Two rear wheel bearings at about 98,000 miles.
Catalytic converter packed in at 100,000.
Shockers and springs front and rear.
Air conditioning compressor at 83,000.
I only bought this car because I had previously owned an e34. My previous car hardly cost me a penny, and I sold it with 365,000 miles on the clock. It was bullet proof.
The e39 gets fantastic reviews, but beware, this car will be OK under warranty, however, if you get one out of warranty be prepared to spend lots of money. The car is not as tough as the old 5 series, I have already spent £2,000 since last October that's around 6 months.
The car is more refined than the old model and is great to drive.
My advice is don't buy one with 80,000 or above.
BMW's are generally pretty reliable IF preventative maintenance is done. I also have an E34 525i ('92 model non-vanos) and it is tough as nails.However, preventative maintenance on BMWs are depressingly frequent, and experienced BMW owners like me know this fact. But most who have gotten used to Japanese cars tend to ignore this when they own a BMW for the first time. This probably explains some of the horrid reviews you read here about BMWs.
As a rule of thumb, BMW's are very nice cars to drive (better than 99.9% of Japanese cars),but buying one that's over 10 years old to use as a daily driver is just not a good idea for those who adopt the care free motoring attitude.
The problem is that an E-39 bought secondhand in England is neglected piece of wreck. Typical U.K. driver only knows to fill up the tank and go...
If you want to buy quality E-39 you have to go to Switzerland or Japan and get it there.
Typical failures of an E-39: 80000 miles - worn rear suspension bushes and shocks, exhaust/cat, radiator, thermostat, aircon not working, pixel missing from dashboard, leaking windscreen and windows, auto gearbox...
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