E39 540i/6 - worth the money?

[Skrilla]

So I kind of got offered to buy a 540i e39, its a 6 speed car with about 160k kms. Completely stock 2 owner car, shows awesome, has some maint. history records, and its $8k. I've always loved the 5series cars of that era, but are they a headache to own, maybe drive 4-5k a year? Was the expansion tank an issue on these cars as well? Wasn't really looking for one, but damn its a clean car! Is it worth the 8k?

[C4S]

E39 is the best 5 series .. perhaps the best BMW sedan ever .... fun fun fun with the Manual !!

Somewhat, E39 is quite reliable too.. (as a BMW, not compare to Lexus reliability ..)

[dirtsniffer]

M package? What color?

[bjstare]

I'd say go for it.

Nothings a headache if you only drive it 4k a year.

[dirtsniffer]

Probably won't be ever worth less than 8 grand anyways

[Sentry]

Just as good as an M5 in every way but power, and they still have plenty of power. Great cars. And yeah the expansion tank might blow, but they are less than 100 bucks to replace or you can just do it preventatively.

What year? If it's an 01-03 M-sport absolutely worth 8k. 97-00 non msport would be worth 4-5k

Also they get surprisingly good mileage. I got 11l/10km city and 8l/100km highway driving like a dick in my 540i wagon.

[Sentry]

Should view this thread:

https://forums.beyond.ca/threads/403018-Skidwagon

Had lots of fun with nitrous and boost with my 540i.

[Skrilla]

Thanks for the replies! It is not a M sport, it is a 1998. Looked at some exhaust clips on YouTube and they sound pretty nuts with some easy exhaust work

Edit: its maroon in color

[Sentry]

Ah, a Maroon 5. :D

[KRyn]

Ah, a Maroon 5. :D

:clap:

[VWEvo]

Such an awesome car, easily one of the best 5 series ever, you wont regret it.

[Misterman]

Ah, a Maroon 5. :D

And cars value just dropped to 2$ Lucky break for OP!!

[Skrilla]

Went and had a closer look at it this morning, does show quite nice, starts up and seems to run solid. interior wasn't as clean as described. I had a look online and see there is a very similar one at a dealer in Calgary, has 175k, but the interior is much cleaner. Its green instead of maroon, same tan interior. I guess the one in Calgary was traded in to a BMW dealer, and then AAG bought it. Kind of want to see that one first, both are around 8k, but the Calgary one is bone stock. May give me some ammo for a little negotiating on the maroon car.

[Mitsu3000gt]

My dad had an absolutely mint 2001 540i/6 and I thought it might be his old car when I first read the thread. He sold it to a guy who hardly believe what he was getting, based on his excitement anyway. It's not the greatest 6MT but I still think it's an awesome car.

That sounds overpriced though. My dad sold his loaded 2004 545i and could only get about $9K for it after several months, despite it showing almost as-new with very low KM, and despite the used market appearing to be in the $12K+ range based on comparables. $8K for a 1998 with high km seems like way too much, and people do not want the MT in a big sedan like that. Old big German sedans are really hard to sell, especially manual ones, so maybe that gives you some extra bargaining power.

If he couldn't even be bothered to clean it before a showing, that right there is a good indication about how it's likely been taken care of during his ownership. I wouldn't buy a car like that personally - if he's already lied about it's condition/cleanliness, there are probably other things.

[BavarianBeast]

What do you expect to get out of the car?

I wouldn’t drop more than $5k on a 540i.

[Skrilla]

I've just always liked them. Is a guy better off buying a highermileage one for 3 or 4k and just drive it as is? There was one in lethbridge on kijiji with way more miles but less than half the cost. I love how you can make them sound, and the body style was always a favourite. Not much else for V8 stick shift sedans of that era, and I want no part of a S4 4.2 from what I've heard.

[Sentry]

My wagon had 250k when I got it and 280k when I sold it. Never an issue.

[Misterman]

I've just always liked them. Is a guy better off buying a highermileage one for 3 or 4k and just drive it as is? There was one in lethbridge on kijiji with way more miles but less than half the cost. I love how you can make them sound, and the body style was always a favourite. Not much else for V8 stick shift sedans of that era, and I want no part of a S4 4.2 from what I've heard.

You can get an S4 for a song now. Which engine is in the 540i? I'm assuming it's the 4.4L V8? In which case you'll have to do all the timing chains and guides which is not cheap and it's like 2 full days of work. But you'll have to do the same with a higher mileage S4(assuming these cars don't have maintenance history indicating it's been done). But the BMW is easier in a sense, you just drain oil and coolant, pull the rad and lower oil pan, and you can access everything to do the job. S4 needs the entire engine pulled out of the car because the timing chains are on the back of the engine.

[Skrilla]

You can get an S4 for a song now. Which engine is in the 540i? I'm assuming it's the 4.4L V8? In which case you'll have to do all the timing chains and guides which is not cheap and it's like 2 full days of work. But you'll have to do the same with a higher mileage S4(assuming these cars don't have maintenance history indicating it's been done). But the BMW is easier in a sense, you just drain oil and coolant, pull the rad and lower oil pan, and you can access everything to do the job. S4 needs the entire engine pulled out of the car because the timing chains are on the back of the engine.

They certainly are super cheap compared to the 540i, ive just heard so many horror stories

[Misterman]

They certainly are super cheap compared to the 540i, ive just heard so many horror stories

What sort of stories? Do your proper timing chain maintenance, expect to drop in a reman steering rack at some point, other than that you've got a solid car. The S4's seem to nickle and dime you to death a lot better than BMW's do. I love BMW's as well, but I know when I own one I am going to be doing a pile of maintenance crap if it's over 150,000km

[HiTempguy1]

Your "proper" timing chain maintenance entails replacement at a cost of $4k+ by a shop.

And its not if you need to, its when. No amount of "maintenance" changes that.

Can you do it yourself? Yes, it's only like a 4-5 day job if you own your own hoist. Hard pass, and I love the V8 S4, one of my favourite daily drivers.

[Misterman]

Your "proper" timing chain maintenance entails replacement at a cost of $4k+ by a shop.

And its not if you need to, its when. No amount of "maintenance" changes that.

Can you do it yourself? Yes, it's only like a 4-5 day job if you own your own hoist. Hard pass, and I love the V8 S4, one of my favourite daily drivers.

Correct, like I said. ???

[bjstare]

And its not if you need to, its when. No amount of "maintenance" changes that.



Well, kind of. Depends on how long you plan to own for. The interval for that timing chain maintenance I belive is 160k. If it's been recently done, I'd feel okay buying one (from that respect anyways, the cylinder scoring is a whole other kettle of fish), considering I've never put 160k on a car before selling, and probably won't ever in the future.

[BavarianBeast]

What sort of stories? Do your proper timing chain maintenance, expect to drop in a reman steering rack at some point, other than that you've got a solid car. The S4's seem to nickle and dime you to death a lot better than BMW's do. I love BMW's as well, but I know when I own one I am going to be doing a pile of maintenance crap if it's over 150,000km

I spent over $10k to re-machine my heads after severe cracking and warping on my B7 S4. Just to add a story. 42,000km at the time.

B5's with the 2.7 twin turbo are/were better cars, despite all their horror stories..

[Misterman]

Well, kind of. Depends on how long you plan to own for. The interval for that timing chain maintenance I belive is 160k. If it's been recently done, I'd feel okay buying one (from that respect anyways, the cylinder scoring is a whole other kettle of fish), considering I've never put 160k on a car before selling, and probably won't ever in the future.

My thoughts exactly. You can either negotiate a hell of a deal if the timing needs attention, and then take care of it yourself for a reasonable buck and some elbow grease. Or find one that has the timing done, and negotiate a good deal on it because of the cars poor reputation.

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I spent over $10k to re-machine my heads after severe cracking and warping on my B7 S4. Just to add a story. 42,000km at the time.

B5's with the 2.7 twin turbo are/were better cars, despite all their horror stories..

Jesus! You almost could've done a 3.0T swap for that. Did they figure out what caused your crazy issues?

I've got a B5 myself. In regards to OP, talking about a B6 based on the price range he is talking about for this 540i.

[BavarianBeast]

My thoughts exactly. You can either negotiate a hell of a deal if the timing needs attention, and then take care of it yourself for a reasonable buck and some elbow grease. Or find one that has the timing done, and negotiate a good deal on it because of the cars poor reputation.

- - - Updated - - -



Jesus! You almost could've done a 3.0T swap for that. Did they figure out what caused your crazy issues?

I've got a B5 myself. In regards to OP, talking about a B6 based on the price range he is talking about for this 540i.

They never really figured it out, but said it was likely due to the previous owner neglecting to put oil in it for a long time. I dunno how viable that would be or not. But ultimately it boiled down to me being young and very stupid. Found the car on eBay about 11 years ago and it had a buy-it-now price that was close to 70% less than what the B7 S4's were selling for used in Canada so I decided to just blindly throw a bid in and won the vehicle. This was 2008 and I picked up a 2006 S4 for $18k.. When I flew down to WA to pick it up, it was located at an impound lot and discovered that the vehicle had recently been in a police chase and suffered significant damage to the frame and some engine components and had a cheap fix. Still had a clean working title.. Drove it for 5 months before it started pissing oil from the heads, fixed it and then drove it for another 2 years..

Expensive lesson to learn!

Is your B5 an S4? Silver with green accents & a ton of carbon by chance?

[Misterman]

They never really figured it out, but said it was likely due to the previous owner neglecting to put oil in it for a long time. I dunno how viable that would be or not. But ultimately it boiled down to me being young and very stupid. Found the car on eBay about 11 years ago and it had a buy-it-now price that was close to 70% less than what the B7 S4's were selling for used in Canada so I decided to just blindly throw a bid in and won the vehicle. This was 2008 and I picked up a 2006 S4 for $18k.. When I flew down to WA to pick it up, it was located at an impound lot and discovered that the vehicle had recently been in a police chase and suffered significant damage to the frame and some engine components and had a cheap fix. Still had a clean working title.. Drove it for 5 months before it started pissing oil from the heads, fixed it and then drove it for another 2 years..

Expensive lesson to learn!

Is your B5 an S4? Silver with green accents & a ton of carbon by chance?

Brutal luck. There is a 2004 with 4.2 for $3600 on Kijiji right now. I'm very tempted to grab it, but I just don't have room with 4 other cars in the garage right now. It needs the typical steering rack replaced, and a few odds and ends stuff. I figure even if the engine craters itself I can just 2.7T swap it for next to nothing.

Mine is a black S4. Doesn't run right now. Just need to grab a bit more camera gear, and wait for some heat in the garage, then I'll be starting work on it and making it a YouTube vlog.

[BavarianBeast]

B6 S4 with 2.7TT swap would be awesome.

Look forward to seeing your YouTube vlog. If you need some 2.0T coil packs to swap in, I think I still got a few new ones kicking around in storage somewhere....


I'm always in the market for a clean B5 S4 nogaro and typically check AT and Kijiji once a week.. So if you know one, I'll buy!

[Misterman]

B6 S4 with 2.7TT swap would be awesome.

Look forward to seeing your YouTube vlog. If you need some 2.0T coil packs to swap in, I think I still got a few new ones kicking around in storage somewhere....


I'm always in the market for a clean B5 S4 nogaro and typically check AT and Kijiji once a week.. So if you know one, I'll buy!

I might very well take you up on the coils.

The Nogaro is beautiful. Just gotta keep your eyes peeled on kijiji. I think you just missed one a couple months ago that looked almost mint. I'll try and remember to send you the link if I come across another one.

[Sentry]

When did the Audi peasants invade this thread? Gtfo with your volkswagens. :D

[infamous]

back on topic, a S62 swapped E39 Touring just sold for $72k USD on BaT! looks quite properly done!

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2003-bmw-m5-wagon-touring-conversion/

[Misterman]

When did the Audi peasants invade this thread? Gtfo with your volkswagens. :D

I've actually owned more BMW's than Audi's. Probably going to pick up an X5 soon as well. If I get that I'll have one of each big 3 Germans in the garage.

[bjstare]

back on topic, a S62 swapped E39 Touring just sold for $72k USD on BaT! looks quite properly done!

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2003-bmw-m5-wagon-touring-conversion/

That thing was fantastic.

It popped up on a bunch of the accounts I follow on instagram, I wonder how it's social media exposure influenced the price... I wouldn't be surprised if it added $20k to the sale price.

[ercchry]

My wagon had 250k when I got it and 280k when I sold it. Never an issue.

It’s up for sale Sentry ... guy says starter is done, and “has about 240k kms” :rofl: ...$4k ask

[Sentry]

Well it had like 175k miles when I sold it, so guy needs to brush up on his conversions.