A 2009 535i xDrive has popped up for sale locally. The car is at a local BMW dealer with 73,000km and CPO until end of 2014.

I currently have a 2007 with 84,000km and I'm considering selling mine and getting into this 2009 (basically for more power). What do you think? Would you consider it?

 

Financial considerations aside, as someone who couldn't go without power on the nice highway drives (or around town in fact), going from 255 HP / 220 torque, to 300/300 would be a no brainer for me...

Plus, throw $900 more into it, buy a Cobb, and now you've got an engine with around 375 HP! That's 50% more than you have now! Intoxicating!

 

Financials will play a role here. The delta cost between the selling price of the 2007 vs. the purchase price of the 2009 will play a role.

Mechanically I know the 535i are plagued by HPFP problems, I'm assuming if this has been corrected & serviced it should be good to go. Electronically, the 2007 and 2009 should be very similar.

 

There is a recall on the HPFP's and injectors, so the car should have been updated for those already. HPFP's are in their 3rd gen. and this last one, I've not read of any failures like the first two, so hopefully they have fixed it. And with CPO for another 1.5 years, your HPFP would be covered in case it goes again. It's a real pain for sure if the car just quits on you (though often you get some notice as the pump slowly starts dying) but I wouldn't shy away from the car for that worry for sure.

LCI on these cars was when?

 

LCI was 2008 onward. There were no Pre-LCI 535 e61's sold as far as I know.

Id absolutely consider it!! If I didnt get such an insane deal on my 530xi, I would have definitely jumped into a 535!!

 

That's my point. 2007 and 2009 are not apples to apples comparison, with just the engine being different. There's all the LCI changes, and new iDrive version too, if I'm not mistaken.

 

Correct!

 

All valid points but what is an acceptable delta cost? Is it $10K, $15K? Keeping in mind this is a dealer car I would pay premium vs. the value of my 2007. The private resale value is low on E61, I suspect I could get around $16K to $18K for mine.

 

84k KM is ~50k miles. That car would sell for around $18-20k in Seattle. I doubt a dealer on trade would be looking for more than $10k difference on a trade. Given how prices arent that far different between the 06-07 and 08-09 with similar mileage in the states.

All depends on what all the upgrades are worth to you!!

 

For an 09 535xi with that mileage/km on it, I am guessing your looking at US$ low 30K. I found one with 64km, with a MT, for $US 34K (CPO). It did not have Navigation, but have Cold Weather and Premium. I was driving up to buy it and it sold while I was en-route.

A 07 530xi wagon, with similar or slightly or more miles is $US 22-24K. What your getting with the $US 10 difference is CPO (in some instances), more HP and more low end torque, newer iDrive, slightly bigger interior, less gas mileage and all the problems associated with turbos.

The 530xi is going to give you better gas mileage, a more reliable motor, and a slightly smaller interior. For normal driving, I double that the difference in HP is going to make a huge difference.

I ended up going with the lower cost route and picked up a fully loaded 07 530xi wagon, with a MT and 89km for $US 22K. I couldn't justify $10K for the 535xi over the 530xi. Didn't need the extra performance as I have an M3 to get my kicks.