BMW USED CARS

Thirty nine years ago designers in Munich did not dream, that the buyer will spend 39 thousand dollars on BMW, capable to be dispersed up to 100 km/h for 7,5 seconds at what it will be only the middle of modelling scale. They also could not think, that in thirty nine years automobiles BMW will collect in Russia, and in the former USSR the magic word "E39" will dream each schoolboy.

Factory designation E39 - body BMW of 5-th series in penultimate generation. Sales of the automobile have begun right after prime-ministers in the autumn of 1995 on a motor show in Frankfort on the Main. One and a half year one body - a sedan was issued only. In 1997 has appeared stylish, but not too capacious Touring. 1998 - year of a debut of model M5 created on the basis of body E39. In 2000 "five" has undergone small restyling. The list of the standard equipment has extended, new engines have appeared, and externally updated machines are easy for learning on painted in color of a body to new dimensional lanterns which are made as light-emitting diode rings around of forward headlights, to round indexes of turns and light-emitting diode inserts of back lanterns.

BMW 5 series (E39) - the review

Unique light the running gear of E39 sedan BMW of 5 series provides outstanding towing performances and allows to leave on new level of dynamics of movement.

Besides, serially established system of an automatic check of stability with a pull-rod adjuster (ASC+T) will allow in dangerous situations reliable to keep the E39 under the control.

Progress is a constant change: from Marconi's first radio receiver to a global high-speed satellite communication. From the first computers in size about the house to portable notebuks with wireless Internet connection. From the car as means of transportation, to E39 sedan BMW of 5 series created, for ever to change your representation about driving.

So! You will spend the most part of time in the car, in difference from buyers of the Chinese car industry who spend him under it... Means for a second we will glance in interior. In interior E39 BMW 540, at the good factory specification where at once we notice brisk and accurate «M» a wheel, the human size, instead of a manhole cover, as in «GAZ 66». Besides, steering buttons on it without ceremony will suffice to send Tereshkovu once again in space, but they at all do not disturb even at very quick driving.

During a stop we can become for a minute the taxi driver and watch TV or even to try to engage GPS. It is a pity that to us promise to digitize the basic regional centres and lines of our native land only by 2010. In E39 interior not the softest skin, but its lateral inserts on doors something remind a S-class. Electric seats, with resettings in four directions, fine add to the comfort and charm car. The last can be tested to the full, having gone on a lonely beach with the beloved. The interior quite spacious, but in an ideal is calculated on four person. It will be not alien and to married couples: in a rear seat there are sliding panels on which it is possible to place two kiddies. In the decent sizes a luggage compartment it is possible to lay without ceremony one big and the tall person, or it is less than two. It is a pity, the last have not appeared on our E39 test drive.

The BMW 5-series is a popular mid-size combination of prestige 7-series styling and V8 mechanicals at the top end while offering the more frugal sixes and agility of the popular 3-series at the entry level

As the last 5-series before the new BMW look, the E39 stands alone with its more traditional BMW styling. Joe Kenwright unravels what can be a confusing model range.

BMW used car e39 Checklist
* Radiator: early models can suffer thermostat and radiator faults. Watch the temperature gauge and listen for the engine fan. If it cuts in soon after start-up, walk away.

* Water pump: these fail in older cars - even those with low annual mileages. Some say it's a design fault, with 'plastic' impellors in the pump being the weakness.

* Engine: the 520i, 523i and 528i models up to September 1998 can suffer premature engine bore wear. BMW replaced many units for free, so check service records.

* Windows: electric window regulators fail. Ensure all operate, including the 'one touch' function - although if this is wayward, it can be reset by holding the button in 'close' position for 30 seconds.

* Wheels: front wheelbearings have been known to wear prematurely on models that are driven hard or those that have been fitted with excessively large alloy wheels.