Looking at this tomorrow

autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201611119658175

Looking to buy this ultimate driving machine and wondering what to look out for, any advice?

It says it has 89,000 miles, is there any way I can verify this? The car has a few rust bubbles and the seats are a little worn, both of which are quite normal for a car of its age.

The MOT history says it had done 72,900 miles by September 2005, which means it has only done 17,000 miles in the last 11 years, this seems quite suspicious to me, but it is plausible it has been owned by an old guy I suppose. What is more worrying is that the last MOT lists the car has done 189,000 miles rather than 89,000 like the dealer says, I suspect there is a fuck up somewhere as it would mean the car had done 100,000 miles in less than two years.

Obviously I'm not expecting anything close to perfect for something so cheap, but I want it to last at least a year. Assuming the car has service history, what kind of work should I look for?

Thanks senpaitachi.

Shit's fucked m8.

Avoid like the plague. What's your budget and what are you looking for? Budget barges?

The interior looks a little too worn to have only done 89k, although that's just my opinion. I do think it's worth noting that all the other 5 series being sold at that price have 50k more miles than this one.

Could be a good deal, or something dodgy, you won;t know unless you go and have a look otherwise.

Nvm after having another look I think the interior looks about right.

The odo is tampered with for sure. No doubt what so ever. But does it really matter? Its 700 pounds lol, and you only want it to last like a year anyways.

An E39 manual cheap, that or an XJ but they are impossible to find up north.

My insurance is more than the car is the problem, if it takes a shit in a few weeks I'm quite badly out of pocket.

What makes it a clock job "for sure"?

Look at the bonnet, the clearance between it and the fenders don't match on each side so it definitely has been in an accident of some kind.

I did notice that but I wasn't sure if it's because they'd had the bonnet up for something and not shut it properly, it's hard to tell because of the shit res of the pictures. Guess I'll know when I go see it.

Is crash damage that big a deal if it's just passed an MOT 3 days ago? Means it's legal to use for the next year atleast, and it hasn't been in a crash the insurance company cares about for sure because autotrader tells you if a car is CATC of CATD.

E39's are complete shit.

Just assume its clocked. Always assume its clocked. literally 40% of cars on the road today have been clocked. And it aint hyundai and kia owners who tamper with the odometer my friend.

It's an error in the advert. There's loads of ad's like it on Autotrader, where it's listed as 89K instead of 189K.

Always take a BMW for a pre purchase inspection or you will be in for a hell of a ride financially.

Yeah it's fucked.

> The car has a few rust bubbles and the seats are a little worn
That puts it in the 250-300k kms bracket.

Wouldn't be cheap even if you got it for free.

I hope you're wrong but I went to look at a car there once that was listed as a manual but it was a slushmatic. They are a pretty shit garage.

Doesn't seem worth it when an inspection will be 1/3rd the cost of the car, I dunno though.

My last car was an 01 Audi with 90,000 miles, it had a similar level of rust and the interior was spent. What country are you from? Cars rust like shit in Britain.

M3 owner and BMW cuck, here.
Avoid this buying this car. You have good taste but your instincts are suspect.

Because it's a shit example or because a cheap E39 will end up an expensive E39?

i have an E39 M5 and while that thing might be easier on the wallet than mine is, if it is not taken care of well, it will mess with you

this man is wrong

>if it is not taken care of well, it will mess with you
It doesn't say anything about service history, if it's got nothing I'm just walking away. If it's got receipts and stamps that seem legit I might be more interested.

Any signs specific to an E39 that would suggest it's been someone's wrecker? It passes my usual checks that would suggest the precious owner was a turd, which is none of these:

>aftermarket radio or alloys
>tacked on spoilers or blacked out grille
>blacked out windows

Etc. The milage on the MOT history goes up by around 2,000 a year, so maybe it was an old guys car.

Alternatively, it was owned by a 17 year old who crashed it, took all his tacky mods off and clocked it.

E39's are nice cars but you need ten grand a week to keep them running.

two years of having an M5 says you are wrong

>E39 for 700 quid

How can you look at that and not straight away think that it's fucked?

Alternatively, a E39 for 700 quid could be the biggest scorcher of a bargain known to man :^)

Okay, done a bunch of research on e39's. If the mileage has been tampered with it will have a little dot on the gauge cluster by the trip meter. I bet the lcd panels in the cluster are failing so you can't read the mileage. Stay away OP.

Apparently it's really easy to fool the car into thinking the mileage hasn't been tampered with, something about putting it in first gear while its on a lift.

>t.E46 318i owner

Yeah but there are things you can do so that the light doesn't light up in the first place. The BMWs keep a log of all mileage not only on the ODO cluster but also on the engine ECU and other ECUs which have to be overwritten with the tampered mileage for the dot not to appear, pretty easy to do if someone knows how to remove the eeprom and write it.