going to look at these tomorrow

[sheldo]

Anyone know of these cars and also what should i be looking out for in particular? Any thoughts on the two cars welcome!

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

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

thanks in advance

[mattman]

both look very nice - personally would prefer the blue one if you weren't planning on doing huge miles.

quick question - why does the 525 have a colour coded engine cover? ex-boy racer mod (god knows why) or sign of a meticulous owner? not seen that before

[Luca Brasi]

That first one is lovely. Alu trim on a beige interior on the second one just looks awful imo.

[Luca Brasi]

mattman said:

quick question - why does the 525 have a colour coded engine cover? ex-boy racer mod (god knows why) or sign of a meticulous owner? not seen that before

Only noticed that now, that's just chav.

[skeeterm5]

Both remind me how good the e39 sport looks in good strong colours.

S

[vsonix]

Luca Brasi said:

That first one is lovely. Alu trim on a beige interior on the second one just looks awful imo.

seconded, who the hell came up with that bright idea?

[Fox-]

vsonix said:

Luca Brasi said:

That first one is lovely. Alu trim on a beige interior on the second one just looks awful imo.

seconded, who the hell came up with that bright idea?

Standard fit beleive it or not

[gizlaroc]

I think the alu on beige looks good in the flesh, looks gash in pics though.

Check the history thoroughly asvthese are clockers dreams! Make sure there is no missing years, easy to do 50k a year in these.

530 is also quite a bit better than the 525 as well, almost the perfect car and the 530 sport is the best BMW ever made IMHO.

They should feel like new cars, my brother has my old one and that has 135k milesnon it and is extremely tight, but he has replaced the essentials, shocks, springs, bushes, wishbones etc. etc. For £5000 I would expect history to say that has been done on those cars too fairly recently.

[mattman]

how did you get on then op?

[sheldo]

Hi people and thanks for the advice. I ended up buying the blue 530i sport as it was deffinatley the better of the two. Me and my brother had a good hour on each car going over every inch of it. The garage were brilliant and can highly recommend their attention to the customer.

Both cars were ready for us to look at and they shamyed them down for me after asking them. They then left us to go through them as we liked answered questions and let us disect paper work. Before letting me have a good 5 mile trek in each car. Great service!

The 525 had a few marks on it drove extremly well but only had history to 30k which put me off abit although well cared for in the flesh. Garage looked up the advisorys on the last mot for me aswell.

The 530 was a demo car and one other owner from new and has full bmw strastone history up to 98k. All the invoices to go along with the sevice records aswell. Needs a little bit of tlc from stone chipps to the front and also requires a new tyre on the back as very low, also no advisorys on last Mot. Apart from that drives like new very quite unbelivably smooth and a real surprise how good it feels for its age. Garage done a hpi for me wacked on an warranty and sent me on my way after insuring it as i couldn't get through to sureterm. All in all seems very good so far.

Anyone recommend what tyres to put on and were to get them? Its got Bridgestones on at the mo 265/35/18

[Fox-]

sheldo said:

Anyone recommend what tyres to put on and were to get them? Its got Bridgestones on at the mo 265/35/18

I strongly beleive that paying the price for the right tyres pays volumes, though others will recommend cheaper brands I'm sure I run my 530i Sport with the same wheels on Continental Contisport Contact 3, and have previously used Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric. Both with good results. A set of CS3's will set you back about £650, Eagle F1's about £580ish.

[sheldo]

Yes Fox i also believe that a decent tyre pays dividends in the long run, thanks for the advice on what you've had good results with.

toxicnerve the tool kit is complete and even came with the torch in the glovebox and every manual from new.

The car is gona need a service inspection 2 within the three months aswell. Is it still worth taking it to a main dealer at this age and if so what can i expect to pay these days, or would a good indie be acceptable?

[Fox-]

sheldo said:

The car is gona need a service inspection 2 within the three months aswell. Is it still worth taking it to a main dealer at this age and if so what can i expect to pay these days, or would a good indie be acceptable?

I had my Inspection II last year. I paid £340 at the main dealer. Indys were cheaper by only by 10-20%. The saving just wasn't worth the hassle of turning up under the railway arches and walking to the bus stop, so it went to the main dealer who lent me a 320d for the day, free of charge. Indys are good for repairs but with BMW Value Servicing there seems little point to go through the faff of an indy for servicing work.

Great to see somebody prepared to look after an E39. These are astonishingly good cars which are mostly falling into the wrong hands. Thanks for rescuing one!

[gizlaroc]

I would stick with the same tyres as on the fronts, don't mix front and rears, could be ok but could make it extremely twitchy and you might end up having to replace again.

[wolfy1988]

Hi

Great choice in car!

I have brand new P zero Neros on my 525d and I am not that amazed tbh wet grip does not feel that great. I have ordered some 18' parallel and a set of F1's, I have always used them and found them to be excellent!



What does everybody else make of the the P Zero Neros?

[excel monkey]

Fox- said:

I had my Inspection II last year. I paid £340 at the main dealer.

That's a good price. Which dealer was that, if you don't mind me asking?

[Fox-]

excel monkey said:

Fox- said:

I had my Inspection II last year. I paid £340 at the main dealer.

That's a good price. Which dealer was that, if you don't mind me asking?

Any - it's standard BMW Value Pricing.

[hadenough!]

Fox- said:

excel monkey said:

Fox- said:

I had my Inspection II last year. I paid £340 at the main dealer.

That's a good price. Which dealer was that, if you don't mind me asking?

Any - it's standard BMW Value Pricing.

Bear in mind that if they have to do anything over and above the service they wil revert to circa £150 per hour labour.

[Fox-]

hadenough! said:

Bear in mind that if they have to do anything over and above the service they wil revert to circa £150 per hour labour.

Errr no - only a handful of dealers charge that much (My local dealers base rate is about £100 an hour) and many will discount labour for older cars, some quite significantly.

[Matt UK]

sheldo said:

I ended up buying the blue 530i sport as it was deffinatley the better of the two.

Good choice, hope it treats you well. The e39 is an epic car.

Gutted that I've had to put mine up for sale. I reckon it's the best all-rounder and for the price these things change hands for, there really is nothing like 'em.