Akita47

Hello folks,
I've been thinking of buying a second hand E60 for a while. Due to my budget this will more than likely be a high mileage ex-fleet car, probably an '05 or '06.
The thing is, the more I'm finding out about these cars it seems like there's virtually no user-serviceability, which I've done on all my previous cars, BMW and non-BMW alike (my last one was a lovely white 535i msport and I have always missed it!!), and it sounds like an E60 could be an expensive car to maintain without a dealership warranty.

It could just be that people are obviously using these forums to get advice on their problems of course, but I'd like to hear about the general ownership experience in general, are they problem cars or not?

rsyed

where are you based? what engine are you looking at? diesel/petrol? and what is your budget?

Phantom Mark

If you own a laptop you could buy the data link cable and the software and do most of the "dealer" electronic resets etc yourself, you can still drop oil and change filters yourself easy enough, its only worthwhile if your gonna own the car long term tho IMHO.

Akita47

I'm in the UK up near Manchester. I'm looking at 525, 530 and 535 diesels, I do own a laptop, I work in IT, my father's in the auto trade (Toyota) and I have a friend with a German car servicing garage and I just checked - he has the cable and software you're talking about..

As for budget, undecided yet but not enormous, will be less than 10k I should imagine. I'll probably be waiting until the new registrations come out in the UK early 2009 and see what I can find..

Phantom Mark

I would definately plump for the 530d instead of the 525d IMHO, its more powerfull, more economical ( according to official BMW stats anyways )

No offence to any 525d owner btw , they may be aware of some benifits im not aware of.

You should idealy aim for a late 2005 model if you can, it has the later M57N2 engine, that means a slightly revised engine with different swirl flaps amoung other things ( you definately want those unless you wanna removed them completely from an earlier variant )

Rob Hall

Theres always going to be the runt of the litter as with any car, but i would say they are not a problematic car as a rule. With the right spec. a truly superb high performance saloon. I havnt found the ownership experience expensive and todate as service items have come up on the i drive, i have carried out the work and reset the service scedule without laptop. Mine hasnt seen a dealer yet. Thought it was wise to let an indy carry out the tranny oil change which i didnt think was worth the hassle of doing myself at ?200.
Biggest expense was the ditching of the rft's and found the ride of the sport dampers only suitable for snooker table smooth roads so opted for the koni fsd's which are a great compromise between ride and handling.
Ive also found genuine oe parts to be quite reasonably priced.

AlwynMike

Go for a car with a Start button, rather than a key start as they have the more powerful engines, as Rob said.
When going for a high miler, particularly at that age, think about the diesel particle filters - they are very expensive to replace, so check on the iDrive to see if they've been done. Hopefully any fleet car will have a good service history - any BMW dealer will be able to tell you what the car has and hasn't had done before you buy it.
If you're not frightened by high miles, then have a look at BMW's own auction sales of high mileage cars - look on the BCA website. There are some good, young cars come up fairly regularly, and of course the dealers won't touch them as they have astronomical mileages. If you don't mind three pedals, look for a manual gearbox as they can be significantly cheaper for the same spec. There are a few "vanilla" cars around if you can stand the "poverty spec", but they may be more difficult to sell on.

Mike

Akita47

Thanks for the advice, just the sort of insider info you need!
Excuse my ignorance - but what are rft's? that's an acronym I haven't picked up yet obviously.. I have heard that the ride can be quite firm but I've dropped every car I've ever owned so I'm sure it'll be like a magic carpet compared to what I've been used to!

I would definitely like a 530d, and if as you say they're just as economical as a 525 I see no reason not to aim for one of those. I would definitely prefer a manual too, I've driven my friend's 645 auto and Z4 3.0, and while they are nice enough boxes I've always been a manual driver and would prefer to stay that way.

I'll go check out the BCA and see what's around, thanks again!

AlwynMike

RFT's are Run Flat Tyres

They are King Awful

They spoil the ride, they are noisy, they are expensive, they cause the car to tramline very badly indeed.
If the car you look at has 16" wheels, they are "proper tyres" As "standard" 17" and 18" were RFT's. 19" are proper tyres.
An equivalent size proper tyre will be about 60% of the cost of an RFT.

Some people love them from the safely aspect, which I can't fault.
I hate them because I consider it ruins a good car.

You can buy chocolate button space saver wheels to fit in the wheel well (16" cars have them as standard, it was an extra otherwise) - these aren't the same as the E46 3 series spacesavers. Mr. BMW does a wheel kit for around ?180 including jack etc. I'm a cheapskate and got my local tyre factor to get me a new wheel and tyre (<?100), I use a normal wheelbrace (?3 from Lidl) and I have either a small telescopic hydraulic jack, and I have a jack from a Vauxhall Carlton that I modified to fit the BMW sill slots (modification was no-cost and took 5 minutes! - told you I was a cheapskate).

Mike

Akita47

Ahh of course the much maligned runflats! My other half is looking to buy a used 120d at the moment and the salesman was trying to tell her they were a great extra to have until I piped up with "well I hear they're sh*t" and strolled off to look at another car and left the mrs to grill him further