Intro To BMW

[DrainerXD]

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.

[MauiM3Mania]

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.

[shogun]

moved from 5 series general to E39 forum

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

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....

[ross1]

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.

[JimLev]

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?

- - - Updated - - -

So. I have to wonder why a father might give a fast-ish car to the fellow banging his daughter.

LOL, getting kind of personal there Ross.....

[edjack]

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.

Ya gotta wonder ...

BTW, what do you mean how to build a healthy base car to build up from?

To what?

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Now I'm wondering what the girl looks like... It is a girl, right?

[toybreaker]

where in south jersey are you? I am from Port Norris....

[djb2]

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.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

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!

[edjack]

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?"

[Santaclaus4]

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.

Hahaha, exactly this!!!

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

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?"

Thanks Ed, I highlighted it to acknowledge your eagle eyes!

[rlordjr]

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?"

I'll jump in. "Can you spare it?" is the retorT. Retore is what the running back did to his ACL. So he had to have surgery again.

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