2001 BMW 540iA

Below are a few of pics of my new daily driver.

This is a 2001 BMW 540iA with the M-Sport package and about ~ 72K miles on it. I am the 3rd owner and have all the records for it since it was new.

These cars can be very expensive to maintain. Despite BMW's claims of superior engineering, the 540i has some well documented issues... the cooling system blows up between 50 and 70K miles! The front control arm bushing wear out at about 60K mi and there is a whole slew of other issues that commonly occur much sooner than you would expect. However, issues aside, these cars are extremely nice to drive and with a big V8 engine, this car will get up and go!

I searched long and hard for a nice 540i - I really wanted a 2003 but was not able to find one I liked so I settled for this 2001. Its selling points were 1) All records since new, 2) complete cooling system overhaul about 5K miles ago (cost $2,000), 3) new front upper and lower control arms/bushings about 5K miles ago (cost $1,000), 4) purchase price - I paid $10,400 (not bad for a car that cost almost $60K new).

All this car really needed was a new set of tires. My wife negotiated a good deal out of Discount Tire for a set of BFG G-Force Sports ($620); these are a little noisy at low speed but handle nice. New tires, a new set of floor mats ($90) and a $100 oil change are all I've had to spend so far but I'll be into it for a bunch more soon as I plan to replace the suspension and service the transmission (precautionary). I'll do the suspension myself.