2003 BMW 5-Series

Sedan

3.0 liter six

Manual

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Clear

This car has been my daily driver since originally purchased. It's Topaz Blue Metallic over a black leather interior with the 5 speed manual transmission. The 2003 was the last year of the famous E39 5-series body style and it offered a few differences that set it apart from all the other years. In 2003, the moonroof was standard on the 530, all cars had automatic headlights (first year you could keep them in auto and never have to turn them on or off) and the curtain airbags were extended from the front to the rear so that in the case of a side impact accident, the rear passengers are protected. My car was ordered with the premium, sport and cold packages which came with, among other things, a leather interior, power memory front seats, wood trim, heated front seats, headlight washers, sport seats with articulating thigh supports, a sport steering wheel, shadowline window trim (black vs. chrome), sport springs and sport shocks/struts. Additional options on the car were, xenon headlights, rear door airbags and the sun shades. There are a total of 10 airbags in this car and none have ever been deployed. In a nutshell, the car is a thrill to drive, very reliable, starts every time and can probably go for another 100000 miles. There aren't very many sport package sticks around. These are awesome cars that perfectly blended luxury and sport. I'm going to try to be very transparent and descriptive here to paint an accurate picture of the car, giving you as they say, the good, the bad and the ugly. While mostly stock, the car has received a few updates which really improve the behavior, handling and overall engagement with the car. These include: * Clutch Delay Valve removal - this is a must. The car is so much more pleasant to shift withing this. If you don't know what this device does, you can read about it here why a CDV should be removed . * M5 rear anti-sway bar - the E39 M5 had a thicker rear sway bar than all the other 5's. With the M5 sway bar, the 530 leans less going around a corner or a curve and makes the driving experience a lot more pleasant * Rogue Engineering short shifter - one of the best short shift kits ever made. The throws are crisp, precise and shorter allowing you to basically shift with the action in your wrist. Considering that you generally shift hundreds of times each time you drive, this makes the shifting experience so much more pleasant * Bilstein yellow sport shocks - when the original shocks wore out, they were replaced them with these. They are a little stiffer than the stock ones but really give the car a ton more control. You can push the car deep into a bend on a highway and the car stays flat the whole way - it's really nice * Polyeurethane front bushings - So one of the common problems with every E39 5-series is that eventually, the big front lower control arm rubber bushings crack and create a nasty shimmy. Having replaced these multiple times, I finally replaced these with a solid polyeurethane version of this bushing. While it is noticably stiffer, they tend to last much longer and any body roll that was still on the car was removed when I put these on. This car truly handles like its on rails. * Wider tires - the stock sport package tire is a 235/40-17. These have been replaced with a slightly wider tire, a 245/40-17. These work flawlessly and actually make the car handle a bit more neutrally. The tires on the car are BF Goodrich performance tires and they have about 80% of their life left. *European Leather Armrest - For such a small part, this one was expensive. The E39's in America came with a horrible armrest. It was coated in a rubberized vinyl, had a 'phone' slot in the middle and did not open. Completely uncomfortable. This was my first upgrade and it cost almost $500 in 2003. This armrest is made with a smooth leather and it opens allowing you to keep a few small items. These sell by themselves on eBay for around $200. *M5 rear spoiler - a fun little upgrade. It doesn't make the car any better but it looks great. *OEM Bluetooth module - So technically, the 2003 5 Series was the first BMW capable of bluetooth phone functionality. However, the module wasn't available right away and the first few versions were absolutely terrible. However, over the next couple of years BMW improved it and built a pretty good module that actually has several features of today's systems. Honestly though, the interface is not the greatest and the noise cancelling microphone makes you sound like you're talking under water so I haven't really used the system for several years. Hardly any e39s have this installed and in many ways it's a great reminder of BMW's forward thinking. This is the first generation of something BMW does very well right now and it all started with this module15 years ago. * comes with the factory first aid kit under the front passenger seat. Very rare piece. Maintenance: * always fueled with Premium gasoline. * always changed oil with Synthetic. For the first 100000 miles I used BMW Synthetic, since then I used a few better oils, including the European Total 5W30. Honestly, if I told you the car ran better or differently, I'd be lying. I never really noticed a difference with any of them, the car ran smoothly will all of them just the same. I guess the important thing to do is to change the oil at least anually or 7500 miles and you'll be good to go. * spark plugs were changed at 90K and were replaced with the same plugs that originally came with the car - NGK 6BKQRP. Replacing these did make a difference and it's probably time to replace these again *cooling system - the entire cooling system, including the radiator, expansion tank, thermostat, water pump, fan clutch and all hoses were replaced preventively at 85K. At that time the pulleys, tensioners and belts were replaced since these parts all came off to get to the water pump and thermostat. *alternator - replaced at 165K. I replaced the tensioners and belts at that time...once again, most of these came off to get to the alternator so I just went ahead and replaced them. * valve cover gasket - replaced at 150K * brakes - all 4 sets replaced in the past 10,000 miles. Rotors are Zimmerman OE rotors and pads are Stop Tech Street Performance. They have a great bite (better than OEM in my opinion), don't fade and don't get the wheels as dirty as the OEM originals. Been using these on several of my cars for the past 6 or 7 years...absolutely love them. * Oxygen Sensors - all 4 were replaced at 100K preventively by BMW. * Cam Position Sensors - replaced both at about 120K. * ABS / DSC module was rebuilt at 150K * Clutch, Slave cylinder and rear seal were replaced at 100,000 miles. * I'm sure I'm leaving some things out but the list above covers the majority of the main points * replaced a few window regulators along the way The Bad: * The rear bumper - I backed into a large rock, damaging the rear bumper * Left side front fender and driver's door - suffered a parking lot incident where a careless driver rubbed up alongside the driver side front of my car. I took some pictures and honestly, the damage looks worse in person than the pictures show. It's not terrible, but it's there. In all honesty, a decent dent wizard can probably get about 75% of this dent out and the end result will be pretty good. * driver side foglight - a casualty from a rock picked up from a truck in front of me. * It's starting to rust. I've noticed rust in a few spots. 1) under the driver door; 2) under the BMW roundel on the trunk; 3) rear passenger door frame behind the door * paint - the paint is starting to show its' age. I've noticed the clear coat just starting to go in some spots * front end shimmy - Not sure what is exactly causing this, my guess is that it's the passenger side front strut. * plastic pieces - the plastic on the car is starting to show its fragility and its age - 1) the rear sunscreen is broken due to some plastic breaking 2) the small sunscreens covering both quarter windows are both broken (again - bad plastic) * front seats - both are suffering from the twisted cable issue. Every E39 of this vintage with power seats will eventually suffer from this. Easily fixable and if this was 10 years ago, I would have spent the time to correct this, however, it's not something I want to tackle at this point in my life. The leather itself is in great condition with absolutely no rips or tears anywhere. * wheels - I had the wheels refinished a few years ago, and rather than have them painted, the guy that did it for me polished and clear coated them. However, over time the clearcoat started to come off. Again, if you spend the time on these to have them redone, they will look absolutely awesome. * like all BMWs of this vintage, it likes oil. Expect to use about a quart every 1000 - 1500 miles. It's been this way since 38000 miles and according to BMW, it's absolutely normal. * Also like all BMWs of this vintage, it can use a new battery, especially since it's being driven very rarely nowadays (only driven 4-5 times all of 2018) I tried my best to give an accurate picture of the car but I'm sure I missed something. If you have any questions, please ask and I will be happy to give you an answer. Thank You.