How economical?
Discussion
I am thinking of buying an E39 of a friend of a friend.
It started life as 523, but has at some point had a 528 engine fitted to it. It has a manual gear box.
My daily commute is 100 mile round trip. About 45 miles of high speed motor way, 45 miles of steady sedate (but fairly constant) 40 to 50 mph A / B road, and ten miles crawling through traffic.
In the real world, assuming I drive it sensibly, i.e. making progress, but not ragging it to within an inch of its life, what fuel consumption could I expect? The seller is saying mid 30's mpg, but that seems a bit optermistic to me. Currently I am using the scooby for this, and it is achieving 25 mpg. I will be driving the BMW exactly the same way on exactly the same route. If the BMW will achieve better than 30 mpg then I am very tempted by it. However, I dont want to buy it to find that actualy its not significantly more economical to fuel than the scooby.
Finaly, anything particular to look out for when I go for a look / test drive? Its on a P plate (97/98) with 180k miles on the clock, but reportedly (I have not seen it) in mint condition.
Any guesses at a fair price?
It started life as 523, but has at some point had a 528 engine fitted to it. It has a manual gear box.
My daily commute is 100 mile round trip. About 45 miles of high speed motor way, 45 miles of steady sedate (but fairly constant) 40 to 50 mph A / B road, and ten miles crawling through traffic.
In the real world, assuming I drive it sensibly, i.e. making progress, but not ragging it to within an inch of its life, what fuel consumption could I expect? The seller is saying mid 30's mpg, but that seems a bit optermistic to me. Currently I am using the scooby for this, and it is achieving 25 mpg. I will be driving the BMW exactly the same way on exactly the same route. If the BMW will achieve better than 30 mpg then I am very tempted by it. However, I dont want to buy it to find that actualy its not significantly more economical to fuel than the scooby.
Finaly, anything particular to look out for when I go for a look / test drive? Its on a P plate (97/98) with 180k miles on the clock, but reportedly (I have not seen it) in mint condition.
Any guesses at a fair price?
Hi there,
He's definitley being optimistic in claiming mid 30's MPG for mixed and extra urban driving like that. I get around 32 MPG around town and 38-40 on similar driving in my ultra high miler 530d. Whilst the figures he's quoting aren't very far off what's acheivable with a 528i in realistic day to day driving of the car he's exaggerating.
180K miler on a 97 car? I'd say anything from £1100-1600. Have a look in the usual places to see any others. In comparison I've read of people with say 120-130K or so miler E39's P,R,S, T reg cars who are struggling to get interest and phone calls at like £1700-2000 asking prices.
Market is all over the place again.
Cheers, Dennis! West London & Slough UK!
He's definitley being optimistic in claiming mid 30's MPG for mixed and extra urban driving like that. I get around 32 MPG around town and 38-40 on similar driving in my ultra high miler 530d. Whilst the figures he's quoting aren't very far off what's acheivable with a 528i in realistic day to day driving of the car he's exaggerating.
180K miler on a 97 car? I'd say anything from £1100-1600. Have a look in the usual places to see any others. In comparison I've read of people with say 120-130K or so miler E39's P,R,S, T reg cars who are struggling to get interest and phone calls at like £1700-2000 asking prices.
Market is all over the place again.
Cheers, Dennis! West London & Slough UK!
Dennis,
Thanks for your quick reply, and you have comfirmed my thoughts on fuel consumption.
I have always fancied an E39 (not that I know much about them) and I am very tempted.
Just cannot quite justify "another car on the drive" as I dont really want to sell anything I have allready got.
Thanks for your quick reply, and you have comfirmed my thoughts on fuel consumption.
I have always fancied an E39 (not that I know much about them) and I am very tempted.
Just cannot quite justify "another car on the drive" as I dont really want to sell anything I have allready got.
Thanks.
If I can convince myself that it will do better than 30mpg overall I will buy it (assuming that condition is as described, and price is reasonable).
If the manual is even slightly better than the auto it should just achieve that.
Sounds like your commute is similar style to mine, mine just lasts longer....
If I can convince myself that it will do better than 30mpg overall I will buy it (assuming that condition is as described, and price is reasonable).
If the manual is even slightly better than the auto it should just achieve that.
Sounds like your commute is similar style to mine, mine just lasts longer....
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