E61 530i - What harm could happen.
Discussion
“This was the no brainer, this was the banker, this was the one that couldn’t fail, this was the one that never failed!” – Gary Neville
So, August 2023. I had a Leon Cupra that I had quickly fallen out of love with, the same EA888 I’d had before, they’re all the same. Id had the Leon about 16 months and drastically wanted something different. Id always loved an estate, but despite copious amounts of downhill mountain biking and the need for the space and the utility, I’d never taken the plunge. Now that I’m in my 30’s and I’ve hung the downhill boots up for good, it’s the perfect time to get one!
Some man math in my head – I had 4 grand worth of debt after my living room ceiling collapsed that wasn’t claimable on my insurance, terrific. Long story shortened: ‘A’ previous owner back in the day added a small bathroom to the front of the upstairs, they decided to run the soil pipe across the entire house, cutting through 7 joists by about 4 inch to accommodate. After years of weight bearing these joists catastrophically failed, on me. I’m afraid that kind of sets the tone on things to come.
If I sold my Cupra – I could buy an older estate, something solid, something strong like bull, and use the excess to pay off said debt and enjoy some calm adult motoring. Fantastic idea!
The man math then started to properly man. The excess and the cushion started to get smaller, and I started looking at B7 RS4’s. A trip to view one in the pits of West Yorkshire quickly scuppered my plans on that front. Maybe stereotypes are right sometimes? Back to reality.
Enter – E61s…
Whilst I was familiar with BMW’s as any car enthusiast is, my knowledge on them was average joe at best. After searching for 535’s I noticed the 530 was N/A. Oh joy of joys. I looked, I found;
E61 530i M Sport – 2007 (57) LCI.
1 owner from new
61000 miles
FSH and all stamps at BMW
Completely unmodified (Success)
Located in the Wirral – Paid the reserve and I booked a one-way train ticket, £7.19 – the stars were aligning for me.
I stuck a post on the BMW general, which some of you may have read (it’s a spoiler) – asking for advice and things to look for. Plenty of the usual BMW chaps gave me some solid pointers and guidance which I’m thankful for, and with that, I was ready to go. I got there; everything ticked the box. The car was in incredible shape for its age, only a few minor body work issues which you would expect, slight stone chips on some of the front sections, and a minor dent in the tailgate area. Slight lacquer peel on the driver side door handle, assuming the gent who had the car had rather long nails or some lovely finger bling.
It started up perfectly, idled lovely, drove it for approx. 30 minutes and it fetched back around 22mpg, so the advice mike gave was sound. I haggled a little over price, but I walked away with it at £11,000. Id tried cutting it more but the seller showed me proof of plenty of folk eager to purchase the vehicle without even seeing it.
Happy days. A nice little trip across the M62 back to the ever-beautiful Hull. First stop, Tesco for some 99ron. Normally I stick the lance in, hold the lever until it clicks. Started doing the same here. Hang on why is this taking forever to fill… Ah… large capacity fuel tank… £145… this is new.
Drive home was faultless, car was so smooth, the cruise control on it was the easiest thing id ever used, once I’d stopped accidentally flashing people. I couldn’t believe the natural light, all those windows with clear glass bouncing on luxury cream leather, the walnut trim glistening in the summer sun. Nirvana.
Obligatory pictures. These are the photo's from the seller, significantly better than I got at the time and show it off quite well I think!
I'll leave it there for now. Ill update the thread soon – unfortunately I dropped a kettlebell on my phone at the gym a few months ago and lost all of my old photos of the car as its gone through periods of work etc, but ill update with what’s gone on so far, including pictures of lovely garage bills!
So, August 2023. I had a Leon Cupra that I had quickly fallen out of love with, the same EA888 I’d had before, they’re all the same. Id had the Leon about 16 months and drastically wanted something different. Id always loved an estate, but despite copious amounts of downhill mountain biking and the need for the space and the utility, I’d never taken the plunge. Now that I’m in my 30’s and I’ve hung the downhill boots up for good, it’s the perfect time to get one!
Some man math in my head – I had 4 grand worth of debt after my living room ceiling collapsed that wasn’t claimable on my insurance, terrific. Long story shortened: ‘A’ previous owner back in the day added a small bathroom to the front of the upstairs, they decided to run the soil pipe across the entire house, cutting through 7 joists by about 4 inch to accommodate. After years of weight bearing these joists catastrophically failed, on me. I’m afraid that kind of sets the tone on things to come.
If I sold my Cupra – I could buy an older estate, something solid, something strong like bull, and use the excess to pay off said debt and enjoy some calm adult motoring. Fantastic idea!
The man math then started to properly man. The excess and the cushion started to get smaller, and I started looking at B7 RS4’s. A trip to view one in the pits of West Yorkshire quickly scuppered my plans on that front. Maybe stereotypes are right sometimes? Back to reality.
Enter – E61s…
Whilst I was familiar with BMW’s as any car enthusiast is, my knowledge on them was average joe at best. After searching for 535’s I noticed the 530 was N/A. Oh joy of joys. I looked, I found;
E61 530i M Sport – 2007 (57) LCI.
1 owner from new
61000 miles
FSH and all stamps at BMW
Completely unmodified (Success)
Located in the Wirral – Paid the reserve and I booked a one-way train ticket, £7.19 – the stars were aligning for me.
I stuck a post on the BMW general, which some of you may have read (it’s a spoiler) – asking for advice and things to look for. Plenty of the usual BMW chaps gave me some solid pointers and guidance which I’m thankful for, and with that, I was ready to go. I got there; everything ticked the box. The car was in incredible shape for its age, only a few minor body work issues which you would expect, slight stone chips on some of the front sections, and a minor dent in the tailgate area. Slight lacquer peel on the driver side door handle, assuming the gent who had the car had rather long nails or some lovely finger bling.
It started up perfectly, idled lovely, drove it for approx. 30 minutes and it fetched back around 22mpg, so the advice mike gave was sound. I haggled a little over price, but I walked away with it at £11,000. Id tried cutting it more but the seller showed me proof of plenty of folk eager to purchase the vehicle without even seeing it.
Happy days. A nice little trip across the M62 back to the ever-beautiful Hull. First stop, Tesco for some 99ron. Normally I stick the lance in, hold the lever until it clicks. Started doing the same here. Hang on why is this taking forever to fill… Ah… large capacity fuel tank… £145… this is new.
Drive home was faultless, car was so smooth, the cruise control on it was the easiest thing id ever used, once I’d stopped accidentally flashing people. I couldn’t believe the natural light, all those windows with clear glass bouncing on luxury cream leather, the walnut trim glistening in the summer sun. Nirvana.
Obligatory pictures. These are the photo's from the seller, significantly better than I got at the time and show it off quite well I think!
I'll leave it there for now. Ill update the thread soon – unfortunately I dropped a kettlebell on my phone at the gym a few months ago and lost all of my old photos of the car as its gone through periods of work etc, but ill update with what’s gone on so far, including pictures of lovely garage bills!
Edited by axel1990chp on Friday 17th May 09:43
Jhonno said:
11k?!!!
I had a 530d E61 for just over 2yrs.. One of the best cars I've owned. It was brilliant.
LCI 530i M Sport Touring - rare as hens teeth really. I looked and looked for one for nearly 6 months when I decided to sell my Jap import E39 touring; none cropped up, at allI had a 530d E61 for just over 2yrs.. One of the best cars I've owned. It was brilliant.
d_a_n1979 said:
Jhonno said:
11k?!!!
I had a 530d E61 for just over 2yrs.. One of the best cars I've owned. It was brilliant.
LCI 530i M Sport Touring - rare as hens teeth really. I looked and looked for one for nearly 6 months when I decided to sell my Jap import E39 touring; none cropped up, at allI had a 530d E61 for just over 2yrs.. One of the best cars I've owned. It was brilliant.
I've had my e61 for 9 years. Mine is a little older being a 55 reg. I really like it. It's the longest time I've ever owned a car and the first estate I've ever owned. I will confess its not my only car and I now also own a Sprinter. So I've probably got way too many vehicles.
A few years ago I bought an e91 to replace the e61 but didn't quite gel with it and sold it so keeping the e61 instead. The e61 is supposed to be my sensible car as it has 5 seats and a big boot. I could go on but I'm trying to keep it short.
I treat mine awfully. It very rarely gets a wash and it's tatty with little scrapes and marks all over it. Thanks to the great British public who seems incapable of not damaging my car when it is parked on public roads. But I don't care about that. Up until recently it has been very reliable. It did pick up a misfire which I am hoping to soon be able to say that it's fixed. This has taken way too long to fix because I have not been giving it priority.
When I bought mine I deliberately sought out a petrol because the emissions control systems on diesel engines scared me. I was hoping to get less problems from a simpler petrol over a diesel. I think that's worked out as planned.
My main concern is that it is basically a classic car now being 20 years old and that means more stuff will start to break. I bought it hoping to have fewer problems but as its now much older I don't think that thesis holds water. So I am kind of waiting for the car to die. Maybe I will just get bored and sell or maybe I'll keep it for quite a while - it just depends how the car behaves.
A few years ago I bought an e91 to replace the e61 but didn't quite gel with it and sold it so keeping the e61 instead. The e61 is supposed to be my sensible car as it has 5 seats and a big boot. I could go on but I'm trying to keep it short.
I treat mine awfully. It very rarely gets a wash and it's tatty with little scrapes and marks all over it. Thanks to the great British public who seems incapable of not damaging my car when it is parked on public roads. But I don't care about that. Up until recently it has been very reliable. It did pick up a misfire which I am hoping to soon be able to say that it's fixed. This has taken way too long to fix because I have not been giving it priority.
When I bought mine I deliberately sought out a petrol because the emissions control systems on diesel engines scared me. I was hoping to get less problems from a simpler petrol over a diesel. I think that's worked out as planned.
My main concern is that it is basically a classic car now being 20 years old and that means more stuff will start to break. I bought it hoping to have fewer problems but as its now much older I don't think that thesis holds water. So I am kind of waiting for the car to die. Maybe I will just get bored and sell or maybe I'll keep it for quite a while - it just depends how the car behaves.
Jhonno said:
roadie said:
Great opening post!
Pretty handsome car inside and out I think. Is it N52 or N53?
What gearbox is it running? The gear lever looks much more modern than others of the era.
It's an N52 with the later LCI box.Pretty handsome car inside and out I think. Is it N52 or N53?
What gearbox is it running? The gear lever looks much more modern than others of the era.
In response to the 11k, it is indeed a lot of money for the car, but as Dan has said its a bit of a rocking horse car. Couldn't believe my luck I'd just about hit search and it'd been chucked on Auto Trader that day if I recall. For the mileage, the FSH, the spec list, the single owner and its condition I was more than happy to pay it. Around a year ago prices were a little higher across most cars than they are today too. They're still around the 8-10 mark with slightly more mileage.
Spec list I don't have it all to hand, but as eagle eyed poster above has spotted, the only thing it wasn't specced with was the sunroof I believe - and a fancy towbar feature. I'll have to check at another date for the full list if anyone wants to see it!
Oh and its the N53, you can make of that what you will
The car isn't currently in my hands at the moment - it'll feature in a future update though
Spec list I don't have it all to hand, but as eagle eyed poster above has spotted, the only thing it wasn't specced with was the sunroof I believe - and a fancy towbar feature. I'll have to check at another date for the full list if anyone wants to see it!
Oh and its the N53, you can make of that what you will
The car isn't currently in my hands at the moment - it'll feature in a future update though
d_a_n1979 said:
Jhonno said:
11k?!!!
I had a 530d E61 for just over 2yrs.. One of the best cars I've owned. It was brilliant.
LCI 530i M Sport Touring - rare as hens teeth really. I looked and looked for one for nearly 6 months when I decided to sell my Jap import E39 touring; none cropped up, at allI had a 530d E61 for just over 2yrs.. One of the best cars I've owned. It was brilliant.
CKY said:
d_a_n1979 said:
Jhonno said:
11k?!!!
I had a 530d E61 for just over 2yrs.. One of the best cars I've owned. It was brilliant.
LCI 530i M Sport Touring - rare as hens teeth really. I looked and looked for one for nearly 6 months when I decided to sell my Jap import E39 touring; none cropped up, at allI had a 530d E61 for just over 2yrs.. One of the best cars I've owned. It was brilliant.
Swervin_Mervin said:
Jhonno said:
roadie said:
Great opening post!
Pretty handsome car inside and out I think. Is it N52 or N53?
What gearbox is it running? The gear lever looks much more modern than others of the era.
It's an N52 with the later LCI box.Pretty handsome car inside and out I think. Is it N52 or N53?
What gearbox is it running? The gear lever looks much more modern than others of the era.
Looks a fab spec too, I’d certainly own that.
Swervin_Mervin said:
Black top as well. I can never remember the difference between the black and silver tops! Hopefully someone will be along shortly to remind me.
The silver top has the better metal valve cover which isn’t prone to cracking like the plastic valve cover found with the black top.The silver top also has the PCV on the intake manifold which can be removed and changed. With the black over, you would need to replace the whole valve cover as it’s built into it.
No N53s had the silver top but depending on the year, an N52 could have either.
Edited by DKIE92 on Friday 17th May 13:44
JakeT said:
Swervin_Mervin said:
Jhonno said:
roadie said:
Great opening post!
Pretty handsome car inside and out I think. Is it N52 or N53?
What gearbox is it running? The gear lever looks much more modern than others of the era.
It's an N52 with the later LCI box.Pretty handsome car inside and out I think. Is it N52 or N53?
What gearbox is it running? The gear lever looks much more modern than others of the era.
Looks a fab spec too, I’d certainly own that.
DKIE92 said:
Swervin_Mervin said:
Black top as well. I can never remember the difference between the black and silver tops! Hopefully someone will be along shortly to remind me.
The silver top has the better metal valve cover which isn’t prone to cracking like the plastic valve cover found with the black top.The silver top also has the PCV on the intake manifold which can be removed and changed. With the black over, you would need to replace the whole valve cover as it’s built into it.
No N53s had the silver top but depending on the year, an N52 could have either.
Edited by DKIE92 on Friday 17th May 13:44
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