Solo Man
Well-known member
If you are talking about 45Cars (you mentioned 45 Autos), i would suggest stay away. When i bought my E39 528i from them 5 years ago they were all promises about fixing stuff for me that was bothering me and when i phoned the next week to arrange when and how they were going to fix the problems on the car, the owner would not even speak to me even though his salesman took the phone to him telling him i wanted to speak to him. His argument was he had given me discount and that was that. That was not his argument on the Friday that i bought the car - never was the discount mentioned as a reason that he was not going to fix the car. When i left on the Friday with the car he was my "biggest pal", but the next week he did not want to know me. I later found the folder in the car with the invoice for what they had paid for the car when they bought it from the previous owner and saw they had made a lot of money on my deal, even after giving me discount. Anyway, fixed the things on the car myself. If you do find something nice there, and you want to buy it, make sure you get every promise in writing.
A good friend of mine had a 2003 E39 525i auto at the time i had the 528i and i often drove his car on the road (Hermanus - Cape Town) and mine drove nicer. Did not change down as often as his 525 because of the extra torque of the 2.8 l engine. Have always wanted to try the 530i and would suggest you get that. I now have a 530d after i had a 540i and must say that the d is almost as nice as the 540. At the pumps it is a different story altogether. If you are handy with spanners i would suggest you look at the 530d and do the egr delete, cat delete and most important, the swirl flaps!! Economy wise, taken over three 5000km road trips involving mostly open road travelling at a genuine 120kph, the 528i auto gave 11,7km/l, the 540i auto gave 9,9km/l and the 530d auto gave 15km/l (the 528 and 540 i was alone in the car and with the diesel we were 4 with bootfull load of luggage)
A good friend of mine had a 2003 E39 525i auto at the time i had the 528i and i often drove his car on the road (Hermanus - Cape Town) and mine drove nicer. Did not change down as often as his 525 because of the extra torque of the 2.8 l engine. Have always wanted to try the 530i and would suggest you get that. I now have a 530d after i had a 540i and must say that the d is almost as nice as the 540. At the pumps it is a different story altogether. If you are handy with spanners i would suggest you look at the 530d and do the egr delete, cat delete and most important, the swirl flaps!! Economy wise, taken over three 5000km road trips involving mostly open road travelling at a genuine 120kph, the 528i auto gave 11,7km/l, the 540i auto gave 9,9km/l and the 530d auto gave 15km/l (the 528 and 540 i was alone in the car and with the diesel we were 4 with bootfull load of luggage)
