5 Series E39 for 4k possible?
- Thread starter Tom|Nbk
- Start date
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/370795.htm
edit - just noticed the aircon is bust, but it appears mint otherwise, plus it has 3 keys, which is v important
oh, it has a tow bar too.. nm eh
i wouldn't touch that black 520i you posted with a very long stick.
like jez said, what you want is a very well looked after, stock FSH 5
edit - just noticed the aircon is bust, but it appears mint otherwise, plus it has 3 keys, which is v important
oh, it has a tow bar too.. nm eh
i wouldn't touch that black 520i you posted with a very long stick.
like jez said, what you want is a very well looked after, stock FSH 5
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 3,589
- Location
- England
I believe the Inspections on the BMW's are generally quite pricey.
Where's that Fox bloke?
Where's that Fox bloke?
Not really, you get discounts for old cars. Expect a service every 15,000 miles.
Pattern is Oil - Inspection 1 - Oil - Inspection 2
Oil service is around £150
Inspection 1 around £250
Inspection 2 around £350
Knock £50 off those prices if you supply your own oil.
As you can the servicing isnt what you need to worry about, its quite cheap. Its when things break and the frequency at which they will break which will be a hit after something like a focus.
It needs someone who has maintained an E39 for a period of time to run down on the costs of things. Ive only had 3-series' which never needed any work.
It needs someone who has maintained an E39 for a period of time to run down on the costs of things. Ive only had 3-series' which never needed any work.
Okay, in the year and 30,000 miles I've had my 530i I've spent:
1x Set of Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 Tyres - £556
1x Inspection 2 Service @ BMW - £311.75 + £45 for oil
1x Set of brake pads + fitting - £206.67
1x Oil Service @ BMW + Replace 'Right thrust rod front stabiliser' - £161.05 + £45 for oil
1x Set of Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric Tyres - £595
1x Replacement A/C pusher fan + fitting - £334
2x New Headlamps - £352.50
1x MOT - £50.35
1x New radiator, new drive belts etc. - £350
1x Set of Brake pads + Discs + fitting - £350
1x New heater fan - £375
Plus a few other bits and pieces, probably adding up to £2-300.
I dare not add that up
1x Set of Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 Tyres - £556
1x Inspection 2 Service @ BMW - £311.75 + £45 for oil
1x Set of brake pads + fitting - £206.67
1x Oil Service @ BMW + Replace 'Right thrust rod front stabiliser' - £161.05 + £45 for oil
1x Set of Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric Tyres - £595
1x Replacement A/C pusher fan + fitting - £334
2x New Headlamps - £352.50
1x MOT - £50.35
1x New radiator, new drive belts etc. - £350
1x Set of Brake pads + Discs + fitting - £350
1x New heater fan - £375
Plus a few other bits and pieces, probably adding up to £2-300.
I dare not add that up
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 3,589
- Location
- England
£3657.32
I can't repeat what I just said to myself on this forum as i'd get banned.
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 3,589
- Location
- England
Sure you want one Tom?
Olly - your car has 18s and you do big mileage too, so it needs to be in context. I've also spent a fortune on my car, but that's because I'm a tart
It is possible to get an ok e39 for your sort of budget. It'll even squeeze to a facelift model:
http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...del=5+SERIES&min_pr=&max_pr=5000&max_mileage=
Spend a few £hundred more, or be decent at haggling and you get something like this:
http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...del=5+SERIES&min_pr=&max_pr=5000&max_mileage=
I think that's bloody nice!
It is possible to get an ok e39 for your sort of budget. It'll even squeeze to a facelift model:
http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...del=5+SERIES&min_pr=&max_pr=5000&max_mileage=
Spend a few £hundred more, or be decent at haggling and you get something like this:
http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...del=5+SERIES&min_pr=&max_pr=5000&max_mileage=
I think that's bloody nice!
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Hello.
Firstly, are you really sure what you want? You have a different new car you want every week. First it was 316's now its these. Are you sure you want an E39 or do you just want a badge/a change?
Secondly, personally I would not spend £4k on an E39 5 Series. There are many around for this price but IMHO there are few which will make absolutely lovely buys. I, like Jez, like to buy one owner cars from people with more money than sense, backed up with a stack of main dealer invoices and an exceptional condition.
Ignoring the odd wild card, £4k is generally sound 97-99 523i and 528i money. These are 9-11 year old cars. The chances of finding that 1 owner car from an owner with more cash than sense is very, very low at this budget - at this budget you are instead going to be faced with multi owner cars, with each succesive owner having paid less for it and having a different sense of value. It took me 6 months to find the right car and I had more than double the budget to play with.
But that aside, lets look at the prefacelift E39.
You won't get a facelift for this money. You may find the odd one or two advertised, but there will be something wrong with each one and it's not worth bothering to find out. I would also dispute jamoors claim that you can get a good 530i SE for £5k - you can't, you can get shabby ones which only look shiney in Autotrader adverts. Be careful with that, most modern cars look really nice in Autotrader adverts. Last weekend I viewed a 2002 Audi TT which looked absolutely immaculate in the pictures. Luckily it was only 6 miles away becuase it was an absolute shed - the worst worn brakepads I'd ever seen, horribly corroded alloys from lack of attention, scrapes in the interior, basically a sign of an abused car. No, no, no. You do NOT want a car like this.
So, prefacelift cars. They do not have Angel Eye headlights or CELIS LED's as standard, so if you see any which do, they've been retrofitted. They also never came with 18 inch wheels, so if you see any with them, they are aftermarket. You also get ASC instead of DSC, and things like PDC etc are all optional and not standard. Velour interiors are common, whereas non-existent on facelift models.
Engine wise you've got the 520i, 523i and 528i to chose from. I'll ignore the 535i and the 540i becuase they are way out of your league and frankly I wouldn't recommend one anyway.
The 520i is not as Jez stated a 4 cylinder, every E39 ever built has either a 6 or an 8 cylinder engine. The 520i is a 2 litre 6 cylinder developing 150bhp, the 523i is a 2.5 litre 6 cylinder developing 170bhp and the 528i is a 2.8 litre 6 cylinder developing 193bhp.
0-60 ranges from well over 10 seconds in a 520i automatic to 6.8 seconds in a 528i manual.
Fuel economy, repair costs and servicing costs are near enough the same irrespective of which model you chose. The only huge difference in cost will be that of insurance.
So what goes wrong?
The E39 is not an unreliable car - it will rarely if ever fail to start or leave you stranded BUT it is not a Japanese car either. There are niggles. Some are more serious than others. Perhaps the first thing to mention is Nikasil. Originally, the M52 engines found in the prefacelift E39 had Nikasil bore linings. The sulphur content of domestic UK fuel ruined this lining, which pretty much ruined the engine. It's a HUGE issue *but* most of the affected engines have been replaced by BMW under warranty.
Cooling system - the weak part of the E39. It is not a case of will you have a cooling system problem, its a case of WHEN will you have a cooling system problem. The radiators go, the header tanks tend to get brittle with age and go as well.
Suspension - another part for concern. On cars which spend most of their time in town, which almost all prefacelift E39's now do becuase even the ex-fleet ones have had a subsequent 6-7 years in private ownership, the suspension bushes can wear requiring the replacement of the control arms (At £250 a side), dampers can go after a number of years, etc etc, leaving the car feeling a bit baggy. A complete suspension overhaul is about £1500-£1700.
There are the other odd issues but nothing really serious enough to mention.
Just to give you an idea running costs I've had to fork out, here is a rough idea of mine over the last few years and 20k miles (Before the usual suspects start, I've ignored the stuff I had done under warranty becuase BMW warranty policy was 'just replace everything', not something a private owner does):
1x Eagle F1 GS-D3 set of tyres, £550
18 months road tax @ £300
1x Radiator, Thermostat and Header tank @ £400
1x Wheel bearing @ £100
1x MOT at a main dealer (Warranty had MOT insurance) £50.35
1x MOT at local place £25
1x Oil Service @ £140 (Main dealer)
1x Inspection 1 @ £210 (Main dealer)
It needs new brake pads soon as well, at £70. Oh and I had to clean the idle control valve.
Frankly for the performance and class of car I really don't think thats bad - but obviously it's a LOT more than I used to spend keeping the Mondeo on the road. Now, the thing is, I justify this cost, as does Olly, by the fact the 530i Sport is just.. absolutely excellent (IMO, obviously) and I thoroughly enjoy mine by virtue of the fact it's mint inside and out plus I bought it at 4 years old. I think if I had a £3k 523i bought at 11 years old I'd begrudge paying this sort of money to keep it on the road.
FWIW, here is the original road test of the 1996 BMW 528i SE - the sort of thing you'll find for your budget.
http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/RoadTestsHistory/BMW-5-Series-528i-SE/200076/
Firstly, are you really sure what you want? You have a different new car you want every week. First it was 316's now its these. Are you sure you want an E39 or do you just want a badge/a change?
Secondly, personally I would not spend £4k on an E39 5 Series. There are many around for this price but IMHO there are few which will make absolutely lovely buys. I, like Jez, like to buy one owner cars from people with more money than sense, backed up with a stack of main dealer invoices and an exceptional condition.
Ignoring the odd wild card, £4k is generally sound 97-99 523i and 528i money. These are 9-11 year old cars. The chances of finding that 1 owner car from an owner with more cash than sense is very, very low at this budget - at this budget you are instead going to be faced with multi owner cars, with each succesive owner having paid less for it and having a different sense of value. It took me 6 months to find the right car and I had more than double the budget to play with.
But that aside, lets look at the prefacelift E39.
You won't get a facelift for this money. You may find the odd one or two advertised, but there will be something wrong with each one and it's not worth bothering to find out. I would also dispute jamoors claim that you can get a good 530i SE for £5k - you can't, you can get shabby ones which only look shiney in Autotrader adverts. Be careful with that, most modern cars look really nice in Autotrader adverts. Last weekend I viewed a 2002 Audi TT which looked absolutely immaculate in the pictures. Luckily it was only 6 miles away becuase it was an absolute shed - the worst worn brakepads I'd ever seen, horribly corroded alloys from lack of attention, scrapes in the interior, basically a sign of an abused car. No, no, no. You do NOT want a car like this.
So, prefacelift cars. They do not have Angel Eye headlights or CELIS LED's as standard, so if you see any which do, they've been retrofitted. They also never came with 18 inch wheels, so if you see any with them, they are aftermarket. You also get ASC instead of DSC, and things like PDC etc are all optional and not standard. Velour interiors are common, whereas non-existent on facelift models.
Engine wise you've got the 520i, 523i and 528i to chose from. I'll ignore the 535i and the 540i becuase they are way out of your league and frankly I wouldn't recommend one anyway.
The 520i is not as Jez stated a 4 cylinder, every E39 ever built has either a 6 or an 8 cylinder engine. The 520i is a 2 litre 6 cylinder developing 150bhp, the 523i is a 2.5 litre 6 cylinder developing 170bhp and the 528i is a 2.8 litre 6 cylinder developing 193bhp.
0-60 ranges from well over 10 seconds in a 520i automatic to 6.8 seconds in a 528i manual.
Fuel economy, repair costs and servicing costs are near enough the same irrespective of which model you chose. The only huge difference in cost will be that of insurance.
So what goes wrong?
The E39 is not an unreliable car - it will rarely if ever fail to start or leave you stranded BUT it is not a Japanese car either. There are niggles. Some are more serious than others. Perhaps the first thing to mention is Nikasil. Originally, the M52 engines found in the prefacelift E39 had Nikasil bore linings. The sulphur content of domestic UK fuel ruined this lining, which pretty much ruined the engine. It's a HUGE issue *but* most of the affected engines have been replaced by BMW under warranty.
Cooling system - the weak part of the E39. It is not a case of will you have a cooling system problem, its a case of WHEN will you have a cooling system problem. The radiators go, the header tanks tend to get brittle with age and go as well.
Suspension - another part for concern. On cars which spend most of their time in town, which almost all prefacelift E39's now do becuase even the ex-fleet ones have had a subsequent 6-7 years in private ownership, the suspension bushes can wear requiring the replacement of the control arms (At £250 a side), dampers can go after a number of years, etc etc, leaving the car feeling a bit baggy. A complete suspension overhaul is about £1500-£1700.
There are the other odd issues but nothing really serious enough to mention.
Just to give you an idea running costs I've had to fork out, here is a rough idea of mine over the last few years and 20k miles (Before the usual suspects start, I've ignored the stuff I had done under warranty becuase BMW warranty policy was 'just replace everything', not something a private owner does):
1x Eagle F1 GS-D3 set of tyres, £550
18 months road tax @ £300
1x Radiator, Thermostat and Header tank @ £400
1x Wheel bearing @ £100
1x MOT at a main dealer (Warranty had MOT insurance) £50.35
1x MOT at local place £25
1x Oil Service @ £140 (Main dealer)
1x Inspection 1 @ £210 (Main dealer)
It needs new brake pads soon as well, at £70. Oh and I had to clean the idle control valve.
Frankly for the performance and class of car I really don't think thats bad - but obviously it's a LOT more than I used to spend keeping the Mondeo on the road. Now, the thing is, I justify this cost, as does Olly, by the fact the 530i Sport is just.. absolutely excellent (IMO, obviously) and I thoroughly enjoy mine by virtue of the fact it's mint inside and out plus I bought it at 4 years old. I think if I had a £3k 523i bought at 11 years old I'd begrudge paying this sort of money to keep it on the road.
FWIW, here is the original road test of the 1996 BMW 528i SE - the sort of thing you'll find for your budget.
http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/RoadTestsHistory/BMW-5-Series-528i-SE/200076/
Last edited:
i think you seriously need to rethink the situation. after all of the cars you've suggested (your nearly as bad as that 'west' guy ) this is probably one of the better ones, but hell, your 18!!! get a fast french hothatch or something if your after more power, not a friggin 5 series moneypit, your only young once!
) this is probably one of the better ones, but hell, your 18!!! get a fast french hothatch or something if your after more power, not a friggin 5 series moneypit, your only young once!
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 3,589
- Location
- England
i think you seriously need to rethink the situation. after all of the cars you've suggested (your nearly as bad as that 'west' guy
As I said earlier, not everybody is into "hot hatches". He drives a 5 door Focus.
Most lads/lasses who are into hot hatches probably wouldnt have a had a 5 door Focus as their first car IMO.
I do agree though, a 5 series seems silly to me at that kind of price.
A word on Sport and MTech.
Lots of cheaper 5's are advertised as being Sport models or MTech models.
Most of the adverts are wrong - there is only one such model - the Sport. It was introduced in September 1999 and available as a 528i, 535i or 540i. Any other prefacelift car with Sport in the title is incorrect. ALL 99-00 Sport's have M5 bodykit, M branded door rubbing strips, black headlining, etc etc. This is how you spot them.
There was a Sport pack for the SE, though, which added dechrome, Sports seats, sports suspension and 17 inch wheels.
Everything else with MTECH SPORT or whatever on it is false, plain and simple.
But you do want one with M-Tech Suspension as it really transforms the handling of the car - without it, the car wafts along effortlessly. With it, the ride quality is reduced but the handling much improved, it changes the character of the car.
You can, cosmetically speaking, facelift an E39 to such an extent that it's impossible to tell it isnt a facelift model without checking the numberplate/interior. Now, prefacelift SE's have black rubbing strips and facelift SE's are colour coded - facelift SE's also have different bumpers so it's easier to go for the Sport look if you are facelifting.
Rough costs:
Angel Eyes, genuine: £300
Wide kidney grille: £30
CELIS Rear LED lights, genuine: £200
Sport front bumper, rear bumper, grilles, diffusers, rear lip, etc: £1000
Sport alloys - 17's £400ish used, 18's £800-£1000 used.
Rear exhuast box: £150
So you are looking at the best part of 2 grand or more to do the job properly. Once its done it will look exactly like the 2003 Sport models still being sold for up to £15k - but you have to wonder if its worth it on a car youve only paid £3-4k for.
Lots of cheaper 5's are advertised as being Sport models or MTech models.
Most of the adverts are wrong - there is only one such model - the Sport. It was introduced in September 1999 and available as a 528i, 535i or 540i. Any other prefacelift car with Sport in the title is incorrect. ALL 99-00 Sport's have M5 bodykit, M branded door rubbing strips, black headlining, etc etc. This is how you spot them.
There was a Sport pack for the SE, though, which added dechrome, Sports seats, sports suspension and 17 inch wheels.
Everything else with MTECH SPORT or whatever on it is false, plain and simple.
But you do want one with M-Tech Suspension as it really transforms the handling of the car - without it, the car wafts along effortlessly. With it, the ride quality is reduced but the handling much improved, it changes the character of the car.
You can, cosmetically speaking, facelift an E39 to such an extent that it's impossible to tell it isnt a facelift model without checking the numberplate/interior. Now, prefacelift SE's have black rubbing strips and facelift SE's are colour coded - facelift SE's also have different bumpers so it's easier to go for the Sport look if you are facelifting.
Rough costs:
Angel Eyes, genuine: £300
Wide kidney grille: £30
CELIS Rear LED lights, genuine: £200
Sport front bumper, rear bumper, grilles, diffusers, rear lip, etc: £1000
Sport alloys - 17's £400ish used, 18's £800-£1000 used.
Rear exhuast box: £150
So you are looking at the best part of 2 grand or more to do the job properly. Once its done it will look exactly like the 2003 Sport models still being sold for up to £15k - but you have to wonder if its worth it on a car youve only paid £3-4k for.
Last edited: