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

this is brilliant. bike has more luggage capacity than the car.

I am looking for an estate to travel on Holidays to ireland a few times a year. I try to avoid driving in london as much as possible. I cover c.4000miles a year mostly condensed into a few weeks a year.

Would I be mad to consider looking at this? Or avoid at all costs?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209079542915?advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=SE19%203JJ&body-type=Estate&seller-type=private&sort=distance&page=1&make=BMW&include-delivery-option=on

I don't think Police will do anything, it's not really required.

Airbag light on is an MOT fail; seller claims it is just a loose connection; if so why hasn't he fixed it?

I don't know if it's good value but it's a wonderful car. Good that it's already been welded because anyone who says their E39 is rust free is lying.

You need to monitor/be aware of the rear air suspension on an E39 estate.

That airbag light is v mildly suspicious, I'd ask to come and see if you can turn it off before buying it.

+1 it's 4 bolts to take a seat out.

I’d want the reg number, check it out on mot checker just to know it’s history. Looks sweet though.

Reg is in the description. I would bet £100 that car has not had a legit MOT since 2015.

Fuck the haters, looks rad. A bit nicer than my one too, lol.

FWIW I found a decent chunk of rust in the rear footwell on mine. Rear light seals are a common source of damp too apparently. One of mine was siliconed on with a vengeance.

Airbag light is a common fault IIRC, often related to the seat sensor on the passenger side, which I think can be fixed by wiring the sensor straight through, so it always thinks there’s a passenger in the seat.
Might be a simple fix, might not.

Being owned by a mechanic is absolutely no indication it’s been looked after well tho. Some mechanics use their skills to meticulously look after their cars, some use their expert judgement to only do the bare minimum to keep the thing on the road, lol. My mates tend to be the latter.

Still, looks rad tho.

Love it!

I'm no hater, I had an E39 estate and loved it, and it's good that it's been welded, but zero advisory MOTs since 2015 on an E39 which loves to lunch bushes, ball joints, and front arms and has had major welding done to it, is pretty suspect.

For that to be real I'd want to see receipts for work carried out pre-MOT to ensure that it passed MOT with zero advisories.

Ha, I was only being daft.
Mechanic owned and sailing through MOTs has a lot to do with pals who will test it rather than high maintenance standards.
I’m definitely not disagreeing with your scepticism.

Scepticism over optimism when buying a car, every time

But with that attitude you can talk yourself out of something fun in favour of a utilitarian snoozefest.
I’m super glad I went with a 17yr old e46 (which had a similar airbag fault) over something sensible tbh.

why are there so many photos of it outside different houses?

I only feel nostalgic for my first car when I see a twin.

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This may be of interest on the e39 front

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115523862219?hash=item1ae5c23ecb:g:pVEAAOSw1Zhij9tY&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoJThaDqIU56C3BofC5ILh5xBcNzQOkfNYeE8O9tL1vCegfvEda2UA0M2CgXS6QoqfVSS6rMwJN7nq6XZNxQNa8opnWw4%2F6XccvvLJZGc6OIkgoGU8PPxF93BezEBMXRZHqfdkksDtj%2FYSAtpl9nj5h97NCF%2FCG5spDO34TwkneEveYJXXjPgyn%2FHMn9RfJRcWjcui6rq01kP7XB4vGTs5GE%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR6rAtu7mYA

Owner lives a few streets over from me. I don't know him but have chatted a couple times when he's been out working on cars. Seems an honest enough guy.

You could get a really nice E39 for not much more when I was looking before.

I suggest you just buy a Mondeo estate.

Ok, now we’re talking. Any guesses what it’ll go for? North of 5k surely?

you live in chiddingfold? nice.

This may be of interest on the e39 front

Owner lives a few streets over from me. I don't know him but have chatted a couple times when he's been out working on cars. Seems an honest enough guy.

I wonder how hard they are to turbocharge?

Think he's tried to sell it a couple times and never got the interest he wanted, presumably because of the engine swap and the assumption that most people make that it's likely been bodged.

On the turbo front because the m54 engine is in the e46 there are loads of turbo kits out there for track/drift conversions so I suspect not that hard.

I think that'd be quite entertaining with 400 horsepower, diff might not last long but I suppose if you keep the stock tyres they'd probably start spinning before you grenade anything in the transmission.

Does changing the final ratio reduce chance of the gearbox exploding with a more powerful engine?

As for engine swapped estates, I will always remember seeing this for sale.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1840167
4K ffs, would have been a right laugh until it exploded.