Age or specification?

[TW]Fox · 10 Mar 2006 at 18:58

Hey guys.

If you were buying a car, what would YOU chose? Something reasonably new, or something very high specification?

No point being general becuase you all know what I'm on about, but my options as they stand are to either just get a 530i Sport for about 8-9k or buy an older pre-facelift E39 and fit the facelift lights, Sport pack, etc. That would cost approx £1500 on top of the purchase price of whatever I get, using genuine BMW parts.

The end result would be two identical looking cars, only one would be about X, Y, 51 or 02 plate, the other would be R, S, T or V reg.

So why would I want to faff around with older stuff and fitting bits of tat when I could just go and get a 530i? Well...

About £4-6k seems to get some really rather nice ultra high specification 528/535/540's. We are talking *everything* - Xenon lights, double glazing, electric memory seats, heated seats, onboard navigation, onboard television, electric blinds all round, blah blah blah. Whereas the 530i Sport just has the dual climate, cruise, most have leather, etc.

It would work out cheaper overall to go for an older one and 'sort' it, and the end result would be an identical looking car.

That particular car used to be a prefacelift 540..

So what would you buy? High spec but 6-8 years old? Or newer? I can't seem to get over the mental thing about 'buying a car older than what I have now'

I guess as always it's Rilots opinion that matters quite a lot here as he owned a 98 540i.

So many different options, half the fun I guess. And man, if you guys are getting bored with 5's now, just wait till I actually get one, oh dear

[TW]Fox · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:03

DAvE18 said:
I just had the face lift original xenons fitted and the rear lights changed to the new ones aswell.

Got my sport kit ready to be fitted and painted when i got the cash then I will get some alloys for it.

Your car is going to look absolutely awesome

How much did you pay for the Xenons etc? I've found them for £600 and the full genuine BMW Sport pack for £900...

[TW]Fox · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:07

DAvE18 said:
Are u visiting the same E39 specialist that i am on the bay hes fantastic.

Yes that particular guys Ebay shop has prompted this line of thought

You've actually got the stuff, so he's genuine etc? Top quality.

Of course there is also the option of buying an SE, seems 530i SE's start at £6k then adding the Sport pack... hmmmmm :/

[TW]Fox · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:09

You can get the regular facelift front lights for about £300.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2000-BMW-540I...4618059463QQcategoryZ9837QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thats the sort of thing I keep finding - cheaper becuase its prefacelift yet remarkably easy to make identical to a facelift model - if that was a 2003 model it could cost anything up to £15k..

I think it's worth remembering though that by opting for a newer 530i it's hardly poverty spec - you get dual climate, electric front/rear windows, cruise, leather, CD changer, computer, auto wipers/lights etc.

But generally not ultra cool stuff like TV's and double glazing

[TW]Fox · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:11

Insurance and residual value are not an issue. I have insurance quotes, an SE with the modifications I would make is £150 over the cost of the standard SE and, interestingly, about the same as a Sport anyway.

[TW]Fox · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:15

I'd like to keep it until I can afford an M5 - so it'll be here for quite some time

Thats another concern though - it'll be quite an old car soon

If I buy, say, something on an S plate and keep it for 5 years at some point I'll have a car thats 13 years old. Eeek.

Whereas if I stick with a nice 01/02...

[TW]Fox · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:22

I basically have an overall budget of up to £10.5k to:

a) Buy the car
b) Perform any modifications needed, if any
c) Insure the car

So it's just a case of the best way to do it. Spend the full whack on a car I can just leave alone, or spend half and add bits and have some spare cash, or... I dunno really.

Got until May to make my mind up

[TW]Fox · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:25

great advice said:
If your in a position to be able to buy the car you want, you might as well just buy it

Yes thats the point at this stage I cannot decide what I want, a newish 530i or an older 528/540

[TW]Fox · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:27

I would LOVE a car like that Jez and whilst it would be perfect for getting me to lectures in my final year, that is too pricey and leaves only £1 left to insure it

[TW]Fox · 10 Mar 2006 at 20:07

R124/LA420 said:
I'm still at a loss as to how, with the greatest of respect, your able to prospectively run & insure a BMW e39 whilst being a student!

My third year is a 1 year industrial placement and some savings. This will pay for the car, rather than be spent on more sensible things like house deposits, saving for my final year, alcohol, hookers or accomodation as I'm living at home.

I'm not saying it's not daft

Much as you hate them, surely a small car of whatever make/model would be more practical?

I don't want practical, I want to fulfil a dream

I've found the e38 expensive, and I earn circa £30k per year.

What sort of costs have you encountered?

I'm budgeting £500 every 2 years for tyres, £300 a year for servicing and aim to have a spare £1k for 'oh dear that just broke' moments..

[TW]Fox · 11 Mar 2006 at 01:38

tzang said:
On a more honest note, I would choose a newer 5-series over the old one. The facelift models look much better IMO. Why buy an older car and try to make it look like a newer one? It is still an old pre-facelift car... a bit like sticking M-badges all over a 316ti Compact, it is still a 316 at the end of the day (ok, not the best of examples but you know what I mean).

Becuase the difference between a facelift car and a prefacelift car is the front and rear bumper and front and rear lights. Thats fundamentally it.

Why? Well, like I said, it would, age aside, allow me to get more for my money, or to spend less money

The prefacelift non Sport E39's are beginning to start looking dated, whereas IMHO the facelift ones, especially in Sport form, still look fresh.

Here is a useful comparison shot between a prefacelift SE and a how it would look either a) As a facelift Sport or b) With £1500 of bits:

Spending a couple of quid or a couple of hundred on modifications sound fine... especially if that car isn't 200 years old I just can't see why someone would spend £1500+ on modifications on probably a 10+ year old pre-facelift model vehicle

No way am I going 10 years old, we are talking probably 99 or 00 instead of 00-02.

[TW]Fox · 11 Mar 2006 at 01:44

Fett said:
Does the Sport pack include the M Sport suspension, steering wheel and alloys, shift knob, short shift kit etc?

I'm a little bit lost now, I have the M Sport pack, but refer to it as a 330d Sport...because it seemed a bit crap to refer to it 330d M Sport as it's not really an M car, is it?

Prior to the introduction of the E60 and the E90, where Sport was renamed M Sport, Sport added:

Bodykit - in the case of the 5 Series, identical to that found on the M5
Different wheels
M sills
M sport steering wheel (I have to have this, luckily it was a seperate option and loads of SE's have it)
M Sport suspension (Not that fussed)
Alcantara Sports seats (Hmmmm......... tempting).

Now, there are two key categories of additional tat..

a) Stuff to 'facelift' the car

Front lights, rear lights. Total £500

b) Stuff to 'Sport' the car

Front bumper, rear bumper, foglamps, approx £1000.

Tempting option is a 99/00 528i Sport - all I'd need then is the lights, but for some odd reason they seem no cheaper than 00/01 530i Sport's which *are* facelift cars. It's the prefacelift SE's that are getting noticeably cheaper now. Of course, another option is a facelift SE + adding the Sport pack.

Then of course there is the issue of if I go for a 6 cylinder the 528i is 193bhp whereas the facelift 530i (Replaced the 528i) is 231bhp..

It really is a very difficult decision and currently I have no idea which option I prefer. I just want a really great 5 Series. Just though opinions on whether age really matters or not might help - I think it does but I'm prepared to accept my opinion may be unfounded or incorrect.

[TW]Fox · 11 Mar 2006 at 01:45

DRZ said:
I expect the purchase to be completed by the end of the month.

You'll be dissapointed then becuase purchase is planned to commence May 1st and I hope to have it sorted by, the latest, end of June. It took me 4 months or so to find the right Mondeo, hopefully the right 5 will be easier.

[TW]Fox · 11 Mar 2006 at 01:51

DRZ said:
If you werent so rectal about piddly little things then you could have one on your driveway tomorrow

Yup and then I might regret something further down the line

I was stupidly fussy with buying the Mondeo, had to make sure everything was right and that I knew exactly what I wanted first. It paid off. Now it's even more important I make the right choice - I have to keep this car for 4+ years and it's more money than the Mondeo was.

[TW]Fox · 11 Mar 2006 at 22:08

TripleT said:
Damnit fox why have you got me looking at 5 series sports?!

Becuase they are god damn awesome now leave some for me :cool:

[TW]Fox · 11 Mar 2006 at 22:15

Fixing faults? What went wrong with it?

[TW]Fox · 11 Mar 2006 at 22:30

Vanilla said:
What is the year of the facelift 5 series? is it 2001 onwards?

Which is the best engine, etc.

October 2000 - the first facelifted cars are on X registrations.

Best engine? On the facelift models there isn't a bad engine in the range, all are great. IMHO the best engine is the 3.0 diesel in the 530d. If you want a petrol, probably the 530i although hmmmm 540i is tempting.

I'm considering a 5 series. Don't care how big the engine is!

Then don't rule out a 520i. Seriously. They are very cheap indeed but are not as slow as you'd think - 0-60 in 8.5 seconds, the 520i facelift model has a 2.2 litre Straight Six developing 170bhp.

However, note that all 3 6 cylinder petrol engines have similar fuel economy so the 530i would seem sensible unless you find a bargainous 520i. There is a 192bhp 525i in the middle as well.

535i is pointless as it uses the same amount of fuel as the 540i but isn't as quick. Not really any quicker than the 530i. 8 cylinder models do not handle as well as 6 cylinder models becuase they have older recirculating ball steering systems due to packaging issues but I've not managed to try an 8 cylinder yet so I'm not sure how much 'worse' they are.

Whats your budget?

If its well over 10 grand I'd have to recommend a 530d, I'd be buying one myself if I could afford a really nice one. It's a brilliant engine.

[TW]Fox · 11 Mar 2006 at 22:51

Vanilla said:
When I said I don't care how big the engine is I meant petrol wise! I have a fuel card so even the M5 would be fair game!

Budget is around £15k.

You therefore want either..

a) A 540i Sport
b) A 530i Sport
c) A remapped 530d Sport.

530i and 530d will handle the best, 540i will sound awesome, 530d has epic ingear acceleration. All 3 are amazing, have fun chosing one

I'm not recommending the 530d for reasons of economy, btw.

M5 is just on another level... unfortunately in terms of running costs as well

[TW]Fox · 11 Mar 2006 at 23:11

Vanilla said:
On second thought's I'm seeing a few 2000 / 2001 M5's for around the 15k Mark. So tempting.

Don't buy an M5 you can only just afford. They apparently cost SERIOUS moolah to keep on the road. They are, afterall, saloon cars offering almost supercar performance.

[TW]Fox · 12 Mar 2006 at 00:09

This is so difficult.

Here is the perfect example of what I mean:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-540i-auto...oryZ9837QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Beautiful, and becuase it's on an S, in budget.