If anyone's interested....
It's valeted with leather treatment, all filters/fully syn oil serviced, running on 5 mint replacement OE alloys and new Dunlop BluResponses. Also sporting essential new cupholders, a mirror glass, rear wiper, driver's door seal and 4 new anti-roll bar droplinks. So a pretty comprehensive mid-life(12yrs & 112,000mls) checkover.
Working on it there is no doubting the materials quality and engineering thoughtfulness that has gone into the mechanical aspects, ease of routine maintenance is impressive too.
I like the leather, burr walnut(ish) and softly carpeted interior which has a nice ambience with a nod to the cars of my childhood. It seems large, very large, inside after the Alfa but we needed that and it has already enabled a larger item deal that could not have happened with just the Alfa boot for space. The flat and intrusion free (due to the air rear suspension all being underfloor) loadspace is so so useful. Great rear legroom causing Mrs F to comment she may choose to be driven lounging in the rear reading a broadsheet of her choice.
Incidental stowage in the boot area is brilliant too. A huge spare wheel well (for a full size alloy some will be pleased to hear),underfloor oddments tray and stowage behind side panels means all the clutter I carried in a large plastic box in the Alfa boot can stow away unseen leaving the full loadspace for stuff.
After the Alfa's obvious diesel noise at idle and throaty bark mid range this BMW 6cyl is so smooth and muted. Throttle response is much more restrained with the BMW but when wound up (skirts and all) it will pull strongly. I'm guestimating fuel consumption increased over the Alfa... from my usual upper 40s or more to perhaps mid 40s.
Ride and refinement are much better than the Alfa and slightly better than our modern C5 Tourer before it. Ice cold dual climate and very smooth quiet elec windows. 6CD Stereo only good after the Alfa's excellent Bose system.
It has to be said country road handling is ponderous after the nimble Alfa, don't get me wrong it does grip and roll is fairly well controlled for a large car plus steering is quite heavy in a good way so you feel you know what's going on. But a tight B-road funster it isn't. Brakes are absolutely superb, one area where you had to watch the Alfa. The 156 is known for being able to outperform its braking capabilities and that really needed care.
Colour is safe silver, Not a stand out look but very kind to the inevitable small blemishes after 12yrs and easy to touch in.
Private purchase of course and I don't mind saying it will top out a whisker over £2500 with the work which just about matches Glasses high end private sale price. Happy with that knowing there's a lot more useful work/parts gone into the car to make that price as opposed to a dealer at that money doing nothing useful bar a valet and throwing on a worthless 3mth warranty.
VED £50/yr more than the Alfa, insurance £42/yr more.... nothing in the scheme of things.
Overall very positive outcome for current needs.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sun 18 May 14 at 20:48
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Sounds good, hope you are lucky with this purchase as you seem to have been with the Alfa!
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Nothing's for sure, but to some extent Fenlander makes his own luck. He knows what he's looking for and is prepared to do some work on the car to get it up to standard. On the HJ forum we get a lot of people who buy a cheap car, expect it to be perfect and whinge when it isn't.
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>> to some extent Fenlander makes his own luck.
Whilst I agree with the comment, I have to say; to *SOME* extent?
Seems to me that he's got pretty much all of the important variables nailed and takes the implications of his own decisions on the chin.
To be admired, especially for that last bit.
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Enjoy it F !
You may find it quite hard to go back to a smaller load space car after this though. Every time I think I'd be alright with something smaller than mine I find myself needing the room. I had about 9 months without a large estate car on the drive and was constantly missing that convenience.
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Mmmm, you're making me want one....resist, must resist!
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Thanks for Comments. Avant & NoFM are correct (even if at slightly different places on the scale) that I put huge effort into pre-emptive maintenance and checks. I remember describing a similar path when the Alfa was purchased... then Zero (I think) said I was wrong to spend £500 on sorting a car purchased for £700.
But it worked out perfectly with 18mths of total reliability and the reassurance everything was right "underneath".
Avant is correct when he comments he's noticed folks often expect a newly purchased older car to be fine without putting effort into making it so. I've noticed this to a significant degree on BMW forums where some would have bought our car then headed straight for larger alloys and an upgraded stereo head unit... with not a thought towards the oily bits until they fell off.
Anyway a few pics. I haven't had time to take a posed set so they are just odd snatched ones...
The only pic I have of the whole car, taken outside a friends. Thankfully the saved C5 roof bars fitted meaning so will the decent 4 cycle carrier arrangement I have.
Very shiny renovated headlamp.
Engine, not cleaned and just as it arrived after dusting off top surfaces with a cloth during the service.
Interior pre-valet just after collection.
s245.photobucket.com/user/SealgairC420/slideshow/BMW%20E39%20525D%20SE%20Tourer
I know there are other images on that account, all uploaded for this and that forum so nothing personal.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Mon 19 May 14 at 08:31
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Very nice, wouldn't mind that at all for my daily.
I used to think spending big bucks on (servicing) older cars was a waste of money, but now know otherwise. You have a very well sorted luxury cruiser for still not a lot of money. Anyway what's the alternative? Spend double/quadruple that on a newer car that still need servicing?
There doesn't seem like a lot of difference between the 2.5 and 3.0 in terms of economy (on paper anyway), did you specifically seek out the 525 or just the best that came up?
Last edited by: ToMoCo on Mon 19 May 14 at 10:23
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Well I tried to buy the best car in the price range which happened to be this one but in any case didn't seek a 530D as I didn't see this purchase as having ultimate performance top of the requirements list.
They are "only" 30bhp more than my 163bhp which I thought wasn't a huge difference in a heavy car. Had I found a good example of the Alfa 2.4 16V diesel estate I'd first wanted I would have been going from 150 to 225bhp.. now that would have made a difference in a lighter car.
I guess the fuel difference on paper isn't that great but all the 530s about when I was looking were autos and when compared to a 525D manual they lose about 8mpg overall on paper and probably worse in real life.... and I only wanted a manual anyway.
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Hi all,
Rare poster but 'pop in' to read people's thoughts and advice now and then.
I'm glad you're happy with your E39. I've had the fortune of picking up a very tasty '02 535 sport from my trusted mechanic. His accountant owned it from 2 years old and his wife drove it for the last two years. He's been looking after it for the last 12 in total.
He mentioned he was selling as his wife was getting fed up with the, to her, heavy steering and wanted something smaller.
After he did a major service, four new tyres, new battery, a new gasket on the engine, new mot and years tax, a mid-life crisis kicked in and I took it off his hands. I parted my Toyota corolla verso - 2002 and gave him a grand on top. Owned it since Feb and continues to give me a very big smile, especially when the V8 starts singing!
I do very few miles so the petrol bill isn't hurting me too badly at the moment.
All the best,
Nial
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Interesting to hear your comments Nial.
I said above I didn't want more power by getting a 3.0D but the somewhat ponderous handling character I described would I'm sure be cured by more power and the more suitable power delivery of a petrol.
But I couldn't do the 24mpg!
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It took me a few days of my heart talking my head into buying it because of the 3.5 ltr V8. I couldn't let it pass seeing as it was so well looked after and a good example. I would've been happy with a 3.0
I do 7,000 - 8,000 miles per anum and mostly 50-70 mph roads.
It has all the gadgets, the sat-nav maps are out of date and it seems a bit of a faff to use, so I'm not fussed, and the T.V. is only analogue, so that's useless. The strereo is great though.
The only annoying this is it has the Traffic Master system installed where the front centre cup holders are normally. There's nowhere to put my coffee!
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>>> Traffic Master system installed where the front centre cup holders are normally. There's nowhere to put my coffee!
Well like so many at 10yrs old my cupholder mechanism had broken so I've fitted a new unit. However trust me there is almost no point as they hold the cup so low down even diesel performance is capable of shooting the drink into either footwell.
I've decreed them static use only.
Odd so many have alloys out of true as NoFM experienced too.
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>> I couldn't do the 24mpg!
I don't know what my 2.8i did, but it probably wasn't that!
In fact, I worsened the handling of mine, I guess, since I changed the low profile rims/tyres for some really-not-at-all-low profiles. Coincidentally I had to make a change because of buckled rims as you did, I just decide to make a comfort change and was very glad I did - it worked out well. I can't remember the sizes involved, but I seem to recall I went from 17s to 15s, although that might not be right.
I will *never* have low profile tyres again, on any car. The Phaeton [hi Al!] cured me of that habit.
Mind you, my driving style has changed dramatically, and generally I can't be bothered to make "enthusiastic progress". I'm all for wafting, these days.
Having said that, I really fancy the idea of SmileyNially's 535. I don't want to go that fast, but I really love excess power.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 20 May 14 at 01:06
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I does sound like a lovely car Nial. I couldn't live with the (lack of) economy either for daily use. Some of the new petrol BMW's have amazing figures, just a while before they fall into price range though!
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>>>In fact, I worsened the handling of mine, I guess, since I changed the low profile rims/tyres for some really-not-at-all-low profiles.
My impression is that getting the best out of the E39 handling takes far more effort than the immediate point and squirt of a decent front wheel drive. More driver effort/skill is needed to balance the car into and through a bend.
And it really does have to be admitted the diesel throttle response and rev range do not suit antics on tight bends.... fine for a 4/5th gear A road sweep though.
Must mention NoFM having declined your offer on the cable/software and 99% deciding on a small handheld code reader one of the BMW forum chaps turned out to be a supplier of the cable/software kit so I bought with the security of his lifetime (give or take I guess) free support for the kit.... under £30 delivered which was actually £10 cheaper than a Chinese cheapy code reader.
Haven't loaded it yet but I need to check out the airbag lamp and slightly raise the rear suspension ride height so that will be a practical test for the setup.
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>> I need to check out the airbag lamp
Is it on? Because if so there is an known issue with the connector under/in the passenger seat. I couldn't be bothered to fix it and just turned the light off every two or three months.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 21 May 14 at 12:49
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Yes you're spot on.. a known issue as it was on the Alfa.. but as you might guess I chased it down to get the light off (auto reset on the 156).
On the E39 it should be a connector clean with switch cleaner and cable tie it up tight when plugged back in.
You hope it's not intermittent failure of the passenger sensing mat built into the seat. However even this can be sorted with a cheap electronic module you can buy that replicates the signal of an occupied seat so the airbag will always go off even if no passenger.
The car's previous owner mentioned he just had the light reset immediately before each recent MOT.
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SmileyNially: is that a UK 535? I thought the V8 was for the American market only?
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Hi Woodster,
It's U.K. spec. I believe the US Market only got the 540 V8 and no 535 V8. In the U.K., and I'm guessing the rest of Europe, got the choice of a 535 and 540. 540 would be the obvious choice for the incresed BHP without much difference in mpg between the 535. I'm no expert though.
It's an E39 also, you might've been thinking of later models...
Nial
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BMW 5-Series E39 - 525D used buy initial impressions. - Paul Robinson
