E39 540i purchase, differnce in years 00-02?

[Eagle 1662]

Yeah its a decent engine but id still take my M30 over it as its actually built to last

[BreakMyWindow 1874]

The m62tu will do mega miles (my old one now on 310k)and still running strong, vanos never touched except for when the static cam timing was set during the chain guide job. In its day it was a high performance engine especially compared to ford and holden v8's back then which were of larger displacement and still outputting less power and torque. 400nm of torque available from a 4.4 at 1300rpm is an amazing accomplishment back in september 98. Like any performance car you gotta put up with special maintenance if you want it to last.