E34 535 is gone. Hello 540i

[SRR2]

It was like saying goodbye to an old friend. I had the car since new, in February 89. Always well cared for. Babied is more like it. But it was time to move on. The new ride is a 2001 E39 540 6-speed with some extra goodies, including the awesomely useful fold-down back seat, which I discovered sort of by accident after I'd brought it home. Certified Imports (Coopersburg, PA) is keeping my 16 year old car and putting it on their lot instead of wholesaling it. Very nice folks at Certified Imports. If you're in Eastern Pa or Western NJ and looking for something particular, give them a try.

So this now leaves me with some E34 related items which I'll make available to the board members here at good prices:

Idle control valve (0280 140 509 formerly 13411286065) (new, in box) $75
Autothority chip $35 (it's about 80% of the EAT chip performance)
EAT Chip (only four months old) $130
(both of these are for the 169 Motronic)
These prices include UPS ground within the US.

Full set of snow tires (225/60-15) on steel rims with plastic BMW wheel covers, two are studded. Approx 1200 miles total all-winter usage. Tires and (rust-free, black painted) rims look like new. The non-studded tires have minimal wear and could be studded to match the others. These rims alone are worth $400. I'm asking $350 for rims and tires. You will have to pick up the snows. Or, if you're nearby, I'll deliver them within 50 miles of my home in Bethlehem, PA, for $1/one-way mile.

Please PM me if you're interested in any of this stuff.

[Jon K]

It was like saying goodbye to an old friend. I had the car since new, in February 89. Always well cared for. Babied is more like it. But it was time to move on. The new ride is a 2001 E39 540 6-speed with some extra goodies, including the awesomely useful fold-down back seat, which I discovered sort of by accident after I'd brought it home. Certified Imports (Coopersburg, PA) is keeping my 16 year old car and putting it on their lot instead of wholesaling it. Very nice folks at Certified Imports. If you're in Eastern Pa or Western NJ and looking for something particular, give them a try.

So this now leaves me with some E34 related items which I'll make available to the board members here at good prices:

Idle control valve (0280 140 509 formerly 13411286065) (new, in box) $75
Autothority chip $35 (it's about 80% of the EAT chip performance)
EAT Chip (only four months old) $130
(both of these are for the 169 Motronic)
These prices include UPS ground within the US.

Full set of snow tires (225/60-15) on steel rims with plastic BMW wheel covers, two are studded. Approx 1200 miles total all-winter usage. Tires and (rust-free, black painted) rims look like new. The non-studded tires have minimal wear and could be studded to match the others. These rims alone are worth $400. I'm asking $350 for rims and tires. You will have to pick up the snows. Or, if you're nearby, I'll deliver them within 50 miles of my home in Bethlehem, PA, for $1/one-way mile.

Please PM me if you're interested in any of this stuff.

So funny, I used to look in Certified Imports @ Coopersburg, PA right off of 309 there. I pass it all the time when I am out at school. I talked to the guy who owned it or worked there, we wasn't very knowledgeable but nice i guess.

[Paul in NZ]

what are your comparisons/thoughts on the new car?

[SRR2]

Good question. Someone just posted such a comparison I read recently. Was it on Roadfly? Can't recall. Basically I agree with everything he said about the differences and similarities between the cars.

My first impressions: The E39 is clearly heavier. That big V8 comes at a price. However, they've done well in the suspension department and tire/wheel selection so that it's not unwieldy. The power and road manners of both cars are exemplary, but the torque of 324 lb-ft makes the E39 push you back in the seat far more enthusiastically. It also drains the gas tank a mite faster, but the details of that remain to be seen. You can, if you choose to, spend a lot of time in 6th gear with all that torque. Otherwise, within the domain of normal day-to-day routine transportation, the two cars are clearly out of the same mold. If you're comfortable in one, you would be comfortable in the other. If you were competent with the manual transmission in the E34, you would be equally competent with the one in the E39 because the transmissions and clutch feel virtually identical. I do find the throttle-by-wire a little disconcerting at times though. They've done a good job matching the feel of the accelerator to a mechanical one, but there's still a little bit of disconnect nagging in the back of my mind. It may have to do with the unresponsiveness of the TBW while the cruise is engaged and the difficulty in making a smooth cruise disengagement in the absence of the mechanical connection.

The body of the E39 feels stiffer and generally more solid. Now, some of that may have to do with the fact that this particular E39 is 13 years newer. Looking at it the other way, here's a good example of a car that despite its age, compares VERY favorably with one 13 years newer. I have enormous respect for whomever was responsible for the E34 being the amazing piece of machinery it is.

The higher-tech control (like the multifunction display) takes a LOT of getting used to. I still haven't figured out how to operate the radio. I don't like steering wheel buttons. Maybe I'll get used to them, but I doubt it. I really liked the simplicity and directness of the cruise control stalk on the E34.

The E39 has a LOT of interior lighting!

The bottom line is that there's a lot more similarity between the two than differences. If I had to point to one difference, it would probably be that the slightly larger size and higher weight of the E39 makes it just a little bit less nimble than the E34, but even that is a second-order sort of effect. Both the E34 and E39 are great cars.