Providing I can find the right car for the right money, I am going to trade my 530d E61 Touring in for a V8 E60, either the 545i or 550i. I will be buying it in Germany and will only purchase from BMW Approved Used Cars for the pre-checks and Euro Plus Garantie.

With the financial limit I have set myself for "my hobby" , my options pretty much come down to:
- mid-2004 545i with around 85k-KM to 100k-KM / 50k-Miles to 60k-Miles
- mid-2006 550i with around 125k-KM / 78k-Miles


So my questions are:
- Are the miliages listed above "high miliage", or is this still fine for the V8s?
- At these miliages, is a 2 year younger 550i with 30k-KM / 18k-Miles more on the clock a better choice than a 545i with lower miliage?
- Note: I would be buying the car from BMW with a 1-year Euro Plus garantee, which can be extended for an extra year. As part of the pre-handover check they also do all service items listed in the Bord Computer that will come within the next 10k-KM


What do you advise or think about the questions above?

 

Those miles are well within the regular mileage for that typical year models. You should look into more of how the car has been maintained. I personally don't want to buy a used BMW with more than 30k miles due to the prior owner(probably leased) never change the fluid/engine oils to my liking. Since it's not their cars, they just drive and follow what bmw suggests. An oil change every 15k miles. At 60k miles, it would seen 4 oil changes(compare to I change at every 5kand would be 12 changes at 60k). I'm not comfortable with that. Of course I'm an anal about cars but 15k is just ridiculous.
However, since you are located in EU, I'm not sure how they maintained their cars but probably better than in US.

 

Thanks for the feedback.
The first thing I always ask is does the dealer know the car and did they service it. The ones I am looking at have been company cars that were serviced at those dealerships. You obviously run the risk of people driving them hard and thinking they'll be rid of it before it starts causing problems, but you run that risk with any car... unless its very new of course.

Are there any major items to replace around the 80k miles mark??

(I have searched and searched here, but haven't been able to find much info on cars with this many miles)

 

I just sent you a PM!!!

 

I agree, buying a used car is always a risky however, if you pick the right one, it's a steal
Anyway, around 80k mark, you should start thinking of replacing the spark plugs, tranny flush, fuel filter comes to my mind.

 

With proper service records, I'd rather buy a E60 that had 80k miles over one that had shitty service records and 30k miles.

I would NOT buy a car without the service records. Those are EXTREMELY important. You can judge from the records if the car was broken in and driven by someone who isn't a toolbag.

 

Since BMW provides free maintenance for the first 4 year/50K miles, I can't imagine how big "damage" it can be in 30K miles. Yes. 15K miles oil change is too long but damages, if any, done in 2 oil changes(within 30K miles) is not as bad as damage done from 4 oil changes in 60K miles.

What I mean is that a car with 30K miles under BMW standard service is nothing to worry about.

 

I wouldn't be so sure....
When I go to the car auctions, I see some pretty bad stuff. There was a 530i with 24k miles that was 9k miles OVERDUE for an oil change.

If a car with 80k miles had it's oil changed every 5k miles. I would rather have the one with 80k miles. If the owner changed it every 5k miles, you also know he kept it waxed, kept it clean, and took care of it. A lot can happen to a car in 30k miles...

 

It's not the engine one should be concerned about. BMW engines are pretty reliable with reasonable maintenance. I wouldn't be concerned between oil change every 5k vs 10k.

It's the electronics and sensors one should be concerned about.

 

Yea the electronics can be a bit iffy, but the money you save on buying a higher mileage car makes up for it.
I would just make sure to get a manual tranny, I don't trust automatics in BMW's much past 80k miles....