BMW 5 Series E39 History and Specs

The proportion of chassis components using aluminium significantly increased for the E39, and it was the first 5 Series to use aluminium components in the front suspension. It was also the first 5 Series where a four-cylinder diesel engine was available. Rack and pinion steering was used for the first time in a 5 Series, being fitted to the E39 four-cylinder and six-cylinder models. Unlike its E34 predecessor and E60 successor, the E39 was not available with all-wheel drive.

The M5 sedan was introduced in 1998, powered by the 4.9-litre S62 V8 engine.

Development for the E34’s successor began in 1989, and ended in 1995. The final design by Joji Nagashima was selected in June 1992 and later frozen for production under new design chief Chris Bangle. With design selection in 1992, the series development phase began and took 39 months till start of production.

In May 1995 BMW published the first official photos of the E39. The E39 premiered in September 1995 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. In December 1995 sales of sedan models began on the European mainland. Production of wagon/estate models began in November 1996.

BMW 5 Series E39 Model Line

At launch, the petrol engines consisted of the M52 straight-six and M62 V8, which were both new engines at the time. In 1998, the “technical update” (TU) versions of these engines were introduced, which introduced double VANOS to increase torque at low rpm. At the 2000 facelift (LCI), the M52 straight-six engine was replaced by its successor the M54, however the M62TU remained in use for the V8 models. The M54B30 (in the E46 330i and E39 530i) topped the Ward’s 10 Best Engines list in 2002 and 2003.

The initial diesel models used the M51 straight-six turbo-diesel engine. In 1998, its successor the M57 was introduced, however the M51 also remained in production for two more years. In 1999, the M47 four-cylinder turbo-diesel was introduced in the 520d model, which is the only E39 model to use a four-cylinder engine.