jeffbebe

I know, I know... Owned by and built by, but they don't put the same badge on it for good reason!

Wow. That certainly stands out. Would look more at home in mini than a bimmer.

Grey is very practical but if you lived in Ponsonby you'd be a bit sick of grey. Every other car is a bloody grey Audi with zero personality... And they all paint they're frickin' houses white or grey to match too. Dull. Life needs a bit less practicality and a bit more colour and fun if you ask me!

Mine has comfort seats (which personally I prefer to sports as it allows the top half of the seat adjustment) but it's an early (1996) model. Not sure if later 528s had sport options. They probably did.

Looking at a whole range of options from recolouring to reupholstering. So far best deals have been from Newton Road Auto Interiors on Newton Road for new leather and Fibernew for recolour. Haven't decided which I'm going to opt for. Recolour is significantly cheaper (about half the price) but I've had conflicting opinions about recolouring black leather - some say it's impossible, while others say it's no problem.When/if I get it done I'll post full results. Might do some of the work myself too, if I recolour, so will take plenty of pics.

You should have videoed that instead... Some incendiary Youtube videos always go down well.

Black and cinnamon will also match my dog - which is, of course, very important!

I'm fast becoming an old man and my car's a 528i not an M5 so I'm definitely going for luxury over sporty. I do quite like the grey leather and titanium trim but the thing I love about my E39 is that touch of old-school luxury and I think they grey and silver looks more modern. The exterior looks sporty enough I want the interior to go with my flat cap, tweeds and tan driving gloves!! haha

To go to those lengths restoring, he clearly is a clean freak! No, hadn't seen that post but was something I considered doing myself but haven't had much luck finding a decent tan interior. Also, the caramel/cinnamon interiors have been a long-held dream of mine so decided that's what I'd try and do.

6 - 2 in favour of Cinnamon so far. Incidentally, how mint is the guy's 530 wagon in that bimmerforum post?!

And the cop over on the right would have especially liked you taking a pic whilst driving, eh?! haha

As part of my E39 restoration project I'm planning on recolouring or reupholstering my (currently black) leather interior. I won't be changing the carpets, mats or roof lining. I've narrowed it down to two colours with a few pros and cons to each and wouldn't mind a few opinions to help me decide between them. My car is Cosmos black. If you think both are horrible and want to let the world know how horrible you think they are... save it, I'm not interested. Useful and considered feedback only please, folks: Option 1: Cinnamon Pros - it's my favourite interior colour; it'll look great with my walnut trim Cons - it's light so harder to keep clean (thought that's not a biggie); the blacked out exterior will not look quite as good if the interior is light-coloured; the roof lining is grey so it may not go as well with that. It looks beautiful in this E39 wagon Chateau red/burgundy Pros - will look great with the black exterior and work well with the grey roof lining and black carpet; darker colour so won't look dirty as easily. Cons - the walnut trim won't look as good with burgundy IMO (and I really like the walnut trim) - may need to tint/wrap the trim or replace with piano black.

Saw a tidy black E39 today w/ msport bumpers and single exhaust with dual tips... All very nice, except the M5 badge glittering on the boot lid. Hmmmmn.

I got a very reasonable quote from Final Touch. Haven't gone ahead yet so can't vouch for them but could be worth a try.

Jesus, that's astonishing. Asking price is $0... Even that's a rip off!

I go to Chandler Paint & Panel Repairs in Ponsonby. Not the cheapest, nor the most expensive but they've always done good jobs. Can't remember the guy's name but their no. is 376 4393.

Yep, on Newton Road. I've got the guy's number somewhere - I'll dig it out. They're very good. They get skins made in Malaysia and then fit for you. Costs around $2K for the whole interior (door cards and all seats) so should be pretty cheap for just the front.

Since I can't afford it right now... Perhaps I can live vicariously through someone on here who can: http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=525460567

Yeah, I wondered whether that might be the cause. Unfortunately I can't see anything that should cause the issue and most of the cabling is in the wall cavity... Oh well, there's bugger all to watch on TVOne and Two anyway!

Got a weird issue and can't find the source... Currently have an LG 3D LCD tv with Panasonic 3D blu ray and surround sound. Also plugged into the Panasonic unit is an Apple TV and a WDTV (media player). I recently moved a couple of things around and had to unplug the sub to do it, other than that none of the cables needed removing. Since that shift around the built in Freeview on my LG tv is doing some weird things: * If I power on the surround sound the signal for TV1 and TV2 is lost * If I unplug the power for the WDTV the signal for TV1 and TV2 is lost Totally bizarre I know and I cannot locate the source of the problem. Any ideas clever electrical people?

^ +1 Lucan. Tell the folks on here what are you're in. They'll be able to recommend the best local BMW specialists. Then get the fault codes scanned properly so they can assess what the real issues are.

This is outside my house today... Looks pretty tidy and low kms (though imported from HK so that may not be entirely accurate!). Has aftermarket angel eye headlights, aftermarket tail lights look a bit cheap: http://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=bwj488

Sounds pretty normal to me then, or actually pretty good considering both your daily driving and the age of the car!

Hey Tristan. I've got an E39 528i and when I first got it I was similarly concerned about fuel consumption. I average around the some mileage as you and nearly all is from cold and very short distances, so the car rarely gets a chance to warm up. As a result, my fuel economy sits around the 18-20L/100 mark. I've checked everything and the engine is running perfectly - E39's are just hungry when they're cold and if most of your driving is stop start, low gear driving when cold you're going to use a lot of fuel. If I get on the open road and cruise at a nice constant speed then the fuel economy can be as low as 6-7L/100kms. Sounds to me like yours is running just fine. Replacing the vanos seal might help - a little - but it's a lot of work without really knowing if it will make any difference at all. A new E39 was expected to do 11-14L/100kms with a balance of open road and urban driving. If you do more round town your consumption will be poorer.

Agreed - but if leather in the E46 was a selling point I was pointing out that he could probably find an E39 that's cheaper because the interior's a bit fooked and he could use what he saves to upgrade to leather, which ain't that pricey. Personally, I'd go E39 every time but that's because I think it's one of the best designed sedans of all time but as an owner I know it's not that practical (and by practical I mean economical).