Any Opinions on 1999 BMW 520i

whitecloud663

gazfocus wrote: »

Thanks for your comments. In all honesty, I just want to make the car somewhat better looking. The one thing that put me off the car was the glass on the lights. The orange glass makes the car look its age whereas the newer versions with clear glass make a huge difference, and if I go with the ones motorguy recommended, the whole upgrade (Front lights, rear lights and HID Kit) will only cost me about £180.

I wouldn't bother with that if I were you. Like BeenThroughItAll said there are MANY other differences in the facelift version besides the lights. If you prefer the facelift look than just save up and get the facelift e39 rather than spending money on the older e39 trying to make it look like the facelift

motorguy

whitecloud663 wrote: »

I wouldn't bother with that if I were you. Like BeenThroughItAll said there are MANY other differences in the facelift version besides the lights. If you prefer the facelift look than just save up and get the facelift e39 rather than spending money on the older e39 trying to make it look like the facelift

Its not a matter of pretending its a facelift car, its just that replacing the orange lenses with clear lenses really freshens the car up, particularly the front lights which are usually very tired and heavily chipped by that age.

BeenThroughItAll

motorguy wrote: »

Its not a matter of pretending its a facelift car, its just that replacing the orange lenses with clear lenses really freshens the car up, particularly the front lights which are usually very tired and heavily chipped by that age.

That's if you prefer spending money on cheap aftermarket parts rather than just leaving a perfectly good design alone and refinishing the light lenses, which can be polished up perfectly well quite cheaply.

whitecloud663

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

That's if you prefer spending money on cheap aftermarket parts rather than just leaving a perfectly good design alone and refinishing the light lenses, which can be polished up perfectly well quite cheaply.

You can get the headlights polished up at a garage for a tenner. It just doesn't make sense spending money on something that already works and that too on an asset worth less than a grand.

harveybobbles

520i auto will be painfully slow and thirsty.

Get a 525i or 530i if you want a 5 series. Better on fuel too.

whitecloud663

harveybobbles wrote: »

520i auto will be painfully slow and thirsty.

Get a 525i or 530i if you want a 5 series. Better on fuel too.

I don't think it's accurate to say the 520i auto is 'painfully slow.' Have you ever driven one?

It's all relative to what your use to. The 0-60 for the 520i auto is around 10 seconds, last time I checked that's on par with most other standard family saloons. The 2.2 litre 6 cylinder engine used in the 520i has good HP and torque numbers, better than your average family saloon but the e39 5 series is a very heavy car. Plus that auto box of that generation does zap out quite a bit of power.

OP if you're use to driving 'average' ,cars you won't find the 520i slow. But for BMW standards, yes it's slow as its the entry level engine.

harveybobbles

whitecloud663 wrote: »

I don't think it's accurate to say the 520i auto is 'painfully slow.' Have you ever driven one?

Being in the motor trade, I've driven plenty. And I can confirm that the 520i is indeed paintfully slow. Ever more so as an auto.

EDIT: The OP is looking at a 1999 520i which is the 2.0 litre.

The later 2.2 520i was still steady, but had a little bit more mid range power.

The 525i or 530i would still be the best.

whitecloud663

harveybobbles wrote: »

The 525i or 530i would still be the best.

Well technically speaking the 535i or 540i would be best. If the OP has a budget of £1k I think he'd struggle finding a good condition 525/530i for that much

BeenThroughItAll

whitecloud663 wrote: »

Well technically speaking the 535i or 540i would be best. If the OP has a budget of £1k I think he'd struggle finding a good condition 525/530i for that much

Not Darkmatter but still spouting the same !!!!, eh?

harveybobbles

We had a 535i auto once and that did into the 30's easily.


My boss ran a 540i and was getting 27mpg then swapped to a 535d and was getting LESS!

If someone wanted to test drive a 520i we would always drive it out of the garage and up the road quite briskly to make it look like they shift.

Then we'd swap over and let the customer drive.