[CommieBobDole]

My E39 (which is a beacon of reliability for the brand) had a radiator neck made of a kind of plastic that becomes brittle with prolonged exposure to heat. It's a good thing there's no heat associated with the radiator. "Replace the entire radiator" was a ~70k mile maintenance task.

[CobaltFire]

Yup, mine blew apart in traffic on H1 (Oahu) at 35MPH when the car (530i) was ~3 years old. I think it had maybe 35k miles on it.

Dealer offered to allow me to pay extra for an all aluminum since that’s what they recommended but the factory wouldn’t cover.

[karolist]

E39 beacon of reliability, is this sarcasm? I really can't tell

[CommieBobDole]

It's not, actually - the E39s are incredibly reliable compared to more recent models. I drove mine for 20 years.

That said, it's the difference between "fairly unreliable" and "spectacularly unreliable".

[CobaltFire]

I miss mine enough I’ve been debating on buying another.

A 530i Sport with a manual (!!!) popped up near me for a song but I just can’t justify it.