I am considering buying either a 2007 525i or 530i, can someone share their experience, and what problems have come up over the time. I currently own a 2003 330i, and had nothing but trouble with this car. I am now trying to decide whether to stay with BMW.

 

To be honest the best resource is this website itself..Have a read through the threads on Gearbox / Transmission issues that's quite hot at the moment! S/W iterations are always hot topics!

 

I've had my 5 since Feb 2004. Any issues have been minor and are well documented in this forum, including creaking door seals and a transmission "slam". Door seals were replaced in July 2005 and the creaking has stayed away so far! Transmission "slam" was actually a harsh downshift from 2nd to 1st in the Steptronic tranny. Was corrected with a software update and has not come back. Other minor issues included a recall that invloved another software update and cracked headlight brackets that took 20 minutes to replace.

I'm sure others will respond with various software/electronic gremlins, that if you spend some time reading through this forum, are fairly common though most are minor but annoying.

Overall, I have been extremely pleased with my 5 and love every chance I get to drive it...

 

I've ran BMW's for the last 7 years, in which time I have had 5 3-series (3 coupes, a touring and a boring old 316) and my current e60.

In all of these cars I have only had 2 significant problems - an engine valve failure on my 318 touring (early valvetronic engine) and an air con thermostat failure on the same car.

This is for an estimated total of 235,000 miles!

I bought my e60 second hand (all my other cars were company cars) with 1 year left on warranty.

From what I have learned so far (with my car) and from this forum, the significant problems with the e60 are almost all associated with the i-drive and buggy software, which causes a myriad of problems from false warning lights to odd gearchange effects to faulty window operation etc..

In your position you are getting a new car, which should not feature many of the faults prevalent with the earlier models, with a 3 year warranty. Frankly, I think you have nothing to worry about.

 

I still love my 2004 545 Manual. No automatic transmission software issues for me, and great fun. The Dunlop runflats on the sport package are harsh, I suppose, but I'm going to be congratulating myself the day I have a puncture on a highway in the sleet in the middle of the night. I did get a fresh set of tires for free at 8,000 miles or so, by cashing in on the BMW/Dunlop replacement program due to early noise and wear. (I'm not sure I would have noticed the noise without this fantastic website, but I figured I'd tell the story and get a fresh set while they were essentially free for the asking.)

I think it's a great mix of sport plus practicality because of its size (real adults can sit in the back seat, and with fold-down rear seats and a big trunk, it can haul a fair amount of mild utility things around for my needs).

This board is great, but just be aware that those who are active on this board are the experts, who are very demanding of their cars. They are hypersensitive to every aspect of their cars, so there is lots of nitpicking. Most posters here, despite complaining, are happy, I think. But I do find myself getting more nitpicky.

I have to say, if my car did the auto transmission slam thing very much, I would be furious, and embarrassed if it did so with guests in the car (who would justifiably ridicule me for blowing $60K on a car with a crap transmission). That's about the only systematic thing I've heard of that really needs fixing. So get a manual.

 

Extremly pleased owner. 8000km till now and there was nothing to go wrong till now. Except the windows anti-trap error, but that was cured easily without a software upgrade.
Anyway the fact is that i felt the same way when my car was ordered, i read alot of problems on the e60 discussion forum. But then i realised that those were some local/isolated cases, not to mention the fact that some people are waaaaay too exagerated when it comes to "car problems". Also think about it, not every pleased owner gets to post about how please he is. He's just pleased and that's all, not smth that special to make it public. If that would happen to all pleased owners (for everyone to start a thread) then the e60 disccusion would be overwhelmed by those kind of topics. Those that have problems of course post them because they want to find some advice or assistance...

 

I would be definitely getting a manual, as sthat what I have right now. I could live with paying a visit to a dealer every 6months, now its seems every 3 or so.

 

If your having a "special relationship" with your dealer! Otherwise you'll only need to visit once a year at service time.

 

I've had my 2005 530i, with steptronic for a year now. Bought it new. Also had a 525i, automatic for 8 years which I traded in for the 530i. Hardly any maintenance issues with both. Sometimes though the 530i computer gets confused about the radio function and one time the parking lights stayed on too long. These issues fixed themselves on next car startup. I did have a steptronic slam one time due to trying to downshift from sport to 3rd at high vehicle speed to quickly. The transmission apparently was still processing the previous shift command. No problems since then. Also I watch my shifts a little more now since a new transmission is not in my game plan.