530d

[Abe Resnick]

I just sold my 2002 530d Exclusive after the gearbox died. I'm in mourning - best car I ever owned and rock solid until around 180 000 km, which is when things started going wrong. The gearbox was just the last straw. I fully intended to grow old with this car, but it was no longer cost-effective.

Issues: had to replace most of the cooling system apart from the radiator. Two window winders died. One injector, one water pump. Electric seats gave continuous issues. Dashboard cluster replaced. Front suspension almost entirely replaced over the years. Door lock activators.

Pros: bulletproof engine, lovely to drive, supreme long distance cruiser, incredibly economical (around 7.1l/100km on the open road fully laden with kids and dogs...), electronics gave no issues apart from dash cluster.

Sad to see her go, but will post replacement pics shortly...

 

[Andy1GP]

I just sold my 2002 530d Exclusive after the gearbox died. I'm in mourning - best car I ever owned and rock solid until around 180 000 km, which is when things started going wrong. The gearbox was just the last straw. I fully intended to grow old with this car, but it was no longer cost-effective.

Issues: had to replace most of the cooling system apart from the radiator. Two window winders died. One injector, one water pump. Electric seats gave continuous issues. Dashboard cluster replaced. Front suspension almost entirely replaced over the years. Door lock activators.

Pros: bulletproof engine, lovely to drive, supreme long distance cruiser, incredibly economical (around 7.1l/100km on the open road fully laden with kids and dogs...), electronics gave no issues apart from dash cluster.

Sad to see her go, but will post replacement pics shortly...

Good ownership input :thumbs: post a thread in the new members section with your pics so we can all welcome you properly!

 

[ChefDJ]

:ty:

 

[anton-sa]

E39 bmws are awesome cars. I owned a petrol 2001 525i for 4.5yrs in manual trans. With mtech suspension. Totally awesome. Im now on the tailend of a rather exntensive project where I bought a 2001 530d in manual and have done a extended restoration on her. Involving new interior new suspension new flywheel new clutch... and msport conversion.. so in january ill finish up the car and start driving it. Its been 7months. Only drove the car about 3km ever. A testdrive. But because I know e39s well I knew exactly what I was getting into... ill post a build log etc in due course... but good e39 cars are really fit and forget cars asin maintained well and setup well they will really not leave most people wanting..