£3000 - £3500 for a 1999 E39 528i, seem about right?
Discussion
Looking on Autotrader, my budget seems to be able to get me into a 1998/1999 car with less than 100k miles, however there does seem to be a few cars that are on 2000/2001 plates and some that are on 1996/1997 plates around the same mileage but the same price? Whats the very best I should expect for £3000 £3500? Most of the cars look tidy. I want to buy from 1998 S plate onwards...
Neil.D said:
[TW]Fox said:
Ignore mileage and buy as new as possible.
Why is that out of interest?Plus the older it is and the lower the mileage the more time it's spent crashing over citycentre speed bumps and doing 20mph in traffic from cold, hence the 'low mileage'.
Drive for 30 minutes at rush hour then drive for 30 minutes up the Motorway, then see how many miles you've covered each time and which drive you think caused the most wear on your car.
Then wonder why people love low mileage cars.
I had lots of obscure things fail due to age and milage on my 10 year old 528i and for that reason I would always but the newest I could afford.
The things that failed were ignition switch,window switch,sunroof switch,rocker cover gasket,water hoses,wheel sensors all in one year before I sold it.
The car looked mint,drove superbly and had full main dealer service history but realised there were many more parts all the same age waiting to fail.
The things that failed were ignition switch,window switch,sunroof switch,rocker cover gasket,water hoses,wheel sensors all in one year before I sold it.
The car looked mint,drove superbly and had full main dealer service history but realised there were many more parts all the same age waiting to fail.
[TW]Fox said:
Neil.D said:
[TW]Fox said:
Ignore mileage and buy as new as possible.
Why is that out of interest?Plus the older it is and the lower the mileage the more time it's spent crashing over citycentre speed bumps and doing 20mph in traffic from cold, hence the 'low mileage'.
Drive for 30 minutes at rush hour then drive for 30 minutes up the Motorway, then see how many miles you've covered each time and which drive you think caused the most wear on your car.
Then wonder why people love low mileage cars.
I agree that town driving is more stressful on an engine and indeed the whole car than just clocking up big miles on a MW but it is impossible to generalise that newer = better.
Each car must be taken on its individual merrits. We all look for a well owned and well maintained car when buying, preferably one owned by an enthusiast. Therefore I wouldnt discourage the OP from an early E39 should the provenance be right.
Neil
I'll be going on condition of the car over anything although I really am not happy about buying super high mileage (IMO 130,000+). The majority of E39's I assume were originally used for longer journeys due to the type of car they are, I however want it for around town mostly and some longer trips. I intend to keep it for a good 2 or 3 years.
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