Is 30,000KM's too low for a 528?

[igork007]

Hi everyone, new to the forum.

I have a question for E39 owners: Is a 1997 528i with 30,000km's (18,750 miles) something to worry about or "jump on it?" I know that some cars, if not driven regularly, will develop issues. Is the 528 one of them or...? Also, does anyone know anything about cars imported from Japan? There's a dealer in town who imports all sorts of low mileage cars from Japan and they seem to be in very good condition. Not sure what the source is, hope they're not stolen from the Yakuza or something. Anyways, I came across THIS ad and it looks really tempting. For a bit less money there's THIS one but it has 117,000 miles which is about 175,000km's. Opinions?

Thanks in advance!

[d21spike]

The biggest concern would really be the seals or pretty much anything rubber. Rubber dry rots over time so you may find yourself with leaky gaskets and/or premature failure on suspension components. Aside from that, I don't know how things are done in Canada but if all the right channels were taken and the paperwork is there I suppose you shouldn't have an issue getting it registered. Then again I don't know.

Hi everyone, new to the forum.

I have a question for E39 owners: Is a 1997 528i with 30,000km's (18,750 miles) something to worry about or "jump on it?" I know that some cars, if not driven regularly, will develop issues. Is the 528 one of them or...? Also, does anyone know anything about cars imported from Japan? There's a dealer in town who imports all sorts of low mileage cars from Japan and they seem to be in very good condition. Not sure what the source is, hope they're not stolen from the Yakuza or something. Anyways, I came across THIS ad and it looks really tempting. For a bit less money there's THIS one but it has 117,000 miles which is about 175,000km's. Opinions?

Thanks in advance!

[BimmerBreaker]

There is a lot more to a car than the number of miles. Go look at them in person and see which one is actually in better condition

I'd be a little surprised if that low mile one was a Japanese import. It has the US/North American dash.

[Cheyne]

The photos show it sitting in a standard Japanese Auction House storage space so it's definitely a Japanese import. Japan can order LHD cars too.

Japanese cars often have very low mileage, but may have lots of 'hours' on the engine. It's quite common for their cars to be sitting in traffic with the engine running for a lot longer than non-imports for example.

See if you can get a copy of the service records. Ideally you want to see that the car has been serviced according to time, not miles. The other thing to check is whether it still has the Japan spec OBC/radio. They operate a different frequency spectrum so you would need to swap it out for a Euro or US version.

If you do the right inspections it could be a good car, but don't just assume that low mileage = good condition.

[BimmerBreaker]

Only US cars got that dashboard though. Nothing to do with LHD or RHD.

The difference is the euro E39 dash is the "slim" style and US dashboards are "fat" ...this definitely started as a US - or at least North American - earlier in it's life. May have been a US car imported to Japan that is now being exported to Canada though.

Euro "slim" dash




US (maybe Canada too) "fat" dashboard



On the left and right of steering wheel, and below the pass side dashboard airbag, you see how the US dash is wider/taller. This is only for the US market.

[Cheyne]

It could very easily be US spec and have been sold new in Japan. A lot of the E30 and E36 M3s that are coming out of Japan are US spec, but were sold new in Japan. Their roads are filled with a hodge-podge of specifications when it comes to Euro cars so it's not as easy to tell.

[Cyrix2k]

It could very easily be US spec and have been sold new in Japan. A lot of the E30 and E36 M3s that are coming out of Japan are US spec, but were sold new in Japan. Their roads are filled with a hodge-podge of specifications when it comes to Euro cars so it's not as easy to tell.

this. The VIN on the import(?) sheet says it's a US market car. It's a *really* early production e39 too.