I am about to purchase an E39 540i from 2000 from my girlfriends dad. He’s an avid BMW owner and for the price I had to do it. This is going to be my first BMW and I’m extremely excited. It may not be the one I was thinking of but it’s going to be awesome! I was wonder If anybody had any recommendations on how to build a healthy base car to build up from? What areas should I focus my time and money on? What’s worth it and what isn’t? Anything is helpful and I’m excited to join the community.
Congrats!
Maintenance. It's am ongoing process with any BMW. There are threads at the of this discussion area that pertains to your car. Might be wise to read as much as you can. Enjoy your new car.
04M3 TiAg 69k slick-top 3 pedal
99M3 Cosmos 61k S50B32 euro 6Spd
88M3 AW 43k miles Project FS
WTB: 3.5" Eurosport/Conforti CAI
moved from 5 series general to E39 forum
Shogun tricks and tips for the E32 series are HERE!
Aww damn, another victim..... I mean, congrats! If he was good to the car, demand all the records. Start there and see what's been done, replaced, and when. Go from there. If he doesn't have records, I'd be worried....
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
Catch up on deferred maintenance before even thinking of anything else.
So. I have to wonder why a father might give a fast-ish car to the fellow banging his daughter.
If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue
Welcome to the forum DrainerXD.
Like the others have said find out what have been done for maintenance.
How many miles on the car?
If the suspension is original that is probably the first thing to replace.
Is it a 6 speed or auto?
Any oil leaks?
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LOL, getting kind of personal there Ross.....
Now I'm wondering what the girl looks like... It is a girl, right?
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
where in south jersey are you? I am from Port Norris....
Current:
2000 540I6 DD
2001 F250 4X4 tow beast
2016 RRS 3.0 supercharged (wifes DD)
1999 Miata (go kart for the street)
1970 Mustang (in flux, 393 build in progress)
Past
1957 bel air 1965 Mustang (first car) 1965 SS impala
1966 496 malibu 1969 Camaro 1970 Nova
1997 528IA 1997 540I6 2000 528IA 2001 525IA
Does your girlfriend's dad like you?
If so, the e39 is a great car, considered one of the BMWs that continued BMWs reputation as building an excellent drivers car.
If he doesn't like you, you'll quickly understand why we view every used BMW buyer as freshly scammed. Lots of BMWs are sold only when they accumulate a long list of deferred maintenance or have been overheated.
Now, for someone like me, if I snagged one cheap, knowing that there's gonna be a lot of stuff to take care of, I don't mind spending the money knowing I am taking care of things. I will know what's good, what's bad, what's been done, what needs attention, for me, that gives me piece of mind (Thanks Ed!) knowing that by the time I throw the car down the highway, I know that at any given moment, I could drive to The Bay Area in California tomorrow and hang out with with some old friends and family, rather than pay 6-8 grand still knowing that the cars gonna need stuff too.
But! There's always some strikes of lightning here and there. When a longtime member came on thinking about parting out his old 2003 525 wagon, it had 371,000 on the clock, but on a 90,000 replacement engine and transmission, and when he did the swap, he did the rest of the drivetrain, all the subframe bushings, front and rear, all the suspension, all good stuff too, not junk, Bilstein sport struts and shocks, new sport springs, all the windows work!.......Had me sold on that. I was thinking that car needed a new extension on life, so I thought about it, I already had a '00 528 wagon which is my daily, and an '01 540 sport which I am getting rid of as we speak, then JimLev sends me a pm telling me about Poolman's wagon, he lived a few hours away, I contacted Chip and finalized the deal. I did it to save the car, keeping it from the scrapyard. Best $500 BMW yet!!! It did have the typical water intrusion from the vapor barriers in the rear floors, fronts were loose from the doors too, but the floor was dry. That's all fixed, the car needed rear brake pads, thars been done, I changed the oil and filter and gas is all I've spent so far Car drives awesome, super tight, a bit stiff because of the Bilsteins, but it's on rails at high speed. So you never really know!
Last edited by BimmrMeUpSnotty; 05-29-2020 at 08:56 PM. Reason: Highlighted my careless writings
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
It's actually "peace" of mind. I couldn't resist!
The other one is giving one a "piece" of their mind. The retore is, "Can you spare it?"
Last edited by edjack; 05-29-2020 at 04:33 PM.
Ed in San Jose '97 540i 6 speed aspensilber over aubergine leather. Build date 3/97. Golden Gate Chapter BMW CCA Nr 62319.
I do not believe in a risk free society where the thrill of living is traded for the safety of existence. Nick Ienatsch
The law does NOT determine "right" from "wrong". They are unrelated.
If you put cheap parts on your car, you will soon have a cheap parts car.
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