I recently purchased my first BMW. I stumbled across a 2004 525I with 42,000 miles on the odometer. A retired military officer who split his time between NC and Italy. He decided to sell the car as it was not getting used enough. Garage kept with all the BMW dealer service records along with a year remaining on a service contract.

So far I love the car. The engine revs smoother than anything I've ever driven before. I now understand how you get hooked on a BMW. I joined the BMWCCA and hope to attend one of the driving schools. It seems these BMWs are more capable than the driver.

I've been researching how to get the iPhone and/or my iPhone music to work with the Idrive. From what I've discovered, BMW is real proud of their adapter kit. Built in 11/03, it does not have bluetooth so I'm stuck with the aux port modification or some adapter my dealer wants $950 to install. I may do without.

So far the forum has been very helpful and I like the "personality" of this site. Over the years I've followed several forums for my other vehicles and I've found you need to find the one that matches your personality.

 

Tomstin,
Welcome to the best E60 forum on the net. I've only been here for a year myself but I can say from first hand experiences; you'll be among a great group of people.

Also, don't believe for a second that you are "stuck" with dealer pricing based on almost any modifications you want to do with your car. A large portion of what you may want to do can be done through DIY. There is a multitude of great information here.

You'll truly enjoy your new ride. Cheers!

 

WOW - that's a really low mileage 525. Good luck with it! One of the first things you'll want to investigate is the health of the battery. Even when parked these cars suck power. Don't be surprised if a replacement is needed. Search the forum for options that might be applicable. I'm not sure what you mean by a "service contract" ... if that's the BMW maintenance program get the dealer to verify that both mileage and time-based services have been performed. And look closely at warranty actions performed by BMW. That said, the more base e60 have fewer things to go wrong.

I'm sure other forum posters will be able to recommend BMW independent mechanics since dealer service and repair after warranty can be pretty pricey. That goes for other installing other BMW options like Bluetooth. It's more an issue these days since coding of the car is often required once the hard parts are installed.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your e60!!

OH - if you don't have the owner's manual check out the information section of the forum to download it!