Towing a caravan....

[Scania]

As I said earlier in the thread you do not need a new bumper nor painting. You just need a new diffuser on the Sport which requires no painting.

And getting a new diffuser will cost, from what I've seen, as much if not more than a second hand painted bumper.

 

[task]

There may well be a plug behind one of the panels in the boot for the trailer sockets, a quick search suggests there is and it costs £150.

 

[energy]

Been googling this and until your post, I've read the e39's automatic box (and thus its cooler) is up to the job....

From what I've read, the trick is to not to allow it to labour in lower gears in D mode,more use it in S and use the steptronic for hills to hold lower gears.....

Looking at twin plug but probably not a detachable tow bar as they do cost a fair bit more, . I've found a second hand tow bar suitable e39 Sport bumper though, different colour to mine (typically) £200, which is the price difference between the detachable ones and not, so, . It's a non detachable for ~ £250 or, circa £650 for detachable and suitable bumper, a bit steep on car that stands me £1500 I think.

Sorry, didn't mean that there were cooling issues specific to the E39, just generally recommended.

Indeed, holding it in lower gears will minimise the torque converter unlocking and help keep temperatures down

 

[[TW]Fox]

And getting a new diffuser will cost, from what I've seen, as much if not more than a second hand painted bumper.

They are less than a hundred quid? Or they always were anyway. I think I paid about 40 quid for mine, they were so cheap I bought a new one just because the old one was getting a bit tatty.

 

[Scania]

They are less than a hundred quid? Or they always were anyway. I think I paid about 40 quid for mine, they were so cheap I bought a new one just because the old one was getting a bit tatty.

I'm assuming that's direct from BMW? I'd got my price from 3rd party diffuser manufacturers from a quick google search.

Ok, say it's £50, add the ~£200 extra for the detachable tow bar and it works out twice the ~£250 figure of the fixed one, £500 all in still represents quite an outlay on a £1500 car purely for cosmetics.

 

[Iamzod]

Different car I know but I bought a MK3 Mondeo detacheable towbar on ebay for £50 second hand & fitted the bar myself which was pretty easy then paid a local towbar place £50 to wire it up.

£600 is crazy money!

 

[Scania]

Different car I know but I bought a MK3 Mondeo detacheable towbar on ebay for £50 second hand & fitted the bar myself which was pretty easy then paid a local towbar place £50 to wire it up.

£600 is crazy money!

I'm scouring eBay at the moment for just such an item, don't mind fitting the bar myself but would leave the electrics to a pro.

A pity none of the BMW breakers ( such as FAB direct ) have any, ideally I'd like a genuine BMW item if I could find one on a breaker....

Agreed, £500 - £600 is way too much!

 

[Scania]

Belated update:

Got a fixed "swan neck" towbar fitted last week and did my first outing at the weekend, undoubtedly was hated by the snake of cars behind me at times car coped just fine though, the combination was nice and stable and overall mpg for the trip was ~19mpg only 5 down from its usual average.

Think it's a pretty tidy install too.

Cost me £345 fitted.

 

[dessimpson]

Looks neat and tidy.