E39 for my dad?

[Stanley Rockafella]

That's a depressingly long list, kinda makes it seem like an E39 wouldn't be desirable for him as far as reliability goes.

see above post

[Cliche Guevara]

see above post

He hates GM products.

[JinormusJ]

Still wanting a specific mpg estimate, if anyone has one.

Depends on which one your looking at. Seems to me you dad doesn't care as much for the swag factor and floor-it-ability of the car..

Maybe suggest a 528i?
Autos usually get 21/25 City/Highway
Manuals get 23/27

But these are merely base figures. I've heard people averaging close to 30 almost in the 528i/530i with careful driving. Obviously these figures will be somewhat lower for the 540i

An e39 manual would probably he first thing on my list as a DD. Has decent power, discrete, 4-door, smooth, luxurious.. You and your father have good taste. +1 indeed

[Cliche Guevara]

Depends on which one your looking at. Seems to me you dad doesn't care as much for the swag factor and floor-it-ability of the car..

True, he has his motorcyles for that

Maybe suggest a 528i?
Autos usually get 21/25 City/Highway
Manuals get 23/27

But these are merely base figures. I've heard people averaging close to 30 almost in the 528i/530i with careful driving. Obviously these figures will be somewhat lower for the 540i

An e39 manual would probably he first thing on my list as a DD. Has decent power, discrete, 4-door, smooth, luxurious.. You and your father have good taste. +1 indeed

He does drive very conservatively most of the time so he would see the higher end of average for mpg. I'm not sure if he wants a manual... I'll see if I can talk him into it.

[Stanley Rockafella]

He hates GM products.

http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/ford/fusion/2007/single-page/

3.0 v6 seems legit and reliable and well-liked

[JinormusJ]

He does drive very conservatively most of the time so he would see the higher end of average for mpg. I'm not sure if he wants a manual... I'll see if I can talk him into it.

Honestly.. Even autos are cool. An e39 would be a great car to consider leaving automatic because it's such a luxury end model. Manuals are cool, but for what he's looking at and doing with the car (DDing it in this case), automatic might even be better
If he can live with knowing he's getting less mpgs than he would if he was controlling the shifts that is..

[Cliche Guevara]

Honestly.. Even autos are cool. An e39 would be a great car to consider leaving automatic because it's such a luxury end model. Manuals are cool, but for what he's looking at and doing with the car (DDing it in this case), automatic might even be better
If he can live with knowing he's getting less mpgs than he would if he was controlling the shifts that is..

I'll have to ask him about that next time I talk to him. I know he's not necessarily against driving a manual, I'm just not sure if he would see it as an inconvenience considering what he wants out of the car.

Rockafella, the Fusion is one of the cars he's seriously looking into.

[stamar]

http://humboldt.craigslist.org/cto/2960002206.html

heres a cheapie for the guy who like auroras!

[jeffnhiscars]

I got a solid 25-26 hwy in my e39 and high teens - 20ish in town depending on how I drove. I think I replaced an alternator and the battery it killed but it was all covered on warranty. I can't speak to reliability as they age since I sold mine with about 35k on it.

I did love that car and if there was any way to squeeze more hp out of it I would probably not have bought the 911 that replaced it. The pic is actually the wallpaper on my desktop if that tells you anything.

[JinormusJ]

^^^
DAT CAR..

Iz de hawt

[Cyrix2k]

That's a depressingly long list, kinda makes it seem like an E39 wouldn't be desirable for him as far as reliability goes. He's right now looking at mid-2000s Fords, Nissans, and Hyundais. Would and E39 be a step down in reliability from those choices? A theme I noticed in that list was that earlier E39s have fewer problems than newer ones. Is that assessment correct?

Still wanting a specific mpg estimate, if anyone has one.

Stamar an E34 would be a bit older than what he wants.

It's going to be less reliable than a japanese car, but honestly they're pretty good. The early e39s do have less problem areas, particularly the V8s but I wouldn't be scared to go facelift on an I6 model.

Depends on which one your looking at. Seems to me you dad doesn't care as much for the swag factor and floor-it-ability of the car..

Maybe suggest a 528i?
Autos usually get 21/25 City/Highway
Manuals get 23/27

But these are merely base figures. I've heard people averaging close to 30 almost in the 528i/530i with careful driving. Obviously these figures will be somewhat lower for the 540i

An e39 manual would probably he first thing on my list as a DD. Has decent power, discrete, 4-door, smooth, luxurious.. You and your father have good taste. +1 indeed

It should probably do better than that. I'm at high teens for city/traffic and high 20s for highway in the 540. Highway is actually 28-29 mpg at a reasonable speed and I can't imagine an I6 doing worse.

[Stanley Rockafella]

http://humboldt.craigslist.org/cto/2960002206.html

heres a cheapie for the guy who like auroras!

first gen's are not worth anything. But a far cry from the previous crap GM turned out.

the later ones are an awesome deal for what you get.


Face it OP, just tell you dad to get a Fusion and call it a day. He's too old to be fiddlin with an aging BMW that's gonna always have something that needs attention (heck even on our aging e30's aren't immune to having things break on them).

[s14pwd]

German cars, especially old ones are terrible for reliability. I was in a similar situation, my dad wanted a car with good gas millage and reliability, I was trying to keep him out of an econobox. We settled on a 2006 Audi A4, keep in mind it was only like 3-4 years old at the time. Worst car ever.... It was fun to drive and all, gas mileage was good, but fuck everything that could break did, and it was expensive as balls to fix. HVAX made crazy fan noise, turbo relief valve burst, tranny went out, glove box hinge broke, the list goes on, and my parents are gentle with cars.

Therefore, what he is looking at is probably for the best, can't get better than Jap cars for quality and reliability.

[Cyrix2k]

German cars, especially old ones are terrible for reliability. I was in a similar situation, my dad wanted a car with good gas millage and reliability, I was trying to keep him out of an econobox. We settled on a 2006 Audi A4, keep in mind it was only like 3-4 years old at the time. Worst car ever.... It was fun to drive and all, gas mileage was good, but fuck everything that could break did, and it was expensive as balls to fix. HVAX made crazy fan noise, turbo relief valve burst, tranny went out, glove box hinge broke, the list goes on, and my parents are gentle with cars.

Therefore, what he is looking at is probably for the best, can't get better than Jap cars for quality and reliability.

I think you missed the Audi part... they're not exactly well known for running consistently. Using Audi as the benchmark for German reliability is like using Mitsubishi as the benchmark for Japanese reliability.

[JinormusJ]

Therefore, what he is looking at is probably for the best, can't get better than Jap cars for quality and reliability.

Japanese cars have the worst quality of any car I've ever driven, right up there with American cars. I've daily'd an 02 Accord, 00 Eclipse, 05 Camry, and 96 Civic. They're motors are built nice, but interior styling sucks trash, falls apart after a while, and I've had electrical problems the whole lot all the dang time. I couldn't even enjoy my morning commute because everytime I would get in my car, I'd get pissed that my windows didn't roll up, my sunroof leaked, my seats were le super uncomfortable, or dread the day I would find out my interior problems increased...

Japanese cars last forever, but are as boring, bland, and dated as James May's hairstyle. I now, and will forever, keep faaaar away...