05 Lagacy vs. 1999 540i

[mcchicken]

Hello.....I'm new to the board.

I'm looking for a new business vehicle. I'm almost sold on an 05 Legacy GT Lmt Sedan.....but I can take over someone's lease on a 1999 540i with the M package. The car currently has 87,000km on it which will allow me to put on another 24,000km over the next 8 months. It also has an extended warrenty to 120,000km. I'm a little concerned about running into reliability issues and the expense associated with that. How reliable are these cars once they get up to and over 100,000km (60,000miles)? Is there something I can read which has some reliability stats?

The other issue is winter driving. The car comes with winter tires but it's not exactly an ideal daily driver for Canadian winters are they?

Any input is much appreciated....thanks.

[silverlea]

In the snow a 4 wheel drive is always going to have the edge......not difficult to come to that conclusion.........however there is no comparison in quality between the two cars. The E39 540i is one of the best engines you will ever find.Looks like you have quite a bit of cover there with the warranty.

Good Luck.
SILVERLEA.

[sp0rky]

If i were in your situation, I would go for the legacy... unless part of your job is to impress others

Anyway... the 540 is great, but once your up over 100,000mi its not really gonna be reliability issues as much as expensive maintenance. The legacy will give you a lot more trouble-free operation since it is brand new. Its also a pretty damn nice car!

the 540 will just be a little faster (maybe), a little sportier, a little more luxurious, etc.

[mcchicken]

Thanks for the quick responses. I guess I could contact a dealer and find out what the maintenance shcedule is during the time I will have the car. A little worried about being stuck with a big bill once the lease is up as well.

[sp0rky]

Maintenance schedule is just inspection 1 and 2 every other 15k miles..

so 15k - insp. 1 , 30k insp2, 45k insp1 again, and so on (example)
and your oil changes in between each.

However when i say maintenance i dont mean the schedule, im talking about minor repairs here and there to keep the car in tip-top shape. it gets real expensive after a while. Read some of these other threads on this board about purchasing an e39 to get a sense of what im talking about and what you might be getting yourself into.

good luck and enjoy either car