I've been the mostly happy owner of a 2008 E61 535xi for the last year. I do about 25,000 miles a year almost all highway miles and bought this car because it is the perfect swiss army knife of a car. I can throw the dog in the back, drive to Lake Tahoe in winter without worrying about snow chains, it gives me a very comfortable commute and has never actually left me stranded at the side of the road.

My dilemma is this. Every time this car goes near a dealer it ends up in for a couple of weeks while they fix a laundry list of things wrong with it. I had intended to keep this car for many years and have it occupy a role as long term dog and snow transport. I had a W124 Merc back in the UK that I ran for ten years in this role and it performed admirably. I've been servicing the car on the Bav Auto recommended maintenance schedule since picking up the car late 2011. I'm worried that once the warranty expires it will bankrupt me in short order.

The car has had four HPFPs, had a large amount of the body electronics replaced due to the dreaded sunroof clogging (modified the drains too) and now it is getting a new steering rack, a fresh set of turbos and the valves walnut blasted to remove the carbon build up, three new speakers in the back and a new satellite radio module.

I was speaking to the dealer's service foreman and his advice was to keep it because they have gone around and addressed a lot of the persistent issues in the N54 and with my new turbochargers fitted they should see me through at least the next 100k. I've had 200k BMWs before and they behaved fine once out of warranty but none have had the level of complexity of the E61.

Typically when I get to 100k I'll invest some money in a thorough service, recondition any nicks and scratches on the bodywork and get any faults fixed and I would do the same with this car.

Part of the dilemma is that I wouldn't know what to replace it with. All the cool wagons that I want i.e. the F11 and the Jag XF Sportbrake are denied to us here in the US.

 

Maybe look into an extended warranty?

 

Can you get one that goes past 100k?

 

Personally I would sell it . There's a lot going on with yours . Maybe get an 2010 .

 

I'm leaning towards that although my indie mechanic that I use to supplement the BMW 'Condition based service' nonsense also thinks I should keep it as I've been invested in the maintenance.

If I do sell it then the question is now or at 100k when the warranty is dead? The car is pretty high mileage and people are generally scared of out of warranty BMWs but I think I've already lost most of the value out of it with the 25k a year I've been putting on it.

If I do get a 2010 then I can spend some time looking for a 6MT.

Are my dreams of running a German load lugger for 10 years+ unrealistic these days? I guess I could buy another W124.

 

Curious to know why you need to change your steering rack? What is it doing?

I have a 2008 535xi E61 as well. I am asking myself the same question should I keep it or sell it. I don't have many miles 51K, I just had the turbos replaced because of the rattling wastegate issue, they also walnut blasted the valves. Everything was covered under the CPO warranty, the turbo replacement alone would have cost around 6K according to the dealer! The car never ran so good. The engine is really responsive now (I am assuming the valves were pretty badly covered up with carbon), it feels like a new engine- very strong... I like the car overall it is a real sleeper and pretty exclusive in the US which is a good thing. I never was a fan of the huge sunroof and the potential electrical problems they can pose along the compromised body rigidity (kinda learned to live with that one...) but - upgraded with 19' rims and m body kits they look fabulous... Just worried about post CPO ownership...

 

Goodness, we sound related, at least our cars do. I've had exactly the same problems as well as a blocked sunroof drain. I fixed that so it shouldn't happen again and I understand the replacement turbos are a different part number and have some revisions. I'm due to pick mine up this afternoon but the service manager called me this morning to say his foreman had the car out for a thorough test drive and said it is running perfectly.

I'm also concerned that by getting a 2010 I'm just prolonging the same outcome or are they considered to be more reliable? I know that cars get better as they mature in production and a lot of the bugs get ironed out but as the cars are functionally the same I would hope any fixes applied in production were also applied to the parts supply chain. I tend to do all my maintenance myself once the car is out of warranty so labour costs aren't so important unless it is something major like an engine swap. I expect the transmission to croak it shortly after 100k even though I changed the fluid at 50k and have already budgeted for a 6MT swap at that point. I would also like to remove the self leveling rear suspension once that needs servicing. Is that as easy on a E61 as it was on a E39?

That W124 is sounding more and more appealing.

 

seems like you have already planned a lot of replacement projects for the car. I would think removing the self leveling rear suspension would be major work. Not sure if you could find springs to fit where the air springs sit. Swapping out the auto for a 6 speed WOW major work- not sure it would be worth it.

Could you tell me what your steering rack was doing to warrant a replacement?

Thanks

 

I've been quoted about $4k for this work incl new. transmission which is comparable to the cost of changing out to another auto give or take a bit and depending on the cost of the replacement transmission.

Perhaps I'm just trying to talk myself into or out of keeping the car. I'm sure once I pick it up and it is driving beautifully I'll forgive it once again.

Leaking and showing signs of 'excessive wear' apparently. I had not noticed any steering problems, they had just found that during the inspection.

 

I had my shifter mechanism replaced (would not shift into reverse) also covered under warranty. The replacement part seems a little fragile as well. The car also went through two HPFPs and they replaced a few injectors as well.
Regarding the valve job and new turbos - You will definitely see an improvement in the way the engine responds. It was really noticeable and put a nice grin on my face. Makes we want to keep it... Thanks for the heads up on the steering rack. I will make sure to watch it. Apparently the front thrust control arm bushings tend to need replacement on all E60's. I've seen postings with cars with less than 50K having to replace the bushings - not CHEAP! I guess that will be my expense when it comes up...

I like BMW's but the amount of expensive maintenance and apparent fragility of certain parts is really shocking at times. I can see why leasing these cars for three years and moving on to either another BMW or another brand is quite popular, - the cost of long term ownership of German cars can be frightening. I really think the brand gets away with too many reliability and durability problems - it is amazing the loyal following it has despite all the problems. They need to be less complex and more durable or BMW really needs to set up their R&D and thoroughly test out new components before releasing them. The HPFP was a complete disaster. But enough negativity... I still like driving it