I learned to drive on an old 528e -- yeah, the redline was about 4500, but it had a diesel-like low end and was incredibly forgiving for a new driver. The fact that it only had 120 hp or so didn't hurt the handling any either.

The car lasted till about 175k miles, when someone decided to drive diagonally across some toll booth lanes and plow into us coming off the Turnpike. Car was literally bent at the front fender line, but still drove and everyone in the car was unhurt.

BUY IT! And if some gauges don't work and the "service" warning lights are on, you may have to take the dash cluster out and replace a couple of NiCads that are no doubt past their use by date now.