My 38,000 mile 2003 BMW E39 530i Sport

My 38,000 mile 2003 BMW E39 530i Sport

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Mani59

Original Poster:

67 posts

63 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Hi all,

I thought I would share my 2003 BMW E39 530i Champagne Edition II with you all which has done just 38,000 miles.

I purchased the car a few weeks ago after verifying the mileage carefully (vcheck, HPI, MOT history and service history with BMW since it is a full BMW service history car). It all checked out so that was great.

I always loved the E39 (I had one back in 2007) and I think most on here will think I am mad for spending so much maintaining what is an old car but I love these and want to keep it maintained and going for as long as possible! For me, it is a timeless design (the touring too) and from an era when it was very much driver orientated card (in my opinion).
I have had all sorts of other BMWs (E39 525d, E90 330i, E60 525i and 530i / 525d/535d, E65 730d, E90 M3, F20 M135i, E63 and E64 630i) but for me, I have always wished I never got rid of my original E39. Nice examples of the E39 are getting hard to find now so when I found this, it just ticked all the boxes for me. Being a Champagne Edition II was a bonus as I like the black/creme combination (similar to my E46 330i Individual which I also own).

Here is the car at the dealer on collection day:



Condition wise, it was fantastic given its almost 20 years old and the interior hardly had a scratch on it. Most importantly, there was no rust on or under the body so that was great!

The only problems I noted were the below:

-Dashboard pixels not working
-Navigation screen not working





Not a major issue in my eyes since the supplying dealer would pay me back to get these issues sorted so that was good.

On the 2-3 hour drive back home, I also noted vibration coming from the steering wheel when at 60-70MPH and braking hard. Since I had the car booked in for a Inspection 2 in a few days (and to get the car checked over), I would ask the independent BMW specialist I had it booked in with to take a look.

Upon getting it home, I undertook a quick detail of the car and interior.



Note the instrument cluster is missing since it was away for repair at the time of the photo:


During the Inspection 2, the garage also noted the below:
- Intake pipe split (common on the M54s)
- PAS cap leaking
- Front bendy control arms, front brakes and discs, both front tie rod and ends (which were seized) and Hunter 4 wheel alignment recommended to be replaced to fix the vibration issue

So I approved all of the above and the the difference it made to the ride was astonishing! Super comfortable and just glides along the road now.

The tyres on the car were a mix of Hankooks on the front and Toyo's on the rear so I corrected that. They were also 10 years old and whilst there was plenty of tread left, I did not feel comfortable driving on such old tyres given that this E39 is my daily. So after a lot of research and checking out the E39 forums in Germany, I decided to go with Falken FK510s which had good reviews (also the excellent M539 Restorations on YouTube has them on his E39 M5).



A few days later, I received the repaired instrument cluster back. I used a local automotive electronics shop to repair the instrument cluster with a lifetime warranty so that was good.



After doing some digging, I managed to get hold of the previous owner who was a great guy. He told me a little bit of history of the car (it was originally a Sytner car and then he purchased it in 2003) and for the last few years, he has had it in storage hence the low mileage. Really fascinating to hear his thoughts on the car, additions he asked Sytner to make to it (such as adding a CD Changer) keeping it all within the BMW network and the fact that he would love to see the car again! I said we will keep in touch and I am sure we can arrange something after Covid-19.

I then turned my attention to the navigation. Now the excellent guys on Forum5 (and Dan who is also a member on here) were a fantastic help in this. The problem was that there was no display being displayed on the screen. The Radio and CD worked fine. The navigation DVD unit in the boot seemed to be working as the red light was on and I could hear the disc spinning.
Anyway, I sent the DVD unit off to be looked at / repaired and once I got that back and adjusted a few connections, it was working fine!



It was then time for another mini-detail:





That brings us bang up to date.

What's left to do:

-Cooling system overhaul. This will be done within the next couple of months.
-Leather refurbishment. The leather is not in bad condition at all but it is something I would like to get refurbished. However, it is quite low on the priority list since I also need to spend some attention on my E46 330i Individual.





Apologies for the length of this and thanks if you managed to make it this far!



junglie

1,911 posts

216 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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That is beautiful.

I had an E39 530i SE manual and loved it - the sport version looks even better.

Good luck with it and keep us updated.

imperium

390 posts

83 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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38k miles! Can’t be many like that now. Looks brilliant fair play.

Trevor555

4,405 posts

83 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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That's two lovely cars you have there.

Thanks for sharing.

rjfp1962

7,611 posts

72 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Very nice. I think the lovely 5 Series compliments what you already have beautifully..

jontymo

810 posts

149 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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What a great buy - I now have car envy!

tobinen

9,184 posts

144 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Nice car mister

CousinDupree

779 posts

66 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Love the E39 and the paint / interior combo. It really makes the car.

A massive bonus rather than the dark car / black cabin norm.

Court_S

12,764 posts

176 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Two cracking cars there. This was a high point in BMW design in my opinion.

I have a massive soft spot for the champagne edition cars; it’s such a nice spec.

OEMster

118 posts

71 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Lovely car, I don’t think these will depreciate further given the interest in them and they are a ‘high water mark’ for the five series. My dad ran an ex dealer demo 525TDS touring manual and it was sadly missed when he replaced it with a new Discovery 2 that broke down constantly... congratulations for running it is a daily, I often muse over the practicalities of running and older daily after years of company cars, keep the updates coming please!

anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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One of the best looking cars ever made IMO. Certainly the best bmw ever made and that colour combo! Absolutely beautiful!

cerb4.5lee

30,196 posts

179 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Very nice. smokin

I love both of those. As others have said it was a very high point for BMW for sure.

harrykul

2,770 posts

225 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Fantastic purchase, always loved the Champagne editions. Look forward to following your journey with it.

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

129 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Quite possibly the 2 best looking BMWs ever made. Don’t think it will be topped either

fastbikes76

2,450 posts

121 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Absolutely gorgeous that E39, clearly been loved since day 1 which always makes it a nice bonus .

cool

si_xsi

1,189 posts

194 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Very very smart, what a find. I'm currently looking for a 530i spoft too so following with interest. A timeless design. Which dealer was selling the car and where did you find it?


njw1

2,054 posts

110 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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I'm biased having owned four e39's but that is lovely. My current one had an all beige interior when I bought it so I got hold of some black interior parts and sort of did my own version of a champagne interior;

Mattiebmw

169 posts

117 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Can you recommend a product to clean your leathers with mate? I have the same or very similar in my 3 series and I really want t make them immaculate.
Thanks in advance

Polarbert

17,923 posts

230 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Such a lovely motor. Apologies if you already said, is your plan to keep the mileage down or drive it and enjoy it? I bought my M Roadster at 42k miles and I always had thoughts to not drive it as much, but now its on 103k I definitely have enjoyed it every time I've driven it.

andy43

9,552 posts

253 months

Saturday 2nd January 2021
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Lovely car, they're just so right those E39s. Then you drop Velvet Blue in at the end as well!