On Thanksgiving, while most of you were probably getting into a food coma with your family, my wife and I were out buying another car. This one is different; it’s not a Volkswagen, Smart, or another bus, but another BMW. And this 2001 BMW 525iT came from an interesting place: the Autopian’s own Daydreaming Designer. I can confirm that the Bishop is a real person, and he has fine taste in automobiles.
Last month, the Bishop sent me a Slack message containing an offer that I couldn’t refuse. See, his parents owned a BMW 5-Series wagon and soon, they would no longer be able to drive it. That meant that the BMW needed a new home, and of course, Bishop reached out to the Autopian’s German wagon lover. And the Bishop knew exactly how to draw me in, with a price so low that I couldn’t say no. Like David, I love a dirt cheap car. It’s how he ended up with his $700 Chevy Tracker and now why I own a $1,500 BMW 525iT.
BMW fans are probably already nodding their heads, but if you aren’t familiar with these, I’ll give you the low down. What you’re looking at here is an E39 5-Series. This is a car nearly universally praised by the press and owners alike. Road & Track says “elegant, restrained styling combined with a superb chassis and great engines made this one of the best luxury sports sedans of all time.” Hagerty UK calls it a future classic. What Car? magazine called the E39 one of the best cars it has ever tested. You get the point. Hagerty even goes as far as to say that no matter which E39 you buy, you’re getting a good ride. So what made these so awesome?
The Ultimate Businessman’s Express
As BMW Blog writes, development on the E39 started in 1989. Back then, the vehicle was known internally as the “Entwicklung 39.” Joji Nagashima penned what would become the design chosen by BMW in 1992, and locked in by then new BMW design head Chris Bangle. When the E39 was released at the 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show, it appeared to be more evolution than revolution when compared to its predecessor. The E39 took the late 1980s design of the E34 and smoothed it out into something still conservative, yet elegant and timeless. The E39 still looks like a stunner today, even 27 years after its initial release. Even the UK’s The Telegraph sang praises for the car.
When the model was launched in 1995, it was given a rapturous welcome by journalists and buyers alike. Instantly, the Mercedes E-class was made to look wooden; the Jaguar XJ to look cramped and dated; the Audi A6 to look deeply humdrum.
And the E39 is more than just good looks. Under the sheet metal, E39s were high-tech for their day, from BMW Blog:
Boasting features such as a multifunction steering wheel, a navigation system, active seats and Dynamic Stability Control, the BMW 5 Series was acknowledged as a particularly outstanding high-tech representative of its segment.
In the interest of enhanced driving dynamics and safety, the body came with a significant increase in torsional stiffness over the former model, and the fourth-generation BMW 5 Series was the first large-scale production car worldwide made almost completely of light alloy. The newly developed all-aluminium power units also helped to significantly reduce the weight of the car.
Elaborating further, the aforementioned light alloy construction involves aluminum suspension components, an aluminum chassis, and a galvanized steel body.
[Editor’s Note: Six-cylinder models used an aluminum front subframe but that’s about as far as aluminum was used in the chassis. The aluminum arms still feel really special for the era though. –TH]
Those aluminum suspension components meant a weight loss of about 41 pounds up front. And the use of an aluminum chassis meant weight reductions of up to 143 pounds. BMW itself goes on to say that the E39 was built with a focus on aerodynamics, resulting in a 0.27 drag coefficient. And to achieve a flat load floor, BMW made a new compact aluminum rear axle.
Buyers even got to choose from a wide array of engines. At the lower end was the 520i, which had a 2.0-liter straight six making 148 HP. Or if you preferred diesel flavor, the 520d had a 2.0-liter straight four making 134 HP. On the high end, you got the 540i, which sported a 4.4-liter V8 making 282 HP. Or there was the 530d, which made 190 HP from a 3.0-liter straight six.
And then there was what BMW head Bernd Pischetsrieder called “the ultimate businessman’s express,” the M5 and its 4.9-liter V8 making 394 HP. This is all to say that BMW’s work on the E39 was obsessive. And as a result, some publications called the E39 years ahead of everyone else. And while the flagship was the M5, Hagerty UK argues that it really doesn’t matter which E39 you got, because you got a fantastic car no matter what.
My New-To-Me E39
The Bishop and I have been ironing out this purchase for over a month. Somehow, he’s lived within an hour of me this whole time and I didn’t even know. Yes, the Bishop is a real person, not a sentient chess piece! And, whatever vision you have in your head of what he looks like, he doesn’t look like it. What he looks like will remain a secret, but I can tell you that his family has a great taste in cars. This 525iT belonged to his parents, but they’ve now reached the point in life where they could no longer drive, so the car needed a new home.
It was built in 2001, after the E39’s graceful facelift in late 2000. That refresh included subtle, but noticeable styling changes like the addition of BMW’s famous “angel eye” halo rings in the headlights. And the taillights were given a fiber optic treatment. These are little changes, but ones I feel definitely keep this design fresh so many years later.
This E39 is a 525iT, which means that it’s a wagon with a 2.5-liter straight six under the hood and driving the rear wheels through an automatic.
Here in America, this car was the base model 5-Series, with a base price of $35,400 for a sedan with a manual transmission. Opting for the wagon body means $37,200 before options. That straight six is pumping out 184 horsepower and 175 lb-ft torque, or fewer than half of the M5’s ponies.
You’d think that getting the low-spec 5-Series would be a drag, but true to all of those reviews and Hagerty’s word, even my 525iT is a ball.
Hopping into this 5-Series is in itself an experience. The driver door has heft, and closes with the sort of thud you’d expect from something more expensive. Once inside, BMW’s attention to making cars for drivers is evident. Ahead of you are BMW’s classic, yet easily readable gauges, and everything feels easily within reach.
This interior isn’t the best that you’ll find, and some things don’t even make sense. See this armrest? You’d think that there must be a small storage bin underneath. But it does not open. And that weird slot in the middle? That’s for a car phone.
And the seats sort of betray the car’s driving characteristics. You sit in nice and comfortable buckets that offer basically no support in spirited driving. Despite this, I love BMW’s attention to detail. The seatbelts look fantastic, as do the little bits and pieces finishing up the interior.
And most surfaces feel pretty good for a base model mid-level “business” car from 2001. They’re certainly better than any of my Volkswagens and better than my Smarts. Though, one huge letdown in the interior is the radio, which sounds weak no matter what settings I try. But this came from 2001, so I’ll give it a break.
Turning the key–which I’m happy to note does have a working sealed battery, unlike my BMW X5–spins the 2.5 into life. And, if you weren’t looking at the gauges, you might not know that the vehicle is even running.
This engine is smooth, and at idle, whisper quiet. But don’t let that fool you. Give this engine some throttle and it’ll thrust you in whatever direction that you point the vehicle. I’ve always loved BMW’s accelerator pedals. A lot of accelerator pedals feel mushy. But this? You feel a direct connection between what your foot is doing and what the engine is doing. If you’re not careful, you’ll be like my wife and pull out of a parking lot with the tail end out and tires screaming.
This engine doesn’t have enough power for a burnout. But turn off traction control, punch the throttle, and turn the wheel? Oh yeah, you can definitely get it to break traction and kick the rear end out. Sheryl told me that she’s never drifted a car before. Well, she could have fooled me because she had this wagon really sideways. Another thing that I’ve noticed is that while you don’t have a ton of power on tap, the 525iT seems to want to keep accelerating. If you’re not paying attention you’ll find yourself going way over the speed limit, and it won’t even feel like it. There are few cars that I’ve driven that seemingly want to cruise near 100 mph, and this is one of them.
This lovely throttle response is coupled to heavy, tight steering with plenty of feel. As a result, you feel like you can toss this wagon into any corner. And kudos to BMW because you can chuck this into corners and it’ll hang on as long as your tires hold out.
[Editor’s note: Although eight-cylinder E39s used a steering box due to packaging constraints, six-cylinder models featured lovely rack-and-pinion steering that’s arguably a step up in feel over the M5’s setup. –TH]
Sadly, the lack of seat support is less than ideal, but you can find one with the optional sport seats.
As much as I love my Volkswagen diesel wagons, this edges them out with the fun factor. And seeing how fun a base E39 is, I wonder just how magical something like a 540i or an M5 would be.
Ok, What’s Wrong With It?
So, you’re probably wondering how in the heck did I get this for just $1,500? While I’m sure that selling it to me was probably a factor, this wagon isn’t perfect. The dashboard features a Christmas tree of warning lights. Currently, the car doesn’t have working traction control or ABS. I plugged in my handy Autel scanner and found out that these lights all trace to one place. The car seems to be getting no data from the left front wheel speed sensor. The Bishop told me that the sensor was replaced twice and the error still persists, so I’m thinking that there’s maybe a wiring problem.
Otherwise, my scanner gives it a largely clean bill of health. The other real big problems involve rust.
The tailgate has a lot of corrosion, as does the rocker on the right side. Our Daydreaming Designer told me that the rust has been removed in the past, but it keeps coming back. Apparently, his other BMW has the same problems with rust that never goes away. The tailgate is actually rusting from the inside out, and used to leak before the Bishop patched it. So the best plan here would probably be to get another tailgate, or keep patching the rust. At least the rocker is still solid at the moment.
But hey, it’s a running and driving car–that was used as a daily until recently–for all of $1,500. I cannot complain! I even got a folder an inch-thick with nearly two decades of service records, and even a sales contract for the car. While I’m a sucker for a cheap car, perhaps I’m even more of a sucker for a car with loads of documented history.
And it really shows that this car was taken care of. Everything feels tight and aside from the faulty wheel sensor, everything works. There aren’t even dead pixels in the vehicle’s displays.
What’s the plan for this one? Normally, you’d see me brag about buying a vehicle with a manual transmission, but getting an automatic wagon was intentional. I want to fix the wheel sensor, have a shop fix the rust, then let it loose on Sheryl. This is already technically Sheryl’s second car. She loves it to death, and the smile she has driving it is wider than the Grand Canyon. She’s already said that this is her favorite in our fleet, which makes me happy. Normally, she doesn’t really drive my cars (she doesn’t drive manuals, either), but this BMW drew her in like a mosquito to a bug zapper.
If you’re looking for a decent luxury bargain, be sure to check out an E39. They may be two decades old, but the car publications are right, these are great rides even many years later.
If you’re not paying attention you’ll find yourself going way over the speed limit, and it won’t even feel like it. There are few cars that I’ve driven that seemingly want to cruise near 100 mph, and this is one of them.
S-class from this era is exactly the same way. I think it’s the soundproofing. 65 feels like 45 and 95 feels like 65.
Truly a miracle I don’t have more tickets, it really sneaks up on you. “Ugh why are you going so slow let me pass aaaand I’m at 102”
when I was in high school back then, my dad had an 01 Cadillac STS. He let me take it out one night. I was doing about 120 and felt like I was going slow, since it rode so well and was so quiet compared to my S10.
Yep, exactly. S55 feels like I’m going 30 less, C3 Corvette feels like I’m going 30 more. It’s like muscle confusion for your brain.
Strangely-enough, I’m experiencing this in a Chevy Malibu LTZ I just bought used. The sound-deadening combined with the lack of road feel makes it feel like it’s barely moving. I’m slowly adjusting to it, but cruise control will save my license.
I had a ’99 528iT in the same colors as yours. I’d bought it used and after taking care of some neglected PM, the car’s suspension and drivetrain was completely solid. The only problems I had after that was the infamous “broken pixels” in the center console, and in the winter also the doors would sometimes not close properly until the car warmed up enough for the locks to work.
It also got decent mileage; I made one trip from Boston to Philadelphia with 4 Dell server crates in the rear, myself and a co-worker and our luggage and got 30mpg on the trip while cruising above the speed limits.
Sadly the car was totaled when a person on their phone rear-ended me at 35mph. I was unhurt but the car was too badly bent to be repaired.
To this day, a circa-2003 530i is what I consider to be the best all-around car I’ve ever driven. Never had a chance to own one myself before they started getting way too high in mileage and, as befalls so many nice luxury cars, a second or third owner who bought them for the badge and did zero maintenance.
I have a neighbor with one just like this, I think it might be time to leave an unsolicited note for them…
I had one of these, a 528 iT with the manual. It was a fantastic car, handles amazing, linear power delivery, nice interior, and tons of space to haul stuff. Unfortunately mine had over 200k miles so I had to replace a majority of the suspension, wheel bearings, vanos rebuild, lots of vaccum lines. I regret selling it and keep my eye out for another one. Great find, just keep on top of things and it should treat you well.
I once had two e39 wagons at the same time. an 01 and an 02. The 01 had the sport package with the beautiful style 5’s. The most beautiful wheels ever fitted to a bmw. I loved that car. The 02 had 250k miles when I bought it. I gave the guy $300 for it because he couldn’t get it to run properly. He had done everything; spark plugs, coil packs, maf etc… The only problem was that he had used a cheap amazon maf. That is one area you do not cheap out on these cars. They will not run properly with anything other than an oem maf. Or at least not for long. Imagine the surprise on the guys face when I took the maf off of my own car and swapped it onto the one I just bought and it cranked up and ran perfectly. I drove it home.
This is definitely true with BMW’s. I was having trouble getting my S52 swapped E28 to run right, even with a new MAF. My buddy told me all the aftermarket MAFs were junk so I bought a used one and it now runs like a top.
Beautiful car! I have a 2003 z4 with the same engine and same issues. As others have mentioned it’s pretty common with cars from that era. I haven’t fixed mine yet, but take it on the track and drive in the snow with no issues, the Z4 handles well that I’m not missing from not having the safety features. Still, it would be great to read about how you fix it (if you go that route) because most places quote me 4000$ for the repair and I have tried to fix it myself with to no avail.
DSG automatics and Vanos systems always hit my head when I see this year of Beemer, but I think this one is worth the low price to play.
This car is EXACTLY my holy grail car*.
BMW’s were different in those days; the hardware engineers were still in charge, although there were signs that they were losing the battle; the infamous water pump plastic impeller, and plastic radiator tank coming immediately to mind. Still, they were engineer’s cars and essentially infinitely rebuildable – that is not to say amazingly reliable- but generally speaking, if you could figure out what was actually wrong, it could repaired and stay repaired.
I wasn’t quite ready to pull the trigger on a 5 Series when these came out, but in 1998 thanks to a (legal honest!) economic miracle never to be repeated, my wife and I were both driving matching 328i’s. Mine is long, long, gone some six cars ago, but my wife who didn’t grow up driving, and doesn’t like to, still has hers with just less than 70,000 miles on it, sitting in the garage on a trickle charger. It’s in great shape (no rust happens here, and it’s always had full time indoor parking). She loves it and so do I- much different than today’s computer-simulation BMW’s. The old E36 is kind of a trap though because it’s worth nothing and even a used car that she would accept would cost $25,000 … to sit in the garage and do a few hundred miles a year. So, I have simply religiously maintained the old baby knowing that the alternative is a lot more expensive.
Finally to the point: her car with absolutely nothing wrong with it, period still runs me roughly $1500 -$2,000 a year to maintain. It’s always some minor thing, almost always in the form of maintenance, on the theory that maintenance is cheaper than repairs. However even fully and perpetually garaged, stuff ages out, like the plastic cover at the base of the windshield the wipers poke through. Then there’s swapping out perfectly good tires every 5 years, and fixing the infamous valve cover oil leaks and so forth.
I think the best approach to this E39 wagon (repeat drool here), is to dump a little money in it immediately for the ABS unit and maybe some new speakers, and let the rest rust til it can’t no more. Accept that while this is your forever desire car, it is not going to be your forever drivable car. Think of it as preparing your self for the death of a pet. It’s inevitable, and no matter how much money you spend it it will still pass out of your hands one day. So, just enjoy its time with you.
Notes:
1. * holy grail except for the rust
2. Mercedes, I swear to God if you take this thing off-roading, I am going to hunt you down.
An E36 328i is a good car to keep imo (esp. coupes/convertibles), it should be a lot of fun to drive and easy to wrench on. Not to mention the E36’s are appreciating lately – certainly original and low mile examplesz And if original isn’t your thing, there’s tons of mods for them too!
However even fully and perpetually garaged, stuff ages out.
every rubber seal on your entire car has entered the chat
That was $3,000 in 2020….
I had almost this exact vehicle. Bought it used in 2005. Black wagon. Was always impressed with how well it did in the snow, including going up our very steep hill… with snow tires of course. The traction control got me up the hill in one particular storm while others in FWD and even AWD without the proper tires couldn’t make it. That said, it started to become Christmas All Year with a myriad of dashboard lights that I didn’t have the luxury of solving since this was my only vehicle and I needed a reliable daily driver. I really did enjoy it though. Replaced it with a 2007 GTI.
I had a 2000 528iT for a few years.
My favorite car I’ve ever owned.
The tailgates are known to rust from the inside out. I still have the spare glass I bought to replace mine actually.
If you haven’t already check the jack points. Very common for those to rust away, it’s why I got rid of mine.
I do still have a box of miscellaneous parts laying around from the tailgate I bought. No tailgate as I sadly left that in the car when I sold it.
Another common problem is the abs module on the engine bay. If it hasn’t gone out already it will soon.
I would also recommend finding a copy of INPA, it was the BMW software tool. Your going to need it if you have you recode anything like that abs module. You can usually find it for free if you Google it.
I hold the opinion that wagons age better than sedans. The casual eye would never guess that that’s a 20 year old car.
“…BMW’s famous “angel eye” halo rings…”
In Japan they are called “ika ringu” (イカリング), squid rings, because they look like boiled squid chopped across the body.
I had a 2001 525 that I bought for $2500 with a bad throttle body. I put 50K miles on it and sold it/gifted it to a buddy who now has 210K miles on it so I could get my BMW 850
Rust never sleeps
Mind your radiator, hoses, water pump and thermostat. My phenolic water pump pulley exploded, get the $20 aluminun URO and watch for blue lines on the radiator
I also replaced the rear subframe bushings which made it handle so much better
URO?
Maybe things have changed, but my experience with that brand leads me to advise doing some serious research: I never found any of their products worth the time/effort of installing. I’m happy to be corrected, but a search on the Mercedes Shopforum will yield multiple anecdotes supporting my statement.
Caveat emptor ^5
Shoot, it’s worth working at the Autopian just for the sweet car offers. We also wish the deals found us like this! Now you just have to get friendly with your accountant so you can write off this purchase.
Sweet wagon! It’s nice to be the car-nut people automatically think of when they want to just dump their ride for a nominal price. I’ve picked up a number of decent vehicles for well under market value over the years. I generally drive them awhile and pass on (some of) the savings – when I sell a car, it usually goes in a just a few days.
I remember sitting in what I remember being a very similar car to this (even the same colors) at the Chicago Auto show in 2005. My wife and I were dreaming of what we could buy someday, and went from what we could maybe afford at the time, a Kia Rio, to what happened to catch our attention next, a BMW wagon. The difference was jarring. The Kia managed to amplify the background noise of the show – it felt louder in the car somehow. The clinky metallic-tin rattle sound the door made when it shut didn’t help anything. The BMW wagon on the other hand was like a nearly sound-proof cocoon – the doors shut with vault-like confidence and… just a tiny bit of muffled sound. Wish we could’ve taken it for a test drive.
I understand your experience with the auto show. My family needed a break from the noise for a few minutes in 2014, and we ended-up in a VW Jetta. The blissful experience of that next 5 minutes has made me a fan of VW products, even though I have not had the opportunity to own one.
If I was still commuting by car, I’d have a Jetta GLI or a Civic Si. Can’t justify the expense for the car to sit while I ride the bus or bicycle to work.
I have a 2001 E46 325i with 218,000 miles and it still get 33 mpg on the highway and is still a blast to drive. There are no major problems. The clear coat is falling off, and the clock adjuster is not working (very common on these, apparently).
I change the oil every 5k miles and it keeps on going.
Dad has a 2001 Sedan. Well over 200k miles, only just replaced it with a 2018 Camry, the BMW still going strong!
Now I wonder what Mercedes actually thought that I was going to look like.
At least she basically said that I don’t look like the chess piece, which I think I kind of did resemble the shape of after the Thanksgiving meal.
The “trifecta” (brake, abs, asc) continuing after replacement of the wheel speed sensor means the abs module is broken. I’ve driven a similar 528i touring 100k and installed 2 rebuilt modules from Module Repair Pro in the San Fernando Valley–the second time, I took my core out and screwed in the replacement right in front of their shop. The deal is evidently 5 years of service for $250.
Keeping one of these in good condition isn’t cheap/easy. But, funny for Mercedes, these are the perfect car to have if you can only have one car. Just don’t get confused and drive it 100 while hauling garden supplies/furniture!
Nice purchase, perfect car. The radius on the nose is perhaps my favorite feature of any car ever.
Hint on the ABS light – the ABS module may have broken wires inside the module, when these go bad it reports as a wheel speed sensor, but changing the sensor does nothing to solve the problem (sound familiar?) Any, there are a couple of guys on the internet you can send your module to and they can fix the problem without the very expensive solution of replacing the entire module.
I was going to say almost exactly this. I had a 2001 520iA Touring a few years back. The ABS module failed and triggered a full Christmas tree worth of error lights, even managed to put the transmission in limp mode. Fault codes pointed to a wheel sensor, but after having replaced those + wiring and lots of other things, the dealership concluded it was a fault in the module. A module replacement later, and all was good. They refunded me the cost of the sensors, wiring and labor.
ABS module screwed is worst case scenario – 9 out of 10 times you can keep driving with the ‘trifecta’ or ‘bifecta’ as it’s called..you just might nit have abs or traction control, but should otherwise be fine and relatively easy to fix.
Source: I own a 528i which does this occasionally (only when it’s cold)
Yup. Almost certainly the ABS module. Pull the ABS fuses because if it’s intermittent you can get some weird unexpected brake application (usually low speed).
Xemodex rebuilds these or find someone local who repairs electronics to pull it apart and solder it.
The same era Volvos have the same issue – lots of info on the forums.
I had one of these for a year (5-speed manual) that I regret selling. I’m pretty sure it was on its original clutch, after 200k miles.
Aside from some rust around the lift-up tailgate window (a very cool feature that more cars should have – the lifting window, not the rust), it only had one issue. The valve cover gasket leaked, and because the cabin air was pulled from the engine bay, I smoked myself out of the car a time or two before I fixed it. Easy fix and worth doing proactively.
It was a blast to drive, and handles so much better than a car that heavy has a right to.
Enjoy!
Editors Note: “Aside from some rust around the lift-up tailgate window (a very cool feature that more cars should have)” – DT
Does it have adaptive brake lights?????
The E39 is truly a fantastic car. My father has owned a 2000 540i M (6-Speed) for 15 years with now over 210,000 miles on it. It has been expensive to maintain but there is not really anything that replicates this cars balance of handling, performance, and general solidity.
He is having a similar issue with rust on one rocker panel. I am interested to see if you can find a solution Mercedes as I would recommend that to him as well.
Overall truly exceptional generation of 5 series
I need to get new friends. Buncha poors the current crop is.