E39 540i high-milers

Stephen

As you might have noticed by my location field I'm living in the US at the moment. Until now I've been driving company cars and trucks, but come January I will most likely need to get my own set of wheels. I'm thinking of getting a 2001-2002 or so 540i auto (since fuel is so cheap here, the equivalent of motor tax is peanuts, and insurance is cheap to boot). Most of these have at least 130,000 miles on them, and some have much more. Is there anything to look out for in a v8 BMW of that age and mileage? Any ridiculously expensive scheduled service work, common faults, etc?

These cars cost from $6-12k here depending on condition, spec and miles. All of them seem to have leather interiors, though few seem to have the sport pack.

Thanks.

Suspension bits and bobs would be the biggest worry, that's f all on the engine and transmission. Although if they have been driven on good motorways over there wear on the subframe bushings etc may well not be as bad as over here. If it drives fine it more than likely is. $6 to $12K seems an awful lot, is a new Mustang not about $30K ?

Inbox

Probably best to budget for a entire cooling system overhaul,new shocks,bushes.Transmissions can fail with out oil changes,this is a problem as BMW claim there sealed for life so oil doesn't get changed.

Steering isn't as sharp on the 540's compared to 6 cylinder cars ,3.6 v 2.8 turns lock to lock.M5 is 2.9 turns.

Best to have a look at the E39 forums on bimmerforums.com and bimmerfest.com

mecanoman

I'd nearly go for a mid-90's BMW. A well minded one, plenty of history
to go with it.
I read alot about the "newer" models bein plagued with sensor
problems, which cost a fortune to fix. The older ones seem to be made
of better parts.

unkel

They are cheaper to buy over here

V8 petrol engine is very strong and can easily do >250k miles. Check out for service history but these cars are usually serviced well over in the US

Most of the mileage is probably highway, so suspension wouldn't worry me just yet, but by all means have a mechanic check it out

Autobox would be a risk. If it hasn't been serviced it could go tomorrow or it could last another 100k miles. Listen very carefully to it while test driving. If it has been serviced it's an even bigger risk*

Check all electricals

Enjoy

*opinions on this are divided

kdevitt

Lovely car - expensive when they go wrong though. I know of one particular dope who has poured money into a car that should have been scrapped a long time ago though, also turns out the original engine was replaced with a 3.5 one at some stage accordingly to his mechanic (the owner wasn't told, presumably to stop him feeling even worse about it) - so you'd want to buy with your eyes wide open.

Stephen

Thanks everyone. A new mustang is about $30k but that's the v6. The brand spanking new v6 ones (2011 models) make 300bhp, but the 2010 and prior ones only make 200bhp from a 4 litre engine. The 8 cylinder GT ones usually come much better specced too.

The cost of things going wrong with the BMW is what worries me. Servicing on european cars here is much more expensive than servicing on American and Japanese cars, which is actually very cheap compared to Ireland.

unkel

Well, while in Rome...

A new Mustang V8 is incredibly cheap in the US for the poke you get. American muscle cars are cheap to run (insure, fuel, maintain) too and a new one would obviously come with a warranty too. Get one and look forward to driving a superior car like a BMW E39 once you're back in Europe

Stephen

Can't afford a new one, but can easily afford a 2005-or-so one which has the 300hp v8.

unkel

Stephen wrote: »

Can't afford a new one

Are you moving back to Ireland in the foreseeable? If so and you own the car long enough over there, you should consider buying a new one, and export it to Ireland and avoid VRT, etc. You could possibly sell it on for a profit back here...

Stephen

Probably not for a while. I am leaning towards a Mustang GT now though too Only problem is they're outnumbered 10 to 1 by the v6 ones, so its fairly hard to find one that ticks all the boxes without having to travel 1500 miles or something to get it! Most of them seem to be in Texas for some reason. It'd be a fun road trip home though!