Today’s Nice Price or No Dice 540i presents much better than its nearly 200K in mileage would make you think. It has had a lot of mechanical refreshment, and its seller claims to be a BMW restorer by trade. Let’s see if this handsome M Sport is priced to make us appreciate their work.
How much horsepower is enough for you? Where is that bare minimum threshold that ensures a feeling of safety on the road? I’ve driven everything from a 12-horsepower BMW Isetta to a 1,234-horse Lucid Air, and can tell you that there’s a lot to be said about having as many ponies as possible in the stable.
With its 356 cc two-cylinder engine, the 1967 Daihatsu Tuk Tuk taxi we considered yesterday is at the back end of the pony parade. Still, it should offer sufficient power for its intended purpose as a jitney cab. That purpose came at a price, however, and at $6,999, that price proved overpowering for the little Tuk Tuk. An 83% No Dice loss was the result.
Almost an M5
Back when BMW was building Isettas under license from Italy’s Iso, no one considered the German marque to be “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” Very few people in the U.S.—outside of Elvis Presley, of all people, who bought a 507 roadster while stationed in Bad Nauheim, Germany, during his military service—even knew of the brand.
Fast forward a few decades, however, and not only is BMW well-known pretty much everywhere on the globe, but cars like this 2003 540i M Sport are considered among the best in the world. Powered by a 4.4-liter all-aluminum M62 V8 making 282 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque, the 540 edition of the E39 offers about three-quarters the fun of the 4.9-liter, 394-horse M5. This one, in Topasblau Metallic over a beige leather interior, gets even closer to the top dog as it’s fitted with the same Getrag 420G six-speed manual as was available in the M5.
It’s a living
According to the ad, this Bimmer’s seller restores BMWs for a living. They seem to have brought their work home with them, as the ad notes a ton of mileage and age-related work having been done on the car. Included among that work is a rebuilt front suspension, refreshed VANOS, new ABS pump, water pump, a slew of seals and hoses, and what is described as “nearly new” Pirellis wrapping the 18-inch Style 37 M Parallel alloys.
That’s all important on any car, but perhaps even more so when the E39’s 197,000-mile odometer reading is taken into account. That’s a lot of miles, so it’s reassuring that so many of the typical wear and tear items have already been addressed. Other updates on this clean-title car include rebuilt xenon headlights, a Dinan short shift kit, and a Bluetooth radio with upgraded speakers. Per the seller, the car “purrs and drives like it was when driven off the lot.”
Party in the front, business in the back
It looks pretty good, too. The paint has been color corrected and ceramic coated, if that’s something you believe in. This is an M Sport edition, so it has the more aggressive front and rear bumper caps. Both of those have been replaced, the seller says, and show no signs of parking by braille.
The cabin is atypically German as it’s brightened by the leather’s light hue and accented by the warmth of some wood trim. It looks at the same time swank and purposefully business-like in the way BMWs once all were. It’s all very clean and shows no wear aside from some butt creases in the driver’s bolstered sport bucket. We don’t get to see the IP with the car on, so we can’t confirm proof of life for all the digital display pixels, but that’s pretty much the only tech in the dash that often goes wrong, so it’s probably a minor annoyance at best if some have called it quits. The under-hood presentation is likewise impressively clean, showing off not only the M62 but also the strut brace above that, implying better-than-stock stiffness in the chassis.
Premium car, not so premium price?
Do you want to know what else is stiff on this E39? The $21,999 price tag. That may seem like a lot, but, come on, it’s really just Corolla kind of money. And which car would you rather have? The seller backs up their price with the claim that the car “may actually double in value over the next 10 years.” We don’t have the luxury of that time to wait—it is almost the weekend, after all. We will have to judge this 540i on its present-day merits and that $21,999 asking.
What’s your take on this clean chicky-bean of a Bimmer at that asking? Is that a deal for a well-sorted classic sporting saloon that may, according to its seller, actually be an investment? Or is that price too much for this M Sport to bear in the here and now?
You decide!
Nice Price or No Dice:
Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T Patrick Hubbel for the hookup!
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