BMW 525 TDS

[pompei]

I spent some time mooching around a used car lot today and they've got a 98 estate with an asking price of £1750. Quite a tidy looking machine with high mileage but only 1 months test. I wouldn't go near it for that reason alone, but generally are they any good? Can't seem to find many others for sale via the usual places.I assume TDS is not a text style abbreviation of tedious?

[pogweasel]

Om nom nom noms. They do fetch good money though, even with intergalactic mileages, of which they seem eminently capable. Basically all the good bits of a 5 series without the insane thirst, but still enough poke to make it enjoyable.What's not to like?Engine also appears in Vx Omegas, Range Rovers and various other applications. Did the Rover 75 get them too?

[wuvvum]

Think the Rover 75 got the four-pot 320D engine.

[r.welfare]

Uh-huh. '98 will be an E39. Lovely car. Last fling for the old-tech 6-cylinder M51 dizzler as well. Pretty hardy lump although fuel pumps can go, it won't like starting from hot if that's on the way out. ChinaTom can fill you in on more specific points on E39 estate ownership.

[Guest]

Sounds like a pretty lousy car lot if they're selling something with one month's test for that kind of money.

[ChinaTom]

Mine's a petrol, not a diesel, but it has served me excellently over 31k miles in the last 11 months. After last June's freak monsoon in Norfolk when the car sat up to its waist in flood water for a day, I expected a load of electrical problems, but there has been nothing disastrous. I had to replace a self levelling suspension strut, but that was only £150 including labour. I lost a wheel sensor over the winter which knocked out the ABS, traction control, cruise control and speedo, but just as I was reaching into my pocket to pay for repairs, it all sprang back into life again and hasn't bothered me since. And the odometer has 3k less than reality! Lazily, I have the car serviced by Vulcan Motors in Norwich, and these happen every 10k miles and cost between £125 and £380 depending on oil Inspection I or II. More for a diesel presumably.Tailgate is crumbly and the lacquer around the wheel-arches feels prickly - ominous signs of rust coming. The autobox occasionally doesn't change from 3rd, but a nudge in Manual mode sorts that. Most E39 tourings I see on R and S reg have the same problems with the tailgate - only giffer mileage garaged ones are OK, but they are still >£2.5k. I need to change the bushes front and rear (flood caused this I'm sure) and I think a clunk from the front left wheel when reversing means something needs love and money there.But, I paid £1421 for mine, and have spent about £800 on it in 31k miles including 3 services.I am constantly returning 29-31 mpg (fuel computer average over many thousands of miles is 29.7 - not bad for a 185k mile 2.8 estate car with permanently full boot) - the diesel will be a lot better than that.I guess there are horror stories out there, but not from me. I am a happy chappy with it.MOT Failures on a car this age with high mileage will probably be brake lines - couple of hundred quid with the right workshop.

[Owain-328i]

147bhp in the 525tds i belive, will make for farily lathargic traffic light GRAND PRICKS action, however they sit nicely at 70mph at just under 2000rpm on the motorway with an autobox, so GR8 for MPG. Interestingly my old dear has a newish 56 plate 5 touring 520d, now i belive these are only 4 pot 2.0 tdi's but have 170 bhp or so, yet i cannot get more than 35mpg out of it on a motorway run at 70, cruise control on or off. And it guzzles alarmingly when you start using OMG kick down. However it goes quite well for what it is. Engine sounds rather agricultural for a new diesel though.