Dave1980

Thinking of buying an old Shape 530d Sport, Around 2001-2003 Model.

Anyone here got experience with these, looking for some decent performance but with good MPG and decent handling. Also keen on rear wheel drive.

Not to worried if its auto or manual as you can use the tiptronic. Although auto is nice for town i guess and the option of having semi manual gears sounds good too for those nice driving roads.

Anything i should look out for? such as problems etc. Looking to spend around 8k.

Thanks in advance.
Dave

Dave1980

anyone?

Guinness

iTrader: (1)

I've got a 2003 330d sport touring auto,and i love it...This is my 2nd 330d and i would have no worries getting another..I've got a smoke box fitted(adjusts the fueling)and it made 231bhp and 414lbs/ft @ the wheels and returns around 35mpg around town and 50 mpg on motorway...

Alan....

Dave1980

sounds a good mod to make, bet it goes pretty well after that.

is the smoke box basically a remap then?

Guinness

iTrader: (1)

It's not a remap,it's a box that interupt's the signal to the fuel pressure reg on the fuel rail.It fools the ecu into putting more fuel in than it thinks...Giving more power.I've had this box for 3yrs now so it can't be doing a bad job..

Alan......

Dave1980

sounds interesting, will have a look into them.

fatscoobfella1

iTrader: (1)

Hi dave

Have a look on here...plenty of information for you..

forum.bmw5.co.uk • Index page

As it happens,my friend is selling his 52 plate 530d sport.. Has around 65k with full history.Its black with Safron leather..

PM me if you want details

Gary

Dave1980

thanks for the link, i will have a proper look later. could be interested in your mates car.

do you know what sort of figure he is looking for?.

BULLITT

I work at a BMW dealer, to be honest, the last of the E39s are pretty much bullet proof, nothing much goes wrong on them if the cars been looked after.

The 2002 - 2003 were the last of the production and usually came well equipped, with the majority of them been sold with the Sport equipment.

As with all BMWs just make sure the usual things are in good condition as replacing parts are expensive, even now. Make sure interior is clean and the leather is free from cracks (Leather should be dull, not shiney). Make sure wheels aren't curbed, BMW wheels, especially the M sport wheels are rediculously expensive.

Only thing I can think of that went wrong was on the E39 Touring models. It was the Air Suspension bag, on occasion they split, other than that, not much went wrong on them.

If its your first BMW, just beware that BMWs use a fair bit of oil, some people on here may agree or disagree, but from my experience selling parts, they do use oil. Becareful of the brakes, for some reason BMWs eat brakes like theres no tomorrow.

If you want to check the service history of a car, to make sure its been done at a franchise dealership, you can contact BMW UK with the reg and they will be able to send you a list of all the times that vehicle has visited a dealer, be it for servicing or warranty recalls etc. BMW customer services number is 0870 5050 160.

If theres anything else I can help you with from a dealer point let me know.

Dave1980

sound advice, will bear that in mind. thanks very much.

Dunk

iTrader: (1)

My E39 528i chewed rear tyres which I'm led to believe they all do.

D

fatscoobfella1

iTrader: (1)

Just to pick up on a few things Rich mentioned..

I have had 2 E39's,both 6 cylinders.In the 1st one i did 19,000 miles in 15 months,and the brakes and the tyres,had loads of life left in them.Both were new when i bought the car,and i would say they were probably half worn(brakes and tyres)..
The E39 sport i currently drive,had new tyres all round and brakes all round 9000 miles ago..Tyres still look like new (vredestein Ultracs..275/30/19 and 245/35/19).
Pads front and rear are less than half worn,checked them just after xmas.

BTW,think my mate is after £11,000 for the 530d sport..I know people have bid him £10,500 and he has turned them away..

Cheers

Dave1980

ok more sound advice, may be interested in your mates one. will do some proper hunting around this weekend.

need to find one to have a test drive in first.

renno rannes

Im also looking at a 530d, what would be classed as big mileage on these. Most seem to be quite high ?

Renno

TopBanana

Didn't the 3.0d engine have common turbo problems? Perhaps this was just the earlier models.

fatscoobfella1

iTrader: (1)

No your correct..

The turbo's do have an issue..Seems to be around the 120k mark that they can start to smoke.A lot have done this kinda mileage,as they were the executive rep mobile...Not all of them do this though,i know of a couple that are 200k+ on all original components.

The other issue are injectors.Similar kinda miles as the turbo as well.

They can fault and cause a misfire..They will then need replacing..

Recon injectors are around £95,new around £150 each..

Turbo's are around £600 recon.

HTH...