Alternatives to the E39.

Looking at what Top gear and 5th gear both said about the Monaro, it sounds like heaps of fun for little cash but little cash could be the clue to a cheply built car with a poor quality feel which was echoed by Clarkson and the guy with the beard on 5th gear (can't remember his name) I just feel you may regret it after the quality feel of the BMW. Depends on whether you are just after a big powerful engine or the full package.

IMO, stick with the beemer, you know it makes sense! If time is on your side, use it to your advantage, keep looking and wait for the moment when the perfect one comes your way.

Remember the Heinz ketchup advert? "All good things come to those who wait"

Good luck

Mike

I was under the false impression that the E39 530I and 540I were V8 engined cars???

BB

Was it the E34 cars that used to have the V8 530I then?

BB

dryle wrote: where are you living, i thought the monaro was only avail in ozzie land

I live just in Houston, about 15 miles from Glasgow.  Nearest Monaro for sale is in Fife.

I have only ever seen 3 or 4 since the launch but the autotrader is full of them.

Andrew

Andrew, I went from an E34 525i SE manual to a 2001 E39 530iA Sport just over a year ago, the difference in power between the 192BHP and the 231BHP is very noticable even with an auto box to slow it down.  In sport mode it's acceleration is very impressive, it's certainly faster than a friend's Volvo T5 and a lot more reliable too from what I've heard.

I spent a good few months test driving different cars before buying this one and the only one which impressed me as much (I didn't even contemplate an M5) was the 540i, however when I noticed how fast the fuel gauge was dropping I realised that the 530i was the more sensible choice - I get about 34-35MPG on a motorway cruise when running on Shell V-Power.  I do a combination of long distance motorway driving, city driving and country twisty roads and it copes fine with all of them, the steering in the 530i seems much more precise than the bigger V8 cars which I hear is because the steering rack is better in the 6 pot cars and the weight distribution is near 50/50 instead having of a big heavy engine up front.

That's my opinion of the 530iA Sport, I'd suggest you go out and test drive some cars and see what the difference between the engines actually feels like when sat behind the wheel.

Paul

Paul

I know what you are saying about the 530i.  When you study the figures, the 530i makes the most sensible choice.

It has better feel to the steering due to the V8's having drop links instead of rack and pinion.  It has the best power/performance v cost figures.  I have done a few numbers/plotted graphs in excel to demonstrate this to myself but the 530i isn't a V8.  I would really like to say that I have owned a V8.  If the 530i was a V8....dream on....

I think you are right, I have to test drive some cars first.  I have test driven two 530d and after the second I had fully decided that (and I know I'll get pelters for this but..) to me it reminded me of both my parents bag of nails sounding diesel Mondeos and that I won't be buying a diesel E39!  Besides my wee 523i had better throttle pick up response when driving hard on country roads.  Both diesels when floored from being stopped at give ways to a fast take off, sat and farted for a few seconds before moving off, my 523i is off straight away.

Off to a few dealers me thinks.

Richard!

When did you give up your V8??!!

Was it just too much to run?

Andrew

Test drive a Monaro. You'll know after driving it if you can live with it.

Ahh now actually I hadn't considered the Alpina option, I have to admit that given the choice between the 530 or 540 and the Alpina B10 I'd go for the latter any day, but they are a bit specialist so you'd probably have to expect big bills... unless stephenperry thinks otherwise?

Paul