Tell me about 03 BMW 525i Wagons

[MT930]

There is one of these for sale here it's a nice looking Wagon 102K Miles $11,950 It's a great looking car. Whats the deal with these?

Someone give me an idea of what look for and what to avoid in these wagons.

Filling up 3/4 ton 4X4 crew cab is not going to work much longer.

Whats a good sport type wagon?

[sketchers356]

That is an e46 3 series not a 5er.

[tevake]

I was thinking the same 3series. The 5series has the hooded brow look, Here is my 2002 530 I
This car drives real nice. Have gone thru the cooling system resently, now the auto trans is acting up, its got about 80k mi. I hope to get the issues sorted out so I can enjoy this car again.

[dewolf]

Originally Posted by tevake

This car drives real nice. Have gone thru the cooling system resently, now the auto trans is acting up, its got about 80k mi. I hope to get the issues sorted out so I can enjoy this car again.

If the trans is..'hunting' for gears and feels like the torque converter is locking and unlocking...it is. It is a common problem and it is only the torque converter, not the trans itself.

[tevake]

Thanks Dewolf, it was a little slow in shifting for a while, just a bit. Then it started to slip a bit in first on start up after a few days lay up. Getting ready to change the fliud and filter soon hope that does the trick.

[fastfredracing]

We have a 99 528 it wagon. I LOVE this car. Family truckster that rides and drives like a BMW. Coming from Hershey last weekend, I was able to comfortably hang right behind a 930 in the 90-100 mph range for quite some time ( I just wanted some nice scenery in front of me) . Our car has about 125k now, and has had the typical BMW issues. 02 sensors, ABS speed sensors, and ABS control unit. The amp for the stereo died, a broken power window regulator, and it eats front rotors. Other than that , this has been a great car.
I am not sure if the newer models still have it, but our car has self leveling rear suspension, ( air bags) which can be troublesome, we have one bag starting to leak, sort of pricey to replace, other than that, it is just another 5 series.
Same weak cooling system that all BMW's have. The car is fairly large, but still gets pretty good mileage on the highway, is plenty peppy, and sewing machine smooth and quiet. We will probably move into a 3 series awd wagon next.

[willtel]

I picked up a 2001 325i Touring in November and I'm really happy with it. I get about 25mpg commuting 50 miles a day in Atlanta traffic. I looked at the 5-Series wagons but clean ones were pretty pricey and I wanted the straight 6 instead of the V8 in the 540i so that cuts out a good portion of the wagons.

I had to look a while to find one with a manual transmission but it is pretty fun to drive. Not much power but it has the sport package and it really hangs on in the corners.


E46 T by willtel, on Flickr


325iT by willtel, on Flickr

[gprsh924]

Almost $12k seems high for a car with that many miles (unless there is a large premium placed on wagons). My 02 E39 with 60k miles was only $12.5k

[5String43]

We've got an '03 5-series wagon, bought it new. It now has 115,000 miles on the clock. It is by far the best car we've ever owned. It is, however, not inexpensive to maintain, so I'd suggest a really through PPI. For example, the steering arms have rubber bushings that deteriorate, so these need to be replaced at about every 60k miles. $600 or so. Brakes can be spendy. We chased a couple of oil leaks, thought got spendy as well. But the thing has been far more reliable than the several MzB's that we've had. Plus it's comfortable and for its size, handles really well. It gets 19 mpg or so around town, and 26 out on the Interstate - not at all bad for a car this size, I think.

I'd buy this car again in a heartbeat. If I could afford it today, which I can't, and if BMW was still building wagons, which it isn't.

Oh, and one more thing: I don't think these cars are worth much more than $7000, $8000, especially with 100k miles on 'em. But you can check that.

One final thing - it's really easy to pull the nose off these cars. You pull into a parking place and the air dam gets caught on the parking bumper that is intended to stop your front tires. You back out, bingo, the whole front bumper is dangling. Ask me how I know. So you might want to check this, and if you proceed, you might want to be watchful of this.

[willtel]

Originally Posted by gprsh924

Almost $12k seems high for a car with that many miles (unless there is a large premium placed on wagons). My 02 E39 with 60k miles was only $12.5k

The wagons do command a premium as there are fewer of them to choose from. I'm not really sure how much as I never shopped for sedans.

Originally Posted by 5String43

I'd buy this car again in a heartbeat. If I could afford it today, which I can't, and if BMW was still building wagons, which it isn't.

Damn shame. The 5-Series Touring is already done in the US and the very last of the 3-Series are being delivered now.

They are replacing them with these atrocities. I don't know why.

[MT930]

Great Info !! I may talk to the Seller 10 K is a realistic value ? it is a 03 528 I

I google'd the picture obviously the the wrong car. Thanks