You guys seem to be doing ok without the taxes by all the bleating.;-)

The 535d is still quite new and very expensive secondhand. I've not seen
one under 30,000 gbp. The E39 540 on the other hand can be bought cheaply
- well under 5000 gbp for an early one.

That's why they're so cheap.  Big cars are bought new by the rich but
there's not the demand by Joe public in the used car market, especially
when they get out of warranty.

There was no 535d E39 that I know of, but you can get a 530d.  It's
difficult to say for sure, prices varying so much, but they seem to be about
£1k more expensive than the 540i, on average.  The 540i does 0-60 in 6.5ish
and the 530d probably 7.5?  If the 540 averages 25mpg and the 530d 35mpg,
and you do 10,000 miles a year with fuel £4.50 per gallon, in the 530d you
spend £1285 and in the 540 £1800.  So it costs £515 (halve that for dollars)
a year extra to run the 540i which cost you £1000 less to buy and is a more
enjoyable car (in my opinion) and faster.  The diesels, though very good for
what they are, do still sound rough compared to petrol, and the V8 has a
nice burble.  I bet it feels a lot faster than it looks on paper too; it's a
big engine in a low state of tune.

But don't tell anyone because I have reasons for wanting the prices of 540s
to stay low.

It gets really interesting when you look at the relative costs of buying an
economical car, say a newish Focus diesel with 50mpg, for £10k against
buying something like a 540i for £5k with 25mpg.  Basically, if you assume
service costs are similar  -  my E34 525i has been one of the cheapest cars
I've had to maintain  -  it costs £1000 a year extra for the 540i if you do
12k miles so the 540 is cheaper for the first 5 years.  The Focus would be
newer but it's still a Focus.