Talk to me - e39 BMW 5 series

[entropy]

How bad are the electrics?

[mini1380cc]

They are pretty solid. Very few electrical gremlins which and even at that its well documented and easy fixes. Check out hedgehog resistor and abs pump.

[miniman]

And ignition switch.

[BuzzLightyear]

Never had any problems with mine, excepting pixel loss on dashboard displays.

[lance1a]

256000 miles on mine and still going strong, pixels on dash a bit iffy but otherwise no hassles. Seat electrics are working but the casing has cracked. That's about all electrically.

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Older tourings like mine can have random faults caused by wires breaking where they enter the tailgate. I'm also having airbag system issues - hopefully a cheap fix is imminent.

Nothing else on mine at the moment, but it's a complex car that's getting on a bit. When you pay less than £2k for something that was originally £40k, you're going to have to expect some ongoing maintenance costs.

[Chris944_S2]

On my B10 the alternator died, the satnav unit died, lots of pixels disapeared and the fuse for adjusting the position of the drivers seat kept blowing.

Luck of the draw I suppose, I wouldn't let that put you off though as they're cracking cars. Plenty will go through life without any issues.

edit: forgot one more, the sensor in the passenger seat for the airbag was also faulty

[miniman]

Also steering column clock spring, causes airbag faults and failure of steering wheel controls (eg cruise)

[dirty_dog]

passenger seat occupancy sensors can be a problem. Pixels on dash are only if you have the dash with everything displayed as text. Mine has the picture of the car on, these seem to be more reliable.

As mentioned hedgehogs but they are an easy fix. Touch wood not had any issues with mine yet, 2002 e39 530i touring owned for 6 months.