str8_6

Hi Boston,

The vehicle you linked to is my car. Happy to arrange a time to show you. There are no leaks, I’m pedantic. Power steering hoses have been replaced as well as recent thermostat housing and thermostat. This was replaced as the o-ring on the sensor was weeping.

There is service history and history of transmission service. Previous owner of 10 years used this as a long distance car and had another car as their shopping trolley.  

This isn’t a worn out high mileage car. I bought it sight unseen, from a Wellington based owner, drove it home and it instantly reminded me why the e39 was one of the best. The 3 litre is the best pick for daily driving. I’m only selling as I can’t have three cars on the driveway. 

They’re a great little car and potentially quite underrated. Mucher better improvement over the previous Z3.  I’ve now owned two (kinda missed the first one). Both facelift 3.0si with the N52 195kw motor and 6 speed auto/paddleshift. The si versions are generally better optioned with heated and electric seats, xenon and dynamic drive (sport option).

Agree with the drainhole issue for the soft top. I believe there was a small update on the facelift to combat this issue but I always ensure the drain holes are clear.

The ride is very firm, and while one had runflats and the other didn’t, I personally didn’t notice much difference between the two. I’ll switch to normal tires when the run-flats wear out.

What I enjoy is that you can drive with the top down and because you sit nice and low, well under the roll bars and screen, you are cocooned and don’t feel so exposed. Quite different to a four seater convertible where you feel the roof has just been sliced off and you’re open to the world. The big six also sounds great!

Glad to hear it’s sorted.  I never let the petrol station attendants touch my car.  Heard so many situations where they have done stuff like this. 

Hey Steve, is there any history of timing chain guide replacement? Any noise coming from the front of the engine? 

18 hours ago, 3pedals said:

Possibly the only one in that colour because it is pissier than the pissy Dakar yellow but then it is a hairdressers car 

Insightful

Took the 335i over the Rimutaka Hill a few days back. Was quite late so not a lot of traffic.  The auto is brilliant in it. Very intuitive and the paddle shifters are great. Having driven the hill a number of times in the manual M5, I think I’ll take the 3 series with the auto.  I was never left feeling numb. Would be interesting to try a manual N54 and compare. 

Having owned an early model X5, it’s apparent BMW also borrowed some of LR’s build quality.  The door handle mechanism is a horrid design (I used to cross fingers it would open when I walked up to it).  They do however offer a dynamic drive for what they are.  

Use a hair dryer (not too close to the paint) to heat the adhesive up on the back of the badge.  You don’t want to heat it so you can’t touch it or you could damage the paint.

Then in the past I’ve used fishing wire to slide in behind the badge.  Some will come off just by getting your fingernail in behind and pulling them gently.  If yours are original, you’ll probably have residue glue left over.  This will lift with a little meths.  Even olive oil can work.

Good Luck!!

If it’s something you may want to tune down the track, the 335i has to be on the test drive list.  The e9x platform is so nicely balanced. I prefer it to the current 3 series in terms of feel. It’s an excellent daily driver and also long distance cruiser.  I get remarkable economy for the performance.

I enjoy a BMW V8, and I really like the e60 but the 335i puts more smiles on my face day to day.

Tough decisions.  I bought an e53 4.4i as a tow wagon just over 18 months ago and it has quite by accident become my daily driver while I'm on and off our building site.  It's a great thing to lope along in but it's a mini truck and the moment I get back in the e61 I realize that the X5 is definitely a compromise.  I've only tried one e70 and wasn't blown away by how it drove - it was an early model 30d Sport and it felt sluggish with choppy, harsh suspension.  Perhaps the suspension has been updated in newer models?

That being said, it's not until you load it up with 2 tons of boat and gear and it performs like a mini truck should.  Solid and safe.

Lovely car. Always had a soft spot for the Z4M. 

$4k for a hardtop... glad I found mine for $600. 

Stunning example! Good luck with the sale. 

I have heard the caramel leather is prone to wear but that is pretty bad.  

Looks like a good project for the right price. 

Looking to purchase a set of rear sport air bags for the e53. Have an intermittent leak which leaves the left rear on its bump stop when left for long periods (overnight/week).

I've been told that the Arnott Industries product is excellent but they will not ship from the US to NZ despite their website allowing it.

Hoping there's a local option before I order through their Australian stockist for considerably more than their US price.

That looks familiar!

I'm hoping someone from the Bimmersport community will buy and continue to love it.

If you have any questions, please PM me.

It's a cool video and a nice comparison of the two. Be nice to try the SS with that damper set up.

Not a bad price, reflective of the year and condition. Mine will be up for sale shortly too. Running out of garage space :-(

I used to have random radio issues like this in the e39. Replaced the original BMW battery and all issues went away.

I currently have a similar issue with the e53 which shares the same hardware as e39 etc. Radio won't come on if it's been switched off while the engine is running. Only comes back on after switching ignition off and back on to accessory. Checked to see what the battery condition was like and previous owner has the wrong battery installed. Next on the to do list. I just turn the radio down rather than off.

I've seen this a couple of times around Wellington. Very very cool. The colour makes it extremely stealth and the wheels are stunning.

What are you replacing it with?

We had the mid 90's Pajero. It was adequate but when we went to upgrade to a mid 2000 model, that's when we started realizing we could spend similar money and get an X. To be fair, the year 2000+ models are a huge improvement. They have excellent road manners and are far more capable as a 4x4 than the X5.

Totally agree with you Martyn on the 3.0i. I drove one before buying the V8 and it was not lacking at all. We actually had it overnight and almost bought it. The only reason we got the V8 was because it was tidier and had more service history. I do like the sound the M52 six makes. They aren't by any means lacking and when you compare to similar sized/weighted vehicles such as a previous generation Toyota Highlander etc they are excellent value for money and perform and likely handle better.

I only wish I never bothered with the Land Rover and Pajero.

Totally agree with you Ron, the diesel option and the savings you get doing high annual mileage make sense.

Fuel calculations seem pretty spot on. For the record, we drove Wellington to Turangi and back over the New Year period with the final mileage on the clock being 745km when we got home. I filled up in Wellington initially with premium at $1.93 per liter. Whilst the car told me I did bang on 15ltr/100km when we got home, I calculated we used approx 114 litres at $1.93 (220.02) for the trip at approx consumption of 15.3ltr/100km. I topped the tank in Turangi when we left and put in for the total trip $254.62. There was just under half a tank left when we got home. It never once felt underpowered or stressed and we definitely don't need to rev it to 4500rpm for it to move or keep up. It generally chugs along at 2000 - 3500rpm with the boat on.

Neal, if was daily driving one, we would not go the V8 route, in fact, we'd likely buy a newer model diesel as I prefer the e70 but personally I prefer driving a smaller car day to day. The diesels are generally more expensive but will hold resale. We bought ours as the depreciation has almost all been lost and we don't use it a lot... But when we do, it safely gets us around with close to 2ton of boat and camping gear a few times a year. We chose it over a station wagon because most big wagons tow ratings came too close to the boat/trailer weight (I like to build in a little redundancy). We also bought it because it has AWD and that is always helpful on a slippery boat ramp.

The old Discovery V8 we had used to do about 21ltr/100km towing the same boat. Leaked about the same amount of oil too.

Around town the X5 is thirsty. From memory sits around 14-15ltr/100km without the boat.

Yeah, the torque from the 535d is epic. Driven the 335d and 535d and was very impressed.

Yeah, I've seen a few with quite negative camber. Ours doesn't seem to be so bad. I've read that worn control arm bushings lead to increased negative camber. Ours has rear air suspension which keeps the height the same when loaded/unloaded so there is minimal change in camber when towing.

CRD has moved things on a lot, they are brilliant but you have to be doing higher annual mileage to justify the cost etc.