For good all roundness, the 520(2.2) and 523/525 are great cars. Personally I prefer the black SE's with leather and upgraded alloys. I would also wait for one with an electric pack to come along as if more than one driver, the electric seat memory is handy.
MAF's, thermostats and radiators are all for the watching and bushes and tyres become consumeables if you use their surprising agility to the max.
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I have owned a 2001Y 530ise Touring from new. From memory, the facelift happened late 2000 (X reg onwards?) and as mentioned, given the punitive VED's coming this would probably be the registration to aim at.
I did take optional 17" alloys and sports suspension but I would have to say that the ride quality is good. As an example, I recently drove an elderly relative home from hospital from Edinburgh to Inverness after a major operation and he said he was very comfortable in the back seat.
Problems so far have been air conditioning failure at about five years old (cost about £500 from local independent garage to repair), the battery seems to run low if I do a surfeit of local town driving (I now have a trickle charger and give it a boost once a month), I replaced all tyres, disks and pads about eighteen months ago (this is obviously normal wear and tear but cost £950 from a local independent garage to do). The radio no longer works (I will get this looked at at the next service), but there is a 6CD stack and cassette so I just use those.
Mine is an auto (I think the vast majority are). There is obviously a steptronic gearbox, so you can change manually if you want. To be honest I have played with it a few times but really never use it (probably like everyone else). Economy is about 22mpg, which for an auto 3 litre estate is probably not too bad
I think overall, it is a brilliant car and I intend to keep it until it falls apart or becomes to costly to repair and also it comes without the dreaded i-drive
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I have had my 2001 30i auto sport tourer for over 4 years and covered 45000 miles in it. It has a total of 120,000 mls on the clock. I love the car and will keep it for many years since it is now worth practically nothing. The Sport suspension is good but rather stiffer than the SE. The car is lower on the Sport suspension and the front spoiler is easily grounded. The Sport does look far better, is rarer but the SE is a more sensible and very comfortable choice
You should look out for one with as many extras as possible and the electric comfort seats are wonderful. It is a heavy car so do not expect very good fuel economy. I get 25 mpg on average. Diesels do seem to have problems with turbos. The petrols all sound wonderful. THe 530i is the pick of the bunch. The 540i is not as reliable and overkill really.
Watch out for missing pixels on the dash board, it is a common fault and worth knocking £500 off. Mine had the problem and I did not notice.
Peter
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Don't worry about VED - that has all been dropped.
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I'd do a Google for:
a: e39 overheating, a problem for v8 and straight 6, it could be thermostat, pump, viscous, bleeding, radiator, header tank etc. You'll probably end up doing them all just to be safe.
b: e39 shimmy, endless fun for the garage, at your expense.
c: e39 rear balljoint/subframe bushes my independent said take it elsewhere, so I took it home, bought the puller and did it myself.
d: e39 abs module, what joy a selection of error codes non of which point to the real problem
e: e39 pixel, fortunately it's on the later version to mine.
f: e39 Crankshaft/Camshaft sensors
g: e39 handbrake, ooh, let's drop the prop shaft and change the cable, after we've unsiezed all the gubbins in the hub.
No, I'm not that impressed with German engineering. I had seven years with little trouble from a high mileage Citroen Xantia 2.0 16v and find myself with endless niggly problems from a 60,000 mile 523i, with dealer history of course, you must have dealer history or you're asking for trouble!
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I, too, had a couple of Xantia's before my e39 530D. The 1.9td I had suffered a cambelt snap, well within spec. mileage, the other was an hdi 110 which suffered a head gasket failure. With these 2 cars, driving was something you did/a chore, not an enjoyment. Don't get me wrong, I'm no speeding nutcase, it's just the e39 is far more pleasant to drive.
Anyway, back to topic, as stated I've got diesel version, but also a friend has the v8 4.4 petrol version. Both are autos, he's lucky to see 25mpg on a run, roughly 17/18mpg around town, mine does 45-50mpg on a run and 33-35mpg around town. My friend did have a prob with overheating when he first bought it, this was traced in about 10 mins. to a faulty thermostat, this was changed, now no worries.
Any shimmy, check tyres pressure + wheel balance, if still there, get a quick look over from a main agent, this might sound crazy but seriously, they've never charged me to give a look over and a correct opinion on that area (worn bushes in my case)
Rear ball joints can wear, put that down to the plethora of speed humps this country now has, about an hour and a half from a decent indie.
ABS module failure, well, this really is luck of the gun, or should I say, highly unlikely luck of the gun.
The pixel problem if it occurs, can be fixed by others or by yourself. It might only happen once in a blue moon though.
Crankshaft/camshaft sensors, I suppose this could happen......at some point......it is an engine after all.
Handbrakes can seize up a bit if it's an auto and the handbrake doesn't get used much/at all.
I've heard that the cars can stop all together, if no fuel is put in the tank. But as this could affect other cars as well, it's probably not worth mentioning or scaremongering over.
As for German versus French engineering, try doing a 'door test'. Opening and closing the front/back doors and listen to the difference! Not conclusive by any means, but amusing all the same!
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