Ownership Verified: The Waft-O-Matic fat man car. Meet Sumo, Loose Units E39 523i

loose_unit

Well-Known Member
DONOR
Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
2,104
Location
Germany, 44.8km from The Ring
Car(s)
Model Y, NA MX-5, Volvo 940, Zastava
1996 BMW E39 523i.

I wasn't looking for a car and got a few pics and a message about this one - I almost dismissed it but decided to ask for the price... ?1k eur was the answer... Well, I had better check it out then!

So I did, and for that price the answer was apparently, yes!

The condition is okay, there are plenty of scratches on it but it is basically dent free apart from some spots where it looks like a door has hit the bodywork. 240,000km and it drives nicely!








Eggplant leather :cool:













Where the magic happens:





Proof pic:




And some info:

Model 523i - EUR
Development Code E39
Chassis LIM
Steering LL
Doors 4
Engine M52
Displacement 2.50
Power 125
Drivetrain HECK
Transmission AUT
Color Aspensilber Metallic - 339
Upholstery Standardleder/aubergine - N6AI
Production Plant DINGOLFING
Production Date 1996-09-19
Standard Equipment
260 Side Airbag Driver/frt Passenger Seitenairbag Fuer Fahrer/beifahrer
459 Seat Adjustm., Electr. W. Memory Sitzverstellung, Elektr.mit Memory
473 Armrest, Front Armauflage Vorn
488 Lumbar Support Driver/front Passenger Lordosenstuetze Fahrer/beifahrer
520 Foglights Nebelscheinwerfer
548 Speedometer With Kilometer Reading Kilometertacho
Options
283 Lt/aly Wheels Bmw Styling Ii Lm Raeder/bmw Styling Ii
305 Remote Control For Central Locking Fernbedienung F.zentralveriegelung
403 Glas Roof, Electric Glasdach, Elektrisch
423 Floor Mats, Velour Fussmatten In Velours
428 Warning Triangle Warndreieck
431 Interior Rr Vw Mirror W Aut Anti-d Innenspiegel,automatisch Abblendend
441 Smokers Package Raucherpaket
456 Comfort Seats, Electric. Adjustable Komfortsitze Elektrisch Verstellbar
494 Seat Heating F Driver/front Passenger Sitzheizung Fuer Fahrer/beifahrer
500 Headlight Washer Sys/intensive Cleaning Scheinw.waschanl./intensivreinigung
508 Park Distance Control (pdc) Park Distance Control (pdc)
510 Headlight Beam-throw Contr. F Low Beam Leuchtweitenregelung Abblendlicht
534 Automatic Air Conditioning Klimaautomatik
540 Cruise Control Geschwindigkeitsregelung
801 Germany Version Deutschland-ausfuehrung
863 Europe/dealer Directory Service Kontakt-flyer Europa
879 German / On-board Documentation Deutsch / Bordliteratur




So far so good! Things I have noticed: The brakes squeek a little, there is a bit of a wobble at 120 or so, the tires are ... a bit old, they are all season tires and will do for the summer :) Stereo needs an AUX connector and I will connect some form of bluetooth to that. The steering wheel leather is disgusting but I will just deal with that until I have some money to sort it.

Comfort seats are awesome!

Let's see how it goes over the next few months so I can see what needs work :)

Oil change will be done asap.



A big thanks to an awesome friend for pointing it out to me and then lending me the money to buy it before the golf is sold!
 
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Great buy for the money, the interior is very tasteful!

You can help the steering wheel leather with some Marseille soap or other leather treatments.
 
Great buy for the money, the interior is very disgusting!

Why was this only 1000?? This should be worth more, hell, you could flip it for 4k easily in Munich right now :).

The good thing about this car: It is very beige. No cop will ever look at you. You should put a Wackeldackel on the rear shelf though.
 
Nice car man! Memory seats and manual rear windows... Must be a German executive saloon from the 90s!

I didn't even know E39's could be had at any point with manual rear windows.

I would add some facelift lights front and rear post haste. But that's just me. :p
 
Grats!! How can you people find these for so little :cry:
 
I like it. Interior color is fitting the exterior one eicely. It is what it is. For 1k it's a bargain.
 
I didn't even know E39's could be had at any point with manual rear windows.

I would add some facelift lights front and rear post haste. But that's just me. :p

I just pointed that out earlier that everyone does that, and that I prefer the old ones myself :p But of course, it's Loose_unit's car.
 
Nice car man! Memory seats and manual rear windows... Must be a German executive saloon from the 90s!

Yes. I don't care about the rear people! :D


Great buy for the money, the interior is very tasteful!

You can help the steering wheel leather with some Marseille soap or other leather treatments.

Yup, I am surprised at what I got for that kind of money. I gave the cleaning of the steering wheel a go and it is already a shitload better!


Great buy for the money, the interior is very disgusting!

Why was this only 1000?? This should be worth more, hell, you could flip it for 4k easily in Munich right now :).

The good thing about this car: It is very beige. No cop will ever look at you. You should put a Wackeldackel on the rear shelf though.

SUPER STOLKED, I AM!

I have no idea why it was so little - But I may sell it next summer if I am bored with it.

Dude, I drive a golf. This is far less inconspicious.


I didn't even know E39's could be had at any point with manual rear windows.

I would add some facelift lights front and rear post haste. But that's just me. :p

Spending money on this car for cosmetic things is something I may do if I decide on using it for longer than a year :)


Grats!! How can you people find these for so little :cry:

In this case, right place right time I guess :)


I like it. Interior color is fitting the exterior one eicely. It is what it is. For 1k it's a bargain.

Yup, the interior is great! Not a huge fan of the exterior colour, but it matches the interior as you say :)


VOLL GEIL indeed.

Can't say as I've ever seen an eggplant interior on an E39. Welcome to the waft club :D

:-D


I just pointed that out earlier that everyone does that, and that I prefer the old ones myself :p But of course, it's Loose_unit's car.

As above :)



So, on to some pics!

Cleaned all the windows and applied Rain-X.

Then I parked it next to the golf for a size comparrison:





It is not that much longer which is surprising:





They are parked at least close to evenly!





And the view from my office now:

 
Congrats! E39's are great.

Driving BMW's for ?1K, livin the life lol.

Indeed! :D

So far I have only managed to get to 213 GPS, but there was traffic so I had stopped accelerating.
 
So far there are three "major" issues with the car that need to be resolved

1) The indicator does not turn off automatically all of the time when doing a left turn and turning back, the mechinsim is probably a bit worn.
2) The drivers door does not hold itself open, I guess the mechanism is just worn.
3) There is wind noise from the rear drivers side door when above 120, Not sure what the problem is but either the drivers door or passenger door seal needs to be replaced.

A minor issue is that the boot light plastic is broken so the boot light hangs down a bit. I can push it in but the next time I open the boot it is hanging down again.





And another issue is that one of the tools is missing from the toolkit... :-(

 
...I have yet to see a car with toolkit that is older than a couple of years where even just a couple of tools are still in place :lol:
 


Small update today, I swapped the rear plate holder for one of the FG ones I have, the front won't have a plate holder - I will just screw the plate in directly as it is currently.

A few rattles in the car here and there need to be identified and taken care of. No rush!
 
2) The drivers door does not hold itself open, I guess the mechanism is just worn.
The same thing happened to both my E46. The doorstop has some plastic in it which breaks. You need a new doorstop (T?rbremse in German).

Nice car, and for that price it's a no-brainer to buy. :) The only thing I really don't like is the autotragic, but that's just my aversion to autotragics in general.
 
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To each their own, I guess. It wouldn't cross my mind to ruin a car like this by adding a third pedal. :dunno:
 
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