FAO Fox: Buying a E39 530i Sport

Yummy

On another note, does 20 mpg sound reasonable for a 525 auto estate with two adults two kids and a boot full of stuff in and around Dorset i.e. 30% Mway 20% Dual Cabbage Way and the remainder in and out of town mostly in 'S'

Tyres as long as they have a decent amount of tread on you'll be fine
 
lukeharvest said:
Cheers.

What do you guys do for tyres in the winter? Leave them on their usual decent tyres or switch over to winter ones?
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I live in England so I make sure I have the best tyres for an English winter - ones with excellent wet weather performance. If I lived in Austria or the middle of the Cairngorms I might consider winters.

It does mean that in the rare event it does actually snow it stays on the drive, but as I don't carry an inflatable raft it also has to stay on the drive when it floods too, which seems to happen more often in the UK anyway :p
 
[TW]Fox;22893320 said:
I live in England so I make sure I have the best tyres for an English winter - ones with excellent wet weather performance. If I lived in Austria or the middle of the Cairngorms I might consider winters.
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Which do you use for the winter?
 
[TW]Fox;22893320 said:
I live in England so I make sure I have the best tyres for an English winter - ones with excellent wet weather performance. If I lived in Austria or the middle of the Cairngorms I might consider winters.

It does mean that in the rare event it does actually snow it stays on the drive, but as I don't carry an inflatable raft it also has to stay on the drive when it floods too, which seems to happen more often in the UK anyway :p
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I haven't had a RWD car before, I know they're useless in the snow - but I take it that means to not even attempt taking it out if there's snow on the roads?
 
lukeharvest said:
I haven't had a RWD car before, I know they're useless in the snow - but I take it that means to not even attempt taking it out if there's snow on the roads?
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I had no problems in my old e39 in snow (Michelin Pilot tyres) none at all. :)

Nice buy you have there, enjoy it!
 
lukeharvest said:
I haven't had a RWD car before, I know they're useless in the snow - but I take it that means to not even attempt taking it out if there's snow on the roads?
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I managed to get my 330d up into the peak district using single track roads during that rather cold and white winter we had a few years back.

My problem in winter isn't RWD, it's other drivers.
 
That looks awesome! Congratulations! Very happy for you that you ended up with a Champagne II rather than an Agean:). Excuse me for a minute while a have a little bout of Style 37 envy...

...

sigh.

Anyway, I've never had problems in snow with RWD in my old car (Omega), in fact I go out for fun :). Not had the E39 in snow yet but over here I have to put winters on anyway. Your trouble might be the 265 width rears which put you at a disadvantage over even most other E39s, so be careful. My old Omega was on 'only' 225s and on my E39 I'll be putting 235 winters all round on my 17" Style 66s.
 
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Liampope said:
That looks awesome! Congratulations! Very happy for you that you ended up with a Champagne II rather than an Agean:). Excuse me for a minute while a have a little bout of Style 37 envy...

...

sigh.

Anyway, I've never had problems in snow with RWD in my old car (Omega), in fact I go out for fun :). Not had the E39 in snow yet but over here I have to put winters on anyway. Your trouble might be the 265 width rears which put you at a disadvantage over even most other E39s, so be careful. My old Omega was on 'only' 225s and on my E39 I'll be putting 235 winters all round on my 17" Style 66s.
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Thanks, I'm very happy with my purchase (don't have the car yet though, should have it Monday). I didn't like the Champagne's interior to begin with, and had everyone advising me against getting a black one - but it grew on me. Plus I was a lot more interested in getting a nice example, and they mostly seemed to be the limited editions (plus, I do admit, I did want a limited edition - both the Aegean and Champagne just look very unique in their own right as an E39).

I'm slightly concerned about snow/ice and RWD on non-winter tyres, but maybe I'll just conform to the rest of the British public and stay indoors whenever there's ice or snow around.

I did notice on last year's MOT, there were advisories for both the front and rear tyres being worn on the inner edge and on the limits (so I imagine they were replaced, as it's not mentioned in the 2012 MOT done at the same place) but is it fairly normal for an E39 to have that uneven wear on the inner edges, or is it going to be worth taking it for geometry/alignment (hunter) assuming the current owner didn't already do that (I've asked, he's not yet replied)?
 
Check the tyres when you get it. If the geo hasn't been sorted you're not too far from Wheels in Motion who are awesome (there's a big difference between just having a Hunter machine and being able/willing to use it properly). No mention of cooling system work in the ad so maybe consider doing some of that.
 
Liampope said:
Check the tyres when you get it. If the geo hasn't been sorted you're not too far from Wheels in Motion who are awesome (there's a big difference between just having a Hunter machine and being able/willing to use it properly). No mention of cooling system work in the ad so maybe consider doing some of that.
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Yeah, I've seen the Chesham branch of Wheels in Motion mentioned on here, I will take it there if it hasn't been done since the advisory on the MOT. Any place you could recommend regarding getting the cooling system done? I would prefer doing the entire system, is that potentially a waste of money, or a good idea? I have seen BMWorx mentioned a few times - who are about an hour's drive from me (I'm just north of Oxford). If you've got a few suggestions, I'll give them all a call and see what they quote me.

Also, has anyone used maindealerdiscount? I've noticed pretty much all the prices of services I get quoted are cheaper than the counterpart "value" service.

For example:

Oil service (exc. microfilter) = £129.50 (Value is £189)
Inspection I = £262.50 (Value is £299)
Inspection II = £332.50 (Value is £389)
Coolant = £80.50 (Value is £115)
Brake Fluid = £77 (Value is £89)

What do you guys think of those prices?
 
Yeah WIM completely cured my Omega of catastrophic inner edge wear wheras the local place I took it to first, also with a Hunter system, was best described as having a monkey undo bolts, hit the wheels with a mallet and do them up again making the car no better at all. By contrast, WIM did a thorough check of all suspension and steering parts, sent me away the first time (without charging) telling me to come back with a new rear spring and steering arm idler as it wouldn't be worth doing the job before they're replaced. When I went back they weighted the boot and drivers seat then meticulously adjusted until it was spot on (to their own settings slightly different from the manufacturers taking into account the age of the car and how parts would have settled, etc) even noticing the footprint was ever so slightly out of square so he cracked the front subframe bolts, knocked it to square it up and did it up. Was a different car.

When I took the E39 there it turned out it was pretty straight anyway but he straightened up the steering wheel and removed a slight pull.

Can't really help on the work I'm afraid as I do all my own. I use BMMiniparts a lot for parts though.
 
lukeharvest said:
Also, has anyone used maindealerdiscount? I've noticed pretty much all the prices of services I get quoted are cheaper than the counterpart "value" service.

For example:

Oil service (exc. microfilter) = £129.50 (Value is £189)
Inspection I = £262.50 (Value is £299)
Inspection II = £332.50 (Value is £389)
Coolant = £80.50 (Value is £115)
Brake Fluid = £77 (Value is £89)

What do you guys think of those prices?
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I used them at the beginning of the year when the prices were far, far more competitive. I paid £101 for an oil service *inc* microfilter and £120 for rear disc and pad change at Rybrook BMW in Shrewsbury. The saving was so significant it even paid for the overnight hotel and day out in Shrewsbury we had in order to get the car there.

Since then though the prices have been slowly ratcheting up to the point where unless your local dealer participates it simply isnt worth the bother. I never pay more than £58.75 for brake fluid at my local main dealer though those quoted Inspection prices are not bad (IT was £199.99 for an inspection 1 on that site in February).
 
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