![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
This. Although given most of my Uni friends are female it was invariably some crappy club rather than a nice quiet pub but hey you cant win them all
BMW 530i Sport - 3 years on
- Thread starter [TW]Fox
- Start date
This. Although given most of my Uni friends are female it was invariably some crappy club rather than a nice quiet pub but hey you cant win them all
Dunno. £4k tops? I'd need to find somebody who appreciates its condition rather than buys cars based on numbers... easier said than done.
But then its not really an issue - I've always said residual values dont matter until the day you part with the car. It's value doesn't affect any decisions I make to do work on it or upgrade things.
I do worry what would happen if somebody ran into it and it was written off. Book value for a 7 year old 5 Series with big miles isn't going to buy me another like this. Lets just hope it never happens!
But then its not really an issue - I've always said residual values dont matter until the day you part with the car. It's value doesn't affect any decisions I make to do work on it or upgrade things.
I do worry what would happen if somebody ran into it and it was written off. Book value for a 7 year old 5 Series with big miles isn't going to buy me another like this. Lets just hope it never happens!
I bought them off Wicksta on here, it was a tenner, and it took about an hour to retrofit. Removing the cluster was easy enough but seperating the plastic cover from the cluster was a bit of a nightmare.
You can do the same with your E46. Just get the metal ones not the plastic ones.
Yes. They are complicated cars and I was under no illusion that it would be as reliable as my Mondeo. To be honest not that much has gone wrong - but when things do go wrong it's not normally a quick or cheap fix.
Interestingly the only mileage related failiure I've had on the car was the wheel bearing which was probably the cheapest thing to replace! The rest has been common age related E39 things - the cooling system is a very, very common problem which tends to rear its head at about 5 years old irrespective of mileage (I think the plastic goes crap with age) and I was dissapointed to find that when I replaced the dampers the leaky one was not simply worn, as I expected, but damaged by BMW 2 years previously
When I bought the car a low mileage example of the same age and condition was approximately £13,000. The saving was well worth it. I was actually expecting to buy a 90k mile 528i Sport on a V or W plate until this popped up, if I was honest.
To be honest the only thing the mileage has really done has caused people on the internet to scoff. My Dads E39 has nearly 100k less miles on it and is not in as good condition as this one despite being reasonably well looked after from 2 years of age and 20k miles.
I'm not getting in a valuation arguement because it doesn't matter to me but you cannot buy great condition sub 100k mile 02 530i Sports for under £4k. If you could we'd replace the 530d with one - been keeping an eye out for that very reason and the cheap ones are generally quite crap and have 8 previous owners from Birmingham. Also getting a mint 1 owner car these days is virtually unheard of.
It triggered an airbag fault code and the 530d has the same wheel so I was able to swap out with a known good airbag to work out what was wrong.
Hugely annoyed - the airbag was scrap but he insisted I sent the whole lot back.
It's not quite as simple as that - he's sort of right, you can within reason insist on repair but it often takes a fight. This is because pre accident you had a certain car and not a cheque for its book value, therefore such a cheque doesnt put you back in the original position.
This only applies to non fault accidents.
I will be keeping mine until something disastrous goes wrong!
What only 3 more weeks?!
In theory all post October 2001 cars are MY2002 spec with the newer steering wheel. Some cars however were built prior to Oct 01 but not sold until later - hence mine is newer yet isn't MY2002 spec. Grrr.
Original owner got a bit conned there - he paid list for the car as well (Have the original invoice) so no discount for it being the previous model years spec!
Original owner got a bit conned there - he paid list for the car as well (Have the original invoice) so no discount for it being the previous model years spec!
I still maintain that its age and not not mileage which kills cars. Most high mileage cars are also pretty old - people assume because a 12 year old Vectra fell to bits it was because it had 150k on it. No, its because it was driven for 12 years! My car clocked up its first 140k or so in just 4.5 years. You don't trash a car doing this sort of mileage in this sort of fashion. You simply trash its residual value whilst retaining its condition, which I found very handy
My Mondeo was perfect in the time I had it (Took it to 150k miles), yet its now over 10 years old and is a shabby mess despite having covered only 10k since I sold it.
My Mondeo was perfect in the time I had it (Took it to 150k miles), yet its now over 10 years old and is a shabby mess despite having covered only 10k since I sold it.
I'm not going to dispute that - I'd not have had to replace a wheel bearing if it had 40k miles on it. But you can pay to fix a great car you can't pay to redesign a poor one
Thanks for lecturing me on the relative values of BMW 5 Series, and the reasons behind those values. It is not something I was aware of in the past, I remain eternally grateful to you*
*Alternative reply: Why are you continually pointing out something I've said myself throughout this thread?
Well put it this way - I would not buy a 160k mile 7+ year old BMW.
I would however quite happily buy a 100-150k mile 3-5 year old BMW from its original owner and run it way past 7 years or 150k miles. It is my opinion that the only disadvantage of buying this way is the lack of residual value when you've finished with it. But in many cases - such as mine - the saving you make far outweighs this.
At the time, a 40k mile 530i Sport would have cost me in excess of £13k. In this sort of condition, probably over £14k. Now, a 70k miler is worth about £5k. Even if I push mine off beachy head when I've finished with it I'd have lost less money value wise on the one I chose. And I'd still have had to spend £500 on replacing the cooling system and £300 on a heater blower motor and £300 on suspension after BMW broke it etc etc which makes up the bulk of my repairs anyway
The older it gets the more variable the way its been treated, the less likely the miles are to have been pure Motorway (How many reps drive 6 year old cars? None?) etc etc. It's too much of a risk.
To buy a GOOD high miler where the mileage has little bearing on its condition you need one where you are sure of its history beyond reasonable doubt.
Its rare you can be that sure with older ones.
Last edited:
I'm sorry but this is not true as I have pointed out to you on numerous occasions. I'll detail it again one last time for your benefit.
The gearbox: Had a broken return spring on 5th. Thats it. A common fault, 30 minutes labour and a new spring at an indy and its good as new. BMW elected to replace the entire transmission instead under warranty. As if I was going to say no?
Dampers: Originally like yourself I simply assumed this was an expected casualty of mileage. But no - on removing the second rear damper it was found that the reason for it failing was not age or mileage but the fact that when this area of the car was worked on (By a nameless yet BMW Authorised workshop) the fuel filler cap breather was left dangling on the wrong position. Over the next 2 years it gradually chaffed at the aluminium casing of the damper until eventually wearing through.
The cooling system: Fails at 4-6 years old. Don't take my word for it - ask the other E39 owners on here. PeterNems went at 90k. Mine went at 150k. Ollys went at 130k. People on BMWLand have had it fail at 30k. 50k. The common factor? All the cars were between 4 and 6 years old.
The pusher fan: This was actually replaced the day before I got the car. But the low mileage 530d in the household has returned from BMW last week having had... oh, a new pusher fan.
Heater blower motor: It's active for the entire time the car runs regardless of mileage. Park outside the fish and chip shop for 30 minutes and cover 0 miles, cover 40 miles in 30 minutes on the M5, it receives the same amount of wear.
The wheel bearing: You can have this one.
Interestingly the most common mileage related failiure on an E39 are the suspension bushings. The car is particularly sensitive to poor bushes as the aluminium suspension must be just right or you get awful vibrations in the cabin (The dreaded E39 shimmy). I was particularly concerned about this as the car was, when I bought it, on its original bushes with the exception of the ARB Droplinks. There was no vibration, but I booked it into BMW to get the suspension bushes checked anyway. Despite this perfect opportunity to fleece me for new bushes they didn't take it and reported them to be fine. At every service, every MOT and every personal inspection between the bushes remain fine. I am as suprised as you are at this - the car is still on its original bushes. I've even got the money tucked away to replace them - yet as yet, nothing. Very suprised but I think it demonstrates how no two cars will wear uniformly over the same mileage.
I'm half tempted to just replace them anyway at some point next year. What harm can it do? But given that most E39's fail MOT's on suspension bushes WELL before 100k...
I will however agree with you and say if I was buying a car of this age I'd chose a lower mileage one. Is that because high mileage is bad? No, its because high mileage is bad when you've no idea how the car was treated. Most 7-10 year old 150k+ BMW's are shabby. Not simply because they did 150k but because they did 150k over all sorts of roads owned by all sorts of random people with all sorts of different ideas as to what constitutes the right way to look after a car.
I am confident my particular car looks feels and drives better than any of those 13-15 year old Jap imports
I am also very much aware that my car is not your typical high mileage 'beemer innit'.
Last edited:
I picked it up from Berkshire and went home via Swindon to visit a friend from Uni
It is really early and it's also really rather unacceptable. I'm pretty sure it affects the 3 Series as well - it's even worse on the V8's. The guys on the American forums seem to replace the entire cooling system as if its a consumable before it fails. The OEM BEHR radiator splits at the plastic end tank (Yes thats right, the RADIATOR has a plastic end tank at each end
rolleyes, and the header tanks split as well. The waterpump is prone to failiure but to be honest no more so than any other marque and this is probably mileage related. And yea, obviously, in true retard style the impellors in the waterpumps were originally plastic. Good skills BMW.It's a running joke on BMW forums that the cooling system is made of cheese. It's the one really weak area of the cars. Bit of a crucial part to have as an achillies heal, eh?
Yes - you can buy all aluminium alternatives which remove the problem altogether. They are about £400, though. The aftermarket regular ones are also better - but obviously to buy either first your original must fail, and it's the failiure of the original that occurs between 4-6 years of age.
Once you've replaced the whole system its unlikely to be a problem in the future, but it shouldnt be a problem in the first place IMHO. My 10 year old Mondeo is on its original... everything cooling system wise.
Once you've replaced the whole system its unlikely to be a problem in the future, but it shouldnt be a problem in the first place IMHO. My 10 year old Mondeo is on its original... everything cooling system wise.