E39 540i Touring
Discussion
That car is overpriced imho.
I was looking for a big estate a month or two ago and the 530i or 540i was on the list, there were some crackers about all with sub 80k miles, most 540i's had nav too, going for between £4-5000, that's going, they were advertised around the £5-6k mark.
If it was an auto with Nav and all the toys then maybe, but no nav and a manaual (which books at nearly a grand less) is just too much money.
You need that down by a grand before considering it.
I don't think the benifits of the 530i, which is a lighter more chuckable car with much crisper steering, is really that important on the touring, you just want to waft around, although buying a manual doesn't make sense if you want a wafter either.
I was looking for a big estate a month or two ago and the 530i or 540i was on the list, there were some crackers about all with sub 80k miles, most 540i's had nav too, going for between £4-5000, that's going, they were advertised around the £5-6k mark.
If it was an auto with Nav and all the toys then maybe, but no nav and a manaual (which books at nearly a grand less) is just too much money.
You need that down by a grand before considering it.
I don't think the benifits of the 530i, which is a lighter more chuckable car with much crisper steering, is really that important on the touring, you just want to waft around, although buying a manual doesn't make sense if you want a wafter either.
5 wh said:
I sold a similar car a few weeks ago(540i Sport Auto Touring 2002/52 fully loaded inc nav,phone,Xenons)for £4900.I delivered it to the purchaser in South Yorkshire,a trip of 125 miles.Out of interest I reset the MPG computer before I set off.At the journeys end I had averaged 31.9mpg and I didnt dawdle on the way there.
Amazing mpg for a large 4.4 V8 engined auto estate car.
Thank you. 5_wh!Amazing mpg for a large 4.4 V8 engined auto estate car.
For a while I thought it was me that was going mad or something when we were all categorically told no V8 would do 30 mpg! There again..I should have known better as 'dcb' does have 'form' on the the old 'opinions' front doesn't he?!
I guess in time we'll all learn to just stop listening to the 'opinions'.
Crombers said:
derin100 said:
I guess in time we'll all learn to just stop listening to the 'opinions'.
Just a pity that not all owners seem able to achieve these wonderful figures with their V8s. Can't believe I haven't yet seized this opportunity to bore people silly with the consumption I used to get with my E39 540i-6.
I was long ago attracted to the 540i as it was pretty much the biggest-engined mainstream car available with a manual gearbox. I always thought the wonderful smoothness and flexibility of V8s and V12s were wasted on automatics, and not withstanding the "official" consumption figures, you could easily lollop along in a high gear and get similar figures to smaller cars.
My observation with many BMWs is that there's often more correlation in consumption with gearboxes than with engines. this may apply to diesels more than it does with petrols, but it still seems to me that the 540i auto is as thirsty as you would expect, and the manual isn't.
I had mine for about four years and 60k miles, and it would usually do 27-29 mpg commuting and 34-36 mpg cruising. This was normal; not exceptional best-behaviour-only figures. By taking it gently on a long clear run with cruise control and no headwinds, it would just do 40mpg. I wouldn't say that was representative, but it showed what was achievable.
Perhaps an estate would be slightly worse than my saloon, but I don't think it would be much. My neighbour use to have a 528i auto, and I don't think he got any better - despite the similarly long gearing on that model. With brings me back to cruising. The 540i pulled 33.9 mph/1000rpm in sixth, meaning 2000 rpm at an indicated 70mph. This was so quiet and relaxed you could do it all day.
Some of the comments about steering are valid though. The 535 and 540 used the same sort of recirculating ball steering that the E34 used, while the six cylinder petrols (not diesels) used rack and pinion. With slower, sloppoer steering and a nose-heavy V8, the handling wasn't as agile as the sixes. But I wouldn't chose a six over a 540i MANUAL on fuel consumption grounds.
One final word. Owners of cars with small engines often like to talk about how nippy their chariot is, and how it can cruise on the motorway with the big boys. Owners with big engines are keen to stress how economical their barge is. In each case I think its a natural defence against whatever they feel vulnerable about. I'm not sure its time well spent. I buy big-engine cars because of how well they go, not how slow.
Nick
I was long ago attracted to the 540i as it was pretty much the biggest-engined mainstream car available with a manual gearbox. I always thought the wonderful smoothness and flexibility of V8s and V12s were wasted on automatics, and not withstanding the "official" consumption figures, you could easily lollop along in a high gear and get similar figures to smaller cars.
My observation with many BMWs is that there's often more correlation in consumption with gearboxes than with engines. this may apply to diesels more than it does with petrols, but it still seems to me that the 540i auto is as thirsty as you would expect, and the manual isn't.
I had mine for about four years and 60k miles, and it would usually do 27-29 mpg commuting and 34-36 mpg cruising. This was normal; not exceptional best-behaviour-only figures. By taking it gently on a long clear run with cruise control and no headwinds, it would just do 40mpg. I wouldn't say that was representative, but it showed what was achievable.
Perhaps an estate would be slightly worse than my saloon, but I don't think it would be much. My neighbour use to have a 528i auto, and I don't think he got any better - despite the similarly long gearing on that model. With brings me back to cruising. The 540i pulled 33.9 mph/1000rpm in sixth, meaning 2000 rpm at an indicated 70mph. This was so quiet and relaxed you could do it all day.
Some of the comments about steering are valid though. The 535 and 540 used the same sort of recirculating ball steering that the E34 used, while the six cylinder petrols (not diesels) used rack and pinion. With slower, sloppoer steering and a nose-heavy V8, the handling wasn't as agile as the sixes. But I wouldn't chose a six over a 540i MANUAL on fuel consumption grounds.
One final word. Owners of cars with small engines often like to talk about how nippy their chariot is, and how it can cruise on the motorway with the big boys. Owners with big engines are keen to stress how economical their barge is. In each case I think its a natural defence against whatever they feel vulnerable about. I'm not sure its time well spent. I buy big-engine cars because of how well they go, not how slow.
Nick
welwynnick said:
By taking it gently on a long clear run with cruise control and no headwinds, it would just do 40mpg.
What do you mean by gently?welwynnick said:
I buy big-engine cars because of how well they go, not how slow.
My attraction was the relatvely low mileage and overall good condition. I also dont like the way an auto drives and therefore prefer a manual unless there is a more modern dsg type affair available. I dont really want to buy a van but I do like the idea of a van arsed bmw with a v8 in it. And the colour combo looks very discreet and I much prefer the blue / beige to silver or black with black leather.
ATM said:
What do you mean by gently?
What I mean by that is long-distance cruising in fair weather on motorways and dual carriageways with the cruise control set to 65. So its achievable and repeatable, but not necessarily representative. ATM said:
My attraction was the relatvely low mileage and overall good condition. I also dont like the way an auto drives and therefore prefer a manual unless there is a more modern dsg type affair available. I dont really want to buy a van but I do like the idea of a van arsed bmw with a v8 in it. And the colour combo looks very discreet and I much prefer the blue / beige to silver or black with black leather.
I'm with you there, I'm not a fan of all this black and silver. welwynnick said:
What I mean by that is long-distance cruising in fair weather on motorways and dual carriageways with the cruise control set to 65. So its achievable and repeatable, but not necessarily representative.
That's the funniest thing I've read all week.I nearly had a little accident in my trousers laughing so much.
The name of this website is "PistonHeads.com - Speed Matters" and
you want to tell us about about what happens when you set the cruise
control at 65 mph on your V8 155 mph five series ?
I am not entirely sure you are on the appropriate website.
For the record, in the UK on 95 Oktane petrol, with the cruise set at
a barely moving 90 mph, my 530 auto petrol gets 28 mpg.
The only time it gets past 30 mpg is when I'm in convoy with my
pensioner Dad in his one litre Seat, but even he drives faster than
you appear to.
25 mpg in Germany, on 100 Oktane, cruising at anything up to 150 mph.
As I've indicated, 130 mph is a comfortable cruise speed.
Global average 26 mpg, over the last 50K miles, incidentally exactly
the same as BMW say is the combined mpg for the car, so I hope some pretty
plausible numbers.
dcb said:
I am not entirely sure you are on the appropriate website.
Perhaps he is? Frankly I always cruise at 70mph on the cruise on Motorways. Why? Well why not? Motorway driving is boring whether you do it at 70mph or 90mph. 90mph saves you a few minutes - big wow - increases your chance of getting nicked but is otherwise just as tedious as doing 70mph. So you might as well just do 70.Once you get off the Motorway, of course, all fuel economy bets are well and truely off. Thats when driving becomes enjoyable
Fox- said:
dcb said:
I am not entirely sure you are on the appropriate website.
Perhaps he is? Frankly I always cruise at 70mph on the cruise on Motorways. Why? Well why not? Motorway driving is boring whether you do it at 70mph or 90mph. 90mph saves you a few minutes - big wow - increases your chance of getting nicked but is otherwise just as tedious as doing 70mph. So you might as well just do 70.Once you get off the Motorway, of course, all fuel economy bets are well and truely off. Thats when driving becomes enjoyable
Well, since speed matters so much to you Dcb, I'm not entirely sure you have the appropriate car!
You'd be better off with a 540i!
Edited by derin100 on Wednesday 29th October 23:07
Crombers said:
derin100 said:
I guess in time we'll all learn to just stop listening to the 'opinions'.
Just a pity that not all owners seem able to achieve these wonderful figures with their V8s. ...which is a bit weird since the B10's gearbox which is more inclined to lock the TC ought to be more efficient.
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