At $16,500, Does This 2003 BMW 540i M Sport Have A Sporting Chance?

Today’s Nice Price or No Dice 540i M-Sport is touted by its seller as the perfect “poor man’s M5.” We’ll have to see about that, as well as just how poor you could be and still afford the car.

2024 BMW 530i xDrive | First Drive

Standing out is not the same thing as being outstanding, and with its flamboyant styling, the 2000 Pontiac Firebird we looked at yesterday was the former and not the latter. According to the ad, it likewise suffered from a couple of significant ancillary issues but was otherwise mechanically sound, and had a T-top roof. The seller set a modest $3,995 asking price in light of its condition. That proved begrudgingly reasonable to the majority of you, who flipped the ’Bird a solid 59 percent Nice Price win.

Hey, what’s the best car in the world right now? The new Tesla Model 3 Performance? Porsche 911 GTS? Heck, there are so many great cars out there these days that it’s hard to choose just one for the top of the dog pile.

That wasn’t the case 20-odd years ago. The general consensus of people who issued such edicts at the time was that the BMW E39 was, hands down, one of the—if not the—best car in the world. In fact, even I thought it was pretty much a banger at the time.

Now, the fact of the matter is that time wounds all heels, and both technology and people’s preferences tend to move on. The odd thing is, however, the E39, especially a rare and covetable 2003 540i M Sport model with the Getrag 420G six-speed manual gearbox, still ranks high on car enthusiasts’ lust-o-meter.

The seller of this silver-on-black edition claims to have bought it on a whim but now wants to see it gone. It seems that family fun has encroached on their driving time, and they already have an E30 as a getaway car.

BMW offered the M Sport package to the already well-sorted 540i beginning in 2003. Aesthetically, it bridged the gap between the standard car and the M5 edition, featuring the latter’s more aggressive bumpers and aero aides, while upgrading the interior with sport seats and a three-spoke wheel.

Other enhancements included 18-inch Style 37 alloys and ///M badges seemingly everywhere. Under the hood sits the all-alloy M62 V8, rocking 4398 ccs and making 290 horsepower and 325 lb-ft of torque. That’s enough to push the mid-sized saloon to sixty in just over six seconds.

This one looks to be clean as a bean and, per the seller, comes with a clean title and a well-documented maintenance history. There are 152,600 miles on the car, but it doesn’t show them, presenting in the ad as unmarred outside, inside, and under the hood. The ad touts a “FULL suspension refresh” featuring Bilstein struts and shocks and all the bendy bits. A new clutch and flywheel were also installed not too many miles ago, so that shouldn’t be an issue. In fact, it looks like all the car’s pain points have been addressed at some point over the course of its life.

For fun stuff, the car has been imbued with a weighted shift knob (still a BMW part, it’s reassured) and a rear end out of an automatic car offering a shorter final drive. The cabin looks awesome and the boot is promised to delight with a full complement of “official” BMW tools in the lid-mounted tray. On the outside, the M-parallel wheels have been powder-coated black, which is something of a love-it or hate-it proposition. On the plus side, those are fitted with new BF Goodrich meats.

The seller obviously loves this car—however, not enough to keep it—and avers in the ad that they have so much more to say about it. They also brag that they could put it on Bring a Trailer and get more than they are asking here on Craigslist. If such a boast is accurate, we have to ask, why choose this more plebeian venue?

Another question is whether the car, as it sits, is worth the $16,500 price tag the seller has set. That’s actually the more important quandary and one that we can address right now.

What’s your take on this rare and seemingly well-sorted edition of what was once considered the best car on the planet and that current $16,500 asking price? Does that seem fair, given the car’s presentation and description? Or, even for the best, is that the worst?

You decide!

Seattle, Washington, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Paul Lee for the hookup!

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