We recently added twin girls to the family pack. I am typing this in a very speep depraved state. I currently have a 1987 911 Targa which no longer fits the bill as the fun family vehicle.

I have decided to look for a '02-'03 530i with Sport and Premium packages. I have spent countless hours scouring cars.com, ebay and autotrader.com. On two occations, I located vehicles through these sources where the owners (car lots) told me that the car was in "Pristine" copndition. One was in San Diego and the other in Scottsdale. I had them taken to independent BMW Shops for a PPI (pre purchase inspection). On both occasions the shop advised me to run from them. One had actually been in a fairly severe front end collision. Isn't it amazing the spin, to put it gently, that car lot salespeople put on their cars? Bastards!

I live in Denver and there are very few of the car that I am looking for in this area. After two PPIs on out of state cars that were supposedly perfect, I have given up on the personal search. I have contacted a company called HM Brown who will perform the search for me using their dealer and auction contacts.

While I am waiting for them to waive their magic wand, I thought I would reach out to all of you. Below is a brief but specific description of what I am looking for. If you have any additional resources to find this car, please feel free to e-mail me at lufetargbas@yahoo.com. I am not in a rush, I just want to find a clean, well cared for car. One which has been treated as I will treat it. That sounded a bit mooshy. We love our cars, don't we?

This is the wish list:

'02-'03 530i
Premium Package
Sport Package
Color: Sterling Grey
Interior: Black
Mileage: Under 50,000
Condition: Excellent

I'd guess that you'd have better luck in locating a car that you'd like if you relax the interior/exterior color requirements.

I agree, if you really want a cherry 530i, you're going to have to be flexible on color combos.

I had unbelievable luck on ebay. Get yourself a carfax account, and start searching autotrader, ebay, and oodle.com (that one searches local papers and other hard to find resources). In my case, I ended up with a CPO 2001 530i that had all of the service performed religiously for about 14k. You'll have better luck with private sellers. And of course, the ppi.

It takes a while to find one, but babied e39's are out there.

I posted in the other thread here where a guy is looking for a 98 540i. I just purchased one of these a couple of weeks ago from ebay and had a great experience. Here are the details:
Purchased from ebay, seller: "diamond-cars"
Price: $13,900
Milage: 58K
Condition: Perfect

I was nervous buying a car on eBay and knowing how sleezy used car salesmen are in general. I only ran a CarFax which checked out fine before buying. The seller (Mark) is awesome though, he totally made me feel comfortable flying out to Dallas to pick up the car.

When I told him I was flying out from SLC to pick it up and drive it back he arranged someone to pick me up at the airport and bring me to his dealership (free of charge). Once I got there he presented me with BMW service paperwork dated a few days earlier showing a full inspection with the following problems that were found and fixed:
-fixed dead pixels in instrument cluster (it looks perfect)
-checked and replaced rear brake pads and wear sensor as they were "below spec".
-checked all fluid levels to make sure evertything would be good for the 1200 mile drive back to SLC.

I had no idea that he was going to do this, it was a really unexpected and I really appreciated it as he didn't need to do this.

The car was immaculatly detailed inside and out including the engine compartment and everything was really exactly or better than described and pictured.

He presented me with BOTH master keys and valet key along with the Owner's Manual book and leather book holder thing.

He gave me all the original BMW service reports from the BMW dealership showing everything repaired/replaced/serviced etc. on the car and the history is excellent. Luckily for me the previous owner was a snob and took it in for every little thing you could think of. Things that I wouldn't even think to take it in for.

I must say that I was really impressed with the service that I received from Mark at Diamond-Cars. It really was top notch and above and beyond what was expected. I think I am going to send him thank you card with family pic with the car and some gift certs. for dinner or something. This guy really is great.

Talking with him and looking at his auctions it looks like he primarily deals with high end cars like BMWs and Audis. He said that he has several life long friends that run the local BMW dealership and has some sort of arrangement to pick up thier older trade-ins.

You may want to send him an e-mail (look him up on ebay) and have him keep an eye out for you, I am more that just satisfied with his service.

We recently added twin girls to the family pack. I am typing this in a very speep depraved state. I currently have a 1987 911 Targa which no longer fits the bill as the fun family vehicle.

I have decided to look for a '02-'03 530i with Sport and Premium packages. I have spent countless hours scouring cars.com, ebay and autotrader.com. On two occations, I located vehicles through these sources where the owners (car lots) told me that the car was in "Pristine" copndition. One was in San Diego and the other in Scottsdale. I had them taken to independent BMW Shops for a PPI (pre purchase inspection). On both occasions the shop advised me to run from them. One had actually been in a fairly severe front end collision. Isn't it amazing the spin, to put it gently, that car lot salespeople put on their cars? Bastards!

I live in Denver and there are very few of the car that I am looking for in this area. After two PPIs on out of state cars that were supposedly perfect, I have given up on the personal search. I have contacted a company called HM Brown who will perform the search for me using their dealer and auction contacts.

While I am waiting for them to waive their magic wand, I thought I would reach out to all of you. Below is a brief but specific description of what I am looking for. If you have any additional resources to find this car, please feel free to e-mail me at lufetargbas@yahoo.com. I am not in a rush, I just want to find a clean, well cared for car. One which has been treated as I will treat it. That sounded a bit mooshy. We love our cars, don't we?

This is the wish list:

'02-'03 530i
Premium Package
Sport Package
Color: Sterling Grey
Interior: Black
Mileage: Under 50,000
Condition: Excellent

Congratulations on the twins!! I went from an '84 911 targa to my '99 540i6 when the kiddies required more space. The E39 is an exceptional compromise to haul the family and haul azz. You may want to check out your local BMW club online to see if anyone is selling a 530i - they usually have a car classifieds section. If you want an auto, I believe someone posted above looking at an M5 and would want to sell his '03 530ia quick.

I recently found exactly the 530 I was looking for. I was pretty firm on the colors / features I wanted and the search ended up taking the better part of a year. I was replacing a 95V6 Accord which was cramped with 2 car seats in the back but it was getting the job done. I wanted an E39 530 sport/prem manual oxford green & tan. I searched bmwcpo and used autotrader as well. I ended up finding my car via autotrader at a bmw dealership 120 miles away. Previously, I almost settled on a light blue one but it was sold before I could decide. Good luck and congradulations on the addition to your family!

Go to www.bmwusa.com

On the tabs at the top, go to certified pre-owned and then model search. Put in your criteria. If you sort it by model, the 530s start on page 7 (if you put no distance limit with your zip code).

There are over 300 5 series which are available as CPO from BMW dealers in the US right now (not all are 530s).

Good place to start.

this one (http://www.bmwusa.com/cpo/detail.htm?VIN=CH85257&searchtype=cpo&bodystyle=All&series=5&transmission=Any&pricemin=20000&pricemax=30000&searchzip=77379&distance=0&page=7&sortby=model_desc&sortorder=ASC&pagerecs=25) is in Colorado Springs.