as a quick history lesson on 5-series BMWs..
1990 - 1997? e34 - most people who own e34's say they're the best and wouldn't trade for a newer one, and if they do they're disappointed. They're the last of the "handmade" 5-series, and are rock-solid reliability wise, and good fun (if a little old-school) to drive. pay anything from £100 for an early shagger of a 520i to £10,000 for the best 3.8 M5 model
1997 - 2003 e39 - most people who own e39's think they're the best cars ever built (inc me
) and keep coming back to them time and time again.. e39 M5 is a monster; if you drive one you will want to buy one, no question. dont expect much over 22mpg though. the 530i / d sports are 90% of the car with 80% of the performance and 50% of the bills..
there are a few reliability issues with the 530d which people make a big deal out of on the internet however these can easilly be resolved with preventative fixes/maintanence, most notably turbo failure (which can be cured by changing to the newer e60 oil breather) and swirl-flap failure which can be improved by removing the swirl-flaps and fitting blanking plugs. Total for the above AND an EGR bypass for a bit more throttle response around £200. a 530d sport will give 35mpg around town, and 40+ on the motorway, and hassle anything upto an including a boxster on an a or b road (might struggle with a boxster s, but its big brother M5 could do the business). 530i is similar except no swirl flaps, no turbo failure issues, however the trade off is 25-32mpg..
All e39 autos have "weak" gearboxes; a small valve which regulates pressure in the box fails around 125 - 175,000 miles, however this can be changed along with the oil for £250 which sets you right for another 125-175,000 miles. With the right maintenance these things run for ever!
pay anything from £1000 - £10,000 for a non m5 (expect 6k for a post facelift 530d m-sport or 4-5 for a 530i) and anything from 7 - 25k for an m5 (although for 20k+ you're talking sub 10k miles and showroom cond from a main dealer)
2003 - 2010 e60/e61 - marmite styling, run-flat tyres (which = crashy ride, esp on sports) but newer engines and updates to everything. most people who have gone from e34 - e39 - e60 want to swap back into a low mileage e39!! again 7k upwards depending on model/age/mileage, although if you can stretch you should go for a post-facelift (often refered to as a LCI) model which has a few tweaks, plus the newer model engines and more efficient auto gearboxes (aswell as the "efficient dynamics" B.S.)
if you want to take a look at a beemer and want someone to tag along, give me a shout
b
