Discussion
Evening all. This is my first post on the forum, albeit I have been lurking for some time now and reading up on the E39 BMW.
I have decided to buy one of these, and have a particular interest in a 528i SE that has come up for sale. It is 12 years old and has covered approximately 90k miles.
I was just wondering what experiences other PHers with a similar vehicle have had. I know every car is different but how often am I realistically going to be visiting the garage? The car I am looking at has a full BMW service history and the car will be for pleasure only as I do not drive to work.
Any advice appreciated.
Cheers.
I have decided to buy one of these, and have a particular interest in a 528i SE that has come up for sale. It is 12 years old and has covered approximately 90k miles.
I was just wondering what experiences other PHers with a similar vehicle have had. I know every car is different but how often am I realistically going to be visiting the garage? The car I am looking at has a full BMW service history and the car will be for pleasure only as I do not drive to work.
Any advice appreciated.
Cheers.
LordGrover said:
Do it. Excellent cars. You may find a sport better appointed and more 'fun' but the SE's still very good - at 90k it's about run-in too.
Don't tell me you've got one too?Absolutely excellent cars
Cooling system is a bit marginal (plastic rad and water pump can fail) but it's only about £170 to replace both.
Fantastic cars.
Shop around and buy well though - a lot are falling into the hands of those who can't afford to maintain them. The danger is that they are strong cars that can hide neglect well to the untrained eye.
There are plenty about so buy on condition and history from an enthusiast owner. Buy a good one though and it'll be all the car you ever need.
Shop around and buy well though - a lot are falling into the hands of those who can't afford to maintain them. The danger is that they are strong cars that can hide neglect well to the untrained eye.
There are plenty about so buy on condition and history from an enthusiast owner. Buy a good one though and it'll be all the car you ever need.
I've had my 528SE for about eight years. it's covered about 104K and runs faultlessly. I'm spending some money on new shocks and bushes to refurb the suspension. Other than that it's been regular servicing.
It's a great car and even at eleven years old I can't convince myself to change it for an E60 despite having the money available.
pp
It's a great car and even at eleven years old I can't convince myself to change it for an E60 despite having the money available.
pp
They are great cars, I have a 528 SE Auto from 1999. Perfect blend of comfort, power and economy. Expect 22-25 mpg around town (17-20 in traffic) and up to 40 mpg on a run, but more than often mid 30's. FSH is a must really, not necessarily from BMW or even an indie as at 12 years old any decent garage would be more than capable of looking after it, but documents on what the car has had done in the last few years will be useful.
Edited by sparks_E39 on Wednesday 15th April 21:21
Excellent cars, I'm on my second E39 this one is a 528 SE first was a 523. This one is fantastic value for money, I jsut covered 1500 miles in mine this weekend driving to the Uk and back from Germany and it wants for nothing other than a top up of washer fluid.
Cruise, auto box, an unstressed engine and decent leather seats mean you'll get to your destination at a very good pace with decent economy too. Excellent bang for the buck these days.
Cruise, auto box, an unstressed engine and decent leather seats mean you'll get to your destination at a very good pace with decent economy too. Excellent bang for the buck these days.
digger_R said:
Excellent cars, I'm on my second E39 this one is a 528 SE first was a 523. This one is fantastic value for money, I jsut covered 1500 miles in mine this weekend driving to the Uk and back from Germany and it wants for nothing other than a top up of washer fluid.
Cruise, auto box, an unstressed engine and decent leather seats mean you'll get to your destination at a very good pace with decent economy too. Excellent bang for the buck these days.
Out of interest did you record your MPG results for that trip? I am doing a similar trip to Italy and Back soon circa 2000 miles...Cruise, auto box, an unstressed engine and decent leather seats mean you'll get to your destination at a very good pace with decent economy too. Excellent bang for the buck these days.
I thoroughly enjoy my 10-year-old 528i. Just did a lazy cruise (~80MPH where available) from Teesside to Leicester and back over the weekend, and it returned 35mpg.
ETA: Mine randomly puts the airbag light on. Common fault, apparently; it's the seatbelt pre-tensioner sensor that's a bit iffy.
ETA: Mine randomly puts the airbag light on. Common fault, apparently; it's the seatbelt pre-tensioner sensor that's a bit iffy.
Edited by CommanderJameson on Wednesday 15th April 22:43
CommanderJameson said:
I thoroughly enjoy my 10-year-old 528i. Just did a lazy cruise (~80MPH where available) from Teesside to Leicester and back over the weekend, and it returned 35mpg.
ETA: Mine randomly puts the airbag light on. Common fault, apparently; it's the seatbelt pre-tensioner sensor that's a bit iffy.
Mine does that and I sometimes lose cruise control for 5 minutes or so.ETA: Mine randomly puts the airbag light on. Common fault, apparently; it's the seatbelt pre-tensioner sensor that's a bit iffy.
Edited by CommanderJameson on Wednesday 15th April 22:43
sparks_E39 said:
CommanderJameson said:
I thoroughly enjoy my 10-year-old 528i. Just did a lazy cruise (~80MPH where available) from Teesside to Leicester and back over the weekend, and it returned 35mpg.
ETA: Mine randomly puts the airbag light on. Common fault, apparently; it's the seatbelt pre-tensioner sensor that's a bit iffy.
Mine does that and I sometimes lose cruise control for 5 minutes or so.ETA: Mine randomly puts the airbag light on. Common fault, apparently; it's the seatbelt pre-tensioner sensor that's a bit iffy.
Edited by CommanderJameson on Wednesday 15th April 22:43
CommanderJameson said:
sparks_E39 said:
CommanderJameson said:
I thoroughly enjoy my 10-year-old 528i. Just did a lazy cruise (~80MPH where available) from Teesside to Leicester and back over the weekend, and it returned 35mpg.
ETA: Mine randomly puts the airbag light on. Common fault, apparently; it's the seatbelt pre-tensioner sensor that's a bit iffy.
Mine does that and I sometimes lose cruise control for 5 minutes or so.ETA: Mine randomly puts the airbag light on. Common fault, apparently; it's the seatbelt pre-tensioner sensor that's a bit iffy.
Edited by CommanderJameson on Wednesday 15th April 22:43
Some things are
- Front wheel wobbles - can be bushes, links, discs, tyres or a mixture
- Cooling system as mentioned; you could pre-empt water pump failure by fitting a metal one or just go by the condition of the pipework/engine bay and have a little faith, temp gauge should stay vertical at all times.
- Make sure the auto is smooth and doesn't make any noises, general consensus is to change and flush the tranny fluid at circa 100k miles
- Check for oil leaks from filter housing and pipework, can perish with age
- Touring tailgates all seem to rust starting at the trailing edge.
- Touring rear window wipers seize up - about £100 to sort out but can mean a new rear window.
- Touring self level suspension air bags perish causing car to sag, really easy to DIY fix and you can get replacement bags from scrappies for about £100/pair
- Windscreen wipers can fail - it's nearly always the relay, cheap to fix
- Check all the electric gubbins work
- Check al pixels on dash and other displays are present
- Check for even tyre wear, they seem to need re-alignment every 10 minutes
I'm on my second. Had a 528 touring a few years ago and just bought a 540 touring last week.
Get a V8
ps. There will be other little things too but I think I've covered the main ones.
BMWLand.co.uk and Bimmerforums are pretty active places to ask more questions.
- Front wheel wobbles - can be bushes, links, discs, tyres or a mixture
- Cooling system as mentioned; you could pre-empt water pump failure by fitting a metal one or just go by the condition of the pipework/engine bay and have a little faith, temp gauge should stay vertical at all times.
- Make sure the auto is smooth and doesn't make any noises, general consensus is to change and flush the tranny fluid at circa 100k miles
- Check for oil leaks from filter housing and pipework, can perish with age
- Touring tailgates all seem to rust starting at the trailing edge.
- Touring rear window wipers seize up - about £100 to sort out but can mean a new rear window.
- Touring self level suspension air bags perish causing car to sag, really easy to DIY fix and you can get replacement bags from scrappies for about £100/pair
- Windscreen wipers can fail - it's nearly always the relay, cheap to fix
- Check all the electric gubbins work
- Check al pixels on dash and other displays are present
- Check for even tyre wear, they seem to need re-alignment every 10 minutes
I'm on my second. Had a 528 touring a few years ago and just bought a 540 touring last week.
Get a V8
ps. There will be other little things too but I think I've covered the main ones.
BMWLand.co.uk and Bimmerforums are pretty active places to ask more questions.
Edited by dave_s13 on Thursday 16th April 00:07
sparks_E39 said:
digger_R said:
Excellent cars, I'm on my second E39 this one is a 528 SE first was a 523. This one is fantastic value for money, I jsut covered 1500 miles in mine this weekend driving to the Uk and back from Germany and it wants for nothing other than a top up of washer fluid.
Cruise, auto box, an unstressed engine and decent leather seats mean you'll get to your destination at a very good pace with decent economy too. Excellent bang for the buck these days.
Out of interest did you record your MPG results for that trip? I am doing a similar trip to Italy and Back soon circa 2000 miles...Cruise, auto box, an unstressed engine and decent leather seats mean you'll get to your destination at a very good pace with decent economy too. Excellent bang for the buck these days.
outward: 32mpg, circa 90 mins at 130mph+, 2hrs at less than 20mph and the rest circa 70-90mph
return: 35mpg, 2hrs at less than 20 mph, circa 30 mins 130 + and the rest at 70-90 mph
using cruise all the time except the really slow bits
The outward leg I did have to push on for a fair whack to make my ferry so obviously paid for a bit extra.
I had the airbag light problem on my first one, they stealer changed a cable under the passenger seat (LHD) and the problem resurfaced twice but they changed that under the warranty for the repeat occurrences.
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