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Still going round in ever dizzier circles, looking for a replacement family car for my well loved ZT. I've spotted a 520 sport avus special edition, dec 02 (52 plate), 16,000m for £16,995 from a main dealer. This is on par with Glasses guide for retail. The car seems to have a good spec, but would all those in the know consider it to be a good long term family car. Could the current BMW owners tell me of likely running costs. The car looks great but is at the extreme top end of my budget (it's actually well over, the wife thinks it's £13'000). Will I have to re-mortgage to run it and is it likely to suffer horrendus depreciation?
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I don't know what the ZT cost you in petrol, but I know that my older 520 absolutely loves to drink the stuff. Last week I made the mistake of trying to work out my fuel mileage and got 23 mpg. That is a combined figure, but 80% percent of my driving is the commute to work and that consists of 1 mile to the motorway from my front door, 10 miles on the motorway and then .5 miles after I get off the motorway.
I am sure I could improve that if the motorway mileage was longer and the car was fully up to temp when I get on it. The larger engined cars (523,528 etc)seem to get better fuel mileage, so I would recommend one of those over the 520 if you wanted to avoid diesel.
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Spot on, trancer. The 520 has to work that bit harder. My old 530i Sport gave 24-25mpg when pushed (hard!) and 30 on the motorway cruises etc. Typical average was 27-28 on Optimax, less with ordinary.
BUT - trancer, is yours the pre-2000 520 or the post 2000 520 with the revised engine, IIRC a 2.2l with 170bhp? The latter might be better.
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There is certainly little if no penalty running a larger engine to the 520i unit, - my son is running a 2002 530i Sport manual which is averaging an excellent 31 mpg on mixed driving conditions, but mainly A roads/motorway.
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Oh Lord
I only get 21mpg in my Subaru Forester XT Auto. OK very fast, but its not exactly heavy or large?
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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" trancer, is yours the pre-2000 520 or the post 2000 520 with the revised engine,"
Mine is the very old, 2.0l 150bhp engine.
As for DIY servicing costing £100, I think that figure can be reduced significantly. When I first bought my car I changed the oil,air, and fuel filters, fitted 6 new sparkplugs and refilled with synthetic oil for less than £60. £30 of that was for the fuel filter and sparkplugs so you can't expect to pay for those at every 10K service. Another £8 can be deducted if the air filter is clean, but that can go towards brake fluid if you are changing it.
I just did a quick totting up of prices for the newer 520 and the part price for air,oil,fuel filters, and 6 spark plugs is £6 more than for my older car. Oil will cost the same for either car and of course those price vary significantly depending on brand, synth or mineral and of course the vendor.
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.... I've spotted a 520 sport avus special edition would all those in the know consider it to be a good long term family car.
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good job you have framed a very specific question, otherwise you would have got a long list of why you should not be taken in by the badge.
it will make an excellent long term 2 2 family car, with room for small 5th one in the rear. not such a big boot, though.
Could the current BMW owners tell me of likely running costs.
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tyres: if it has the fat sports tyres on 17 inch wheels, they will cost about £130 each. dunlop sp9000 can easily last well over 50,000 miles. however, that assumes you do not drive like those traffic police you see on tv. :: tic - ;-) ::
servicing: your service intervals could be indicated at anything between 12k to 20k miles. diy will cost about £100 per service, specialists could be about £250, main-dealers around £400. all depends on local economy, your style of driving, etc.
insurance: with a fully comp, 4 years no-claims, around £350 to £500 per year with the likes of esure or first-alternative. depends on your location, age, driving history.
fuel: i know that the 2.5litre engine in a 1999 523 model can give 36mpg on long motorway runs in scotland, 23mpg around town, and average 28mpg overall.
to run it and is it likely to suffer horrendus depreciation?
depreciation: assume 40% drop in value for your first 3 years year, taking each new value as the new starting point to apply the 40% reduction the next time. e.g. first year 40% of £17,000 = ££7000 approx.
second year, 40% of (£17,000 - £7,000) = 40% of £10,000 = £4,000
third year, 40% of (£10,000 - £4,000) = 40% of £6,000 = £2,500 aprox.
fourth year onwards it will hardly make a difference. assume just 10% from there on.
look at www.cargiant.co.uk to see how depreciation affects retail prices for your model.
finally, re the engine size. at some point the 520 in fact was fitted with a 2.2litre engine, which i am led to believe is just as good as the old 2.5litre engine. however, if you can get the newer 2.5litre model, i would concur with the other replies above that you should go for that engine. the e39 5 series is quite a heavy car.
the bmw e39 5 series is a fine car to drive.
buy, and enjoy the ultimate driving machine.
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Midlifecriis, sorry to hijack the thread - but I am currently trying to sell my FMBWSH 530iSE for considerably less than your budget. If you are interested please email me.
Thanks in advance
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Thanks for the offer, but a 3.0 is a bit to expensive to run for me, (plus I'm a trifle troubled at the cost of servicing). It was this particular car that caught my eye. I'm just waiting for the dealer to come back to me with a possible finance package. I don't want to pay a shed load a month and then not be able to afford to service it.
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I take it that DIY servicing is not an option and do agree that the cost of dealer sevicing can be scary, but how about checking with a few independents for their servicing costs?. They could concievably be half of what a main dealer wants and if you plan to keep the car long enough dealer stamps may not be worth as much as you paid for them when it comes time to sell the car.
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I do take your point - the moment someone hears the word 3.0l engine - they immediately think that it is expensive to run and maintain.
I am not saying this because I want to sell my car.
BUT, having owned a 525iSE (192bhp) and now the 530iSE (231bhp) I suppose I can comment on the real life costs.
Fuel consumption is almost identical, in fact driven hard the 530i is better (even official BMW figures show that 520, 525 and 530 are seperated by 1.5 mpg or so).
Inspection II is only around 4% more expensive.
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I agree with CJay. Unless you're a potterer, the 520i needs working to overcome the low-rev lethargy although it's a great cruiser when it finally gets up to speed.
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Well, I've waited three days so far for the dealer to reply with the finance deals and still nothing. I was dead set on buying this car, I thought it looked great. However, this indifference has just cost them the easist sale they were ever going to have. If they can't be bothered to sell it to me, what chance they would take the trouble to put any future faults right.
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