wolfman

This ones popped up - bit of a looker. 525i M-Sport 'Individual' I had been mainly watching out for 528 and 530 and I know some members prefer the extra grunt of the bigger engines - is there anything tho in particular to watch out for with the 2.5 litre engines or are they just as good reliability wise (or just as bad depending on your viewpoint) I have to say just from the photos the paint condition looks really good, but obviously its the mechanical parts that are the really important thing.

Thanks for the heads up. Yeah will definately get it checked by a BMW dealership and will be getting some form of warranty if and when I buy. Hope you get your issue sorted.

Thanks for the advice... this one still not complied so now looking at the one at Turners, currently getting a pre-purchase check done. Can get 3 year comprehensive warranty for $1400 so figure thats a good safety net, and with the money I'll hopefully save can afford to spend on fixing minor issues, some new rubber if need be, full service etc. Course all depends if I get it at auction - it loosk to have passed in last time, if I could get it for around 12K if could be a steal... or the beginning of an expensive nightmare. EDIT: And the pre-purchase advised it was a complete lemon, so back to square one.

The radiator was one thing I had read about in particular that rears its head at around this age - does anyone know the approximate (ballpark) cost to replace a 5 series radiator (inc labour, not just the part)?

It was imported and complied around early July so dunno why its taken this long to get to auction.

Thanks for the info. Yeah we are looking at touring as it suits family lifestyle better (dog, kids and their assorted gear). I did think the price was high though the other similar but cheaper 530i's have all seemed to have been sold that I had been watching, bar one in Christchurch with even higher mileage and same price. There was this one: Turners 530i which price wise is a lot better (but obviously is still going to need some maint/ work) but as it didnt sell at last weeks auction, and in fact has been floating round since July, maybe there is something else up with it.

2002 530i Touring I have read many of the other topics on bimmersport about E39s so won't ask all the 'what to watch out for' questions again (tho feel free to post them anyway ) but was more wondering if anyone has had dealings with the car yard (CAR CITY AUTOS ) either positive or negative experiences, reason being is we are considering flying up from Palmy to look at this car plus a couple others so help us make our mind up about whether to make the trip over the bridge to see this one.