I am going to look at a 06 530xi in a few days. The car has a N52 with a auto trans and has about 198k miles. The car is one owner and they have all the service records. What are some common issues that these cars have? And how reliable are they compared to a e46?

 

Search on here, there is a thread on the five most common issues.

e46 is known to be problematic. I used to own one as well. My e60 is much better in terms of reliability.

 

alright thanks

 

I believe they were...

1. starter
2. oil pan gasket
3. blower unit
4. mechatronic sleeves
5. disa valves

 

Ok thanks. Im going to look around on the forms some more and see what else i can find as i have never owned a 5 series

 

There's more, I was just stating common ones.

I really wouldn't go looking for all possibilities because then you'll become hyper-vigilant. Just enjoy your e60, and cross that problems bridge when or if it happens.

 

All the E60s should be nearing 200k and above and the one you're looking at is 16 years old. Common issues are out the window at this point. You're looking at part and module failures due to old age at this point. You're also looking at where the car was registered, type of ownership which really comes into play if you're the third or fourth owner. If the car you're looking at was not being maintained meticulously just skip over it since this is your first one. The price may be good but it's what you have to put into it to get it back to what it should be that's going to kill you if you don't know how to work on them mechanically or technically. Mine is an 05 and although I've kept it maintained over the 15 years of me owning it things happen and if I didn't know how to work on them myself it would be $$$ out of my pocket. I can only speak for the M54 version but mine has been as reliable as you can expect out of a 17 year old car. In July I drove it 9hrs without an issue but then again I take car of my cars. At the end of the day it's a BMW. It cost to own one no matter how old it is or what you paid for it. No amount of searching is going to give you the answer you are looking for because each car has its own problems at this age.

 

I must be an outlier then. Mine has 140k. But I used to own 3 BMWs.

 

The spendy items (off the top of my head, not meant to be a definitive list) would include the Mechatronics "refresh", the electric water pump and thermostat, the likely oil leaks (valve cover gasket and oil filter housing / cooler), and to be safe, the starter and oil separator and hoses (best done together because of the disassembly required to do any of it). The suspension would be very tired by now if it hasn't been done. That means struts and shocks as well as pretty much every rubber bit (bushings, control arms, ball joints, etc.).

Since you have records for the car, check the above items off if they HAVE been done. If they haven't, plan on doing all of those items soon after buying the car. The cost will depend mainly on whether you can DIY them, or will be forced to rely on a shop (bring lots of money).

 

What about servicing the transmission especially the mechatronic sleeve? None of the BMW guys, dealer or the Indy, would touch the transmission