I have sworn off BMW for all time, but...

Tyler H said:

SO the gist is, unless it is significantly cheaper than an E46 330i, you’re looking at the wrong BMW.

I dunno, we test drove a 6-speed 330ix. It wasn't a compelling steer, and it's a size down from the E39. We didn't have to consider long to choose the E39 instead.

Toyman01 said:

This is tempting me. Tell me why I don't want it. 

 

The add says:

2000 540i 6 Speed Manual trans
M Sport Package
4.4L v8 300HP (Monster)
Complete new cooling system 
M5 suspension, steering wheel, brakes, and upgrades taillights.
126,000 miles very low for this car.

Is it a M?

 

How much?

A friend of mine has owned one of these for years.  His is a '98 and he put a Vortec supercharger on it about a dozen years ago.  It's his daily driver, although he has a short commute and doesn't need to care about mileage.  The last time it was on a dyno it was over 500 HP at the wheels - which seems like a dubious number, but I don't know enough about these engines to question him.  It also isn't a "stock" installation. He's done a lot of personal tweaks to it (he's a mechanical engineer by profession, likes to tinker and this car is his toy).

In reply to Ian F :

$4000. 

https://charleston.craigslist.org/cto/d/bmw-540i-6-speed-manual-obo/6528166271.html

Or there is this one for $12k

https://savannah.craigslist.org/cto/d/2000-bmw-540i-sport-44l-v8/6535983671.html

Or this slightly rusty one for $2600.

https://savannah.craigslist.org/cto/d/bmw-540i/6550767266.html

I think I'm going to have to pass. I keep thinking about the E24 I replaced with a Ford. I like simple things that work and BMW doesn't do simple. 

Ok, I daily drive the bigger sister, the E38 M sport (which I prefer vs the 5er). You're looking at potential cooling system issues (at regular mileage intervals, not just age), VANOS rattle, and potential timing chain guide issues. If you're looking at it, look for receipts for all that fairly recently. That's more important than the PPI (which will only tell you what's wrong NOW, not what's going to be wrong next month).

Nothing on these cars is difficult or really expensive to deal with, however. Window regulators are $100 and take a few minutes to install. Radiators and expansion tanks are similarly easy. The ONLY real hard part is the water cooled alternators (which are a rare problem area) and the TCGs, which can be costly and a weekend or so to do the work on. The E39s don't eat suspension with quite the regularity of the E38s, due to being a tiny bit lighter. True M sport package cars (which for some reason that doesn't look like) are willing dance partners in the twisties and move in a way that belies their size. BMWs of this era are true driver's cars that are still plenty DIY friendly.

Water cooled alternator, three words that pretty much sum up my main problem with BMW and most German cars. 

Mine's still on it's original one at 176k daily driver miles and 17 years old. They're not really a major failure point.

Toyman01 said:

Water cooled alternator, three words that pretty much sum up my main problem with BMW and most German cars. 

That doesn't seem nearly as scary as my N55.

Electric oil pump! I know one guy in Germany that had the engine eat a #6 rod bearing because a sensor failed so the pump was outputting full volume/pressure at full throttle. 

Toyman01 said:

Water cooled alternator, three words that pretty much sum up my main problem with BMW and most German cars. 

No kidding.  Next I'm going to find out that these cars actually DO have blinker fluid as well.

Chris_V said:

Mine's still on it's original one at 176k daily driver miles and 17 years old. They're not really a major failure point.

I did some reading and they don't seem to be any more prone to failure than a std alternator, and honestly they aren't any more expensive than the alternator I just replaced on my P71. I just can't wrap my head around the why of it. For some reason Germans seem to do complication for the sake of complication.

When presented with a overheating alternator, everyone else said, "We should put a fan on it and feed it some cool air."

BMW said, "That's too pedestrian for us, lets design a water jacket and cooling lines and then tie it into the cooling system." Make sure you read that in the appropriate pompous  German accent. 

The water cooled alternator does have 1 cooling advantage: it should run about the same temperature (and therefore have about the same output capacity) whether you're sitting in traffic on a 110* day or cruising on the highway in 0* weather (whereas the air cooled alternator will run cooler and perform better in the second situation compared to the first).