545i transmission woes!

 

I'd try and stay 2006 and up. Go for a 550i instead.

 

I don't want to talk you out of it, because I really loved my 545i, but I won't buy another one. I had the dealer I bought the car from do an inspection and then also took the car to Classic BMW in Dallas for an inspection. Service history and those inspections cleared the car so I took bought it and took to Indy from Dallas. After 6 months I was as happy to sell the car (for a loss) as I was when I bought it. I averaged $755/mo in repairs and the car was in the shop literally every month. I had problems with my alignment, passenger's airbag sensor, thermostat (more than once), blower motor, secondary air valve (emissions), transmission hesitation, oil leak, etc. I bought my car with around 83k miles and sold it with 93k. I was in the shop with the 545i more than every other car I've owned for me and/or my wife. The car was a blast to drive, looked great and was tons of fun but very costly. I likened it to an incredibly dysfunctional relationship... for awhile you somehow tell yourself that the problems aren't that big of a deal because you love the car. After awhile it wears on you.

 

Got my '05 545i about a month ago, has 62k miles on it. i did my research and went in with eyes open. i picked up an AUL Extended Warranty for 4yrs/48k mi. Already used it to have the alternator replaced. I would never have bought the car w/out the warranty. $298 out of pocket for a pulley and radiator thermostat. E60 is just too pretty a car Good luck on your decision!

 

I'm amazed to read all these coments. I have 100K miles on mine without any problems at all. Excellent car!!!!!

 

I bought mine with 90,000 about a year ago, now at 114K and no major trouble (knock wood). The previous owner did have the radiator replaced.

 

I love my 05' 545 but I put so much money into repairs I can't decide to keep it or sell it at this point.

 

I just bought a 2005 545 6mt with 68000 miles. Called BMW na and asked about open recalls and for the selling dealer. Contacted the dealer for maintainence records. Everything checked out so now I hopefully have a good one. The only thing is I bought it from a dealer that offered shady extended service contracts, so I did not buy one. Still investigating the buy or not options for extended warranties. Good luck, but like others have said, do research.

 

I totally agree, but otherwise my 545i has been very good so far. No major issues at all...knocking on wood. Just replaced spark plugs and she runs nice and smooth. Drove it today for 6 hours from Toronto to Montreal again without a hiccup and in a major snow storm to boot.

If however I wanted to buy another car, I will buy an E60 530i or 528i (stay with the 6 cyl and 6 speed manual)

 

Interesting responses;

For what it's worth the October 2011 issue of Bimmer magazine has an article on the E60 and they report that "N62 V8s seem to be more reliable than any of the sixes". Sixes are getting dinged for the HPFP problems on the turboed version and was the main reason I purchased my 545.

Many items noted in the previous list also apply to the six powered E60's.

Full disclosure: I have a 128 in addition to the 545, so I'm not insinuating any sort of superiority or preference of the V8 over the I6. Hopefully they will both last a long time with proper preventative maintenance.