To swap to a mint E60 530d or not?

[matt21]

I have an interesting dilemma on my hands.

I currently drive a 2000 X 530iA SE. It's great but starting to get on, 10yrs old (today!) and 176,000 miles under its belt.

Its spec is good, TV/Sat Nav/Phone, auto, leather, etc...

Mechanically it fine. No real issues to speak of since purchase 18mths ago at 140,000 miles. Just keeps going and going feeling as tight as any new BMW.

I have also had it gas converted, the best system on the market at great expense 9mths ago. It now does an equivalent of 44mpg (worked out the proper way).

I would have no plans to sell (except for the worry of a big bill around the corner).

However, my father has offered me his 2005 55 530d M-Sport manual at a "good price", which is yet to be determined. Its got no nav etc, but good colour, leather etc.

Anyway it is mint. He has owned from new, done 75,000 miles and uses it mainly for a weekly trip to the south coast (300 mile round trip). Weekends, snow, parking in towns, he uses my mums car.

It really is a mint car (it really is, if it was scruffy I wouldn't even entertain it), and to get it for approx trade in value seems a no brainer - but i love my 530iA!

So it begs the question, what should I do? What is a 55 plate 530d Sport worth - as a trade in and private sale. We have a figure of 10k in mind.

I reckon with the decent spec, FBMWSH, good condition, and new LPG I should get 2.5k for mine. So would you swap?

And if I did, what are the running costs like E60 530d vs E39 530i (fuel will be similar now)? And will it feel a step down in quality (the E60 is pre LCI...).

Anyway over to you! All thoughts welcome.

[Guyr]

E39 is built much better than E60.

We had very little problems with our 528i Sport E39 and I've got an E39 Alpina B10 Touring that just keeps going, passed the MOT first time again after 13 years and 130k miles. The 545i E60 on the other hand was in the dealer about 3-4 times a year on average, for stupid little service items and numerous broken mech/electronic parts.

[E21_Ross]

very tough call. thing is though, if you're not getting any fuel saving benefits from the diesel, then i'd rather have the E39 to be honest. if it's as tight as you say it is, it should go on for another fair few thousand miles yet. i'm driving around in an E34 535i manual for a week now (see thread...!) which i'm tempted to buy, that has 224k miles on it and feels tight as a drum. if your E39 is very well maintained i'm sure it can serve another few years yet. but as you say, for a low price, i'm sure it looks extremely tempting.

also, if it's literally been doing 100+ mile trips all it's life, then 75k miles is not relevant, since this will simply not have the amount of wear and tear on the engine than if it was doing 300 miles over 7 days, rather than 300 miles over 2-3 days and resting the other 4-5 days. it's probably only worth about 30k or so in engine wear if he's treated it well from cold.

[pincher]

I feel your pain.

I'm looking at replacing my 2002 530iA but I keep blowing hot and cold. Part of me wants to get something newer that I can get more clobber in (although the E39 boot is large, it's generally not large enough for a few days camping for 4 of us) but part of me thinks I should just go to Halfords and get a roofbox.

Mine only has 75K on the clock and has been just about the most faultless car I have ever owned. It's comfy, it large(ish) and ticks just about all the boxes for me. If I could ask for one thing it would be Xenons but other than that, it's simply an awesome car.

I've looked at E60's and they are 'OK' but if I'm going to change, it will be for something completely different, otherwise I would always be comparing the two and (probably) wishing I had kept the E39.

Just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's the right reason to change (IMO).

[DennisCooper]

Hiya

I think these discussions are only going to get more frequent as the values of E60's comes down further and us E39 owners start to get 'tempted' !!

My 2003 E39 Touring, ex police and at around 202,000 is going to stay with me, it still instigates that quality and fantastic BMW drive even though I've modified it quite a bit. When I do go in friends E60 530d's etc they are significantly tighter and quieter and do feel hewn out of solid rock, however it's still not enough to sway me, the E39 is staying.

Later, I'll most likely get another newer car and dream wise it'd have to be an E61 Touring M5! else, I want the 535d Touring. Part of me also thinks I'll keep the E39 going and wait for the F11 Touring to come down quite a bit in values and skip the E60 altogther and especially if I decide running an E60/1 M5 is still too much for me!

I've suggested it before on PH with similar topics to this, could you perhaps renew suspension components, uprate them to perhaps M Tech or one of thr high quality slightly lowered aftermarket kits, change bushes and give it a general spruce up at the usual areas and some choice modifications to help you fall in love with the car again?!

Only you can decide if the upgrade is worth it or not! good luck!

cheers, Dennis!

[matt21]

E21_Ross said:

also, if it's literally been doing 100+ mile trips all it's life, then 75k miles is not relevant, since this will simply not have the amount of wear and tear on the engine than if it was doing 300 miles over 7 days, rather than 300 miles over 2-3 days and resting the other 4-5 days. it's probably only worth about 30k or so in engine wear if he's treated it well from cold.

It's not quite literally long trips, he does use it to go to the office too, but the car is there mainly for long trips. He has two others available to potter he and there so it does often stand for up to a week if all the driving is local.

I would say its used less than my mums A3 which averages about 7k pa!