04 plate e39????????????

[georgejones]

Someone just offered me a straight swap, my e46 3.0 diesel sport touring, manuel with fbmwsh, 144000 miles for a 04 plate auto e39 3.0m diesel sport. One thing that i found strange was that his e39 had what looked like the older steering wheel, i though that they changed the steering wheels on the e39s in 2002 for the smaller looking ones? any idea if this is true? anyone think that this is a good deal? ive also heard that there is problems with the autobox, "sealed for life" springs to mind. any info would be great.

[gizlaroc]

If his 530d has 10k miles it is a cracking deal, if it has 300k miles not so much.

Need more info.


Facelift sports from 2001 would have had the round airbag wheel, could have been built in 2001 and registered in 2004?

[DennisCooper]

It's entirely possible to have an 04 registered E39, the car probably sat around a while before it was sold to a dealer. Also, much like my car, which is Ex Police, it's possible that this car offered was previously in active duty and was bought and sat for a while before being kitted up for service. I think there's other departments which had similar sorts of deals for cars, I know the MAFF had cars that were bought en masse and so there's probably other departments too.

There has been much talk of the auto box and it's life. mine failed at 172K miles, other's have failed at 80-90K and others report their original gearbox at 250K + miles. Some changed the oil some didn't. Some have changed the oil and the gearbox is fine, some changed the oil and the gearbox failed a short while later. There's no 'set' mileage or age at which they 'let go'

The steering wheel will be a 'normal' one but can be easily swapped for a E46 M3/late E39 Sport wheel and a change of the airbag to the 'round' version. I even have a few lying around

my car is a Dec 2002 build and a february 2003 registration date. 210K+ miles on it and drives fantastically well! I want to keep it and when the engine goes, I'll simply swap it for another .. something about these E39s...

Cheers, Dennis!

[Fox-]

Whilst it is in theory possible to have a very late registration on a car built much earlier its quite rare and would warrant further investigation. E39's built after November 2001 got the newer wheel, so it its quite exceptional that one built before this hung around until 2004 before being registered. I'd want to know why.

Also, thats a lot of question marks. Why?

[georgejones]

thanks for the replies guys. i dont know the milage and it turns out its not a sport model, just a replica. so i didnt bother. i am after an e39 sport though, a 525i, 530i or a 530 diesel sport, which one is most recommended? there is something about the e39s though, i miss my old one soooooooooo much, cant believe i settled for this e46, gutted doesnt come close.