Almost perfect though not quite

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3189384.htm

[lugy]

I've put a whole shift of thinking into it and I've decided to give E39 ownership a miss this time. At the end of the day (although it's a lot of car for the money) it's 10 years old and it's not going to be a "fix any problem with the standard toolkit" car.
Putting a bit more thought into it I might look into a decent E36 325TDS Sport Touring if such a thing exists (or make my own if it doesn't!) or a nice E34 TDS. Then again I could spend the £150 or so the Vectra needs to replace bushes/do the brakes/service it/etc.
Whatever I decide on I need something that'll cope with 500 miles per week from Jan onwards!

[Blitz]

E36 318i touring?

[lugy]

Could potentially be a bit gutless, I remember having a go in one and it really felt like it lacked a few ponies! I imagine it might be fairly economical when I wasn't trying to set the world alight, though it'd have to be close to the 42mpg I get with the Vectroid.

[lugy]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1999-E36-BMW- ... 27bea9b73a

This would be very nice, my favourite BMW colour, nice spec but I doubt it'd be very economical

[B7]

Go in eyes wide open on this. I run a 530i sport daily and be prepared for a number of bills. Personally I don't think the wheels on that do it any favours, and it looks like the bills have already started to mount up.

If you need a loan to buy it, you'll need another to run it properly.

I am looking at one this weekend

530i sport

Its an champagne edition, sapphire black

160k FBMSH

what do I look out for

thanks

Oil leaks, Suspension issues (every joint bearing mount strut etc), rust, history, irregular tyre wear, broken headlight adjusters, ABS faults, Warning lights on the dash, Pixels problems on the dash...... in fact just be careful.

160k on one of these is not like 160k on an e34. They can take it. These cannot.

[pony]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1999-E36-BMW- ... 27bea9b73a

This would be very nice, my favourite BMW colour, nice spec but I doubt it'd be very economical

thats a last-of-the-line one.......got to be quite rare nowdays?

but why not just get a E46 323Ci based on the same engine except double vanos and much more modern unless you got a serious hankering for a E36?

[lugy]

As stupid as this may sound, I just prefer the E36, when it's in Sport guise you know it's a Sport.

This is a Sport apparently but apart from the seats I couldn't tell it from anything else.

[ETERNITY]

Go in eyes wide open on this. I run a 530i sport daily and be prepared for a number of bills. Personally I don't think the wheels on that do it any favours, and it looks like the bills have already started to mount up.

If you need a loan to buy it, you'll need another to run it properly.

I am looking at one this weekend

530i sport

Its an champagne edition, sapphire black

160k FBMSH

what do I look out for

thanks

Oil leaks, Suspension issues (every joint bearing mount strut etc), rust, history, irregular tyre wear, broken headlight adjusters, ABS faults, Warning lights on the dash, Pixels problems on the dash...... in fact just be careful.

160k on one of these is not like 160k on an e34. They can take it. These cannot.

I thought these e39's were rated and are supposed to be the best ever 5 series.

I will look at this 160k e39 with very close eyes.

Thanks for teh advice

much appreciated

[pony]

I am looking at one this weekend

530i sport

Its an champagne edition, sapphire black

160k FBMSH

what do I look out for

thanks

Oil leaks, Suspension issues (every joint bearing mount strut etc), rust, history, irregular tyre wear, broken headlight adjusters, ABS faults, Warning lights on the dash, Pixels problems on the dash...... in fact just be careful.

160k on one of these is not like 160k on an e34. They can take it. These cannot.

I thought these e39's were rated and are supposed to be the best ever 5 series.

I will look at this 160k e39 with very close eyes.

Thanks for teh advice

much appreciated

e39: they are.......it was rated by "what car" magazine throughout its life cycle.......no other 5 series came close.......even got more computing power than NASA had when they put man on the moon. It does not mean they will not get problems though esp if not well looked after. The E39 M5 is probably one of the best all-round M5s ever made if you look at any of its reviews during its life cycle not one bad review and never lost on a group test.

e46: that 100% is not a Sport that is by the looks of it a SE. Sports have the BMW M aerodynamic bodykit which is fairly similar to the BMW M3 though not quite. It should also say on the log book and you can always check with BMW.

[B7]

Oil leaks, Suspension issues (every joint bearing mount strut etc), rust, history, irregular tyre wear, broken headlight adjusters, ABS faults, Warning lights on the dash, Pixels problems on the dash...... in fact just be careful.

160k on one of these is not like 160k on an e34. They can take it. These cannot.

I thought these e39's were rated and are supposed to be the best ever 5 series.

I will look at this 160k e39 with very close eyes.

Thanks for teh advice

much appreciated

e39: they are.......it was rated by "what car" magazine throughout its life cycle.......no other 5 series came close.......even got more computing power than NASA had when they put man on the moon. It does not mean they will not get problems though esp if not well looked after. The E39 M5 is probably one of the best all-round M5s ever made if you look at any of its reviews during its life cycle not one bad review and never lost on a group test.

This is true. What car created a lifetime acheivement for the e39 as it won the same award for I think 7 years.

That was when they were new! You simply cannot compare a new e39 to one with 160k and the best part of 10 years under it's belt!

And mileage doesn't seem to matter either. Mate has just sold a 2000 W 523 with a super spec. His dad bought it brand new in 2000 (not even a demo car) and Brian took it on a couple of years ago. 100% original with 43k up and FULL BMWSH. And still it had an ABS fault and when we changed the rear wheel speed sensor, yes! the sensor was seized in the hub. Even ion that car, the faults were starting.

I've stripped a lot of e30's now and I've never yet had a seized ABS sensor in a hub. Why? because quality was tops back then and it's a quality part fitted in a quality hub.

Don't get me wrong, they are great cars that drive well, but be prepared for niggling faults that you can't diagnose without the software which immediately increases the cost of any fix further.

I sometimes think I'd be better off having some Passion in my life with something Italian like an Alfa. Whereas when I owned an e34, i'd never have considered it!

[Morat]

During the short six months I drove an E39 540i I was the most paranoid bonnet lifter you've ever met. I was crawling over that thing scared stupid that the coolant light would come on, the valley pan gasket would fail, the paint off the inside of the cam cover would block the oilways etc etc etc.

The thing ran brilliantly and I shouldn't have been worried but the sheer paranoia of owning a big luxury barge when you don't know enough to fix it yourself should not be underestimated. For some reason, reading the E30 zone gives me confidence that pretty much everything can be sorted on an E30. The E39 forums are full of "I paid £XXXX to the garage to fix Y".

[ETERNITY]

During the short six months I drove an E39 540i I was the most paranoid bonnet lifter you've ever met. I was crawling over that thing scared stupid that the coolant light would come on, the valley pan gasket would fail, the paint off the inside of the cam cover would block the oilways etc etc etc.

The thing ran brilliantly and I shouldn't have been worried but the sheer paranoia of owning a big luxury barge when you don't know enough to fix it yourself should not be underestimated. For some reason, reading the E30 zone gives me confidence that pretty much everything can be sorted on an E30. The E39 forums are full of "I paid £XXXX to the garage to fix Y".

Too much "what if" thinking can make you paranoid

its good to go with open eyes when looking at vehicles, but surely if a E39 sport has low owners and FBMSH it shoud be ok.

I think am going to pay the extra £1000 and buy a low milege one.

The 160k milege one=£3200k

The 93k milege=£4200

both are 530i sport champagne edition 2 with FBMSH

[pacerpete]

During the short six months I drove an E39 540i I was the most paranoid bonnet lifter you've ever met. I was crawling over that thing scared stupid that the coolant light would come on, the valley pan gasket would fail, the paint off the inside of the cam cover would block the oilways etc etc etc.

The thing ran brilliantly and I shouldn't have been worried but the sheer paranoia of owning a big luxury barge when you don't know enough to fix it yourself should not be underestimated. For some reason, reading the E30 zone gives me confidence that pretty much everything can be sorted on an E30. The E39 forums are full of "I paid £XXXX to the garage to fix Y".

Too much "what if" thinking can make you paranoid

its good to go with open eyes when looking at vehicles, but surely if a E39 sport has low owners and FBMSH it shoud be ok.

I think am going to pay the extra £1000 and buy a low milege one.

The 160k milege one=£3200k

The 93k milege=£4200

both are 530i sport champagne edition 2 with FBMSH

Another way of looking at it is that the 160k turd has had lots of things replaced and the 93k turd is just waiting to get lots of bits replaced !

E39s were a great new car, they are a sh1t old car.

[Demlotcrew]

My Dads 530i sport has done close to 190k and it only had one rear drop link and an alternator, no electrical issues, no engine issues, no wear issues.

I would say if you are looking for one, buy the diesel and buy the latest model you can! I would not buy one from < 2002.

Andrew

[lugy]

During the short six months I drove an E39 540i I was the most paranoid bonnet lifter you've ever met. I was crawling over that thing scared stupid that the coolant light would come on, the valley pan gasket would fail, the paint off the inside of the cam cover would block the oilways etc etc etc.

The thing ran brilliantly and I shouldn't have been worried but the sheer paranoia of owning a big luxury barge when you don't know enough to fix it yourself should not be underestimated. For some reason, reading the E30 zone gives me confidence that pretty much everything can be sorted on an E30. The E39 forums are full of "I paid £XXXX to the garage to fix Y".

I should have really learnt my lesson before even contemplating something "complicated" again. A few years ago I bought this barge after deciding I wanted something a bit more comfortable;

It's by far the most comfortable thing I've been in, had just about every concievable extra and even though it was just the 320 it was still quite spritely. In the end it was scrapped when the ECU packed in (the car did have about 9 off them!). It was the first car I had to take to a garage to get try and get fixed, though the owner didn't charge me anything for looking at it.

[ETERNITY]

Despite all this negative feedback regarding e39's

I still think e39's are great cars if you can find a good one

I think the 160k could be a better one than the 93k

will be seeing both this weekend

[pony]

I thought these e39's were rated and are supposed to be the best ever 5 series.

I will look at this 160k e39 with very close eyes.

Thanks for teh advice

much appreciated

e39: they are.......it was rated by "what car" magazine throughout its life cycle.......no other 5 series came close.......even got more computing power than NASA had when they put man on the moon. It does not mean they will not get problems though esp if not well looked after. The E39 M5 is probably one of the best all-round M5s ever made if you look at any of its reviews during its life cycle not one bad review and never lost on a group test.

This is true. What car created a lifetime acheivement for the e39 as it won the same award for I think 7 years.

That was when they were new! You simply cannot compare a new e39 to one with 160k and the best part of 10 years under it's belt!

And mileage doesn't seem to matter either. Mate has just sold a 2000 W 523 with a super spec. His dad bought it brand new in 2000 (not even a demo car) and Brian took it on a couple of years ago. 100% original with 43k up and FULL BMWSH. And still it had an ABS fault and when we changed the rear wheel speed sensor, yes! the sensor was seized in the hub. Even ion that car, the faults were starting.

I've stripped a lot of e30's now and I've never yet had a seized ABS sensor in a hub. Why? because quality was tops back then and it's a quality part fitted in a quality hub.

Don't get me wrong, they are great cars that drive well, but be prepared for niggling faults that you can't diagnose without the software which immediately increases the cost of any fix further.

I sometimes think I'd be better off having some Passion in my life with something Italian like an Alfa. Whereas when I owned an e34, i'd never have considered it!

I would love to own a concours totally original E39 M5 in Le Mans Blue facelift at some point in my life and bloody hope i do.

Dashboard question
is there a reason why the E46/E38/E39 dashboard looks so similar is it just economies of scale? I think it looks best on the E39 though. Similarly E30/E34/E32 dashboards are similar but WHAT a dashboard.

E39 servicing
I am surprised by some of the comments on here that people worry about fixing E39s......surely if you can fix and E30 you got the mechanical knowhow to fix an E39. The only main thing you need is the right diagnostic equipment which will help fault finding to be easier than otherwise.

E30 build quality
Yeah you say E30 build quality is really good and i think that is the rep esp for their day. Though you will know more about this than me.

Why are there so many ropey E30s out there now?
Is it just simply but owners that were too careless to use the right parts (Genuine BMW Parts) and the correct servicing as prices were freefalling with them during the 1990s?

[pony]

During the short six months I drove an E39 540i I was the most paranoid bonnet lifter you've ever met. I was crawling over that thing scared stupid that the coolant light would come on, the valley pan gasket would fail, the paint off the inside of the cam cover would block the oilways etc etc etc.

The thing ran brilliantly and I shouldn't have been worried but the sheer paranoia of owning a big luxury barge when you don't know enough to fix it yourself should not be underestimated. For some reason, reading the E30 zone gives me confidence that pretty much everything can be sorted on an E30. The E39 forums are full of "I paid £XXXX to the garage to fix Y".

I should have really learnt my lesson before even contemplating something "complicated" again. A few years ago I bought this barge after deciding I wanted something a bit more comfortable;

It's by far the most comfortable thing I've been in, had just about every concievable extra and even though it was just the 320 it was still quite spritely. In the end it was scrapped when the ECU packed in (the car did have about 9 off them!). It was the first car I had to take to a garage to get try and get fixed, though the owner didn't charge me anything for looking at it.

Have you ever had a wander on pistonheads and looked at Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG Coupes (2001) ? What a car. There is a limited F1 edition i cannot remember which year they made it but it had carbon brakes i think and based on FIA Formula One Safety Car.

[B7]

e39: they are.......it was rated by "what car" magazine throughout its life cycle.......no other 5 series came close.......even got more computing power than NASA had when they put man on the moon. It does not mean they will not get problems though esp if not well looked after. The E39 M5 is probably one of the best all-round M5s ever made if you look at any of its reviews during its life cycle not one bad review and never lost on a group test.

This is true. What car created a lifetime acheivement for the e39 as it won the same award for I think 7 years.

That was when they were new! You simply cannot compare a new e39 to one with 160k and the best part of 10 years under it's belt!

And mileage doesn't seem to matter either. Mate has just sold a 2000 W 523 with a super spec. His dad bought it brand new in 2000 (not even a demo car) and Brian took it on a couple of years ago. 100% original with 43k up and FULL BMWSH. And still it had an ABS fault and when we changed the rear wheel speed sensor, yes! the sensor was seized in the hub. Even ion that car, the faults were starting.

I've stripped a lot of e30's now and I've never yet had a seized ABS sensor in a hub. Why? because quality was tops back then and it's a quality part fitted in a quality hub.

Don't get me wrong, they are great cars that drive well, but be prepared for niggling faults that you can't diagnose without the software which immediately increases the cost of any fix further.

I sometimes think I'd be better off having some Passion in my life with something Italian like an Alfa. Whereas when I owned an e34, i'd never have considered it!

E39 servicing
I am surprised by some of the comments on here that people worry about fixing E39s......surely if you can fix and E30 you got the mechanical knowhow to fix an E39. The only main thing you need is the right diagnostic equipment which will help fault finding to be easier than otherwise.

Why are there so many ropey E30s out there now?
Is it just simply but owners that were too careless to use the right parts (Genuine BMW Parts) and the correct servicing as prices were freefalling with them during the 1990s?

It's not the actually fitting of the parts, it's the diagnostics and it ain't quite as simple as buying a basic code reader. With the vast majority of the diagnostic software for sale on ebay and held by your local "plop it and puddun it motors", it will only tell you the basics. Get the 3 dreaded traction / ABS lights up? Plug in the above software and it WILL tell you "LH REAR SPEED SENSOR". So off you trot to buy one at a touch under £100, fit it and the lights are still there. Clear the codes down, drive and re read? "LH REAR SPEED SENSOR". At which point you have to bite the bullet and book it into the dealers for a full diagnostics. Barry had mine on the ramp for 3 hours (£286) only to tell me that it was the LH SPEED SENSOR CIRCUIT in the ABS module. New Module?£880 plus the vat plus coding plus fitting! Ok I had mine repaired at BBA REMAN but it still took a £286 hit just to tell me what it was. However I did save on the coding part as using my own meant it was already coded. It's shite like this that will drive you mad!

And many of the various parts of the car are coded to the chassis number. You can't just nip down the breakers for a set of clocks and fit them without recoding them to the car!

E39's are in freefall right now and there are soome really ropey ones out there that have fallen into the wrong hands already. It took the e30 longer to become ropey as the quality was far higher than the later stuff.

[pony]

This is true. What car created a lifetime acheivement for the e39 as it won the same award for I think 7 years.

That was when they were new! You simply cannot compare a new e39 to one with 160k and the best part of 10 years under it's belt!

And mileage doesn't seem to matter either. Mate has just sold a 2000 W 523 with a super spec. His dad bought it brand new in 2000 (not even a demo car) and Brian took it on a couple of years ago. 100% original with 43k up and FULL BMWSH. And still it had an ABS fault and when we changed the rear wheel speed sensor, yes! the sensor was seized in the hub. Even ion that car, the faults were starting.

I've stripped a lot of e30's now and I've never yet had a seized ABS sensor in a hub. Why? because quality was tops back then and it's a quality part fitted in a quality hub.

Don't get me wrong, they are great cars that drive well, but be prepared for niggling faults that you can't diagnose without the software which immediately increases the cost of any fix further.

I sometimes think I'd be better off having some Passion in my life with something Italian like an Alfa. Whereas when I owned an e34, i'd never have considered it!

E39 servicing
I am surprised by some of the comments on here that people worry about fixing E39s......surely if you can fix and E30 you got the mechanical knowhow to fix an E39. The only main thing you need is the right diagnostic equipment which will help fault finding to be easier than otherwise.

Why are there so many ropey E30s out there now?
Is it just simply but owners that were too careless to use the right parts (Genuine BMW Parts) and the correct servicing as prices were freefalling with them during the 1990s?

It's not the actually fitting of the parts, it's the diagnostics and it ain't quite as simple as buying a basic code reader. With the vast majority of the diagnostic software for sale on ebay and held by your local "plop it and puddun it motors", it will only tell you the basics. Get the 3 dreaded traction / ABS lights up? Plug in the above software and it WILL tell you "LH REAR SPEED SENSOR". So off you trot to buy one at a touch under £100, fit it and the lights are still there. Clear the codes down, drive and re read? "LH REAR SPEED SENSOR". At which point you have to bite the bullet and book it into the dealers for a full diagnostics. Barry had mine on the ramp for 3 hours (£286) only to tell me that it was the LH SPEED SENSOR CIRCUIT in the ABS module. New Module?£880 plus the vat plus coding plus fitting! Ok I had mine repaired at BBA REMAN but it still took a £286 hit just to tell me what it was. However I did save on the coding part as using my own meant it was already coded. It's shite like this that will drive you mad!

And many of the various parts of the car are coded to the chassis number. You can't just nip down the breakers for a set of clocks and fit them without recoding them to the car!

E39's are in freefall right now and there are soome really ropey ones out there that have fallen into the wrong hands already. It took the e30 longer to become ropey as the quality was far higher than the later stuff.

Wow i did not realise that what seems like a fair bit of hassle.

out of interest what specific parts/components of E39 5 Series are coded to the chassis number besides the instrument cluster?

In my opinion, a nice well-looked after totally original OEM facelift E39 still looks proper smart even in good neighbourhoods and does not look like your "council/bruv/chav or struggling".

[lugy]

Have you ever had a wander on pistonheads and looked at Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG Coupes (2001) ? What a car. There is a limited F1 edition i cannot remember which year they made it but it had carbon brakes i think and based on FIA Formula One Safety Car.

I'd love a silver CL but the stories about ABC suspension with struts at £1k a corner and the control module which will go pop potentially makes running an E39 like the cost of a Micra! The guy who owns my work has a CL600, bought it a year old for £28k, I'm sure they push £100k new. Now that's eye watering!

[pony]

Have you ever had a wander on pistonheads and looked at Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG Coupes (2001) ? What a car. There is a limited F1 edition i cannot remember which year they made it but it had carbon brakes i think and based on FIA Formula One Safety Car.

I'd love a silver CL but the stories about ABC suspension with struts at £1k a corner and the control module which will go pop potentially makes running an E39 like the cost of a Micra! The guy who owns my work has a CL600, bought it a year old for £28k, I'm sure they push £100k new. Now that's eye watering!

yeah i remember when these came out - if you had one of these CLs or even a new shape SL in 2001 you were L O A D E D.

[lugy]

That rings true for the guy that owns my work. He's totally eccentric though, happily gets in the car covered in oil (cream leather) and he never seems to wash it

Back to 5ers for a minute, I've come across this;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E34-525TD ... 2eb7e4331c

Quite high mileage but as Trev mentioned they really do seem to wear very well. This one's a pretty cool colour too.
This one's also quite nice but I'm not really liking the council styling (and it's sold);

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3172176.htm