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Sorry I didn’t see this earlier. The car you mention is actually very solid. I picked up a 2005 530i last year to tinker with. My car also has the sport pack with active steering and dynamic drive. I have not had any issues with anything related to the sport pack. I was like you, in that I figured it would be something to break. In reality, it’s a very strong system and isn’t a common failure point. It’s one of the best driving, best handling cars I’ve ever driven. Since the car you are looking at is a manual, you won’t have anything to worry about with the automatics. And since it’s a 2004 it will have the M54 engine, which is very very solid. The water pumps are mechanical on the M54 and are about 45 bucks and takes about an hour to change, very easy. Same with the VCG, it’s much easier than on the N52. You should go for it, it’s so much fun!
I bought the car with about 160k and now I’ve put another 10k on it. One of the previous owners sort of neglected it so I had to put some work into it, along with some extra stuff I wanted to do to make it perfect. Here’s what I had to do when I first got it to make it road worthy:
Set of four tires
New cabin air filters (did not have any installed when I got it)
New engine air filter (old one was well beyond usable life)
Cleaned leaves from between radiator and condenser (common on E60s)
Cleaned leaves from evaporator box from engine bay
Oil change
Rear differential oil change
New A/C belt and Serpentine belt.
And here’s what I’ve done to restore it to its former glory:
Replace front and rear struts
Replace front control arms
Replace both front wheel hubs (bearings were shot. Making noise)
Replace front thrust arms
Four wheel alignment
Installed new ventilated comfort seats I bought from junkyard
Installed new headunit
Replaced headliner and front a pillar covers
New wiper blades
Replaced rear window beauty seals
Polished headlights
Wrapped steering wheel with new sew-on leather cover
Had Aux coded to radio by Bimmertech
I think that’s it. It’s a blast to drive, I actually drive it more than I drive my 2016 535i.
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