With its six-speed stick and M-Sport options, today’s BMW 540i has lots going for it. Let’s see if the price makes this a Bimmer to beat.

When Chevrolet released a new downsized Caprice in 1977 it represented a new era for the nameplate, reversing over a decade of expanding dimensions and ever more ponderous performance. To christen this new era of better packaging, performance, and efficiency, Chevy dubbed the new Caprice the “Classic.”

Oxymoronic as that may have been, the car still proved a success for the brand, as the nearly decade-later we looked at yesterday attests. Unfortunately for the seller, quite a few of you found the car’s $8,500 asking price equally contradictory. In the end, that resulted in an 80 percent No Dice loss for the sorta-big sedan.

It’s fairly easy to compare yesterday’s Chevy Caprice with today’s . After all, they are both rear-wheel drive four-door sedans powered by V8 engines.

That’s pretty much where the similarities end, though. And, I’d say that the Bimmer’s 290 horsepower M62 all-alloy V8 and slick Getrag 420G six-speed stick will make it a far more engaging whip than the 160-horse, three-speed slushbox Chevy. Of course, you do you in such decisions.

According to the ad, this black over sand 540i sports 131,000 miles on the odometer, and remarkably for a BMW of this age, that odo still seems to have all its pixels intact. It looks great on the outside and rolls on nearly new Michelin tires wrapping a set of handsome Style 66 alloys. Nicely, that wheel count even extends to the spare in the boot.

The interior shows some wear and tear on the seat leather and carpet. There’s also a minor issue with the use of black mats in a beige interior, but that’s probably just me. The rest of the cabin appears to be in perfectly usable shape and laudably stock, right down to the stereo head unit.

The M-Sport package adds a sport steering wheel and seats to the mix. Back in the boot things are tidy, although, there are a couple of tools missing in the lid-mounted kit, so a demerit for that.

Per the description, this clean-title car “needs nothing.” It is claimed to have had just two owners over the course of its life and has always been garage-kept. The ad also mentions that a service and inspection were been completed by a BMW service tech within the last month.

That all seems pretty appealing and there’s a funny thing about that appeal. If you do a Google search of this car’s VIN, you get some interesting results. First to pop up is this ad, naturally. What you then get is a bunch of “related searches on topics like “ 2002 BMW 540i reliability” and “2002 BMW m sport horsepower.” It seems a few folks have been checking this hot sedan out.

There has been plenty of time for them to do so, as the ad has been up for three full weeks. That may indicate a lack of interest in the car or a good bit of trepidation over its $13,000 asking price. We can’t do anything about the former, but the latter is why we’re all here.

What’s your take on this 540i and that $13,000 asking price? Does that seem like a price that should get a prospective buyer to pull the trigger? Or, is the seller just shooting themselves in the foot?

You decide!

Phoenix, Arizona, , or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to Jim Schurr for the hookup!

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