I've been driving my hand-me-down 93 Accord 5spd for about 5 years now, and now that I'm out of school with a good job, I've decided to upgrade. I really like the look of the E39, and was looking at some 97-99 540's. Now, the price difference between that of a 97 with 90k miles and a 98 with 150-160k miles is significant, the 97 being more expensive. Should I buy an older car with less miles or is the chasis of the cars durable enough so that I should go for the newer car with more mileage?

sorry if its been asked alot, but I checked the sticky and all the links I tried were dead :(

The E39 540s don't differ that much across all years.

97-98 was non-Vanos and have the older style lighting. NAV is different, and these cars typically put down more HP, but aren't necessarily any more reliable than a newer one.

99-00 Vanos was added and I think NAV was updated. Sport package saw the 3-spoke steering wheel along with staggered wheels.

01-03 received a lighting upgrade and in 03 the M-Sport or Technic came out with the lovable "M5 look" body kit and 18 M-Parallel wheels.

All 540s have the same issues, cooling being the most talked about. If you are looking to buy one and don't have a lot of cash the 97-98 is a good choice. Go for any year that has the least amount of miles and the options that you want. Personally owning a 98 Sport with 6-speed, the 6 speed is nice, but an Auto is great too. The car has a ton of torque and is not limited much by having the auto. Sport package is really a must, but I am not sure if the sport came in auto or not.

Surely, others will chime in at any moment. Good luck!

So when you say "Go for any year that has the least amount of miles and the options that you want", you mean any year within the span I'm searching for, correct? So you would take the 97 with 90k miles over the 98 with 150k? Also, any reason why the 97-98's put down more power than the newer ones? Is it because BMW may have nerfed the output since the newer ones had VANOS to make up for it?

So when you say "Go for any year that has the least amount of miles and the options that you want", you mean any year within the span I'm searching for, correct? So you would take the 97 with 90k miles over the 98 with 150k? Also, any reason why the 97-98's put down more power than the newer ones? Is it because BMW may have nerfed the output since the newer ones had VANOS to make up for it?

Yes, I would go for the 97 with less miles. I don't think the less HP was due to the introduction of the Vanos of 99+ 540s but more so the intake setup. The intake (manifold and TB) on the later cars was slightly restricted in comparison to the earlier 540s.

Alright, thanks alot for all the info and the quick responses, Ill probably have the car in my garage by this weekend :)








and looking at the statistics of other people on this board, as many mods on it till my bank account total is at $0.00 by the end of the month :)

There seems to be a lot of 97-98s for sale right now. I've just gotta warn ya - test driving a 540 6-sp is addictive - all I could think about afterwards was how I was going to get my hands on one...

The E39 540s don't differ that much across all years.

97-98 was non-Vanos and have the older style lighting. NAV is different, and these cars typically put down more HP, but aren't necessarily any more reliable than a newer one.

99-00 Vanos was added and I think NAV was updated. Sport package saw the 3-spoke steering wheel along with staggered wheels.

01-03 received a lighting upgrade and in 03 the M-Sport or Technic came out with the lovable "M5 look" body kit and 18 M-Parallel wheels.

All 540s have the same issues, cooling being the most talked about. If you are looking to buy one and don't have a lot of cash the 97-98 is a good choice. Go for any year that has the least amount of miles and the options that you want. Personally owning a 98 Sport with 6-speed, the 6 speed is nice, but an Auto is great too. The car has a ton of torque and is not limited much by having the auto. Sport package is really a must, but I am not sure if the sport came in auto or not.

Surely, others will chime in at any moment. Good luck!

just to add that vanos is a issue when it comes to knocking/slapping people have or discuss about. if you are also looking to SC it, it's another factor of headache to account for. plus, the 97/98 has bigger runners and a lot of 99+ people do the "upgrade" to this; dinan sells the exact same thing for $$$$ more with their name on it. fools i tell ya. look up runners here and rf to get a better idea what i'm talkin' about.

i think the 99+ are also drive-by-wire. personally i don't trust a computer's actuator trying to understand what i'm doing; i'm old fashioned like that, i like the cable driven one. there are also documented cases where the actuator went bizzerk and stranded people thinking it's the fuel pump.

in the very very very late 98's (like 11/98 build) to very early early early early 00 (like 01/00 build) has known bad Bosch ABS modules that gets damaged due to the heat under the hood. $$$ to fix and BMW does not take any responsibility of it even though they do know about this problem. the circuit in the panel expands in the heat and breaks the connection (bad soldering job i guess). when it cools, the contact is made again and the owner thinks it's a one time fritz thing. it's only when the motor gets hot and the unit expands again, the abs unit dies. after X amount of shrinking and expanding, the connection eventually just snaps and will never get in contact again. you abs and traction will be on the fritz. there's a place in FL that does the fix and i heard many good things about them but the turn around time is long as the work on other cars with known electical problems like this.

be careful of 97's as they seem to have more issues with window regulators then the other years (not that he other years are immune but 97's seem to be more problematic, could be the years of ownership).

sport package did come in auto but 97/98's didn't offer the step, it's a 99+ thing. the 97's sports package also didn't come with shadowline trim so you are stuck looking like every other 540 with only a lower stance.

if you are looking for nav, MKII is slow as the 100 meter sprint at the special olympics but $$ value wise, it's not bad. if you want nav, get it with nav first and deal with the upgrade later (to MKIV). make sure you get MKII and not MKI. how to tell the difference? MKI has a dude's voice; not that i'm homophobic, my brother's gay, but a dude giving me directions just creeps me out a little. i guess i'm use to the nav in my dad's acura and my mom's lex that's all women's voice. plus, studies has shown that people respond better to a woman's voice and commands; guess it's that darwin thing where women nag so much we end up doing what they say and it's a passed down program. lol... :D

FSU. nuff said. cheap fix and it's a one time deal. make sure you are not going to mistake the issue that pops up with something else. this goes with the climate control thingie...

ball joints and thrust arms. i'm in need to do this now as i'm approaching 100K miles (95K). get the tool to do the ball joint as it is a DIY but the tool isn't cheap so once you are done, you can also rebay it or sell it to another e39 owner.

do a search on bimmerfest for "sludge". be ready for a long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long read. good one but long.

first oil change at those miles, i would get an oil pan gasket. drop the oil pan and check the oil pump. they have a habit of working themselves loose after 100K miles or so from the factory. just tighen them up and you should be good for the life of the car. this is also a good time to inspect the oil deposits the in motor to get an idea if you should get some sort of motor flush (the sludge) or if you are in good shape.

never ever change oil at 15K miles. never ever change oil at 7K miles. change it every 5K. if it's on dino, go synthetic. go with the heavier oil as that's what BMW suggests.

auto-tranny fluild IS lifetime. manual tranny fluid is NOT. if you do change the auto-tranny fluid, i can promise you a value failure in the near future with the miles you are looking at. the manual fluid can be changed like diapers. i'm going to track down RP Syncomax soon once i get my finances in order. diff fluid change is also a good idea.

you'll need tires and lots of them for the rear. depending what kind of tires you get, you'll either need to rotate them every 6 months (also depends how many miles you drive) if not replace them. e39's come with negative camber in the rear to keep it stable around the corners. i have to get my Michelin A/S rotated soon; i'm noticing a little more wear on the inside then the outside.

the type 32 rims are known to have bad finishes and crack/flake off. if you get them, make sure they are clean and inspect them. if they are in good condition, keep them waxed and pray they don't peel.

oh, 97/98's did not come with pathway lighting so if it's dark where you parked, make sure you get a motion lighting or something like that to light up your walkway. the 99+'s has this feature where you flick the highs on when you turn the car off and it'll stay on for a pre-determined (programmable at the dealer) time.

that's all i can think of right now... good luck! and the 150K mile one would be more reliable then the 90K mile one if it's taken cared of more.

auto-tranny fluild IS lifetime. manual tranny fluid is NOT. if you do change the auto-tranny fluid, i can promise you a value failure in the near future with the miles you are looking at. the manual fluid can be changed like diapers. i'm going to track down RP Syncomax soon once i get my finances in order. diff fluid change is also a good idea.

FWIW I changed my auto fluid at 150k miles for the first time. It helped alot. No probs. I think the people who have problems aren't filling it right. I measured how much I took out, and put the same back in. Simple.
My .02
Jeff

The E39 540s don't differ that much across all years.

97-98 was non-Vanos and have the older style lighting. NAV is different, and these cars typically put down more HP, but aren't necessarily any more reliable than a newer one.

99-00 Vanos was added and I think NAV was updated. Sport package saw the 3-spoke steering wheel along with staggered wheels.

01-03 received a lighting upgrade and in 03 the M-Sport or Technic came out with the lovable "M5 look" body kit and 18 M-Parallel wheels.

All 540s have the same issues, cooling being the most talked about. If you are looking to buy one and don't have a lot of cash the 97-98 is a good choice. Go for any year that has the least amount of miles and the options that you want. Personally owning a 98 Sport with 6-speed, the 6 speed is nice, but an Auto is great too. The car has a ton of torque and is not limited much by having the auto. Sport package is really a must, but I am not sure if the sport came in auto or not.

Surely, others will chime in at any moment. Good luck!

You said it brother!

I've been driving my hand-me-down 93 Accord 5spd for about 5 years now, and now that I'm out of school with a good job, I've decided to upgrade. I really like the look of the E39, and was looking at some 97-99 540's. Now, the price difference between that of a 97 with 90k miles and a 98 with 150-160k miles is significant, the 97 being more expensive. Should I buy an older car with less miles or is the chasis of the cars durable enough so that I should go for the newer car with more mileage?

sorry if its been asked alot, but I checked the sticky and all the links I tried were dead :(

I would never buy a car with 150,000 miles unless I was keeping it for a short time or unless it was a beater car. The level of risk of major failures increases drastically at that type of mileage unless the owner was meticulous in taking care of the car. For example, I sold one of my previous cars, 1996 Nissan Maxima with 160,000 miles and it is still running strong and giving absolutely no problems to the current owner at 195,000 miles. With that said if you know the owner of the 540 with 150,000 miles and know his habits then that would make the decision a little harder. That's just my 2 cents.

FWIW I changed my auto fluid at 150k miles for the first time. It helped alot. No probs. I think the people who have problems aren't filling it right. I measured how much I took out, and put the same back in. Simple.
My .02
Jeff

yeah - I don't care what your brochure says - automatic tranny fluid is not lifetime fluid. It breaks down due to heat and crap builds up that isn't caught by the filter.