Krakensdad

Hello all.

new to the forum and am hoping to be a long time user of the site.
Im after some advice, I'm going to look at a 525 e60 tomorrow and hoping that someone could have a look at https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F232552002077

if someone could have a look and advise if it looks good vale. Should I have concerns for the mileage?

any help would be appreciated

cheers

B_Schnell

I drive a 2004 545i purchased pre-owned in 2006, now at 121K miles, and had a warranty for a couple years.
Do not buy and older BMW without a warranty!!! Althought the 545i's have what many say is the worst engine BMW ever built the N62 and prone to too many problems to list here, here are plenty of issues with the E60 which includes the 6 cylinders with the VF Tranny leaks at low mileage, there are 3 issues the pan which is plastic starts leaking anywhere form 30 to 50K miles, then the mechatronics sleave inside the tranny, then the electrical connector part can leak. All of these 3 components can start to leak tranny fluid at any time. I had to replace the pan and mechatronics sleave twice at 40K miles by the dealer and again at 80K miles myself. Dealer get around $1,500 for this job. Then electrical issues, wiring harness, computer. I have had my wiring harness and computer replaced (under warranty) my adaptive headlights no longer work and costs too much to fix. The battery which costs $400 has been replaced 3 times. My intake manifold which costs $4K for the part and another 5oo or so for labor had an air leak and would not allow the car to pass smog. Just replaced the valve-stem seals which go out around 100K to 120K miles and then the secondary exhaust ports were clogged with carbon and then the heads had to be removed and machined to clean so would pass smog. cost $6,000. Then the secondary air pump failed which would not allow the car to pass smog that costs $600 and they go out around 100K miles as water leaks from washing the car or rain and rusts out the electric motor. Then there is the maintenance. Tires, due to the negative camber you are lucky to get more than 15k miles a year. new tires 275/30/20 costs about $275 each. the AC compressor had to be replaced over $1,500 for that job. The Alternator replaced around 70K miles $1,500. The valve cover gaskets a major PITA on the V8 costs about $2,000 for that job and has been done 3 times now on my car. Then the infamous central valley cooling pipe on the N62 V8 has been done twice. The first time under warranty BMW's fix is to remove the engine to replace the pipe at an estimated cost of around $7,000. The Inline 6 is easier to work on because there is only 1 cylinder bank, but still BMW gaskets suck and leak at low mileage compared to other manufactures. I have an Excel with all the repairs done since I owned it and have over $30,000 estimated. About half were done when I had the warranty, the other half not. Once you spend the money and fix the car runs great, but you want to sell until you realize how little you would get for it. Would I ever buy another BMW? hope this helps.

Nadhir

I have an 07 530xi for a little over a year now and I love it. No complaints at all. Have I had to do work on it? Sure. That’s every car you’ll ever own and that’s life. Only ‘problem’ I’ve had was that an eccentric shaft sensor got bad and had to be replaced. Other than that, o had to replace both front brake calipers. Everything else I’ve done was preventative maintenance because I wanted to. Bought it at 90k miles and its currently at 108k.

Only thing im going to say is that you need to do your homework. These are beautiful cars but it’s not a $15k car. If the car is messed up then it’s going to be expensive to fix depending on what’s wrong. When you repair a car, you repair it based on the purchase price and not the actual value of the car. Keep that in mind.

Do do your research on that specific car to know what goes wrong and know what will go wrong. A lot of people sh** on their cars and treat it like it’s nothing then get mad when their car brakes down due to lack of maintenance. There are always exceptions but if the car has been well maintained then you shouldn’t have any issues.

chris30o0

Do yourself a favour and do not buy the cheapest on the market, just because it "still looks good".
There can be a lot of work coming your way - you might just as well get lucky too though.

Since this thread is already 1 week old: Any news?

KyleB

How mechanically incline are you? If this is your first BMW and you're looking at cars from the 2004 era I'd recommend an E46 as your first BMW. The E60 is a great car but not for the faint of heart when things break.

good luck.