chosenone357

I recently bought a 06 550i with 47k miles. I haven't experience any problems and loving the ride!!!!!! At the time, I was looking to get a 07 550i but it was out of my price range. Mine is CPO. I didn't get the extended warranty because my mechanic works on BMW's....i just have to buy oem parts for some maint stuff and that is where the money comes in. Other than that, it's a good buy. Good luck

Lambda28

I've had my CPO 07 550i for about 5 months now. Only things I've taken her into the dealership were new break pads, windshield wipers, and vacuum fuel pump exchange. It kind of has to do with luck too... Like everyone has mentioned, get the extended warranty (CPO)...mos def worth the piece of mind. You will not be sorry with a 550, still grinning :-D

JeremyM

I am actually a new BMW owner myself and I could not be happier. I previously owned a couple of Lexus' and the difference is night and day.

I was looking for the car for a couple of months and finally came across an 04 545i with 67,000 miles. The car had Premium Package, Premium Sound, and the Cold Weather Package. It also came with the remaining CPO warranty until Sept. 17th of next year or 100,000 miles. Before I bought the car I had a pre-purchase inspection done, verified service records with BMW dealership, and verified the warranty information i was given was accurate. I bought the car for $17,700 and all of my friends think I am driving a $30,000 - $40,000 + car.

There is just something about this car that is great. Like mentioned ealier the smell, the feel, the performance, the ride just make you want to go drive all day.

I also fix most things myself and hope that I can keep some repair costs down after the warranty expires by doing some of the work myself. I love fixing thing myself, pride of ownership I guess.

psam550

BMW is a totally different animal then Lexus. If you have grown accustomed to the Lexus ride (very quite and smooth) and want more of the same-- you will not like the 550. Rather, stick w/ Lexus or look at MB (old man). BUT, if you are tired of the smooth (boring) ride, and want road feel and performance, you will love the 550. My only advise would be to get a 2007 LCI version-- the rear lights are way better then the '06. Don't worry about I-Drive-- it is easy to operate, once you get the hang of it. Reliability, unfortunately, is not nearly as good as the Japanese cars. (I guess they have as just many crack heads in Germany working on cars as they do in Detroit.)

I seriously considered the Lexus GS 350/500. Nice car-- but in the end, I decided it was a chick car. (And the Jag is a pimp-mobile.) The Infiniti M45 is very nice. If you are looking for a compromise car, one that tries to do it all-- look at Acura RL All wheel drive. (I had a Acura Legend Coupe for years. I loved that car. I drove that naturally aspirated V6 very hard for 10 years--- it never complained and was always ready to go and sounded sweet. But I wanted a V8. Honda refuses to make one-- damn tree huggers. If Honda ever made a naturally aspirated V8, it would be awesome. Instead, they put out V6s on steroids (V-Tech)-- way to winy when driving hard and not enough on the low end.)

Good luck!

wolf

Let me stress on the "big repair each year" - this was the case when milage got higher and the car got about 6 or 7 years old. Before that it was general maintenance but even that can be expensive. Don't get me wrong, the car is great to drive - but just more expensive as it gets older than would be a Lexus or Acura.

I will point out that when I sold my 528, I purchased a brand new Acura RL. I purchased it as it had the best bang-for-the buck and great reliability - I figured in the long run it would be more affordable. I drove it for about 5 months or so and ended up selling it and getting a 550. The Acura was a great car but nothing like a BMW when it came to sporty driving. (I took a big depreciation hit....I should have gone straight to the BMW!)

swajames

My experience is not representative, as evidenced by the many very satisfied 550 owners here on the forum, but my 550i Sport was, unfortunately, the least reliable car I've ever owned by some margin... My particular 550i spent well over a month at the dealer during my first six months of ownership. Great car when it worked, not so good when it caused me to miss client meetings... Anyway, BMW eventually took it back and I look back at the car fondly - but with some regret that it wasn't built quite as well as it really should have been. My prior 545, on the other hand, was generally pretty good.

General consensus here is dead on - there are more reliable cars than a modern BMW, but few that hit the spot quite as well as a modern BMW... I'd buy a CPO E60 without reservation, but I'd be a little concerned about getting myself into a high end E60 without a warranty.

johnny13oi

The CPO 550i I am looking at has the M Sport package. The M Sport package looks amazing and I really like it but there is a small concern for me. Would you think that the M Sport package is an indicator that the original owner drove the car really hard or would you say not? I just really like the looks of the M Sport package.

johnny13oi

Sorry Double Post.

swajames

They're designed and (generally) built to be driven hard - that's nothing to worry about. If the car is a CPO, and it generally checks out, I'd not be at all concerned.

For some extra peace of mind you could ask your dealer to show you the CPO checklist and (if possible) the service history. They should be able to get you the info irrespective of where the car was bought and serviced (provided the work was done at a BMW dealer).

sdg1871

Do not get 550 without the sport package. The 550 has a ton of power and you want the firmer suspension and summer performance tires to extract the max performance. There is a huge gulf in handling between the sport suspension and the non-sport suspension -- like night and day.

Yes most 550s with sport package are driven hard. They are meant to be driven hard. That is their purpose.