charles28

Its got swede part leather Sport seats. I'll take some pics on Saturday, its always too late when I get home from work (Dark) Its a lot of car for the money, I've previously had a 528i and still got the 525i, the difference is massive, a lot of it due to the transmission too, finally I have one with a proper ZF gearbox, rather then the Jatco. Yeah the oil smell comes through the cabin, so I'm going to sort that out asap, looks like a job that can be done in an hour. I'm going to get my mechanic to give the car a real good check over, to make sure I don't miss anything, but will still do the work myself to save money hehe.

Its a factory one, assume Mk4, was pleased to get that

Yep, Terrible Picture, but as you can see I have 2x E39's in the Garage and taking pics at night time doesn't work so well with a Samsung Phone. The one on the left I purchased today, the one on the Right is a normal 525i that I now have on trademe for sale. I was impressed by how much better the 530i is to drive overall, infact in everyway.. However when I got out to Rangiora and drove into the Garage I thought i saw smoke coming out the front of the bonnet and could smell a strong oil smell. Sure enough, leaking valve cover gasket, got the Halogen work light out to confirm. Ordered new parts online. The car came with an NZ sat nav unit, Bluetooth, USB etc, so that's sorted. I am going to replace the front speakers with the ones I have in my other E39, (Much better then stock). Things to change on the car: Remove M5 Badge (Thankfully a normal M badge has been included in the glove box) Replace find wood trim with silver trim, (It was annoying getting the wood trim, most Motorsports had silver). Things to fix on the car: Repair front bumper, will need paint and plastic welding, doesn't look that bad though. Replace Valve Cover gasket set.

Well.. i ended up buying a 2002 530i Motorsport in Silver with NZ Navigation etc and get it tomorrow. Its got enough power, a good upgrade from the 525i. It looked like my pockets were not going to be deep enough for a 540i

Finally i'm selling my 525i to buy a 540i. I feel the need to own a V8. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=761436392 Price as per auction details Cheers

Why not pay a little more and get one with 1/3rd the k's? Its still an old car now.. seems to share some suspension parts with the E39. I thought about buying one, but the back end is too ugly.. although I find they don't look as bad in black. A facelift Motorsport one I could live with though.

You can, but don't do it. They sound terrible.. my last E30 had them installed with spacers.

Get it scanned, make sure there's no NOX sensor faults, tis $1200 + GST for the part only.

What about all those Chassis bits you can buy from Turner Motorsport? Ie like: http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-1361-e36-3-series-complete-turner-motorsport-reinforcement-package.aspx

I found that those engines have a flat spot from 700 - 6500 RPM The only way to fix it is install a turbo or supercharger of course. But jokes aside, as said, you need to get it scanned, it might need a camshaft sensor, new MAF, coil pack, anythings possible

yeah, an E90 323i, 325i or something, or an E60 530i Well thats what i'll probably go for next time round. Yeah I was a little worried about having a DSG Gearbox, but had a mechanical warranty just in case.

I chose a Mk5 Golf GTI over the 1 Series, seemed to be a better car overall and Jeremy Clarkson thought so too. But I got sick of the road noise, ended up with another E39, all those smaller cars are cheap and plasticy when it comes to refinement etc. The 1 and 3 series models can't compare to the 5 Series build quality and refinement wise. How much fuel will you really save? I can't imagine much.

Mines still looking quite Mint for its age.

Its not really that bad, its just old.. just a lot of little wear and tear things.. Coolant hoses, heater core, just had the steering rack rebuilt as it was leaking, needs new strut top mounts etc. nothing too costly. Just had the ABS ECU Re-soldered internally. Its not as good as the newer MK5 Golf GTI I had, but its got more character, it still goes well enough for an old car. Its using an average of 10.5L/100k, my E39 525i averages 11.3L/100k on the same drive, yet has a smaller engine..

I know all about it, I have a Mk3 Golf VR6, probably the most unreliable of them all

It will need a new Thermostat, it will be stuck open basically.. just about every VW i've owned has needed this replaced. It will be hurting your fuel economy also, as the ECU will be adjusting things to run rich due to it thinking that the engine isn't warmed up.

Way too cheap, could have fixed it all up for $800 and it'll last another 10 years hehe

Hmm its a tough one really.. I've been looking at Merc C55 AMG's, smaller then the E Class.. 4.5m long.. so basically Similar size to E90 3 Series.. but 360hp 5.5L V8

Naa, they all Slurp just get the V8, it doesn't use much more The E60 530i has 3 engine types depending on year, the 2003-2005 has the same engine as you have now, but a 6 speed auto. But in reality that model won't be much better then what you have, maybe 1-2 %? Buy a brand new Renault Clio 900cc Turbo, 4.5L.100k Those WRX's etc all use about 10-11L/100k, Mazda MPS maybe a little better, but not much. My E39 525ia uses 50L for 442k's and 1/2 of that is open road.

Hmm i just had a steering rack reconditioned for $350 + gst ( A Golf VR6) So the used price doesn't seem great? you may have to call around and ask some places for prices? plenty of Forum members on here that sell parts.

I actually like that its LHD, as it was how an E36 was designed to be. The price is ok if its good, its easy to buy a rough one for 10k, but you can easily spend another 10k making it decent.

Ray at HELLBM would be the go

Its all good, it won't be as bad as the VW Golf VR6 i just purchased from Blenheim and had shipped down on a truck

I guess you checked, but make sure there's no finance owing..