FS - And now, the time has come, to sell my beloved 535

Greetings,

First and foremost, I hope I am not contravening any forum policy by posting my car for sale here - I know that under the old regime it was only permissible to advertise cars with paid adverts on the site, but as that feature now seems to have disappeared I hope adverts from members are now allowed - if not, moderators please let me know what I need to do to comply with the rules!

I'm posting an ad here before listing on ebay as I'd like the car to go to an enthusiast who can appreciate it.

The car is my beloved 535i, trusty companion for nearly 4 years and 65000 miles, only let me down once in all that time.  The total mileage is currently 111000, but she is still running beautifully.

The pictures on my sig show the car in all its glory, although it has had an Angel Eyes upgrade since these pics so looks even smarter now.

The car is a very well maintained 1998 535i Automatic in Canyon Red, with full BMW Service history.  It has never been touched by non-BMW hands!  The interior is beige leather with plush dark red stitching, giving the much sought after “dark exterior, light interior colour combination”. 

This car has an unblemished history, and has been owned by me for the past 4 years.  I purchased the car for a bargain £12000 from my local dealers (Chandlers BMW), who also supplied the car new in 1998.  The car was first registered by Chandlers as a demonstrator and was therefore loaded with most of the extras available at the time to impress prospective punters.  The car is registered in my name and my address in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex.

On purchasing the car, I took out a 3 year BMW extended warranty, which is one of the most comprehensive warranties available, and even covers exhausts and batteries which most manufacturers regard as consumable items. 

Consequently, as the car has been covered by a BMW warranty from new until March 2006, you can be confident that any faults have been rectified by BMW dealers regardless of cost

During the time I have had the car it has had a new battery, radiator and instrument binnacle (this was replaced without any quibbles at a cost of £500 simply because some of the pixels in the LED display had died, which gives you some idea of how good the warranty is!).  None of these items resulted in a breakdown, they were just picked up during routine servicing and covered under the warranty.  Lesser items include various sensors, interior door handles, wing mirror glass - almost all the common faults on this model have been addressed, so there should be no nasty surprises.

The car has been serviced approximately every 9000-10000 miles by two branches of the same dealership, and has a fully stamped service book, together with all the detailed receipts and service documentation outlining exactly what has been done at each inspection.

Most of the mileage I have done has been sedate motorway miles at a steady 70-80mph, where the engine is barely idling.  As a responsible family man, company director, and advanced motorist, I drive sensibly and am gentle on both pedals (most of the time)! 

Despite its mileage and age, this car genuinely drives like new, and has not a single rattle or squeak, a testament to the quality of BMW engineering.  It has been a dream to own and drive, and has only once let me down with a cracked header tank (also replaced under warranty)   

The car was confirmed HPI clear by the dealers when I bought it, and has not had any accidents or other damage while I have owned it, other than a replacement windscreen resulting from a stone chip.  I also contacted the previous owner after getting the car who confirmed that his period of ownership was incident free!

The car has a couple of light scratches and stone chips in keeping with its age, but nothing that is particularly obvious, and none that have broken the lacquer finish.  The paint has delaminated a little on the bonnet, but there is no rust visible on the whole car.  There is a more noticeable scrape on the front bumper but I have the car booked in to have that resprayed at a cost of £130 before selling the car.

It still looks incredibly smart when cleaned up and polished.  The wheels are the very sought-after BBS split rim 8J * 17” Star Spoke Style 5s, which are also in very good condition.  Only one wheel is slightly kerbed but the full sized spare is pristine so could easily be swapped.  Externally it also has white indicator lenses front and rear which make it look like a later model than it is as well as the Hella OEM Angel Eyes fitted by a dealer.

Inside, the interior trim is pretty much immaculate, just one stain on the carpet which should come out, and one mark on the rear door trim about 2 inches long where I foolishly tried to fit an oven in the back seat which wouldn’t go – the leather is not torn, just marked.  

All the switchgear works perfectly apart from the rear cup holders, which are a bit knackered, although when folded into the dash they look ok.  Replacements can be bought cheaply on ebay or from dealers or breakers.

The car is fully loaded, with extras including:

Upgraded Harman Kardon hi fi (exceptionally good and very loud!)

6 Disc CD multi-changer

Split 60/40 folding rear seat (rare on E39 5 series and very useful)

Through load system (ski hatch with extending bag to cover items protruding into car interior)

Sports suspension

Cruise control

Climate control

ASC+T (Automatic Stability Control plus Traction)

Rain-sensing wipers

Remote central locking

Steptronic 5 speed auto/semi-auto gearbox

Rear parking sensors

Front and side airbags

Electric windows and mirrors (mirrors integrated with seat memory!)

On-board multi function computer

Steering wheel controls for stereo and cruise control

Unmarked walnut wood trim

Side (manual) and rear (electric) privacy/sun blinds

Electric Memory comfort seats

Electric heated wing mirrors (passenger side tilts lower when reverse engaged to aid parking – nice!)

Anti-glare rear view mirror

There is plenty of tread on all four tyres (Dunlop SP2000 replaced in Jan 2006), and the full size spare wheel is unmarked.  The tool kit and first aid kit (under the passenger seat) are also unused.  Brake Discs and Pads were replaced all round at Christmas 2005, less than 10k miles ago.

The car also has a hands free kit for a Panasonic GD 87 mobile phone, which is a good phone and can be picked up cheaply on ebay.  It’s a real advantage to be able to charge your phone and make calls legally in the car, and the hands-free kit also mutes the stereo when making or receiving calls and boosts the reception via the external aerial.

I have a full set of keys, all manuals, wallets, receipts, sales invoices, past MOTs and everything else you would expect.  current tax and mot till March 2007.

This car (with extras) cost over £40,000 in 1998, and still looks and drives like it did back then, so you could be enjoying luxury motoring for a fraction of the price when new. 

It had the full Inspection II service last month and is still showing the four green lights.  Chandlers remarked on how well looked after the car was, and how unusual it was for a car of that age/mileage to pass Inspection II with no work needed!

Only current faults as reported on this forum are that I very occasionally get the warning "Check Tail Lights" (probably a bad bulb or loose connection) and the rear door blind won't retract fully - that is it!!  I've also twice had the key spin freely in the ignition suggesting the barrel may be wearing out, but this happened about 3 and 9 months ago respectively, so not something I have had looked at yet.

I have done my best to describe this car accurately, fully and fairly, and hope I have been successful.   If you are specifically looking for a 535 then I think this is the best you will find.  If you aren’t then you should be!!  

Phew, I think that's enough info for now - if you are interested then PM me - I'm need to get £5500 to fund the replacement, a 330 Sport convertible.  That's the only reason for selling the best car I've ever owned (and there's been a few!)

Cherished cars like mine are few and far between at this price, so don't hang about!

Cheers,

Ali