Thinking about buying an e39 540i

[master7045]

So title says it all. There is a 2001 540i for sale in my area and for about 9K. There's 117K on the odo and from the pictures seems to be in great shape. It's a 6speed with the M-Sport package, so all the good options. I drive a 2010 Genesis sedan now and am having a hard time convincing myself to sell a car that I have a factory warranty on still for a 14 year old car w/ 100K plus miles. These are supposed to be a blast to drive, but all my common sense is trying to tell me no. I've loved the way these look and I work from home now so having a 100% dependable car isn't a must. My wife's car is an '10 RDX so we're ok from that stand point. What say you garage?!? Here's a few pics from the craigslist ad.

 

[iamwiz82]

Money pit

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Work at home and always wanted......hmmmm...... I say go for it. They were sweet rides in their prime. Do you have a local bavarian tuner shop? Any garage that works on german cars and is NOT a dealership will save you a ton of money keeping that bahn burner on the road.

 

[pauldun170]

So title says it all. There is a 2001 540i for sale in my area and for about 9K. There's 117K on the odo and from the pictures seems to be in great shape. It's a 6speed with the M-Sport package, so all the good options. I drive a 2010 Genesis sedan now and am having a hard time convincing myself to sell a car that I have a factory warranty on still for a 14 year old car w/ 100K plus miles. These are supposed to be a blast to drive, but all my common sense is trying to tell me no. I've loved the way these look and I work from home now so having a 100% dependable car isn't a must. My wife's car is an '10 RDX so we're ok from that stand point. What say you garage?!? Here's a few pics from the craigslist ad.

You are not buying a car.
You are buying a restoration project.

If you know the in's and out's of these cars, have a garage and proper tools set including some specialty BMW stuff AND you get this cheap I say go for it (because it's not my time or money and some men just want to see the world burn)

Once you restore this things and fix the busted worn out stuff...this car is going to be AWESOME.

 

[master7045]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I've reached out to the seller to ask about recent maintenance. Based on my research on some BMW forums, It sounds like the timing chain guides and coolant system are the big items that go boom. There are always the little electric gremlins that go wrong with older cars too.... Like I said, I am naturally a risk adverse person, so throwing a car w/ a warranty out the window for a 14 year old car is going to be a tough sell.

 

[JulesMaximus]

You are not buying a car.
You are buying a restoration project.

If you know the in's and out's of these cars, have a garage and proper tools set including some specialty BMW stuff AND you get this cheap I say go for it (because it's not my time or money and some men just want to see the world burn)

Once you restore this things and fix the busted worn out stuff...this car is going to be AWESOME.

ROFL!!! :thumbsup:

 

[Demo24]

If I were to do that I'd be looking for an m5 instead. I'd also be planning on a clutch replacement, which won't be terribly cheap.

 

[Ramses]

As far as fifteen year old high-ish end euro performance-ish cars go, it's a cake walk and a bargain to boot. I'd drive one before committing, the clutch and MT are not bad, just weird. There is a delay valve you can remove from the clutch to normal it up some but it's still a big BMW with a stick and a v8, I like it but others have not. You got good info on the cooling sys, chain guides, electrical bits being trouble spots. It's old enough to pay attention to the clutch and suspension rubber, they kill the torque strut in the front pretty regular from all the weight and tire, there is an m5 upgrade I'm sure.
I'd either have a car-payment budget for the first year if you have to have it serviced, or about half that if you can DIY, but it's really not bad as far as such things go. Gotta pay to play as the saying goes.

Those cars are a point and click bullet. It will invite you to go-to-jail speeds, quietly, quickly, on any given street. It's not that it's crazy fast, you'll want more after a few days getting used to it, but it's so smooth and easy and unobtrusive to bust triple digits. It's not crazy fast by today's standards but it's got enough, and if you have the budget it's upgradeable.
I'd want an M5 too, but it's a whole nother ball of wax maintenance and such I assume, never had one.

edit: those are comfort seats, not sport seats(which would be manual and awesome).
Beware people not understanding what package the car has, that might be the m pak with
the comfort seats added, or it might just have some wheels on a regular model.
I'm pretty sure that's not the right steering wheel either for M but it's been a long time
since I messed with em so can't be positive.

 

[master7045]

Thanks Ramses, finally some positive news! I'm going to try to schedule a test drive this weekend with the seller and will grab the VIN to do a history review of the car & a build sheet to see what may have been modded. The description did say he put on an aftermarket exhaust and you can tell it's been debugged, so the PO must be somewhat of a tinker. Hoping that means he kept up on the maintenance, but you never know.

 

[Insomniator]

I toyed with the idea of getting one, eventually chickened out.

I guess since they are so cheap by now you'd probably have some money left over for repairs, but from my research I just felt like it would be in the shop all the time. 117k - its all worn out by then. Take it for a ride and see how it feels... let me know... I never even got in one.

 

[Ramses]

They also sold a TON of those cars, not so many with sticks but they are not super hard to find. For real money ($9K sounds high for that unless it has super service records) you might consider spending the money on a pre purchase inspection from a euro shop that knows the cars. Unless they have gotten popular recently I don't think they change hands for nearly what the book value is. Off the cuff I'd expect more like $6K for that car but I've been out of the e39 loop for years so don't take that as gospel. Do go drive it though.

 

[JulesMaximus]

They also sold a TON of those cars, not so many with sticks but they are not super hard to find. For real money ($9K sounds high for that unless it has super service records) you might consider spending the money on a pre purchase inspection from a euro shop that knows the cars. Unless they have gotten popular recently I don't think they change hands for nearly what the book value is. Off the cuff I'd expect more like $6K for that car but I've been out of the e39 loop for years so don't take that as gospel. Do go drive it though.

My Father-In-Law's wife has a 2002 BMW 525i. She is the original owner and that car has less than 50,000 miles on it. She was retired when she bought it so they really only drive it sparingly. It just sits in their garage most of the time. I've sometimes thought of buying it when they eventually decide to get rid of it but I probably won't.

I put too many miles on a car to drive something like that on a daily basis...

 

[master7045]

...

I put too many miles on a car to drive something like that on a daily basis...

I used to have a job like that, was putting on ~60 miles a day for work. I've since moved and now get to work from home. I bought the genesis because it's massive (leg room & trunk space) and we could take that as a family on road trips form STL to Chicago to see family. (Seriously, for a family of 4 with infants, this is the perfect car, enough room for two strollers, and gobs of diapers and all the other crap parents have to haul around. Plus wife could sit in the passenger seat while baby was rear facing, oh and it's not a van). But, I don't need that anymore. kids are in boosters, so leg room isn't as important, neither use strollers. Again, the working from home helps. I drive maybe 5 miles a day to and from the grocery store when needed. It's just, do I throw away comfort and reliability for a "fun" car. Ah decisions decisions.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I know this will sound a little bit dumb, but I would probably go for the 530 instead of the 540. Smoother, easier to work on, hair more reliable, gas mileage, rack and peanut steering, etc. HOWEVER, you've found one with a manual and good luck hunting down another manual. Also, going 540 leads to the obvious temptation of the M5, although that would be $15k for a respectable one worth buying and $20k+ for a quite good one. Overall I don't think an M5 would be significantly more maintenance than a 540. Optional upgrades on the other hand.... speaking from experience that's a terrifyingly deep rabbit hole.

Overall this generation of 5 series was pretty reliable up and down the line though. However, at this cars age and mileage, you would probably do well to replace nearly all the bushings. Seriously. I seem to recall something goofy about the dampers on the normal 5 series also, which I would just replace with aftermarket coilovers after something goes wrong. The other big risk is this car is at the exact mileage and age where there's a good chance a lot of things haven't gone wrong yet but are about to fail.

Ramses is also right about the go-to-jail speeds. When I first got my M5 I would hit 70 and it felt like I was doing 40 lol. You'll get used to it though.

 

[Ramses]

A lot of the serious 5 series guys swear the v8 ruined the best attributes of the e39.
I don't have nearly as much time with the six banger cars but they may very well have a point. The v8 though, that and the w124 v8 Mercedes we used to refer to as "velvet hammers".

Did they sell a manual trans 6cyl E39 in the states?