Tell me about: The E39 528i

mattyprice4004

mattyprice4004

mattyprice4004

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Evening all,

As per usual, having a quick mooch around AutoTrader, and fell across one of these. 1997, 120k, £1490? Seems damn good value to me!

Looking at a manual, what are these like in terms of reliability, MPG and the ability to convert to LPG? Excuse my noobness, but I also take it these are a Straight 6... :o

*Prepares for war*
 
Yes they are a straight-6, personally I don't see the point in converting one to LPG, they run hotter, with less power, and don't run as smoothly (one of the plus sides to a straight-6). Expect anywhere up to mid 30's MPG wise on a run, and 20-25 round town.

Reliability wise, they will run and run and run, however the cooling system is known to be made of toilet paper, so always make sure you keep an eye on it, as once they go you WILL warp the head if you overheat it.
 
Fair does, I'm ideally after something that runs on LPG as an alternative to diesel if and when the time comes - I do 25k a year and on 30-35mpg that isn't feasible on my wage :(
 
Advice: Run your car for as long as you can, SAVE some money, then buy a decent diesel or an economical petrol once you can afford a good one.

3 people at my office now (including me) have 330d's ranging from 51 to 52 plate between £6000 and £7000. Superb VFM.

I guarentee you that if you drove my car, you'd not be thinking of "getting rid of diesel" with that annual milage.
 
Youve only had the latest Rover 4 minutes!

Good to see you looking at something thats not a rover though!
 
Do not buy a £1500 E39. Seriously, waste of time and more trouble than its worth. These are end of life cars UNLESS you wish to put money into them and who buys a £1500 car and spends £1500 getting it up to scratch? At £1500 its going to be shabby, be in dire need of a suspension overhaul, etc etc. A 'Good' early E39 will fetch more than £1500 if it genuinelly is a good one pretty much irrespective of mileage especially if its a 528i. For it to sink to the depths of £1490 before haggling likely means it isnt the sort an enthusiast would pick up. Therefore it isnt the sort you want to pick up either.

If you want a BMW, save up enough money for a good one. There is nothing wrong with older BMW's, though the more complex they get the better it is to have owned it since it wasn't an old BMW.

E36's and E34's etc are a bit different as they are a tad simpler - E39's have ASC for example and one sensor fault could be a 400 quid bill.

If you do 25k a year on a low wage this sort of car is the wrong end of the market. You want something newer and simpler.

A 2 litre Mondeo perhaps? You might need to accept you cant have a fast car in much the same way that I've had to accept that until I earn more money I can't order an F10 M5 :p
 
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[TW]Fox;15509323 said:
A 2 litre Mondeo perhaps? You might need to accept you cant have a fast car in much the same way that I've had to accept that until I earn more money I can't order an F10 M5 :p
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It's damn hard to accept, isn't it :p

I was looking at a 540i LPG, but again, with higher temps on an engine that's done probably over 100k, it probably isn't the best idea!

Applied for a new job today, a good bit more so we'll see where that goes. For now it looks like I'm going to be sitting in my cloud of soot, although I could be in a lot worse :)
 
A 540i is even worse!!!

Buy an economical car. A V8 Executive saloon is not the answer to your question! Its not just fuel economy, its everything else that goes with it.

Running a £40,000 car is never cheap. Running a £40,000 car thats now 13 years old certainly isnt cheap unless you do few miles. Which you don't.

They are FULL of things which, if they break, will write the car off. At 1500 quid if you get a 1200 quid gearbox rebuild bill you are stuffed. At £1500 you wont refresh the suspension for £1500. You'll cry when it needs an Inspection II and Discs and Pads all round at £800. Or a set of tyres at £500. etc etc. If you get cooling issues and cook the head a replacement cylinder head job on an M52 is very expensive and most people reckon they are never 'right' after they've been fixed.

Buy a Mondeo 2.0 Ghia X and LPG that. Or something. Luxury motoring without the price tag.

If you absolutely desperately must have a BMW what about an earlier non VANOS M50 powered E34 525i? Unlike an E39 at £1500 an E34 is likely to be one of the better examples around. You'll be driving a 15-20 year old car though!
 
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If you're looking at converting a 1500 quid car to LPG, you realise you'll spend the same again getting it converted?
 
Why not just buy a diesel? soooo much easier and anything above 2k rpm you wouldnt notice the noise ...
 
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Absolutely - this is screaming 330d to me. What I'd do is concentrate on your job, you're obviously at the entry level of whatever it is you're doing so work your nuts off for a year and get noticed. Get promoted, or a better job closer to home.

Save whatever you can and when you start earning more money, buy a decent car with what you've saved and possibly a small loan.

Start by swapping the rover for a Mondeo so you're not fixing it every other week
 
[TW]Fox;15510493 said:
He's so hard on his cars he'll just replace fuel costs with repair bills.
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Hmmm yes, I expect a 330d driven hard wont even return great mpg either. Good point.

An LPG petrol does make a bit of sense but not a 1500 quid - unless it's something that's already been converted

paradigm said:
Really? I can't hear mine that badly from INSIDE.
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Even in my much less refined Mondeo the idle noise isnt that bad. I dont very often sit there idling in complete silence in the car anyway
 
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