Bmw e39 530d

Way too much money imo, previous owner was the type to wear tyres down to cords showing, and 5k mileage covered in the last 4 years?

The mot history alone would put me off, the ultra low mileage just makes me wonder why?

If it was half the price, perhaps worth a look even then this sounds like one to avoid.
 
Is this really the going rate for an E39 now? I paid £2.8k for a 540i 6-speed back in 2009.

[edit]Just found the thread[/edit]

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/my-cheap-e39-540i-6-speed.18007724/

Now, this was 9 years ago and I had to do an awful lot of work to that car to keep it on the road. And this was a relatively easy to work on petrol V8. I wouldn't touch a 530d with a 30-foot pole.
 
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Well it's better than 7k for a 97 735 SE :p

£6.4k for a 2000 actually, had you seen it you’d actually grasp that but , of course,you haven’t.

@Gibbo saw it at the meeting last weekend, maybe he could say if it was worth what I paid or not?


Is this really the going rate for an E39 now? I paid £2.8k for a 540i 6-speed back in 2009.

[edit]Just found the thread[/edit]

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/my-cheap-e39-540i-6-speed.18007724/

Now, this was 9 years ago and I had to do an awful lot of work to that car to keep it on the road. And this was a relatively easy to work on petrol V8. I wouldn't touch a 530d with a 30-foot pole.
Seems to be, but a bit daft to pay such money imo.

I paid £1500 for my 530i Sport about two years back, it wasn’t mint but wasn’t a shed either it was a fair price I thought.

I know I paid much much more for my 735 but that was a one owner, low mileage full history immaculate example from a dealer who is renowned for not being cheap, it wasn’t average by any stretch and average e38 prices are very very much lower because the average isn’t in anywhere near the condition or miles not to mention good ones are now as rare as hens teeth.

I can understand a tidy e39 fetching relatively good money we’re it a low ish miles petrol with a decent engine and good history, diesel no, then again a large proportion of the population are still obsessed with diesel mpg even though a 530d would be anything but economical to run!
 
While i do actually agree that it seems like utter madness to consider one of these, i would also apply the same to any BMW of this generation. My last E46 gave loads of little issues almost weekly, it was just too much hassle.

@Scania - Given your purchase of your 735i, It seems a bit rich to suggest that £3000 is too much for this car. Look at what you are saying there; This 530d Sport is actually a newer model of the same generation as yours, has arguably a more desirable engine option than the old V8 in yours, and is without a doubt a generally more desirable model of car (5-Series Sport vs 7-Series SE). On that basis i would have thought that you would consider this to be excellent value?
 
@Scania - Given your purchase of your 735i, It seems a bit rich to suggest that £3000 is too much for this car. Look at what you are saying there; This 530d Sport is actually a newer model of the same generation as yours, has arguably a more desirable engine option than the old V8 in yours, and is without a doubt a generally more desirable model of car (5-Series Sport vs 7-Series SE). On that basis i would have thought that you would consider this to be excellent value?
Had it been a one owner example in immaculate condition with more than half that mileage and a full BMW history then for £3k it would have represented excellent value, yes, I’d quite agree.

Instead, it’s got a few alarm bells in its mot history which suggests a owner running it on the cheap not to mention very low recorded mileage over the last four years for whatever reason, 134k on the clock, no mention of what type of history or indeed how many owners...

Low mileage full history examples are getting expensive for both the e39 and e38 (as I know only too well)

I’ve just had a quick look on Autotrader, if you want a good condition low mileage e39 there’s only five listed under 70k miles, three are Japanese imports, one is an R plate 535i SE with 49k, 2 owners and Full history (no mention of BMW or not) for £3790 the other is a 540i Sport, no mention of full history - BMW or not - yet it’s £9995!

The one in the op is nothing special yet commanding a premium for what it is.
 
What would be an alternative to this out of interest?

I'm going to need to buy an estate/SUV style car later this year and would like to get into something interesting, however my £2-2.5k budget limits things somewhat. I do ~10-13k a year so a diesel doesn't seem worth it but that's most of the cars of this type in this budget. I would also prefer an auto but not sure if that's just going to be a weak point although I would do most spannering myself outside of any heavy lifting work.

I keep seeing interesting things like the X-Type AWD, Legacy/Legacy Outback etc. I want to be able to fit 2 kids, camping gear and minimum 2 dogs in something. I should probably start a new thread but I was looking at the E39 tourings yesterday, albeit seemingly rare for sale, seem to be good value for what you get if you find a 530i sport.
 
For that budget and estate I'd get an Accord. Dull as ditchwater but will be reliable.
Unfortunately the old saying of: "Fast, cheap, reliable, pick two" is very true.
 
What would be an alternative to this out of interest?

I'm going to need to buy an estate/SUV style car later this year and would like to get into something interesting, however my £2-2.5k budget limits things somewhat. I do ~10-13k a year so a diesel doesn't seem worth it but that's most of the cars of this type in this budget. I would also prefer an auto but not sure if that's just going to be a weak point although I would do most spannering myself outside of any heavy lifting work.

I keep seeing interesting things like the X-Type AWD, Legacy/Legacy Outback etc. I want to be able to fit 2 kids, camping gear and minimum 2 dogs in something. I should probably start a new thread but I was looking at the E39 tourings yesterday, albeit seemingly rare for sale, seem to be good value for what you get if you find a 530i sport.

An Accord would be a good car for this. The Legacy is decent too, just suffers due to its lower output engines being really quite average and thirsty
 
While i do actually agree that it seems like utter madness to consider one of these, i would also apply the same to any BMW of this generation. My last E46 gave loads of little issues almost weekly, it was just too much hassle.

I'm not sure about any, it's certainly more down to a bit of luck and needing some sharper judgement.

Last September I bought an E39 530i auto for £1,700.00 and have ran it everyday, and in total have covered 5,000 miles. Other than an oil top-up, it's wanted for nothing.

It's anecdotal I know, but so is everyone's opinion here.

When I called time on my E39 it ended up costing no more money to run an F10, even accounting for depreciation!

I'd like to see the figures on this.
 
I'd like to see the figures on this.

Sure..

2001 E39 530i per mile costs (2006-2014):


Depreciation: 11p
Fuel: 22p
Other running costs (Repairs, insurance, tax etc): 20p

Total 53p

2010 F10 530d per mile costs (2014-2016)

Depreciation: 32p
Fuel: 14p
Other running costs (Repairs, insurance, tax etc): 7p

Total 53p

Essentially then the 530i didn’t lose much value but cost loads to keep on the road, the 530d lost loads of value but cost nothing to keep on the road as the few things that did go wrong with it were covered by warranty. I sold it when the warranty expired.

I guess if i'd paid 1500 quid for the 530i it'd have tipped the balance back in its favour, it was only just under 5 when I bought it.
 
What do you do with the 530i now Fox?

Do you still use it (dual car policy?) or is it just sat in the garage on SORN?

I’m assuming you kept it’s BMW history up?
Any future plans for it? - despite the miles, it’s condition and the fact it’s a two owner car iirc should give it more value to some than you might think....
 
It's insured but stored. I will never sell it, it isn't worth anything and I'd hate to break it.

It was under 5 years old not under 5k :p it was just over 7k IIRC.
 
I don’t think your running costs are that representative of an average older BMW owner. Most people running these kind of cars will only fix serious issues, whereas I imagine you would fix every tiny little rattle or drip of oil as you’d want the car to be as good as it was when new.

I agree that they’re a lot of hassle nowadays, particularly the diesel models, and I certainly wouldn’t buy one, but many people run them on a low budget, it just depends how high your standards are.
 
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