BMW 525i SE Touring | Shed of the Week
Space, pace and a very Germanic sort of grace - the E61 Touring hits Shed's G-spot
Good news! After Shed’s previous two efforts, which nearly led to him being given his P45, he’s come back to his senses this week with a car that ticks the two SOTW qualification boxes, i.e. a current MOT and a price tag of £2k or less, with a gurt big bingo dobber.
This BMW has a pleasingly long MOT and a pleasingly short price of just £1,295. Best of all it’s a 5 Series, a car that’s been hauling in netfuls of awards since it first landed on the scene in 1972. It’s true that you don’t see many new eighth-generation Fives in the UK – retail prices start at £53k for a 208hp 520i – but you still have to give the Five a lot of credit for avoiding the encoffinisation of so many other saloons.
Many serial BMW buyers found the Bangle-approved styling of the gen-five E60 difficult to swallow, and some say that it’s one of the few Bangle cars that hasn’t really improved with age. The shock of the new after the E39 – which is still viewed by many as peak Five – squandered a fair chunk of the Five’s reputation, but despite that, enough folk bought them to guarantee a goodly selection of offerings in the British classifieds.
The 2,996cc N53B30 straight six engine in this one put out an unstressed 214hp at a zingy 6,100rpm and 199lb ft from 2,400-4,200rpm. It was one of the last naturally aspirated BMW engines, beaten only by the port-injection N52 which lasted until 2015, two years after the newer N53’s demise. That’s mainly because the N52 continued to sell in the US where fuels and emissions were different. Its port injection system did a better job of keeping carbon off the intake valves than the N53’s direction injection setup, but all that aside the core unit was a high point in BMW’s glittering history of non-turbo straight six engines.
The E61 weighed less than 1,700kg so the combination of the N53 and the six-speed auto gave you a 0-60 time in the mid-sevens and a top speed of 150mph. Economy-wise you could expect around 35mpg, pretty good for a 3.0-litre six. Tax-wise in the UK today it might be as (relatively) little as £345 a year, but Shed isn’t going to own up to that figure if you challenge him.
Twenty years on we have good knowledge of the N53’s failings. High-pressure fuel pumps can drop out at around 60,000 miles, as can the injectors. Coil packs rarely last that long and NOx sensors stop sensing. Although the N53 isn’t especially known for drinking oil, leaks can appear around its oil filter housing and rocker cover gaskets. Worn seals, radiators, water pumps and thermostats mean you have to keep an eye on the coolant level. Outside of the engine bay, the air suspension at the back end can lose pressure. Tailgate wiring is known for acting up, batteries can drain and electrical problems can blight the window and central locking systems.
Although the mileage is high at 193k we’re told that it’s only had three owners and, as hinted at earlier, the MOT history is excellent. The fact that the odometer has been reading in kilometres rather than miles for the last couple of years suggests that it’s either a) spent a fair bit of its later life on European roads or b) someone changed it to km in the Language/Units bit of iDrive and couldn’t be bothered to reset it back to miles, or a subsequent owner didn’t know how. The MOT tester was certainly confused, putting it down as 31,000km in 2025 and then 311,000km in May of this year.
Anyroad up, the average annual mileage is as near to 10,000 as makes no difference so, as long as it’s been nicely maintained, there’s no reason to suppose it won’t go on for a fair bit longer yet. Hard to make a call on that because of the mushiness of the ad. Besides the glumly meaningless and increasingly common AI-generated phrase ‘MOT until (insert date here), ensuring peace of mind’ we’re told that the service book is available, but not whether there are any entries in it. On a separate car data site the book is described as ‘stamped’, but not how heavily. Apparently it’s notably ULEZ compliant, which of course is much more reassuring than if it was only slightly ULEZ compliant.
As a late ’07 example, this one should have the improvements that were brought in for that year, including shortcuts for your favourite functions, though possibly not some of Shed’s. The back end does look a bit lead-sleddy: prospective buyers would definitely want to get that checked out. Otherwise it’s been nicely prepped for sale, albeit with the black wheels that are so fondly regarded by PHers, but you should never judge a book by its cover as Shed’s wise old dad told him just before he nobbed off to join the French Foreign Legion.
I like the E60 but really dislike the tourer, I ran a 550 fir five years. I loved it for its engine but found the car to be overall dull.
It was just too competent, you have to be doing three figures before you felt any speed.
The V8 noise was great ( power flow exhaust) but I couldn’t imagine owning a diesel or straight six petrol version.
I found myself borrowing my daughter R50 mini which was loads more fun.
BMW’s will have only got more competent and duller imo.
I know that’s not what this one is about, but ugly styling, ugly colour and black wheels.
This has zero redeeming features.
On this one... boring silver, with potential suspension changes or issues at the back end, and that I'm not a fan of heavy aftermarket window tints and black wheels, mean i won't be taking a road trip this weekend to view it.
I had an ex demo 520d followed by a new company 525i (both saloons). I have particularly fond memories of the 520d that was a great cruising car taking the family to mid and the south of France on many occasions.
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