RyRoRyan

Hello all. First time poster and hopefully first time buyer. I am looking between a 535 xDrive and a 550 xDrive from 2011 and 2013. I have done my research and searching and it is pretty obvious that the N63 motor has some issues. However, since I know most of things that are posted are negative things and nothing positive, I was hoping to get opinions from owners of each here.
Now note that I am normally one to wrench on things myself. All my cars right now have more than 100k miles on them. My 97 Land Cruiser FZJ80 has over 260k on it and still runs like a champ, of course I have to throw parts at it once in a while, but I am not afraid of doing the work myself.
For those that have the 535, are you happy with that car, or do you wish you had the 550?
For those of you that have the 550, do you regret your purchase?
For those that have kept them this long, once you have done the Customer Care and Oil Consumption “recalls” did it improve the reliability of the engine or is it still crap?
Would I be optimistic to get 200k+ out of either of these motors without fearing of doing a major overhaul (I think of this as having to go deep enough where I have to pull the head(s) off the block)?

Any and all input would be appreciated

Ryan

rice_rocket88

I'm at 160K miles plus on my 535xi and don't regret. The motors are completely different, in that if you like that "muscle car kind of thing then go with the 550. Gas mileage can be good, but generally not even close to the 535. However, if I were not concerned about that and it was a for fun car I probably would have gone all the way with an M5. I daily drove mine for years until just a few months ago when I got a new car. I had nothing big break, everything was maintenance or preventative maintenance (like oil filter housing leaks I let it go for a couple months and just did it when I had time). The most expensive thing I had to do was replace my front axles. So plus 1 for the 535

murzik

Go for 550, do not think twice. 535 is nowhere even close to 550 in any aspect. I was having same debate with myself 5 years ago, and I am so glad I went with 550.

Trian

Both good cars but I selected the 535i over the 550i because I do not track, and there isn't anywhere here that I drive that I would need more power than the 535i.