NICE 540 6 speed on BAT

[Nobleprofessor]

Not mine, no affiliation.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2000-bmw-540i-21/

This one would be a good test of whether the timing chain guides are effected more by age or miles.

[douglawrence42]

Wow that looks clean. I would eat off that engine bay


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[jicaino]

sh*t I'd give a kidney for that car.

[cpf9]

It's raining E39s on BAT at the moment.

My pick would be the 2k mile (yes you read that right) '03 M-sport:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2003-bmw-540i-45/

[jicaino]

It's raining E39s on BAT at the moment.

My pick would be the 2k mile (yes you read that right) '03 M-sport:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2003-bmw-540i-45/

Luckily I have another kidney to spare

[Nobleprofessor]

It's raining E39s on BAT at the moment.

My pick would be the 2k mile (yes you read that right) '03 M-sport:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2003-bmw-540i-45/

DAMN. One owner from new and he only drove it 2K miles? That is a shame.

[douglawrence42]

DAMN. One owner from new and he only drove it 2K miles? That is a shame.

Couldn’t drive a manual and to embarrassed to sell it?


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[dannyzabolotny]

To me at least, paying real money for an E39 kinda defeats the purpose of having an E39. The whole point is that the 540i/6 is a fantastic bargain that can be had for very little money. I bought a 540i/6 a year or two ago for $1500 and drove it home. Once you start paying $10k+ for a non-M E39, it just seems wasteful, especially since low mileage cars are still subject to age-related issues and will all have the usual E39 issues in due time. Buying a 60k mile 540i doesn't mean you'll have 100k miles before the guides fail, it just means your guides will fail at like 90k miles. Not too long ago I did chain guides on a 2002 540i/6 with 98k miles, it was a real clean garage queen. But the U-guide still failed in the most typical way.

[Joe///540i]

IDK, that blue one doesn't do it for me given ALL the crazy nice E39's on BaT of recent. I kind of view 66k miles as that in between spot where it is no different than buying one with 92k (me) and saving a few bucks for the stuff you are going to have to do anyway pretty soon on either mileage cars.

The E39's posted recently with 2k miles (540i) or 36k (M5) miles are the ones I drool over. Pre-facelift with a tan interior just doesn't do it for me.

- - - Updated - - -

To me at least, paying real money for an E39 kinda defeats the purpose of having an E39. The whole point is that the 540i/6 is a fantastic bargain that can be had for very little money. I bought a 540i/6 a year or two ago for $1500 and drove it home. Once you start paying $10k+ for a non-M E39, it just seems wasteful, especially since low mileage cars are still subject to age-related issues and will all have the usual E39 issues in due time. Buying a 60k mile 540i doesn't mean you'll have 100k miles before the guides fail, it just means your guides will fail at like 90k miles. Not too long ago I did chain guides on a 2002 540i/6 with 98k miles, it was a real clean garage queen. But the U-guide still failed in the most typical way.

I agree completely. If I am going north of $10k for a 2000 540i with 66k, I am going for this instead:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2001-bmw-m5-55/

Not saying it is pristine, but it has potential and should be no more than $17k. We shall see in an hour. Nice Dinan upgrades and MkIV.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Ieezuz, if somebody has the cash, wants a pretty much brand new 2003 540 M Sport, doesn’t give ten sh!ts about the money, why not??? You guys crack me up sometimes...

[jp5Touring]

I can't afford it,so therefore it's a bad deal.

[Santaclaus4]

That thing is gorgeous. I wish I had a 2003 M-Sport. Oh wait...

It's made nearly 600 cars after mine. I can't get over the seats. They aren't worn and shiny from 20 years of butts. Lol

[cpf9]

That M-sport just sold for $54,500 !!!

[QtheGenius]

That M-sport just sold for $54,500 !!!

And the new owner will probably have to drop another $15k into it.

[dannyzabolotny]

I'm always curious as to what happens to these super overpriced BaT cars... does BaT allow the next owner to sell the car on there again when they want to sell it? Otherwise, everyone that pays a premium for a car on BaT will lose quite a bit of money when they sell. Some of the guys on M5Board have found that out to be the case when buying cars from EAG— they pay a premium for the initial purchase but are then unable to get anywhere near that amount on the actual market.

[Joe///540i]

And the new owner will probably have to drop another $15k into it.

Why?


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[douglawrence42]

Why?


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The only service I have seen is mention of an oil change. That means that even though the car is gorgeous, every rubber bushing, every coolant hose, every rubber brake line, and all the rest is likely about as brittle as they are on my POS 540, despite the low miles. The guides on that car might be worse than mine. So if a new owner actually bought it to drive it, and assuming someone who pays $55k for a 16 year old non m car probably doesn’t do their own work, sure, why not $15k (probably more like $10k). However, it’s hard to say. If this was an ultra low miles exotic, no new owner would drive it anyway, and all that maintenance wouldn’t really matter. Don’t know what will happen to this one.


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[Joe///540i]

The only service I have seen is mention of an oil change. That means that even though the car is gorgeous, every rubber bushing, every coolant hose, every rubber brake line, and all the rest is likely about as brittle as they are on my POS 540, despite the low miles. The guides on that car might be worse than mine. So if a new owner actually bought it to drive it, and assuming someone who pays $55k for a 16 year old non m car probably doesn’t do their own work, sure, why not $15k (probably more like $10k). However, it’s hard to say. If this was an ultra low miles exotic, no new owner would drive it anyway, and all that maintenance wouldn’t really matter. Don’t know what will happen to this one.


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Not sure I agree that every piece of rubber and hose on that car is brittle and failing. You are making a lot of assumptions. I am pretty confident that car has been stored in a climate controlled garage for the past 15 years being from Vegas. That car is brand new.


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[douglawrence42]

You may be right. This whole thing is weird. I mean, if I had the right exotic car and sat on it and preserved it, that might make sense (not to me, but people do it). However, after carefully storing and not driving this car for 16 years, it changed hands at least once, then sold for $5k UNDER the original sticker price. The date code on the tires is still 2003. That doesn’t strike me as a story about a smart owner who figured out how to preserve the car for future profits. It strikes me as just weird. So who knows? Luckily, I don’t have the extra $55k to find out.


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[Joe///540i]

You may be right. This whole thing is weird. I mean, if I had the right exotic car and sat on it and preserved it, that might make sense (not to me, but people do it). However, after carefully storing and not driving this car for 16 years, it changed hands at least once, then sold for $5k UNDER the original sticker price. The date code on the tires is still 2003. That doesn’t strike me as a story about a smart owner who figured out how to preserve the car for future profits. It strikes me as just weird. So who knows? Luckily, I don’t have the extra $55k to find out.


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Yeah, it’s definitely interesting how and why this car was left untouched and unused for so long. I get what you saying about it not being an exotic but I don’t think the PO thought hey I have an exotic here and decided to put it in a time capsule. It’s is kind of weird which makes it interesting. That stuff just doesn’t happen to an E39 but it did.

Any how, if I hit the lotto, I would sit on BaT all day and build a stable. I would buy this car and to your point it would probably sit a lot more than being used because I have so much friggin money and all these other cars!!


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[R Shaffner]

The only service I have seen is mention of an oil change. That means that even though the car is gorgeous, every rubber bushing, every coolant hose, every rubber brake line, and all the rest is likely about as brittle as they are on my POS 540, despite the low miles. The guides on that car might be worse than mine. So if a new owner actually bought it to drive it, and assuming someone who pays $55k for a 16 year old non m car probably doesn’t do their own work, sure, why not $15k (probably more like $10k). However, it’s hard to say. If this was an ultra low miles exotic, no new owner would drive it anyway, and all that maintenance wouldn’t really matter. Don’t know what will happen to this one.


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I agree that the owner is in for some surprises, but perhaps not all of those, and probably not all soon.

Does time alone ruin the plastic parts and seals? Maybe it does eventually. But we all agree that the heat cycles and wear add a lot to that. If the chain guides have so few cycles on them, I bet they'll last a good while longer. The same is probably true for many of the other plastic parts, and even the rubber parts.

For example, the rubber gaskets on the M62 timing covers eventually shrink, get brittle, and leak. How much longer would they last with fewer heating/cooling cycles? Perhaps not as long as new parts that didn't sit for 10+ years, but they must last longer than ones that have seen a lot of use.

Maybe the new owner will join the forum and we'll find out.

[zM3]

The car isn't from Vegas but it does look like it's brand new...it was bought new in the Chicago area and was registered in a wealthy suburb there per the Carfax until it was auctioned in Scottsdale earlier this year. The winning bid was around $42k (as posted in the BaT comments - not including fees) from a used car dealer in Vegas who then immediately flipped it on BaT for $54k.

I completely disagree that the owner will need to replace anything on that car. Things like heat cycles, UV exposure, and physical wear cause parts to degrade. I do agree rubber will eventually degrade with time, but as long as the car was stored in a reasonable way, it shouldn't need much if anything done. Case in point - I bought my 2003 540i M-sport with 36k miles in October 2011 and it sits at just under 81k miles now. Everything is original except brake pads/rotors/tires/drive belts/thermostat (electrical issue)/battery/starter/power steering hoses/reservoir and the chain tensioner I had replaced proactively around 40k miles. Tension strut bushings were recently done too but those are hydraulic bushings that leak. All the rubber bushings, gaskets, hoses, seals, brake lines are original and are not brittle.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Well, you have to realize, most of the guys on here purchased their E39’s with well over 100,000 on the clocks. Suddenly they are an authority on how bad these cars hold up thru the years.....

[jp5Touring]

If someone can drop $54k on a e39. I doubt it will be a daily driver, and the'll have any problems affording whatever the car needs.
I would guess a 3rd,4th or 5th car for someones stable. Some people just have Lots o Money.

[CPHES]

The only odd thing I see is the spare. It should be a matching m parallel, and it has an odd rim with a pirelli p6000