e39 530i touring advise needed.

[jason61c]

I'm looking at getting a 530i se touring, going to be a baby wagon.

Anything in particular to check? 2005/51 - 135k with a FBMWSH..... how many miles left? Its a Manual not auto.

Just wondering what common problems are, what should I look for? will it do 32mpg on a 250mile motorway trip?

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

Fox has written a thread on this recently - you might have to trawl back to December to find it. Alternatively I know there's a buying guide on www.bmw5.co.uk

If you're buying one I'dmake sure you buy a warranty too. Warranty Direct have a good reputation.

I speak from experience. I've got a 530d and the high pressure fuel pump has just gone kaput. That's a £600 part right there (muchless from BMminiparts - Toby came back to me very quickly and it's a BMW part with the 2 year warranty at a fraction of BMW's cost - really impressed actually.). BMW wouldcharge circa £1,200 apparently.

I know you're talking about the petrol version but the same applies.

Edited by Oi_Oi_Savaloy on Saturday 23 January 09:33

[sparkythecat]

jason61c said:

I'm looking at getting a 530i se touring.... will it do 32mpg on a 250mile motorway trip?

It will - but only at legal speeds.

[B10BRW]

I had a manual 01 530 for 3 years, On a long journey I would get about 32mpg,
but overall averaged 28 mpg.
In the time I owned it nothing went wrong, a great fast, comfortable load lugger.
Fitted with the optional roof bars it would carry a hell of a lot.
Did not want to get rid of it, but I moved to a house with a very steep drive and the oil would run to the rear of the engine, on start up it it suffered from oil starvation.
So had to go, only park 4 or 8 cylinders on my drive now

[confused_buyer]

It'll do 32mpg but at 70 ish rather than 80 ish. If it hasn't been done it'll need a new rocker cover and almost certainly some replacement bits of plastics under the bonnet (they go brittle and snap) on the washer pipers and cam cover breather.

Air suspension will probably need an overhaul at that sort of miles as well.

They're good cars but remember it is 9 years old so you can't expect perfection.

[Mario T PhD]

Check to see if the radiator and/or the water pump have failed or been replaced

If they haven't they very soon will

Mine went at the end of the test drive! The vendor got it repaired without cost to me and I picked it up a week later

[jason61c]

cheers for the help.

This is the badger i'm thinking of buying....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

[Fox-]

How did that go so cheaply? Been looking at Tourers for a while and a 130kish one tends to be £4k?

[confused_buyer]

Item 260538283474 has a much nicer mileage.

[confused_buyer]

Fox- said:

How did that go so cheaply? Been looking at Tourers for a while and a 130kish one tends to be £4k?

That's ebay for you. £2800 is below trade, you couldn't buy at auction at that price.

[jason61c]

I don't like the old auto box's though.

[Fox-]

confused_buyer said:

Fox- said:

How did that go so cheaply? Been looking at Tourers for a while and a 130kish one tends to be £4k?

That's ebay for you. £2800 is below trade, you couldn't buy at auction at that price.

This is why I am always very suspicious of anyone who choses to sell a car using an Ebay auction rather than a classified ad...

[confused_buyer]

Fox- said:

confused_buyer said:

Fox- said:

How did that go so cheaply? Been looking at Tourers for a while and a 130kish one tends to be £4k?

That's ebay for you. £2800 is below trade, you couldn't buy at auction at that price.

This is why I am always very suspicious of anyone who choses to sell a car using an Ebay auction rather than a classified ad...

To be fair, a lot of buyers just want shot of their car. They've bought another and it's sitting there uninsured taking up a parking space. There is no real reason why a classified ad is inherently better - when buying you can only make the same checks regardless of the method of agreeing a price. I use it occassionally to get rid of part exchanges if it's a decent car - nothing wrong with the car, just not in my range of stuff I want to stock and just want my money out asap so some trade sales can be very good buys as well.

Ebay can be very good - it is the only place you can buy a car at or close to trade price and still get a chance to drive and check it before handing over the money. Try doing that at auction!

Edited by confused_buyer on Monday 25th January 13:20

[jason61c]

the guy is offering a test drive, any AA/RAC inspection etc so some piece of mind there.

Most people use ebay now as it's an easy way to get a quick sale.

Its also a good way to value/price a car to a point. Some cars go for too much, others like this hit a fair and realistic value.

also remember a 'proper' auction house take a cut either way, the buyer pays a fee and the seller pays alot more than ebay fees of £20 or so.

Edited by jason61c on Monday 25th January 13:39

[confused_buyer]

If a private seller sold a car for £2800 at a major auction house the buyer would end up paying nearly £3100 and the seller would net about £2550. For that sort of transaction when it works, ebay saves both a lot of cash.

[jason61c]

very true. Last year I sold my passat tdi sport estate 140 bhp with dsg/leather/35k on the clock... 2006/06.

I put it on autotrader and ended up with traders in a bidding war to buy it. I got my asking price(11.5k). The dealer that bought it had it for 4 weeks before selling for 12.5k.

He was saying that auctions were too expensive with all the other costs/hidden problems and he now buys 50% of his cars from auto trader to sell on.