My second BMW

Maccapacca

Maccapacca

Maccapacca

Tea Drinker
Don
Joined
13 Apr 2010
Posts
18,482
Location
Sunny Sussex
After loving my E60 and my wife forever wanting to drive it we decided to ditch her POS Zafira and buy something else, the target was to spend as much as we could sell the Zafira for maybe plus £1k, she's doing 1/2 the mileage she was doing last year and I'm on the train to London village so running costs and reliability although are important aren't mega important.

Looked at a couple of E39's, one was lovely 2.5 dark grey black leather sport but needed tyres brakes and and ABS sensor and many owners then this one cropped up, externally a corner has been scuffed even though it has PDC however it was FSH from BMW & a BMW specialist, just had a £650 service and 4 new Potenza tyres 2k ago, discs and pads all round last year and rear air springs as well, year before a waterpump and hoses and fresh coolant, history is complex and complete and the guy was a retired Surveyor who had just bought a X6 after having this since 40k and 6 years.

Specs so far I can tell are

525 SE
Auto
98k
Grey Leather
Business CD + 6 Disc
M Sport Steering Wheel
Xenons
Auto Lights
Nice alloys
Standard phone prep Bluetooth
Cruise
T&T till Jan 13
Interior is immaculate
Tow bar & elecs

Some pics

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Paid £3,400.00 probably a few hundred quid more than I would have liked ("2,800 would have been a bargain) however with a set of new tyres and brakes and a service only 2k ago plus it just felt right, right seller, right spec, right car and right history, I suppose the sport above would have been the nice choice but it had too many ifs and needs spending on it.

Jobs needing doing

Paint one corner strip will try this myself
Euro? centre armrest the phone thing is annoying
Flat wiper blade
New euro plates as the screws have rusted and popped the cap (good point)
Consider the Dynamin double Din but really can't warrant the £600 when the wife is OK with our ancient Garmin now and again
My E60 is covered in swirls and this is no better but less obvious in silver so might mop, polish and wax myself both.

Having driven it for 3 hours today I can confirm the quality is excellent, some points I prefer over my E60 but my E60 just felt more modern when I got back into it today, it may of been my eyes but my E60 was considerably wider than the E39 and felt it inside as well as feeling more enclosed, I do like the M Sport wheel but that's an option and the E39 felt more planted more raw more agile however not a fair comparison the 272 hp still wins hands down grrrrrahhhhhhhhhhh.

We are off to Dorset in a couple of weeks so we are going to take this for a good run.
 
I do love an e39 Tourer. The missus is pregnant for the third time so I'm starting to think one is justified. I do love my ST220 but with 3 kids under age 7 it's not exactly practical.
 
mike gunnz said:
I do love an e39 Tourer. The missus is pregnant for the third time so I'm starting to think one is justified. I do love my ST220 but with 3 kids under age 7 it's not exactly practical.
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You may be disappointed with the rear space of an e39 tbh - boot wise the touring is good but there's not masses of space in the back.

OP the car looks lovely - I've been having a scout through 525/530i tourings this morning funnily enough, I don't see anything that looks as decent as that.
 
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Indeed, a Mondeo has quite a lot more room in the back than an E39.

Nice car maccapacca. My wife hated my E39, but I think she's slowly coming round to it after driving it several times.
 
I think it looks great and actually there is is stacks of room in an E39 Touring. It's the E46 thats quite small - you can get tons of stuff in an E39. Including, from experience, an entire double fridge freezer :p The Mondeo has more load capacity I agree but the E39 is far from small.
 
[TW]Fox;22818815 said:
I think it looks great and actually there is is stacks of room in an E39 Touring. It's the E46 thats quite small - you can get tons of stuff in an E39. Including, from experience, an entire double fridge freezer :p The Mondeo has more load capacity I agree but the E39 is far from small.
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In terms of room in the back for people though the mondeo is quite a bit bigger. The E39 is hardly small as you say but if the problem is growing kids they wont have more space in an e39 or anything really!

In saying that 3 of us fitted in the back of an e39 regularly when I was 14/15 and two kids under ten without any bother - stuff included
 
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maccapacca said:
First thing is the centre arm rest anyone know anything? there's loads on eBay that include the inside tray but is that all I need

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190720990...om=R40&_nkw=190720990401&_rdc=1#ht_500wt_1203
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I thought the car had Bluetooth? Isn't the pairing button therefore part of the armrest - if you replace it with the one in your link you need to remove all the telephone equipment from the centre armrest in order for it to fit.

Thats why it has a different armrest, as it has telephone prep.
 
What else is there apart from the pairing button? If that's the only functional button from the arm rest you need I'm sure you could butcher nothing the existing and new to have it relocated inside - You'd need both to hand to try and figure out if thats plausible though
 
rodenal said:
What else is there apart from the pairing button? If that's the only functional button from the arm rest you need I'm sure you could butcher nothing the existing and new to have it relocated inside - You'd need both to hand to try and figure out if thats plausible though
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There is a load of junk and a wiring loom underneath the armrest occupying the space where the tray goes if you fit the sliding armrest.
 
Well just completed a 200 mile round trip drive and perfect absolutely brilliant, engine is strong and consistent and I've learnt the gearbox, D for everywhere except in town then slide it over to S for a more direct powerful drive that holds the gears.

Had a quick look under the bonnet when I got back and the power steering cap is weeping a bit, maybe the last guy cleaned it up, looking around it's a few pence seal so that's good.

Comparison with my E60 on a long drive, it's slightly more cramped and the visibility is less behind and in blind spots but it seems more planted at high speeds, the wife is coming round to the auto box as it was her only reservation as she wanted a manual.

Really missing multiple cigarette lighter power points as it only has one with the kids DVDs, one sat nav and two phone chargers had to pop to Helfrauds for a double adaptor, th E60 has 3 in the cabin and one in the boot.

How easy are the rub strips on the bumpers to pop out for painting?

Thinking about tinting the rears as the kids were moaning about the sun and I hate blinds.
 
Your comparisons with the E60 broadly echo mine - especially with it feeling more planted. The E60 feels more modern, the E39 feels more nicely made but there is no mistaking the fact it is an older design than the E60. Don't worry about the PAS reservoir, its no big deal at all.

Lucky you with 3 ciggy lighter adaptors in your E60 - my Dads old LCI E60 had only two, both in the rear, which were utterly annoying in every way :p

Rub strips pop out reasonably easily.
 
Yes all with two in ISOFIX and the booster in the middle the middle has a proper belt, if you don't have ISOFIX it's more roomy and flexible.
 
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