BMW and M Power Owners

As with any older car there are a number of people trying their luck. Just because a car is advertised at £LOL doesn't mean the car is worth £LOL. I could stick my E39 up for £9995. Nobody would buy it. It isn't worth that. But it wouldnt suddenly make all the others worth more.

Realistically a 2003 540i Sport is worth about 4-5k surely. Which is frankly good money for what is simply an old (But very excellent) 5 Series. It is not a classic car.
 
Yeah would settle for £5k - what it owes me...thinking to pitch high as it's far easier to come down (showing contrition) than go up?

Oh and thanks for the link - will try and price up some of the obvious parts tomorrow
 
Marvin said:
Try Schmiedmann.co.uk - I buy most of my BMW parts from them rather than UK dealers as they're usually cheaper (they're Danish, but within the EU so VAT is already paid :)).
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Schmiedmann are an excellent outfit. I popped round when I lived in Odense and they've got some good products. They've also got a friendly English bloke in sales who runs a pretty nice E30 M3 :p
 
Just spotted BMW have changed the service pack offering - it's now 3 years and 36,000 miles, so covers one oil change (2 in some cases). No brake fluid change or vehicle check included now.

I think they have reduced the price a little but it's still not very compelling!
 
What windscreen wash do people use? In my old car I used any old rubbish but I remember someone mentioning certain windscreen washes causing corrosion or similar, or am I talking pish?
 
I just mix some Autoglym Ultimate Screenwash with water, seems to go a long way and it's relatively cheap and I presume above average (but it may not be).
 
alx said:
What windscreen wash do people use? In my old car I used any old rubbish but I remember someone mentioning certain windscreen washes causing corrosion or similar, or am I talking pish?
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The screen wash system on my Z4 blocked up due to me "not using BMW screen wash". The dealer quoted me about £450 because it's in a very awkward place. It took a lot of convincing but they eventually did it for free (they claimed for a faulty water jet on the warranty to cover their costs).

Ever since then I've just used BMW washer fluid to save the hassle.
 
Petrol / Diesel - thoughts?

I am considering buying a new / nearly new 5 Series Touring and given the 10k miles per year I do, the petrol may make more sense compared to the diesel. Most of the journeys are short - less than 20 miles, with typically a monster European holiday drive in the summer. Bikes go on the roof and we don't tow.

I can see many glowing reviews and positive opinions of the diesel variants but would the 528i be something to be avoided for any reason? Or is it just a driver's preference?

Thanks
 
Basher said:
The screen wash system on my Z4 blocked up due to me "not using BMW screen wash". The dealer quoted me about £450 because it's in a very awkward place. It took a lot of convincing but they eventually did it for free (they claimed for a faulty water jet on the warranty to cover their costs).

Ever since then I've just used BMW washer fluid to save the hassle.
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In my old my old E91 I'd put in any old readymix and I lost count of the number of times that the washers blocked up. I didn't care because it was a company car so I'd just chuck it at BMW for them to fix it. After doing some reading I decided to use only BMW's own screen wash in my M135i and I've not had a problem at all so far.

I spoke with the parts department manager at my local dealership and he agreed to order in the big 25L concentrate bottle (which is apparently not normally offered to consumers and as it is a workshop product). It cost me £56 I think and ~47k miles later I'm about 40% of the way through it. I mainly dilute it 10:1 and it cleans well at this concentration and hasn't frozen up yet. I also figure that if I get washer jet blockage BMW can't complain that I'm using the wrong washer fluid.
 
bods said:
Petrol / Diesel - thoughts?

I am considering buying a new / nearly new 5 Series Touring and given the 10k miles per year I do, the petrol may make more sense compared to the diesel. Most of the journeys are short - less than 20 miles, with typically a monster European holiday drive in the summer. Bikes go on the roof and we don't tow.

I can see many glowing reviews and positive opinions of the diesel variants but would the 528i be something to be avoided for any reason? Or is it just a driver's preference?

Thanks
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The problem you'll have with a petrol 5 series is actually finding one if you're looking for nearly new/used.

The most recent 528i is. 4 cylinder turbo petrol. It's a fairly potent engine and more than capable of shifting a 5 series around with ease.
 
Havana_UK said:
The problem you'll have with a petrol 5 series is actually finding one if you're looking for nearly new/used.

The most recent 528i is. 4 cylinder turbo petrol. It's a fairly potent engine and more than capable of shifting a 5 series around with ease.
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Yup - very rare indeed. I'll go search - there are a couple out there.

Thanks
 
bods said:
Yup - very rare indeed. I'll go search - there are a couple out there.

Thanks
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They are probably all funky spec though. To get what you want out a diesel is hard enough when second hand / pre-reg. With a petrol engine, I'd imagine nigh on impossible. But then if your not too fussy, you might have a chance.
 
I went through a phase of trying to buy a petrol 5 Series and on paper the 528i was absolutely ideal – almost the performance of the 530d but with the silky smooth silence of petrol power.

However I took one for a test drive and was quite disappointed. It wasn’t smooth and quiet at idle, it was quite clattery, and didn’t exactly sound brilliant under acceleration either. On the road it drove quite nicely but seemed to lack the outright punch of the 530d. I decided that 4 cylinder petrol engines simply do not suit the 5 Series and removed it from my shortlist.
 
[TW]Fox;30376113 said:
I went through a phase of trying to buy a petrol 5 Series and on paper the 528i was absolutely ideal – almost the performance of the 530d but with the silky smooth silence of petrol power.

However I took one for a test drive and was quite disappointed. It wasn’t smooth and quiet at idle, it was quite clattery, and didn’t exactly sound brilliant under acceleration either. On the road it drove quite nicely but seemed to lack the outright punch of the 530d. I decided that 4 cylinder petrol engines simply do not suit the 5 Series and removed it from my shortlist.
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All really good points - I will find one to test drive as on paper it does look good.

Failing that, it would be the 530d - which I've test driven and really liked - but I have serious concerns about possible changes in legislature regarding diesel emissions and as I mentioned before, the number of shorter journey I tend to make.
 
Just spoke to BMW who confirmed the final estimate they will give the engineer from my insurance company is £6500, including a wheel alignment, new steering rack, suspension, steering knuckles, two new wheels and two new tyres although he thinks that the tyres may be spared as those were only put down as a precaution. I can't see a hit at that speed causing any damage to the sidewall.

He said he's not surprised at the damage even at the speed I was going due to the suspension/steering all being aluminium, so he said it really doesn't take much at all to damage it

My only concern is if they are replacing tyres on one side of the car and not the other, so I'll have the drivers side on 7.5k worn tyres, and the passenger side on brand new tyres. Is that likely to be an issue?
 
All the tires? Yeah that's what I asked and they said that they can't do it as there is nothing wrong with the other tires, I did say that surely it's a safety issue to which he just outright said "no". Do you think I should push for it?
 
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