Will my BMW's grandchild be noisy? (E39 Vs E60)
Will my BMW's grandchild be noisy? (E39 Vs E60)
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Sterillium

Original Poster:

22,336 posts

243 months

Monday 25th September 2017
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Dilemma.

I have a brilliant old BMW E39 Sport Touring that I use for moving dogs, junk, etc... but also for long, comfortable runs to London etc with a filly laden boot. Beautiful old thing it is, but I'm now closing in on 200,000 miles and I'm seriously thinking of replacing it.

But it does everything I want...

So I wondered about replacing it with an E60 equivalent; 530, petrol, sport touring... but having never driven one, will I be disappointing? My E39 is solid, very quiet and wafts along without so much as a minor trim squeak. I only want to "upgrade" if it really is UPgrading.

Anyone had both and generated an opinion?

carlingofblack

363 posts

182 months

Monday 25th September 2017
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I had the pleasure of an E39 (525i) some years ago and while in for a service had the short term loan of an E60.
In my opinion, the E39 was a more solid, quieter, smoother place to be. The E60 was the start of the the turn towards harder riding suspension and while it was more dynamic and chuckable than the E39, I didn't really want that from a large saloon. If I did, I'd have gone for an M5!

Yours sounds like a peach, albeit well worn and will of course be totally worthless to anyone else. If it's a well loved, well worn old thing, I would ignore the mileage and just keep going until it is obvious that it is outstaying its welcome or becoming too problematic or unreliable to justify keeping running.

I still think they're wonderful things, particularly a well sorted one that's been used properly.

Gad-Westy

15,906 posts

231 months

Monday 25th September 2017
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carlingofblack said:
I had the pleasure of an E39 (525i) some years ago and while in for a service had the short term loan of an E60.
In my opinion, the E39 was a more solid, quieter, smoother place to be. The E60 was the start of the the turn towards harder riding suspension and while it was more dynamic and chuckable than the E39, I didn't really want that from a large saloon. If I did, I'd have gone for an M5!

Yours sounds like a peach, albeit well worn and will of course be totally worthless to anyone else. If it's a well loved, well worn old thing, I would ignore the mileage and just keep going until it is obvious that it is outstaying its welcome or becoming too problematic or unreliable to justify keeping running.

I still think they're wonderful things, particularly a well sorted one that's been used properly.
Agree with this. If it ain’t broke...


angels95

3,258 posts

148 months

Monday 25th September 2017
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Newer doesn't mean better. Keep hold of your old one.

Stick Legs

7,807 posts

183 months

Monday 25th September 2017
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Having spent quite a lot of time in E39's and E60's and owned and F10 I would keep your E39 for a bit longer.

If you asked me to compare to the F10 then that is a change worth making. But the E60 is not BMW's finest hour in my opinion. A necessary evolutionary step but the F10 is a return to form.

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

148 months

Monday 25th September 2017
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The F10 would be the grandchild. The e60 would be the child

r129sl

9,518 posts

221 months

Monday 25th September 2017
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Merely because your car's accumulated mileage is approaching some arbitrary figure is hardly a compelling reason to replace it. The car you already own is always the cheapest. If you keep on top of it, you should get many more miles out of it yet.

The interior of the E60 I think you will find less agreeable than that of the E39 and it is in the interior that we confine ourselves. It is most unattractive with its funny hard lines. In fact, while I am sure the E60 represents incremental progress in many if not all areas, I suspect you fill find it lacks the integrity of your E39.

Finally, your E39 is your old friend. It is a part of you. Think of the miles you have put under its wheels. Why would you leave it now?

Gad-Westy

15,906 posts

231 months

Monday 25th September 2017
quotequote all
r129sl said:
Merely because your car's accumulated mileage is approaching some arbitrary figure is hardly a compelling reason to replace it. The car you already own is always the cheapest. If you keep on top of it, you should get many more miles out of it yet.

The interior of the E60 I think you will find less agreeable than that of the E39 and it is in the interior that we confine ourselves. It is most unattractive with its funny hard lines. In fact, while I am sure the E60 represents incremental progress in many if not all areas, I suspect you fill find it lacks the integrity of your E39.

Finally, your E39 is your old friend. It is a part of you. Think of the miles you have put under its wheels. Why would you leave it now?
Have to agree about the interior. I guess the E60 was the first or one of the first BM's to use iDrive and the cabin is very much focused around that. To me it seems far less resolved than the E39 and looks a little cheaper to me. I guess with the benefit of hindsight, car interiors have all moved more in line with the E60 so the E39 looks dated now but everything just worked and was where it should be. Fits like a glove. Would definitely think very carefully before moving on.

406highlander

182 posts

151 months

Monday 25th September 2017
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I've not had an E39, so can't really compare - but I've had my E60 (2008 LCI 525i M-Power) a couple of months now and it's a nice car. I find the interior to be fairly well laid-out; none of the controls are in a stupid place, and everything is within easy reach. The iDrive system (CCC Update 2 in my car) is a little slow but pretty intuitive and the sat-nav is good. The seats are pretty comfortable, with plenty of options for adjustment, but I preferred the seats in my old 406 Coupe.

The 6 cylinder 3-litre petrol engine is smooth, but is surprisingly lively in such a big car, and I like having the 6-speed manual gearbox rather than an automatic. The cabin is quiet on cruises, but if you mash the throttle the engine makes itself heard.

Re. iDrive - if you're getting the E60, try to get one built after November 2008 as you'll get the updated CIC system, which is faster, and uses a built-in hard disk drive for maps data (rather than using a DVD drive) and for storing audio. It's a much-improved version of the system.

The car feels like it has a lot of tech in it, and that you may find yourself using a laptop for diagnostics a lot more than you would in an older car. That said, lots of things are optional extras, so if there's any particular tech thing you want in your car (heads up display, night vision, radar-guided cruise control with lane avoidance, folding mirrors, rear sun blinds, etc) it can be difficult and expensive to retrofix - pick a car that has the stuff in it already. In my case, I wish the original owner had ticked the option for high-definition audio (TOP HIFI) because the standard speaker system isn't brilliant, and the basic system in Europe has no amplifier in the boot.

The traction control system is actually really good; I've driven fairly spiritedly in wet weather and haven't had any kind of skid, something I can't say about the E90 320d I had a loan of for a couple of weeks.

The boot is enormous for a saloon. My last two cars were Peugeot 406 (one saloon and one Coupe); they both had fairly spacious boots, but this one is cavernous. Plenty of room for large suitcases, or lots of shopping, or push chairs and other parental paraphernalia, or a combination. The rear seats have Isofix points for child seats. Loads of leg room for adults, too.

My car was supposed to have had the 18in M-Sport staggered alloys, but when I bought it, they'd been replaced with 17in BMW 5-series rims (same size all round), with Dunlop run-flat winter tyres. The ride isn't bad at all. I've heard other owners say that the best upgrade for firm ride in an E60 is to replace the run-flat tyres with normal ones (just make sure you get yourself a space-saver wheel, as the spare wheel well under my boot floor is empty); if the proper M-Sport alloys weren't so damn expensive to buy, I'd maybe get a set and put normal tyres on it.

njw1

2,538 posts

129 months

Monday 25th September 2017
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I've had three people who've gone from an e39 to an e60 say to me that they wished they hadn't bothered. I've never driven an e60 so can't comment on the dynamics but I wasn't that impressed with the overall feel of the one I've been a passenger in. Then again, I'm on my fourth e39 so may be biased somewhat..... biggrin

Sterillium

Original Poster:

22,336 posts

243 months

Monday 25th September 2017
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I knew it!

I'm never going to end up selling the old E39... not bad for an impulsive "winter hack" purchase that was supposed to be for just a month or two... hehe

Edited by Sterillium on Monday 25th September 22:19

Gibbyo

385 posts

190 months

Wednesday 27th September 2017
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Keep it! You'll miss her when she's gone!

As tempted as I've been before to sell my E39 I havent and dont really have a reason to other than fancying a change. She does everything I need!!!