Most reliable european car for around 5k?

I am looking for a car for around 5k. I know euros and not the most reliable cars you can buy and are more expensive to run (essepesialy in the us) but In my eyes its worth it for the refinement you find in a european car. I was looking at the E39 V6 5 series since BMW has been making that engine forever but do you know of any more reliable cars?

Hmmm ... I would say a Audi 80 B4 2.0E is something that may run forever on fuel, oil and wear parts. If you take care of it!
But I think they sold those as Audi 90 in the US only with 2.6E and 2.8E engines.
Their body is fully galvanised and especially the 2.0E engines are very reliable.

Just to correct you, it's not a V6 it's an R6 (straight) engine. If you want to go the E39 route, look for a 528i or 530i. With the 528i i'd pick the TUB version, you get a small improvement on the fuel consumption and it's more durable than it's older brother with single vanos ( at least in europe). If you're buying an automatic, make sure the oil has been changed in the AT regularly, if it hasn't i'd stay away from it since a rebuild isn't wallet friendly.

You could look into the MB E class (W211), 320 is supposedly nice. Just look for the facelifted version. Main thing too look out on that car would be the Airmatic system ( if it has it). New bags run around a 1000€ a piece. The bags usually have to be replaced after 120k miles.