The E39 thread

[Max M4X WW]

I may be blind, but I don't think so?

I am a follower of the 325ti thread, as I have one also but the E39 is (I think) as much loved if not more loved than the ti so wondering if there should be a thread also?

If there is already one, fire away and show me where..

Thanks

[daniel-5zjw7]

I'm not aware of one, but your right, there should be.

I'm going to leave this here as don't come across these too often.. decent looking manual E39 V8 sport.. would absolutely love this (especially alongside my 325ti) if I had the monies

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-535i-M-Sport-e39-ma...f:0

A PH'er needs to buy!

[Depthhoar]

daniel-5zjw7 said:

I'm not aware of one, but your right, there should be.

I'm going to leave this here as don't come across these too often.. decent looking manual E39 V8 sport.. would absolutely love this (especially alongside my 325ti) if I had the monies

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-535i-M-Sport-e39-ma...f:0

A PH'er needs to buy!

Rare V8/manual combo but it's the less favoured 3.5 litre engine.

Any potential buyer should look very carefully at the history of the car since it was presented for MOT for several years without a speedo. Also, since then has covered a very low mileage per year. Just sayin'.

Speaking of V8s, a great Craigslist advert for an E39 540i in Texas was shared on M5board a few weeks ago. Very fruity ad which made me laugh out loud!

http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/134908-san-antonio-t...

[njw1]

Depthhoar said:

Rare V8/manual combo but it's the less favoured 3.5 litre engine.

]

Less favoured but still a very good engine in it's own right, with a manual 'box that would be a lovely thing to smoke around in.

[Max M4X WW]

daniel-5zjw7 said:

I'm not aware of one, but your right, there should be.

I'm going to leave this here as don't come across these too often.. decent looking manual E39 V8 sport.. would absolutely love this (especially alongside my 325ti) if I had the monies

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-535i-M-Sport-e39-ma...f:0

A PH'er needs to buy!

Nice way to start!

The following was my first E39 (and first BMW) that I convinced girlfriend (now wife) that it was the perfect 'one car garage' in 2010. We swiftly sold her 1.4 306 and my 9-3 Aero 'Coupe' and bought it. We were both 22 at the time, so it was a bit of an oddball choice but I loved the V8, the OH loved the car to drive and everyone else loved the TV and rear blind!









We had the car 3 years, but a few too many £1000 bills and a project car Fiesta to finish, we decided to sell and weirdly replaced it with an MX5. After nearly finishing the Fiesta which I then sold to fund a house purchase we have had the following:

M135i
E46 320i (OH's daily)
850 T5
(somewhere around here I viewed the 540i as it was for sale, it had been sat a while and was in a bit of a mess but another PH'er did buy it!)
W215 CL500
E46 M3
190E LE (still have, for sale)

After trying a few things over the last 5 years, I found myself wanting something a bit more modern than the 190E, a bit bigger and a bit comfier. I went to see a few E39's and instantly wanted another! The original idea was a 530i SE Facelift, Auto for around £1500. So I naturally ended up with a 525i Sport costing around 50% more..





So there we are, 8 years apart and ended up with a car that looks almost identical! The 525i has 90k miles, considering we sold the 540i 5 years back with 138k its pretty good going. It is fairly clean, I plan to tidy things up as I go, keep it garaged and use it occasionally.

At some point I will get some proper photos of it..

[d_a_n1979]

daniel-5zjw7 said:

I'm not aware of one, but your right, there should be.

I'm going to leave this here as don't come across these too often.. decent looking manual E39 V8 sport.. would absolutely love this (especially alongside my 325ti) if I had the monies

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-535i-M-Sport-e39-ma...f:0

A PH'er needs to buy!

Aaarrggghhh.... There’s no such thing as an M Sport E39 (unless you live in North America)... They’re ‘just’ a Sport..

Glad to get that off me chest

Looks a nice motor though

[d_a_n1979]

There should be an E39 thread, best 5 they ever built IMO

My previous Sapphire Metalluc Black 530i Sport:



And the Slate Green 530i before that:



Do miss those cars

[Max M4X WW]

I really wanted a pale green facelift with the pale green leather! Probably my favourite non individual / super rare combo.

[Depthhoar]

There's some lovely examples of Bavarian metal above /\

I'm a sucker for the E39 and have two. They're from opposite ends of the model range (in terms of performance) and in my hands lead very different lives.

My 530d (manual) shoulders the burden of its daily driver duties with reasonable grace but it's needed quite a lot of cosmetic surgery to deal with the tin worm. It's inevitable that any car driven repeatedly on Scottish Highlands roads right through the winter will sooner or later succumb to the ravages of corrosion. I gave it a bit of a makeover a couple of years ago:





There was a lot more new paintwork besides the above. Overall it came out fine, at least for the time being.



My M5 is at the other end of the spectrum by any metric you care to choose. It only emerges from my garage during the summer months so has never seen the salt in my ownership.





I am an utter slave to it and it gets what it wants! I dread to think how much I spend on keeping it up to scratch.

I'm a great believer in preventative maintenance and so this summer changed this lot (because 'I was already in there') when I removed the intake plenum to change the thermostat.



(Below) Team photo:


They're both great in their own different ways and of course a real contrast to drive. Fairly recently returned from a 2500 mile round trip to Innsbruck in the M5 which it romped through with ease and without fault. I'd also happily do the same journey in the 530d as well. They're both exceptionally competent cars.

Sooner or later my 530d will have to be retired due to rust and I have no clue what would replace it.

[lufbramatt]

Been running a techno violet 2003 530i for the last 4 and a bit years. currently on 86k miles. Kind of a love hate relationship with it, it's a great thing to drive but there always some sort of little issuethat isn't quite right- currently it needs a couple of parking sensors, the hifi amp has dropped a channel, the cd changer won't recognise any discs and the sat nav is temperamental. Might havea visit to Baris at Carphonics in the new year to get it sorted. Drives lovely though, the guy that serviced the auto box earlier this year (who himself has an e39 530D) said it was one of the tightest e39's he had driven.

Only let me down once about 6 months ago when the alternator failed on the way to work, had it rebuilt locally and it's good as new again. With INPA on a laptop they are surprisingly easy cars to work on.

It's pretty tidy, lovely champagne nappa leather interior. I swapped the vavona trim for technical graphite which made the cabin feel more modern.

I've worked my way through all the usual issues (vanos, disa, suspension bushes, brake lines, hedgehog, oil leaks, auto box service etc) so mechanically its absolutely spot on, just need to get a couple of bits of paintwork tidied up.

Edited by lufbramatt on Friday 2nd November 10:33

Edited by lufbramatt on Friday 2nd November 10:35

[GTA_Slave]

Good timing for this thread. I have recently acquired a very high mileage (231k) 535i SE with a LPG conversion. My other car is a 156 GTA and the the BMW is a good old wafter. It feels like sitting in a very comfortable boat but with a nice engine to go with that - my first experience of a V8. It's not as engaging as any of my Alfas I've had but I don't expect it to be - the V8 is very pleasant and comfortable to drive in the city and the LPG allows me some guilt free driving. The car doesn't have many extras in terms of heated seats and other mod-cons but it was replacing the wife's 147 and she seems happy with that.

After reading more about these cars I'll probably look to purchase the 540 next time around because why wouldn't one want more power. I've been a huge Alfa fan and for me they are fantastic cars, but I can see why BMW appeals to so many. The build quality is good and it does exactly what would be expected of such a large comfortable cruiser. I'm quite happy with the purchase despite already having had to deal with a leak from one of the coolant pipes. It's had another issue recently where it cut-off after starting and did this a couple of times but not had the issue appear again.

All in all, a good experience of it so far and I hope to learn more about these cars.

[Triumph Man]

I can give a valuable tip for anyone doing ARB bushes: Buy extra bolts; the heat shield on the driver's side makes it an arse, so loosen off the passenger side to allow you to manipulate the anti roll bar, oh and buy extra bolts.

[njw1]

I'm on e39 number 4, this was my first, a 535i;



Then the best car I've owned or driven;



After very regrettably selling the M5 I had a 540i;



I never really gelled with that car for some reason and ended up selling it back to the guy I bought it off. I thought I was done with e39's at this point, until the beasty below popped up on ebay for not a lot of cash, and it wasn't very far away, and I may have had a beer....
..... So obviously ended up with e39 number four, another 540i;

[clockworks]

Friend of mine currently has 3. 530i sport as his daily driver, a 530 SE that he's just bought as a tow car, and a 535i SE that he bought to break but is too good for that, so it's going back on the road.

He has broken a few rough ones recently, helping to keep others on the road. Quite sad that such capable cars are often worth more in bits.

[johnwilliams77]

Did your second 540 drive much better than your first?

[njw1]

^^It's hard to put my finger on why but yes, I do find that it's a nicer car than my first 540, it's noticeably faster too, the mid range performance isn't far of that of the M5.

[sparks_E46]

I’ve had a 528i and 530i Sport. Lovely cars but nothing special nowadays and cost thousands to maintain properly. I wouldn’t consider one as a daily nowadays unless my pockets were deeper. My 530i Sport cost approx £4-£5k in repairs over the 4 years I had it and I got fed up. Spending £1200ish fixing rust wasn’t fun. It did turn heads though with those 18 inch M Para’s.

I prefer the ore facelift SE shadow line trim, never liked the “angel eye” headlights of the facelift. The 528i was a nicer engine than the 530i too.

As a second car, sure. I’m finding my E46 to be a much cheaper, more fun mode of transport!

Edited by sparks_E46 on Friday 2nd November 22:38

[Max M4X WW]

I think you are in the wrong place 😂 I think I remember you singing the E39's praises when i had my first one.

[daniel-5zjw7]

lufbramatt said:

Been running a techno violet 2003 530i for the last 4 and a bit years. currently on 86k miles. Kind of a love hate relationship with it, it's a great thing to drive but there always some sort of little issuethat isn't quite right- currently it needs a couple of parking sensors, the hifi amp has dropped a channel, the cd changer won't recognise any discs and the sat nav is temperamental. Might havea visit to Baris at Carphonics in the new year to get it sorted. Drives lovely though, the guy that serviced the auto box earlier this year (who himself has an e39 530D) said it was one of the tightest e39's he had driven.

Only let me down once about 6 months ago when the alternator failed on the way to work, had it rebuilt locally and it's good as new again. With INPA on a laptop they are surprisingly easy cars to work on.

It's pretty tidy, lovely champagne nappa leather interior. I swapped the vavona trim for technical graphite which made the cabin feel more modern.

I've worked my way through all the usual issues (vanos, disa, suspension bushes, brake lines, hedgehog, oil leaks, auto box service etc) so mechanically its absolutely spot on, just need to get a couple of bits of paintwork tidied up.

Edited by lufbramatt on Friday 2nd November 10:33

Edited by lufbramatt on Friday 2nd November 10:35

Love that colour combo! Sounds like you've addressed plenty of issues so far, keep it up!

[sparks_E46]

Max M4X WW said:

I think you are in the wrong place ?? I think I remember you singing the E39's praises when i had my first one.

I did, and they are great cars. They just seem to need a lot of care as they get older, a lot more than most cars including other BMW’s. I wouldn’t rule out having another but it wouldn’t be a car I’d want to rely on.