Well, it's not really a project yet as I just signed the papers today and she won't get delivered till next week, but I thought I'd go ahead and get a project thread started.
I've been thinking about selling my present DD, a 2014 X1 xDrive35i M-Sport. It's been a great car in the 2 years I've had her and she's paid for, but with 15 months of warranty left and still a pile of depreciation coming at me I was having second thoughts. With one kid starting college next year, the other a sophomore in HS, and a 15 year old house starting to show it's age I'd rather have that depreciation sit in a bank account than driving it down the road every day.
Having bought my ZHP earlier this year as a weekend warrior I've come to appreciate that vintage BMW even more, back when I thought BMWs were out of reach financially. Thought about a second ZHP sedan, but I wanted at least some legroom in the back. Even toyed with going back to a Japanese product again for a DD, but my love of BMW wrote that off. So a 5 Series it is, automatic a must due to a bum left knee that won't let me daily drive a clutch, as well as having the Sport package for the seats & steering wheel alone. An E60......no, to finicky as a first gen of iDrive electronics, plus the Banglization factor is high with it. An E39 has always been a favorite, and finding a 530i with an M54 engine very similar to my ZHP's engine was a plus. However the newest E39 is 13 years old, and most have been driven had and put away wet with 150K-200K miles. I wanted something that with normal maintenance could make it thru the next 6 years as my DD, so it wouldn't just take any E39 to fit the bill. So I started my search in earnest as I started to prepare my X1 for sale.
Last Saturday evening I was surfing across cars.com when a new 530iA listing showed up without pics. Mileage was unbelievable (more on that in a minute), so I checked the VIN for options.....perfect. Sport package, Xenon, M-Sport Suspension....good.....grey interior...better than beige but wanted black. Black exterior......it's been 27 years since I've had a black car, and I swore I would never again as they are near impossible to keep clean. Still, went ahead and sent an inquiry to the dealer, who responded yesterday morning and sent me some pics:
Looking good and clean so far. Spoke to the sales manager about the car at that point. it was a 1 owner owned by a gentleman who recently had passed away from ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). He was a personal friend of the car dealer's owner and they are now selling it. Hardly driven, and then not in the winter.
Interior pics:
Yes, the odometer is right: 27,869 miles!!! Autocheck and carfax confirmed, with an interior that looks brand new (except for the busted cupholder (of course))!
However, it is still been a Wisconsin car it's whole life, was it REALLY never driven in the snow. Here are the underneath pics:
Forget snow...it may not have even been driven in the rain!!! Even the tires' date code match the car manufacture date!!!
Forget about the black exterior, it's a "new" E39!!! One final check: the inspection report (clean except cracked original tires & cupholder) and some haggling......I pulled the trigger!!
Like I mentioned, I hope to have her by the end of next week. I'll immediately replace the tires, cooling system, and fluids (PS, ATF, Brake, Diff), but then she'll be my new DD and just enjoy!!! More pics to come, as well as any updates on maintenance & mods as she begins her journey with me....