Thoughts on this 5 series.

[Battenburg Bob]

Assuming my current car sells at the weekend, I'll be looking for something to tide me over for 12 months while prices settle down. A cheap 5 Series looks appealing and I'd like some thoughts on this.

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/BMW+...

I only do 8000m a year and am not worried about it 'only' being a smaller engine. On face value, it looks quite tidy. Is the price reasonable and what should I look out for?

[Fox-]

Lovely car, nice price, shame about the fake 18 inch wheels though, I would imagine they are shod with the typical Ebay tyre/wheel deal chinese tyres as well.

Make sure its free of vibration at speed, because if its got that they can be a pain to diagnose on the E39. Also be aware its about the right age for cooling system problems so do check the engine undertray for leaks after a test drive.

[5 wh]

These later 5 series cars are some of the best vehicles that BMW ever made imo.Generally they are tough mechanically,but make sure the car has FSH with servicing done in the correct sequence(some just have an oil service when an inspection II is due).This car should look and drive very well indeed despite its age and mileage so if it doesnt then there may be some underlying problem.
Yes the 520i 2.2 is a little underpowered and not particually more economical than the larger engined cars but its still a sweet smooth engine.

[Hammerhead]

Fox- said:

shame about the fake 18 inch wheels though

You sure they're fakes? Look like the real deal to me!

[Hammerhead]

PS - top colour!

(But then I'm biased )

[HarryW]

E39's are great and that looks tidy. However I'm not sure how good a bargain it is, as I'm not up to speed on current prices tbh. To me it doesn't tick some fundamental boxes for any BM - not auto, no leather, smallest engine, no FBMWSH. You accept the small engine bit but can you live without the rest, I couldn't but thats me.

[HarryW]

For another 250 squid 2004 cat d 530D gotta be worth more shoe leather http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/BMW+...

[Fox-]

Hammerhead said:

Fox- said:

shame about the fake 18 inch wheels though

You sure they're fakes? Look like the real deal to me!

Yup - too shiney and if you look very closely they are different where the spokes meet the centre. Here are my genuine ones:

[Fox-]

HarryW said:

For another 250 squid 2004 cat d 530D gotta be worth more shoe leather http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/BMW+...

An ex police car thats Cat D? No thank you very much.

[Hammerhead]

Fox- said:

Hammerhead said:

You sure they're fakes? Look like the real deal to me!

Yup - too shiney and if you look very closely they are different where the spokes meet the centre. Here are my genuine ones:

Aha! See what you mean now

[BliarOut]

Missing pixels in the display. Not the end of the world, budget circa £200 for a fix.

[Fox-]

BliarOut said:

Missing pixels in the display. Not the end of the world, budget circa £200 for a fix.

It's a 520i so it will almost certainly have low OBC so the instrument cluster is safe from dead pixels. It has a multi info display though as it presumably has the BMW Business CD player and this is pixel-prone...

[HarryW]

Fox- said:

HarryW said:

For another 250 squid 2004 cat d 530D gotta be worth more shoe leather http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/BMW+...

An ex police car thats Cat D? No thank you very much.

Says ex government car, not necessarily police or is it, are all ex gov cars police cars then . It might have some extras Q left in it

[sparks_E39]

BliarOut said:

Missing pixels in the display. Not the end of the world, budget circa £200 for a fix.

I had mine fixed for £80 in Southampton.

[BliarOut]

sparks_E39 said:

BliarOut said:

Missing pixels in the display. Not the end of the world, budget circa £200 for a fix.

I had mine fixed for £80 in Southampton.

That's pretty good... £200 is your bargaining price.. lol

[sparks_E39]

You may as well go for a 1999-2000 528 if your budget is £4000, that will pick you up a great one. I know you say you don't mind about the power of the but you might as well reap the benefits of the extra 40-50 bhp, because it won't cost you any more to run. My 99 528 auto does 22-25 mpg around town when not in traffic and 35-38 on a long run.

[BliarOut]

sparks_E39 said:

You may as well go for a 1999-2000 528 if your budget is £4000, that will pick you up a great one. I know you say you don't mind about the power of the but you might as well reap the benefits of the extra 40-50 bhp, because it won't cost you any more to run. My 99 528 auto does 22-25 mpg around town when not in traffic and 35-38 on a long run.

My 99 528I cost £2800 at the back end of last year... 76K miles, loaded and FBMWSH too!

[sparks_E39]

BliarOut said:

sparks_E39 said:

You may as well go for a 1999-2000 528 if your budget is £4000, that will pick you up a great one. I know you say you don't mind about the power of the but you might as well reap the benefits of the extra 40-50 bhp, because it won't cost you any more to run. My 99 528 auto does 22-25 mpg around town when not in traffic and 35-38 on a long run.

My 99 528I cost £2800 at the back end of last year... 76K miles, loaded and FBMWSH too!

There are some bargains, I paid over £3k for mine in October at 110k with FSH, a bit over the odds but it was the right car at the right time so I bought it. Managed to get a extended warranty free of charge and they replaced the windscreen when I found a stone chip and sorted out an electrical problem at no cost to me.

[HRG]

sparks_E39 said:

BliarOut said:

sparks_E39 said:

You may as well go for a 1999-2000 528 if your budget is £4000, that will pick you up a great one. I know you say you don't mind about the power of the but you might as well reap the benefits of the extra 40-50 bhp, because it won't cost you any more to run. My 99 528 auto does 22-25 mpg around town when not in traffic and 35-38 on a long run.

My 99 528I cost £2800 at the back end of last year... 76K miles, loaded and FBMWSH too!

There are some bargains, I paid over £3k for mine in October at 110k with FSH, a bit over the odds but it was the right car at the right time so I bought it. Managed to get a extended warranty free of charge and they replaced the windscreen when I found a stone chip and sorted out an electrical problem at no cost to me.

Good deal.. Mine was in Nov and prices were in freefall then

[Fox-]

HarryW said:

Fox- said:

HarryW said:

For another 250 squid 2004 cat d 530D gotta be worth more shoe leather http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/BMW+...

An ex police car thats Cat D? No thank you very much.

Says ex government car, not necessarily police or is it, are all ex gov cars police cars then . It might have some extras Q left in it

It's a police car because it's not UK spec, the same as all the police E39's. That and the fact it's an 04 plate give it away.