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New Daily: BMW E39 523i SE



Eddie.

Eddie.

I've been running a Renault Clio 1.2 Dynamique for about a year now, it's been pretty much the most ZFG car ever, as I frankly didn't like it to start with.

A year of my abuse and general poor maintenance has left it quite shoddy, and being honest, I can't be arsed fixing it. It's a laugh to drive, but ultimately, it's starting to get dangerous.

So, the Clio will be broken in a month or so, but to replace it I wanted something a little more refined, and comfortable. Sportiness isn't very important, nor is having anything mental powerful. I have got one eye on MPG, but I'm in a position where I don't need to worry about getting to Cape Town and back on 3/4 of a tank.

Being a self confessed BMW *****, I went through a fair few cars from Bavaria, E36's, E46's, E39's and even some E38's.

I was due to view an E39 520i a few weeks ago, but it sold as I was on my way to see it, very annoying but c'est la vie.

I then found a reasonably nice looking 523i SE, not too far away, and it looked to have the right boxes ticked.

FSH, 11.5 months MOT, Xenons, Black leather.

I only have 2 (awful) pictures of it, but I'll get some more tonight.

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It did 38.1 MPG on the run home last night, has 170bhp/180lb/ft and the noise of the straight six is lovely.

My name was on the V5 for just £690.

 
Rob

Rob

ClioSport Moderator
Or at least silver them. By god that's a lot of car for the money though, proper mental.

Probably the best stop gap car out there at the moment, not expensive to service/fix, not expensive to run, and comfy as f**k.
 
Eddie.

Eddie.

Jon.G said:
It's not a 3.0? ;)

When you crash into Rhys now, you'll write his car off.
Click to expand...

It's okay, my 500cc shortfall is made up for by my ability to choose when the next gear arrives ;)

Yep, only thing is, I actually quite like this car, so probably won't be crashing into Rhys like I did in the Cliotoris.
 
Eddie.

Eddie.

A few photos.

Excuse alert: The car hasn't been detailed yet and is swirl central, I also photographed the worst side, exterior wise. I also have a crap camera that I don't know how to use. I also had to save a child from a burning tiger attack.

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The interior:

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Loving life in the waft-lane.
 
Jon.G

Jon.G

Has Oli been round and told you to replace everything yet? I think he's had a few E39's as well, he might compare some of them to it, be careful. Gearstick looks stupidly long. Change it for an auto one.
 
Eddie.

Eddie.

It was a bit of a bargain, most of them at or around this price are not FSH, or poor spec.

That knob looks awesome, I'll have a look after work.


Oh it does go sideways btw, open diff makes things harder, but I've had the back out a couple of times. It's not really a drift car though, more a waft mobile.
 
Rob

Rob

ClioSport Moderator
If it goes sideways in the dry the tyres are rubbish! My 2.2 3 series couldn't do sideways if you paid it. We were in a car park trying repeatedly at one point and no joy.
 
Eddie.

Eddie.

It's got semi decent winter tyres on the rear. It was mildly damp, but not wet this morning, and it was sideways enough.

In the proper wet, I would expect it to be a doddle.
 
Eddie.

Eddie.

I love it. I'll have to get some pictures of the Clio, because you cannot appreciate just how s**t it was.

To drive, the E39 is effortless, still getting used to a floor mounted pedal, but other than that, it just pulls along so easily. The engine has a lovely sound to it, nicely muffled, as you do sir.

The steering feels well connected, if a little bit lighter than I expected.

Turning circle is remarkable too, dead easy to turn around at the end of my road.

Space wise, it's obviously quite large, the boot is goodish, but the cabin is where it's at. Parking and driving around the town where I work is a little interesting, I cannot see the boot lid, and where the bonnet ends involves some guesswork too.

Up to now, brilliant, but who knows, I might hate it in a month!
 
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