Talk to me about the E39 5 series touring.
Discussion
Continuing on from this thread http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I'm drawn to one of these as a workhorse that can be used for the odd trip up to Scotland to visit family. Something like this http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2866072.htm
Looking for stories of ownership and running costs. I'm not too bothered about fuel as it won't get used often enough to notice.
I'm drawn to one of these as a workhorse that can be used for the odd trip up to Scotland to visit family. Something like this http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2866072.htm
Looking for stories of ownership and running costs. I'm not too bothered about fuel as it won't get used often enough to notice.
There's a whole list of niggles that older E39s suffer. For example:
- Failing batteries
- Failed "hedgehog" resistor (leads to failed batteries)
- Ignition switch fails causing electrical gremlins
- ABS wheel sensors
- Steering wheel clock spring connector
- Suspension bushes (causing "the shimmy")
- Suspension air bag failure on Touring (self-levelling rear suspension)
- Airbag gremlins caused by clock spring and / or passenger detection circuit
- Dead pixels in radio / dash displays
- Cooling system (thermostat / radiator / water pump)
Sounds like a bloody nightmare doesn't it? It's not - mine had many of these issues and all are fairly easy and cheap DIY fixes if you are handy. 528 is arguably best of the pre-facelift cars, 530 of the later cars. 535 is less powerful than 540 and just as thirsty. 530d is excellent. Great long-distance cruiser.
- Failing batteries
- Failed "hedgehog" resistor (leads to failed batteries)
- Ignition switch fails causing electrical gremlins
- ABS wheel sensors
- Steering wheel clock spring connector
- Suspension bushes (causing "the shimmy")
- Suspension air bag failure on Touring (self-levelling rear suspension)
- Airbag gremlins caused by clock spring and / or passenger detection circuit
- Dead pixels in radio / dash displays
- Cooling system (thermostat / radiator / water pump)
Sounds like a bloody nightmare doesn't it? It's not - mine had many of these issues and all are fairly easy and cheap DIY fixes if you are handy. 528 is arguably best of the pre-facelift cars, 530 of the later cars. 535 is less powerful than 540 and just as thirsty. 530d is excellent. Great long-distance cruiser.
Which did you have MM? 528's is what I've been looking at seems a good compromise between performance and economey as you said. Not seen many TD's or the 4l kicking around on the classifieds.
Looking to spend around a grand with the theory being if it does go majorly wrong it will still have a reasonable value to break for spares.
What is the 528 like on fuel in 'the real world'?
Looking to spend around a grand with the theory being if it does go majorly wrong it will still have a reasonable value to break for spares.
What is the 528 like on fuel in 'the real world'?
Edited by andrew311 on Monday 13th June 13:43
miniman said:
There's a whole list of niggles that older E39s suffer. For example:
- Failing batteries
- Failed "hedgehog" resistor (leads to failed batteries)
- Ignition switch fails causing electrical gremlins
- ABS wheel sensors
- Steering wheel clock spring connector
- Suspension bushes (causing "the shimmy")
- Suspension air bag failure on Touring (self-levelling rear suspension)
- Airbag gremlins caused by clock spring and / or passenger detection circuit
- Dead pixels in radio / dash displays
- Cooling system (thermostat / radiator / water pump)
Sounds like a bloody nightmare doesn't it? It's not - mine had many of these issues and all are fairly easy and cheap DIY fixes if you are handy. 528 is arguably best of the pre-facelift cars, 530 of the later cars. 535 is less powerful than 540 and just as thirsty. 530d is excellent. Great long-distance cruiser.
I got annoyed that im having to replace some front bushes and had to re-do the cooling system in my car, was thinking that this is a lot to do, then when I realised that for the price of all that its the same as two of my girlfriends car payments on a new car in warranty.- Failing batteries
- Failed "hedgehog" resistor (leads to failed batteries)
- Ignition switch fails causing electrical gremlins
- ABS wheel sensors
- Steering wheel clock spring connector
- Suspension bushes (causing "the shimmy")
- Suspension air bag failure on Touring (self-levelling rear suspension)
- Airbag gremlins caused by clock spring and / or passenger detection circuit
- Dead pixels in radio / dash displays
- Cooling system (thermostat / radiator / water pump)
Sounds like a bloody nightmare doesn't it? It's not - mine had many of these issues and all are fairly easy and cheap DIY fixes if you are handy. 528 is arguably best of the pre-facelift cars, 530 of the later cars. 535 is less powerful than 540 and just as thirsty. 530d is excellent. Great long-distance cruiser.
Oh and its a car thats 12 years old and has done more than 170,000 miles and still feels pretty new! Never mind the fact that it has been ragged everywhere and spends a lot of the time coming off roundabouts sideways on the limiter for the last 2 years and then I realise its not that bad....
Easiest car Ive ever worked on as well, nothings too hard to get, things are put together logically and I havent come across one stuck bolt on the whole car.
Well apart from the rear seats having to come out to remove rear suspension but thats a 15 minute job.
For the money they are now, pay extra and get a facelift sport with all the toys, looks much more modern and are very lovely cars to be in and hide their size very well, good on fuel and all of them are pretty quick.
Well I like mine...
I've had it just over 2 years and done 55K in it (135k on the clock now). It's a 530iA Touring.
I had some big bills to start with but recently it's not been too bad -
Rebuild on Auto box - £1300
2 new Radiators (£300 each) - to be fair the second one needed replacing because the first one was fitted badly
2 new air springs at the back - £350 in parts - I DIYed the fitting and saved a few hundred
Replaced the 'hedgehog' - about £60 for the part - easy DIY
Pixels on MID unit vanished - I DIYed for £20, but you can get it fixed for £80
There's probably other stuff but I can't remember at the moment and none of it was that expensive as far as I can remember
Aside from that Indy servicing is relatively reasonable Inspection 1 about £200, inspection 2 about £450 (though I've seen cheap deals from time to time)
I know you aren't interested in fuel, but for interest I get about 30mpg with 90% motorway miles.
They munch rear tyres, though these aren't too expensive really Falken 452s seem to be a good balance between performance and price (about £100 per corner)
The 5-Series shimmy can be annoying, but for me it's been caused by tyres getting worn, so for me, not as difficult to diagnose as some have experienced.
It's been a really good family car, quiet, comfortable, fast enough for a daily grind on the motorway. They are a bit wallowy in my opinion, but to be fair it probably handles as well or better than most cars in its class, and it doesn't pretend to be an Elise.
The big engined ones represent a real bargain at the moment, even considering the potential bills. It's hard to come up with a good alternative.
I've had it just over 2 years and done 55K in it (135k on the clock now). It's a 530iA Touring.
I had some big bills to start with but recently it's not been too bad -
Rebuild on Auto box - £1300
2 new Radiators (£300 each) - to be fair the second one needed replacing because the first one was fitted badly
2 new air springs at the back - £350 in parts - I DIYed the fitting and saved a few hundred
Replaced the 'hedgehog' - about £60 for the part - easy DIY
Pixels on MID unit vanished - I DIYed for £20, but you can get it fixed for £80
There's probably other stuff but I can't remember at the moment and none of it was that expensive as far as I can remember
Aside from that Indy servicing is relatively reasonable Inspection 1 about £200, inspection 2 about £450 (though I've seen cheap deals from time to time)
I know you aren't interested in fuel, but for interest I get about 30mpg with 90% motorway miles.
They munch rear tyres, though these aren't too expensive really Falken 452s seem to be a good balance between performance and price (about £100 per corner)
The 5-Series shimmy can be annoying, but for me it's been caused by tyres getting worn, so for me, not as difficult to diagnose as some have experienced.
It's been a really good family car, quiet, comfortable, fast enough for a daily grind on the motorway. They are a bit wallowy in my opinion, but to be fair it probably handles as well or better than most cars in its class, and it doesn't pretend to be an Elise.
The big engined ones represent a real bargain at the moment, even considering the potential bills. It's hard to come up with a good alternative.
miniman said:
I had a 523 Touring. Pretty mediocre performance and MPG - mid 20's, better on a run, which is worse than a 528 I think.
Can live with 20's. Slightly off topic, but i was give a Vauxhall Insignia hire car from work this week to work down the country for a week. I usually get Golfs, Astras, etc so was quite looking forward to the extra space. I assume it was an 1.8 from it's lack of performace but it was thirsty as hell, sitting at 80 mph it wasn't getting 24 mpg according to the computer. If I'm going to have poor economey I want to earn it through either having a big engine, heavy barge or both.I can't stress highly enough the importance of checking the cooling system on any potential petrol E39 purchase, especially the smaller capacity like 520 and 523s. There are plenty of these cars currently being shifted on for peanuts due to head gasket failure. Look for signs of overheating, radweld in the coolant etc where people have tried the cheapest routes possible to sort coolant loss before getting a compression test to confirm their worst fears.
I bought a lemon for £1k which I didnt test drive up to normal working temperature and it overheated the next day. After several weeks changing all the likely components its been sat in my Dad's garage awaiting a new HG and skim. Apparently they have quite a reputation in the independent repair trade for porous heads and some won't touch the job even at £500+.
528s and 530s seem less prone to this problem but be careful buying an older car where someone has ignored the warning signs until too late. Same goes for E36s with the same engine range.
I also had a 530d which was a magnificent car, but they suffer from injector and turbo failure at around the 100k mark due to a design flaw on the crankcase breather. If a diesel whines line a siren on the test drive, walk away. That said, i'd buy another now I know better what to look for.
I bought a lemon for £1k which I didnt test drive up to normal working temperature and it overheated the next day. After several weeks changing all the likely components its been sat in my Dad's garage awaiting a new HG and skim. Apparently they have quite a reputation in the independent repair trade for porous heads and some won't touch the job even at £500+.
528s and 530s seem less prone to this problem but be careful buying an older car where someone has ignored the warning signs until too late. Same goes for E36s with the same engine range.
I also had a 530d which was a magnificent car, but they suffer from injector and turbo failure at around the 100k mark due to a design flaw on the crankcase breather. If a diesel whines line a siren on the test drive, walk away. That said, i'd buy another now I know better what to look for.
The 528 likes a drink, but no more than a 520 or 523. I get 23-27mpg around town, about 15-20 mpg in traffic and about 35-40 mpg on a run. The worst average I got to a tank was 19 mpg, best 37 (in one sitting in Europe, at the speed limit) The smaller engines work harder to keep that big old barge moving (and are really quite slow, not that the 528 is that quick, but it doesn't hang about)
Go for one with a lot of miles, they always seem to be the minters. You must replace the cooling system if it already hasn't been, it WILL break, they all do. The interior is let down by cheap buttons around the heater displays that crack and fall off, and naff wood, and truly awful flimsy cup holders. Other than that it's a nice comfortable place to be. I'm going to struggle to replace it, might end up with a newer E39.
Go for one with a lot of miles, they always seem to be the minters. You must replace the cooling system if it already hasn't been, it WILL break, they all do. The interior is let down by cheap buttons around the heater displays that crack and fall off, and naff wood, and truly awful flimsy cup holders. Other than that it's a nice comfortable place to be. I'm going to struggle to replace it, might end up with a newer E39.
rottie102 said:
Sooty said:
I have a manual saloon. It can average 30mpg on a run at 75mph, but under normal mixed driving it averages about 25mpg.
I get 30mpg on a motorway from a 540 auto estate. That's really bad for a manual saloon 528...Im working it out by how many miles I do versus how much fuel I use rather than the computer?
And as for slow, the 523 is quicker than a suprising amount of the newer hatchbacks and stuff and its the smallest engined one when it was new. Im happy enough with its performance for a dialy driver.
miniman said:
markh1 said:
Are there any major differences to the facelift model? All I can notice is the 'angel eye' headlamps.
Different bumpers, rear "splitter" on Sport Touring, never noticed much else. Different alloy wheels.
'Kidney' grilles have a wider chrome border, which changes the overall shape slightly.
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