Anyone here had an E39 530d - manual?

mattyprice4004

mattyprice4004

mattyprice4004

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I've been offered one of the above fairly cheap, it's got 149k on the clocks and has had new propshaft bearings and a turbo around 30k ago.

Full history from BMW up to 2009, comes with MOT and tax for nearly a year for just a smidge under £2k.

I haven't got much other information apart from that it's a Sport, and is on an 02 plate.

Has anyone owned one, what's it like to live with? Will it do above 40MPG on a 50/50 driving cycle?

Cheers :)
 
Oh God.

You'll probably get a bit less than 40mpg but it wouldn't be far off.

The economy is potentially the least of your worries though. Do you have a disposable £2k (going by your car history I'm guessing not)? If so, check it out and take a punt if it looks decent. If it all goes horribly wrong even a broken one should recover £1k+ easily

If not then just keep your latest dodgy rover!

To be more positive the 6 cylinder bmw diesel is a characterful engine with decent shove....to be a bit more realistic it's a waste of time in a fairly old car
 
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rodenal said:
Oh God.

You'll probably get a bit less than 40mpg but it wouldn't be far off.

The economy is potentially the least of your worries though. Do you have a disposable £2k (going by your car history I'm guessing not)? If so, check it out and take a punt if it looks decent. If it all goes horribly wrong even a broken one should recover £1k+ easily

If not then just keep your latest dodgy rover!

To be more positive the 6 cylinder bmw diesel is a characterful engine with decent shove....to be a bit more realistic it's a waste of time in a fairly old car
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I can find money to repair if needs be, but not 'chuck' at it so to speak.
I'll have a browse for some MPG reports, cheers. :)

BTW, my car history is purely down to me paying back £900 per month in debt I'd built up in my younger years - figured it was time to grow up and 'pay the man'. If I didn't have to pay that back I'd be sorted, but unfortunately one has to take responsibility for ones actions when irresponsible with several credit cards. :)

In the past I've had pretty crap-paying jobs, making 'poor mans cars' the logical choice. I've got a career sorted now, so time to pay it all back.
 
yeah, you seen to be making "sound" choices car wise (Rover, sound? i did mean that) because if you dont have the disposable income to throw at a car, stick with what youve got, the BMW could be an utter pit and i highly doubt it would be amazing unless you chucked loads of money at it
 
Fair enough, my current 75 is running a dream so I'll stick with that.
The last owner spent 4x more than it's worth in the last 3 years, so most issues are dealt with thankfully.
 
Not sure I follow the, change cars every 30 seconds to save money 'logic'.

Stick with what you've got for once, keep it running, pay your huge debts off.

Then buy what you can.
 
LMAO

I am seriously laughing at how everyone derides Mat for constantly buying Rovers and says he should buy a "decent car", and now that he's contemplating buying an E39 BMW of all things, everyone advises he sticks with his Rover :D :D :D





P.s. this post is said with tongue firmly in cheek before you all tear it apart :p
 
My parents had a manual 530d from 2 years old until it was 8 years old. I drove it on a semi-regular basis. It would do 25-30mpg around town and 40-45mpg on a Motorway journey. The average was somewhere in between. It was pretty much always 7mpg better than my 530i in any given circumstance.

I don't recommend the 530d as a used car buy especially not a £2k and especially not to if you are on a budget. It's become quite pointless - its purpose was to be an economical alternative to a 530i. When it was new it did this very well. Now they are near banger territory the economy is cancelled out by its complexity.

The 530d Sport is one of the most 'desireable' E39's you can buy, even a scabby pile of crap will attract bids from people who think it basically means they can drive a nice BMW and get 60mpg everywhere and therefore run it on 20p a week. For one to be obtainable for under £2k will mean it will be a proper shed. Given your Rover purchasing history I would run the other way screaming as if your posts have told us one thing its that spotting a moneypit is not a skill you've developed yet :p
 
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[TW]Fox;24618511 said:
The 530d Sport is one of the most 'desireable' E39's you can buy, even a scabby pile of crap will attract bids from people who think it basically means they can drive a nice BMW and get 60mpg everywhere and therefore run it on 20p a week. For one to be obtainable for under £2k will mean it will be a proper shed. Given your Rover purchasing history I would run the other way screaming as if your posts have told us one thing its that spotting a moneypit is not a skill you've developed yet :p
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Would this not be a case for buying it? As in, if it turns out to be a shed he can sell it on and get back what he paid for it?
 
It will be a shed - read any Rover thread he has ever posted, he always buys a 'minter' and gets rid of it 2 months later because of all the work it needs. Plus even if it was a good one even a good ons is a bit of a liability at this age so why bother?
 
Fair enough, cheers for the opinions guys. Just seemed a bit 'too good to be true', I went in a 530d (admittedly an auto) some time ago and it went really well.

I'll keep plodding on in my current shed, which shockingly hasn't cost me anything... yet. Although I have spent a fair bit on sorting the spec out to the level I'd like, and retrofitting various bits and bobs.
 
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[TW]Fox;24618655 said:
It will be a shed - read any Rover thread he has ever posted, he always buys a 'minter' and gets rid of it 2 months later because of all the work it needs. Plus even if it was a good one even a good ons is a bit of a liability at this age so why bother?
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2 months? Half that. :p
 
My old 530d sport regularly returned around 50mpg but the majority of my driving was on motorways. I think mine was magic though as it was far economical than it should have been. To put it in perspective, the worst tank I had from it was 37mpg indicated (which was always within about 2mpg).
 
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