I am in quite a predicament. My 2005 545i has 106,300 miles on it and is starting to slightly leak oil out of the valve gaskets. My wife saw the repair bill quote and about killed me. She said get rid of it. So I listed it and found someone who wants to buy it for $13k; I am very happy with that but am still not sure. After finding what I think is reputable after market warranty, C.A.R.S., which seems to cover everything that can and will go wrong with these 4.4L engines for roughly $2k for 4 years/48,000 miles. In my mind it seems like a great idea keep the car that is your baby and you love almost as much as your wife or get good value out of it while it still has some value and is in good shape. Can everyone chime in and give me some of their feedback? I am so torn! Thanks!

 

That is a good offer. Sell it and save your marriage. You can always find a clean one later.

 

What are you going to replace it with? It's hard to imagine that you'd be buying anything new(er) and not taking an awfully big depreciation hit the moment you sign the papers. These cars aren't cheap to run, and yours is probably ready to have a mid-life crisis of sorts, but compared to a newer car that would be less immediately troublesome, fixing what you've got is probably going to be cheaper. If you go out and buy a Honda or something, and keep it for a long long time, different story, but replace it with a LCI 550i or something similar - or worse something new - it's going to cost you at LEAST as much as almost any conceivable repair in depreciation in the first few months of ownership.

 

The 545 is long-in-the-tooth

At worst, get an e60 550i (better v8 and better engineering all around). At best get a f10 5'er and get all the same power, with better mpg.

 

Hmm a new one or similar will probably cost you more money. If that warranty covers it, then I'd say go for it.

 

its only valve covers ?
How big of a job could that be?

 

My mechanic said $1400. But i think I am going to get something cheap save up for little and then get back into a BMW. The VW CC seems decent enough. Not great but will make the wife happy.