Any Opinions on 1999 BMW 520i

gazfocus

I have been looking for a cheap car for some time now due to issues I've got with my current car. I was looking for something around £1000 - £2000 and was going to go for a Vectra or Astra.

However, I've seen advertised a 1999 BMW 520i with 105K miles for £1000. The car looks in mint condition, with mint condition alloys, etc, looks very well looked after and has plenty of receipts for work done. Mileage wise, looking at the MOT, it's only done 20K in the past 3 years.

I've heard good things about the older BMW's so just looking for some opinions really. Does this seem a good buy?

I was looking for something newer but there's no point stretching myself to afford a £2000 car if this will be a good car.

OddballJamie

Don't buy it! You'll have to change your username.

Seriously though, sounds like a good buy, pre 2001 too so old tax rate.

Private seller? Any big services, belts, chains due?

Just spotted this one, looks good.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201501080021360

robotrobo

gazfocus wrote: »

I have been looking for a cheap car for some time now due to issues I've got with my current car. I was looking for something around £1000 - £2000 and was going to go for a Vectra or Astra.

However, I've seen advertised a 1999 BMW 520i with 105K miles for £1000. The car looks in mint condition, with mint condition alloys, etc, looks very well looked after and has plenty of receipts for work done. Mileage wise, looking at the MOT, it's only done 20K in the past 3 years.

I've heard good things about the older BMW's so just looking for some opinions really. Does this seem a good buy?

I was looking for something newer but there's no point stretching myself to afford a £2000 car if this will be a good car.

Sounds pretty good , get it for £900 cash,

then you have £1100 to spend on the car if anything crops up!,
if it has a current mot , dont hang about if you want it.
good luck

gazfocus

I forgot to mention it's an automatic - does that make a difference?

OddballJamie wrote: »

Don't buy it! You'll have to change your username.

Seriously though, sounds like a good buy, pre 2001 too so old tax rate.

Private seller? Any big services, belts, chains due?

Just spotted this one, looks good.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201501080021360

It is a private seller, yes. The jobs mentioned on the ad sound pretty small. I asked if it had a belt change and was told no as its a chain. When I viewed the car, I was genuine surprised at how smooth the engine sounded.

robotrobo wrote: »

Sounds pretty good , get it for £900 cash,

then you have £1100 to spend on the car if anything crops up!,
if it has a current mot , dont hang about if you want it.
good luck

Thanks. The MOT was done 2 days ago and flew through apparently.

whitecloud663

gazfocus wrote: »

I was genuine surprised at how smooth the engine sounded.

That's the legendary in-line 6 cylinder silky smooth engine BMW's were famous for making. The E39 is one of the best non-M model BMW have made, a jack of all trades.

Besides the classic e39 m5 I always wanted the e39 530i Sport package manual. Really very difficult to find one of these in the right spec.

Justin our resident member owned the E39 M5, hopefully he'll share his thoughts

colino

For it to be at four figures it really has to be in a good colour, have leather and the mint alloys have to be BMW and 17 inch or better. It is at the right age for the coolant system to start needing major overhaul and annoying, and expensive, faults like abs controllers and MAFs to be changed.
At any age they are heavy on tyres and suspension parts, though parts are readily available.
They are however great cars and some soldier on with minimum attention to moon miles and are one of the gems that are banger money now, but give them a couple of years and they will be desirable, collectables.

BeenThroughItAll

whitecloud663 wrote: »

That's the legendary in-line 6 cylinder silky smooth engine BMW's were famous for making. The E39 is one of the best non-M model BMW have made, a jack of all trades.

Besides the classic e39 m5 I always wanted the e39 530i Sport package manual. Really very difficult to find one of these in the right spec.

Justin our resident member owned the E39 M5, hopefully he'll share his thoughts

For once [strike]Darkmatter[/strike]whitecloud663's got it right.

The E39 represents in many people's opinion the pinnacle of BMW build quality. I've owned four E39s; a 530D, two 528i SEs and an M5. Every single one of them was a brilliantly reliable, well screwed together, well-specified comfortable motoring masterpiece.

Best cars I've owned, full stop.

Watch out for overheating issues (the 6-cylinder in the E39 was supported by a marginal cooling system) - airlocks or low coolant levels can spell expensive HG issues.

They're heavy cars, so they will munch through suspension components especially on the front if they've had cheap parts fitted. Lemforder HD stuff is a sensible choice for longevity.

Brakes come in for abuse because of the size and weight of the car, particularly on autos. Check the braking system carefully, especially the (even when working properly, fairly awful) handbrake.

Drivetrain is generally bombproof, with the exception of abused automatic boxes. It should be almost imperceptibly smooth if it's an auto. Manual boxes don't generally fail although often weep oil around the output shaft seal.


If there's any misfiring or lumpiness at any point in the rev range, get the thing diagnosed before handing over any cash. Most issues are either coil packs or MAF but could be Nikasil issues on earlier engines (particularly M52 - 1999 onwards the M54 was better). VANOS problems are rare if the oil's been changed for the right stuff regularly, but can show up on abused/unserviced or badly serviced examples.

Electrics are reliable, but complex. If there's anything electrically wrong that is apparently 'just a fuse, gov', CHECK THE FUSE. Don't take a risk on dodgy electrics, there's loads of good ones about without expensive problems.

The cloth seats wear badly on the squab, often going a bit threadbare where your !!!! will be. The leather wears very well indeed.

Driving wise should be smooth, quiet and comfortable. Noisy wheel bearings will be difficult to hear on the back due to the amount of sound deadening in the boot, but a whiny diff will show up easily. Some shimmy at 60-80MPH and under heavy braking is indicative of worn lower arm bushes. Polybushes are cheaper than new arms, easy to fit and tighten up the handling a bit.

Handling should be very good indeed for a big car - if it's at all flighty or nervous, you'll be looking carefully at the rear suspension components - front suspension problems rarely cause a fluffy rear-end but will make the steering a bit wandery or cause thumping/knocking over bumps, or shimmy as mentioned.

gazfocus

thanks for the comments. Loads of info to get me going, which is great.

It definitely sounds like a great car so I will be going for it. Then I'm going to update the glass on the rear lights for the newer type and I'm also going to look for some of the angel eye style lights for the headlights, then it won't look so old haha.

BeenThroughItAll

gazfocus wrote: »

thanks for the comments. Loads of info to get me going, which is great.

It definitely sounds like a great car so I will be going for it. Then I'm going to update the glass on the rear lights for the newer type and I'm also going to look for some of the angel eye style lights for the headlights, then it won't look so old haha.

Ah yes, that's another common problem. The headlight adjusters inside the lamp unit break with age so the electric adjust doesn't function. Some people won't be bothered, but if you're replacing headlamps it's worth knowing that many of them will have that problem if buying secondhand.


Personally, I wouldn't bother with the lights, there are plenty of other detail changes which differentiate the earlier and facelift models.

gazfocus

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Ah yes, that's another common problem. The headlight adjusters inside the lamp unit break with age so the electric adjust doesn't function. Some people won't be bothered, but if you're replacing headlamps it's worth knowing that many of them will have that problem if buying secondhand.


Personally, I wouldn't bother with the lights, there are plenty of other detail changes which differentiate the earlier and facelift models.

I was planning on getting some aftermarket angel eyes such as these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-5-SERIES-E39-1996-2000-CHROME-ANGEL-EYE-HALO-PROJECTOR-HEADLIGHTS-PAIR-/331324354684?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

Can you advise what other detail changes I could make

Getting excited now haha

motorguy

gazfocus wrote: »

I was planning on getting some aftermarket angel eyes such as these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-5-SERIES-E39-1996-2000-CHROME-ANGEL-EYE-HALO-PROJECTOR-HEADLIGHTS-PAIR-/331324354684?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

Can you advise what other detail changes I could make

Getting excited now haha

Please dont do that to it unless you want to look like a chav.

You can buy replacement front lights with clear indicators which will freshen the car up no end. The side repeaters are easy and cheap to change to clear ones. Then get the rear ones changed to red / clear as opposed to red / orange.

Those alone will take about five years off the age of it.

Heres the headlights.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E39-SALOON-TOURING-HEAD-LIGHT-HOUSING-SET-WHITE-INDICATOR-95-00-Facelift-Set-/320951383292?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Plat_Gen%3AE39&hash=item4aba3174fc

Other than that i would just leave it as is. Maybe remove the 523i badge from the back for that "clean" look (also dates the car)