Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

So...

I'm selling my 5 Series estate. It won't be available until the end of the month.

2003 525d SE Auto
It's done just under 170,000 miles
FSH, some BMW some independent
It will be freshly serviced and MOTd before sale
It will also be having a service of the automatic gearbox, BMW claim the ATF is lifetime but there are differing reports from people on the internet whether or not they actually last. It's fine at the moment apart from a slightly aggressive shift into 1st gear, but I'd feel happier having it serviced.
I am owed a 2-day exterior and interior detail by a friend of mine so it will be looking fresh before it's sold.

The headlights on this shape (E39) are a weak point, the adjusters that change the beam level are plastic and become brittle and break. Once this happens, both dipped and low beam point at the floor and become quite useless making driving at night a headache. I am just waiting for delivery of refurbished headlights, which use updated adjusters made of metal meaning this weak point won't occur again. It's a shame BMW didn't do this from the factory.

The car had a new Bosch battery this winter.

It's very well specced inside, black leather, multi-function steering wheel, dual zone climate control, everything adjustable SE seats which are really comfy - just not electric, big widescreen BMW factory navigation/computer/head unit, all electric windows and mirrors, airbags, and PDC.

The only modifications to the car are a Dension Ice Link to allow an iPod or iPhone through the BMW factory sound system, and LED dipped headlights and sidelights (angel eyes). Neither light upgrades have required chopping the OEM wiring loom, and I may actually return the dipped headlight bulbs back to standard halogen bulbs once I receive the new refurbished headlights as they will no longer be pointing at the floor and will hopefully work as BMW intended rather than as glorified fog lights.

Exterior wise there are some scratches on the doors from what I assume are car parks, there is a minor bumper scrape, there are chips on the rear bumpers from careless unloading of the rear, and there are also 2 very minor rust issues. One on the rear arch and one on the tailgate. I am hoping the majority of scratches and scrapes will be removed during the 2 day detail, so I don't want to put any pics of them up yet.

It had one issue during my ownership that was a leaky o-ring on an injector which was replaced at the cost of £35. It cost me more in travel to get to my destination and then go back and pick up the car than it cost to repair it. I'm sure I probably could have carried on driving it but it was causing a drip of diesel on the exhaust which was smoking so I thought it better to get recovered to a garage and then continue my journey on the train.

What's it like to live with? Well it's massive inside, which is great, recently took Gav, Spotter, and myself to Hadleigh Park in total comfort, 2 bikes on the towbar rack and one in the boot, plus all of our kit in the boot, and that meant we could sit in the cabin in total comfort. I currently have this lie flat car seat for my baby and it can manage to have that seat in on it's massive ISOFIX base and reclined and not interfere with the driver's seating position.

It cruises nicely on the motorway, loves to do about 85-90mph if you're that way inclined, but if you're not in a hurry will return 40-45mpg at the speed limit. Will sit on an Audi's bumper well into triple digits if you're into that sort of thing too.

It's SE spec and on 16" wheels with massive tyres, so it's insanely comfy, it has Self-Levelling Rear Suspension which was replaced at great cost to a previous owner, which means it's not going to need attention or replacing for many years to come.

It also has a split tailgate which can still be opened when the rear towbar rack is attached (but only when road bikes are mounted and not big ol' widebar MTBs), which is very helpful. The towbar is factory fitted and removable, with a piece of trim that clips in and out depending on if it's fitted or not. Full size spare in the boot.

The only known issue at the moment, other than everything that I've mentioned, is that when it was at it's coldest recently, it ran rough when it started up for a period of about 5 seconds, before settling into a normal idle. I can only assume that the diesel pre-heater was not as effective as it used to be, or perhaps it doesn't work at all, but it would only be an issue for maybe 1 week out of 52 and tbh, it's not really an issue. It didn't take an extended period to fire up, it started straight away, just sounded like it started on 5 cylinders rather than 6.

Previously owned and loved by @Mikey5000 and it's been loved by me too, I don't really want to get rid of it, I love the shape, the E39 Estate is one of my favourite shape "normal" cars of all time, but I'm buying something quite epic and I can't keep 3 cars.

I think it's worth more, but I got a bargain from M5k so I will pass that on, £1450