pjinca

Good points, I don't obsess about it that much really, but when I smell or hear something that's not right I do want to make sure it isn't me. I have to admit, I have never worried about if my new brake pads failed, I have always installed my own and bedded them properly.

Most of the time, the music is up, the windows are down (gotta love living in SoCal), and the car is humming along.

ronniegoode

Rule No. 1 NOBODY drives my baby

balbs

You may be feeling some sort of PTSD from your last accident and somewhat worried about how your car is fixed up...It's normal.

BimmerFan52

Of course I am paranoid, and for two (IMO) very good reasons:

1. I enjoy driving it so much that I hate to be without it.

2. Let's be honest with ourselves - these cars break more often than most other cars. And the parts are expensive.

This is the sixteenth car I have owned (including two Porsches), nearly all purchased new, and never, ever, ever, on any of my previous cars (most with as many miles as my 545i and a few with twice as many miles as my 545i) did I ever have an alternator fail, a leak in my transmission, a dashboard display screen go bad, a water pump go bad, a major oil leak in the engine requiring its removal, a burst coolant overflow tank or a brake booster pump fail. Was I just lucky, good at picking reliable cars or did I maintained my cars well? I never had even one of these failures on fifteen previous cars but I have had all of them on my 545i.

So yes, I am very sensitive to any change in the engine sound, smell or vibration.

It's tough living with a high-strung stallion, but I fully admit there is nothing like sinking the spurs into her and then hanging on for the wild ride!

LessIsMore

in bold below -


545is are the most problem-prone of any of the E60's, so i think that fact, combined with your prior good luck/maintenance on other cars, is making for such a disparate experience. However since you said you've been buying cars mostly new, and based on your total count I assume you must swap them out every year or three at least depending on your age, you may not actually have owned the cars long enough to have the problems above show up. Whereas a 545i is at least 7 years old ... so can't compare the problem list of a 2 year old car to a 7-8 year old car.

If I'm wrong about swapping cars frequently, and instead of selling them you're simply amassing a huge car collection over the years , and did/do own the other cars into the same age, please pardon.

balbs

"a brake booster pump fail.
bad luck"

Actually I believe there's a brake booster recall for the 545 and 550.

KLR4LIFE

Yes there is and most cars already got the fix, the newest recall was the battery cable, which is a simple fix.

BimmerFan52

You don't need to defend BMW, and I hope that by your mentioning that each item breaks on other cars too your point is not that you consider the BMW overall to be as reliable as some other cars (read Japanese). It is a different, high-performance animal, but in the department of reliability it falls behind.

I love the performance, and the maintenance is what it is. I understand the items I listed break on other cars too, but I personally have not seen so many things on one car before.

All of my cars were ridden long and hard. I am including all of the cars I purchased for myself, my wife and my kids. I have done the pm maintenance and repair on all of them unless the problem is over my head. Most of the cars were driven 80K-110K miles, with three going to 180K miles (944 Turbo, 911, Camaro, RX7, 2 Camrys, Avalon, Maxima, Pontiac 6000, Quest, SC430, Accord, Altima Coupe, Pinto and Forerunner in no particular order).

Yeah, the 545i is the problem child of the E60s, no doubt. Luckily most of the repairs on mine weren't done while I owned the car. I have the complete service records back to when the car was two years old with 18K miles on it.

And don't misunderstand. I was not surprised or blindsided by the maintenance needs of a BMW. I clearly knew what I was getting into and would do it again in a heart beat. The car I bought was in outstanding condition inside and outside, and was maintained for the last four years under a bumper to bumper warranty at a BMW dealer. All items were repaired with a $50 deductible so it was babied, lacked nothing, still had four months left on the extended warranty when I bought it and was a bargain for the money I paid.

pjinca

I have to be honest, my car has been VERY reliable (one of the reasons I specifically chose the M54 engine in my E60 - it had been made by BMW for years and was extremely reliable, as almost all NA I6's from BMW are). The common thing that go wrong with it is the oil filter housing gasket, that's about it really.
The other stuff? My CCC unit and TCU did fail, the LCD screen in the middle of the gauge cluster also seemingly failed (however that was fixed with a reset at the dealer, not a replacement).
Other than that nothing really except for my rough idle that I posted about earlier - which is the first mechanical issue I have had with the engine.
I have owned 37 cars, and my E60 has been i the top 5 in terms of reliability.

BimmerFan52

You did exactly what I have done on most (not all but most) of my other cars. Read reviews and picked cars, especially those for basic transportation, based upon their reputation for reliability.

When I purchased the 545i I knew BMW was not known for reliability, and the 545i in particular was a stinker. But I wanted to couple balls out speed with outstanding handling at a reasonable price and it fit the bill perfectly.