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[platty]

Hi guys, my old man is looking at a BMW 523i SE Saloon Manual on a T plate with 106k on the clock. Price is at £2650, but would probably knock a couple of hundred off for cash. He has had a look, clean body and interior - going for a drive tomorrow.

Does this sound about right for the age/mileage? - I have checked parkers and it says £2890 would buy you a "poor" one (taken with a pinch of salt) so it doesnt appear to be too far off the mark...

Are there any common faults we should look out for?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

TIA Platty

[Golfbuddy]

Hi guys, my old man is looking at a BMW 523i SE Saloon Manual on a T plate with 106k on the clock. Price is at £2650, but would probably knock a couple of hundred off for cash. He has had a look, clean body and interior - going for a drive tomorrow.

Does this sound about right for the age/mileage? - I have checked parkers and it says £2890 would buy you a "poor" one (taken with a pinch of salt) so it doesnt appear to be too far off the mark...

Are there any common faults we should look out for?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

TIA Platty

Well, the indicators don't work at roundabouts, the brakes don't work until the car is 6" from your rear bumber when they are going over 80 mph and they have a habit of making anyone who drives them look a total arse.

Other than those minor faults, sounds like quite a good buy.  

[platty]

Hi guys, my old man is looking at a BMW 523i SE Saloon Manual on a T plate with 106k on the clock. Price is at £2650, but would probably knock a couple of hundred off for cash. He has had a look, clean body and interior - going for a drive tomorrow.

Does this sound about right for the age/mileage? - I have checked parkers and it says £2890 would buy you a "poor" one (taken with a pinch of salt) so it doesnt appear to be too far off the mark...

Are there any common faults we should look out for?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

TIA Platty

Well, the indicators don't work at roundabouts, the brakes don't work until the car is 6" from your rear bumber when they are going over 80 mph and they have a habit of making anyone who drives them look a total arse.

Other than those minor faults, sounds like quite a good buy.  

    Sounds like standard BMW problems then! My old man isn't an arse yet - I might have to warn him that it might change him though!

[theowletman]

Hi guys, my old man is looking at a BMW 523i SE Saloon Manual on a T plate with 106k on the clock. Price is at £2650, but would probably knock a couple of hundred off for cash. He has had a look, clean body and interior - going for a drive tomorrow.

Does this sound about right for the age/mileage? - I have checked parkers and it says £2890 would buy you a "poor" one (taken with a pinch of salt) so it doesnt appear to be too far off the mark...

Are there any common faults we should look out for?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

TIA Platty

As with all sales, private or trade, get an HPI done. BMW's are very well built and the mileage is tiny if serviced properly. The engines are chain driven and early one's had problems with the  variable mechanical valve timing, similar to the Honda VTEC, but Honda got it right, when I say early I mean 92 / 94 ish, before the facelift. Head gaskets are known to go as well. As with any large petrol guzzlers they can be very cheap, most folks who take no pleasure from driving opt for Micras and other miniature Jap cars which are cheap to run. I would rather have a proper sized car and sod the MPG. Good luck, have a good 10 / 15 mile test drive, if all works well the chances are that it will continue to work well.

[platty]

As with all sales, private or trade, get an HPI done. BMW's are very well built and the mileage is tiny if serviced properly. The engines are chain driven and early one's had problems with the  variable mechanical valve timing, similar to the Honda VTEC, but Honda got it right, when I say early I mean 92 / 94 ish, before the facelift. Head gaskets are known to go as well. As with any large petrol guzzlers they can be very cheap, most folks who take no pleasure from driving opt for Micras and other miniature Jap cars which are cheap to run. I would rather have a proper sized car and sod the MPG. Good luck, have a good 10 / 15 mile test drive, if all works well the chances are that it will continue to work well.

Thanks for that  

I had mentioned to him about doing a HPI check, but we decided to take it for a spin tomorrow - if we notice any massive problems, walk away, or if were happy then get the HPI done.

I agree with you about the larger cars, I always had smaller things when I was younger but since having the Omega, I can see me always going for big RWD proper cars (i'm only 23 now though!)  

[cem_devecioglu]

Hi,
Check the engine noise and idle both cold & hot. and rev it..

Then look from down the car for irregularities both rear and front..

Control the engine sides for repairs..

Also look in the gaps of bonnet with sides , doors etc..

And color differences between body parts. This will give a general idea..

And take a test drive with climate working..

And stay away from x28 series..

This much from me..

[mantahatch]

Hi guys, my old man is looking at a BMW 523i SE Saloon Manual on a T plate with 106k on the clock. Price is at £2650, but would probably knock a couple of hundred off for cash. He has had a look, clean body and interior - going for a drive tomorrow.

Does this sound about right for the age/mileage? - I have checked parkers and it says £2890 would buy you a "poor" one (taken with a pinch of salt) so it doesnt appear to be too far off the mark...

Are there any common faults we should look out for?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

TIA Platty

Hi
This would seem awfully expensive to me considering the age of it and the huge number of BM's available at the moment. One dealer I spoke to a month or so ago told me hates taking BM's in part ex as he can't shift them on.

Mike

P.S. for £2650 he could buy an awfully nice Omega for that money.

[Paul M]

It's a good car, and they're pretty well built -- certainly seem a lot better than the newer E60 (i.e. ugly) model. Price seems pretty decent too, E39s don't get much cheaper than that at the moment unless they're really tatty. Yes you'll get a much newer and/or better specced Omega for the money, but that's the nature of the market -- Omegas depreciate much more quickly so you have to compare like for like if you're specifically looking for an E39.

Being a 1999 it shouldn't be affected by the Nikasil issue (which affected 523s and 528s built before early 1998) so that's something you don't need to worry about.

Without seeing some pics it's hard to tell though. But badge bias aside, the E39 is a very good car. If I end up needing another 4-door car in future I'm very tempted to go for a 540i/6 or even an M5 if it's my only car.

[platty]

Hi
This would seem awfully expensive to me considering the age of it and the huge number of BM's available at the moment. One dealer I spoke to a month or so ago told me hates taking BM's in part ex as he can't shift them on.

Mike

Thanks for your input, he says it is mint from what he has seen so far, but i agree with yourself that it seems a bit over the mark. I told him to try and get it nearer 2k - all depending on the test drive in the morning.

P.S. for £2650 he could buy an awfully nice Omega for that money.

I have tried to bring him back into the fold but he is having none of it. He had an S plate 2.0l GLS Omega Estate (company car) which he did a squillion miles in (full Vx servicing) then pretty much everything went on it within a year and it was pretty much worthless then. Company took it back and auctioned it off.

[platty]

Being a 1999 it shouldn't be affected by the Nikasil issue (which affected 523s and 528s built before early 1998) so that's something you don't need to worry about.

Whats this about then? Just out of interest.

[theowletman]

Being a 1999 it shouldn't be affected by the Nikasil issue (which affected 523s and 528s built before early 1998) so that's something you don't need to worry about.

Whats this about then? Just out of interest.

Check it out here
http://www.usautoparts.net/bmw/engines/nikasil.htm

[Paul M]

It's pretty much a non-issue now, there haven't been any Nikasil engines produced in 10 years now, and the petrol here has been low sulphur for a long time. So any engine that was going to show symptoms would have done so by now. But it's always worth knowing what to look for if you do go to see one, as it could have been poorly for a long time, but the symptoms don't show when warmed up.

Your chances of coming up against this are very small, but you can never be too careful in the used car market -- caveat emptor. It affects some Jags (up to around 2000 I think) and possibly other makes too.

[Golfbuddy]

It might be worth checking this out. Seems like there are some knowledgeable BMW owners.

http://www.bavarian-board.co.uk/forum_topics.asp?FID=48

Didn't see any threads about non-functioning indicators thought.  

[Martin_1962]

Bit pricey for T reg

[platty]

Just in case anyone was interested, he took the BMW for a test drive this morning and said it was faultless - full BMW service history and fully taxed & Mot'd (12 months). He was really happy so offered £2500 and the guy took it. I'm pleased for him, the price seemed good in the end, given the condition.

PS. He passes on his thanks to all who have posted, I have been relaying all the info to him!!

Platty