For Sale: 2003 E39 Wagon with Sports and Premium - 80K miles - $12.5 in Austin TX

Titanium Silver 2003 BMW 525i Wagon has only 80,500 miles. Car is in Austin, TX. All maintenance done at Dr. Beemer and Paul's BMW. Features - Premium and Sport Packages, Xenon Headlights, M Steering Wheel with Multifunction, after-market M5 Bumper, Sun Roof, Sport Memory seats, Cargo Cover, and 17 Inch Alloys. Bought in California as pre-owned vehicle and now is Austin, TX - I am the second owner. Car is in great condition drives like a champ. pictures found at http://austin.craigslist.org/cto/3526896205.html.

Please PM if interested.

You posted bad link to your CL - thats not the public link...

Thanks. Just fixed it.

super super nice. seems pricey for a 525, but looks minty and if I was still in the market for an E39 touring I would be very serious about looking at it. how about we swap your black sport interior into my 540? i'll take the bumper too, esp as its pre-painted.

Way too pricey IMO

I have seen 01-03 in decent shape for $6k-$8k range

Nice wagon though.

Love the wagon. If that was a 530i and stick I'd buy it!!

You should post this in the classified forum. Everyone on this forum already owns an e39.

And yes, it is WAY overpriced. KBB has your car valued at $7.8K. You might want to rethink your asking price. Good luck!

Good luck with sale, too bad it's not a 540I.

Originally Posted by kgorczyn

Way too pricey IMO

I have seen 01-03 in decent shape for $6k-$8k range

Nice wagon though.

Don't get me wrong I already said it was rich... but...

To defend OP a LITTLE bit... The E39 boards seem to be the kind of forums that have a tendency for people to flock out and say "ahhh I see mint perfect 30k mile examples all the time for $5k..."

In OP's corner:
- Touring not Sedan. Good Tourings are much harder to find. If I had a nickel for every sedan bozo who pointed out all the played out sedans as comps for wagons.... (not just talkin' E39's here...) We wagonheads know finding good ones are difficult.
- Touring Sport harder to find and a prize for people who want one.
- 2003 Touring Sport even harder to find and many think late-year E39 is worth a premium.
- Looks pretty minty. I admit from pix only but looks really good.
- 80k counts for "low miles" these days on our old cars.

You show me your mint 80k E39 comps. Then show me 80k Sport Touring E39 comps. IF you can find any. At all.

I shopped for a year or more coast-to-coast and I can tell you finding GOOD Tourings is not easy, but finding good SPORT Tourings with low miles is really tough.

Again I still think its rich but your basic beat on $6k crap 1999 E39 sedan listed on Craigslist has no bearing whatsoever on Sport Touring prices.

Originally Posted by Fudman

You should post this in the classified forum. Everyone on this forum already owns an e39.

And yes, it is WAY overpriced. KBB has your car valued at $7.8K. You might want to rethink your asking price. Good luck!

Yeah. For "specialty" models I take book values with a grain of salt. Maybe they are useful for Camry's and Accords or something. I am fully certain they manipulate prices down for the trade-in and private-sale numbers while bumping them up for used-from-dealer. I could go on about it (like its partially because their paying customers are auto dealers and also that the private sale numbers are pushed down by people mis-reporting sale prices to save sales tax...) But hitting Autotrader and Cars.com and Craigslist for comps IMO the only accurate way to know what value is. Only matters what your real alternatives are.

Just as example - Cars.com right now only has (4) 2003 E39 wagons, and they have 90-118k on them:
One is a 105k Sport for $8.6k so thats the bargain and closest supports the arguments here although 25k more miles.
Another 100k Sport that looks minty for $12k
Another 90k Non-sport that looks fair for $11k
Another 118k Non-sport looks very good for $10k

Golly F-in gee no mint 80k Touring Sports for $6k. What a suprize. I mean no offense but the way people ring in about markets they really don't know anything about is just silly...

While there is a sedan vs.touring. arguement; I tend to agree with a lot of the price bashers. While they do exaggeate often (like 6k for a mint 2001 540I), I find that it's mostly true. Only because of personal experience. I purchased my 2001 540i 6spd with every option and a full service history at a dealer auction for $6800. Got an inspection done and the stealership I went to only told me I needed new front trust arm bushings. So it's definately do-able to find one at a lower price. I just hope that goes for wagons too and the right buyer who is looking for that specific vehicle.

Originally Posted by senser

While there is a sedan vs.touring. arguement; I tend to agree with a lot of the price bashers. While they do exaggeate often (like 6k for a mint 2001 540I), I find that it's mostly true. Only because of personal experience. I purchased my 2001 540i 6spd with every option and a full service history at a dealer auction for $6800. Got an inspection done and the stealership I went to only told me I needed new front trust arm bushings. So it's definately do-able to find one at a lower price. I just hope that goes for wagons too and the right buyer who is looking for that specific vehicle.

Yeah but you're talking as a buyer like "is it possible to get a deal"... Whether "it is possible to find a low priced bargain" vs "what the average offering price" is in the market are 2 different things... A seller shouldn't have to price at "whats the lowest possible price i could find this car for" which is what the bashers seem to think... And buying wholesale is def a different story than what the open market is trading at...

Im not trying to pump up prices BTW, just sayin theres that "price basher" crew as you say, and in my real hunting experience, very hard to find great solid wagons at low miles.

Your 540 sounds like a great deal btw. I tried to get a few "broker agent" type guys to search auctions for me for a 540 Sport Touring and none wanted to bother and claimed it would be a waste of time. Maybe a BMW specialist broker would have taken the job, i dunno... One guy constantly searches for V70R wagons so why he wouldn't look for a 540 for me i still don't quite get...

My touring is a 2001 525i . Just turned 80000 miles this week. I turned down a offer of $ 12,000 this past Summer for mine.. Prices are all over the board for any e39.

Originally Posted by jp5touring

My touring is a 2001 525i . Just turned 80000 miles this week. I turned down a offer of $ 12,000 this past Summer for mine.. Prices are all over the board for any e39.

Thats probably a great point. Wide range - best / rarer configs (sport tourings) still get money sometimes, but lots of "driver grade" cars at lower price points.

According to what i've seen, there are anywhere from 10 to 15 times as many E39 sedans as there are E39 tourings. Considering the age of the E39, that the average touring owner now is probably a bit of an enthusiast in it for the long haul holding on to their babies, i certainly expect nice ones are going to get harder to find for sale, will be in demand by enthusiasts who are looking specifically for a touring, and will therefore be able to command higher prices than a "dime a dozen" sedan. From when i was looking a year ago, $12.5K is not entirely outside the realm of reasonable for a late model, low mileage, clean specimen.

According to KBB.com I'm supposed to find a mint 530i fully loaded for like $6k. Right. Just finding a E39 in Tampa is tough, not to mention one that not beat to freaking S***. And sport pkg stick? Um, there have been 2 within 500 miles since Oct on Autotrader and I bought one of them. Just checked tonight.... just the other one still up. SO yeah on these niche markets those sites are off. Look up the book value of a old Supra. Good luck getting one for 9k in mint condition with turbo and stick.

Ya don't listen to these people OP your car is a little pricey but I wouldn't sell that car for 1 dollar under 10k and 03 tourings are hard to find. An 03 touring sport and low mileage. I doubt you will find a single one for sale in the country so just hold on to your price. To be honest with you craigslist is full of **** cars, and the prices are half of the cars values and it leads people to believe that our cars are worth less. In other words I dont give a sh*t what kbb or anyone on here says my car isn't a 5k beater that anyone can own.... Again I would not sell that car under 10k

Sent from my PG86100 using Bimmer App

^Amen.

Originally Posted by senser

I purchased my 2001 540i 6spd .

import?

Originally Posted by geargrinder

I shopped for a year or more coast-to-coast and I can tell you finding GOOD Tourings is not easy, but finding good SPORT Tourings with low miles is really tough.

I completely agree.

Finding the car you describe with three pedals is ALMOST impossible. I searched for about 6 months before finding mine.

Another plus for the OP is that its a CA/TX car. Hopefully w/ no rust issues. The downside to his pricing is the upcoming maint. that will have to be done.........

Originally Posted by jp5touring

My touring is a 2001 525i . Just turned 80000 miles this week. I turned down a offer of $ 12,000 this past Summer for mine.. Prices are all over the board for any e39.

This is very true, it all depends on the condition and what the buyer wants. If the buyer wont accept a "decent" condition car, they will pay a premium for it. I know I paid over blue book for my touring at 92k