Any oppo's have any experience with an e60 550i?

"Joel Ness" (joelness)
06/01/2016 at 19:38 • Filed to: None

It looks like this :)

And it has a v8 with a stick.

Do you have history with this beast? Any beef? Any insight? Common problems?

DISCUSSION (24)

Nibby > Joel Ness
06/01/2016 at 19:47

Interior is not that great for a luxury car.

E60s is the worst 5 series in terms of reliability... I know a few people who had transmission problems, electrical gremlins, and more! (These were new too, not preowned ones)

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Joel Ness
06/01/2016 at 19:56

Get the straight 6. From everything I’ve heard, BMW V8's are unreliable nightmares for the most part.

His Stigness > Joel Ness
06/01/2016 at 20:04

Oh it’s got the N62?

Run away.

Run far away.

If you don't, you'll spend thousands of dollars per oil leak, and you will do the same repair over and over.

PS9 > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
06/01/2016 at 20:14

Every time I want to feel sad about that, I remind myself that the SS exists and no one’s buying them. Depreciation for the win!

RallyWrench > Joel Ness
06/01/2016 at 20:17

The manual gets rid of one big headache, which is the pain the ass 6HP transmission. Other than that, the N62 engine is a piece of shit, everything on and around it is a piece of shit, the paint sucks, the interior wears poorly, the weatherstrip is made out of potato chips, the electronics are iffy at best, the iDrive is awful/badly outdated/expensive to fix/pointless, water gets into the car everywhere, the Xenon headlamps cost over $1,300 apiece if you lose a ballast, the active swaybars leak, the hydraulic pumps leak... and so on.

BMW figured out planned obsolescence, that they could build bad cars and still sell them with the E65, and the E60 cemented that philosophy. They are not designed to be kept or repaired, but to be traded in and thrown away as they depreciate like rocks, awaiting suckers on used car lots. They drive great until about 80k miles before the wheels come off, but that’s all it takes to get the first owner into another one, so BMWs reputation goes untarnished. You used to be able to buy a new BMW and reasonably expect over 200,000 miles on regular maintenance alone. Those days are long gone.

RallyWrench > Nibby
06/01/2016 at 20:24

True.

RallyWrench > His Stigness
06/01/2016 at 20:24

True.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > PS9
06/01/2016 at 20:40

HAHAHAHA go look at G8 GXP’s.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Joel Ness
06/01/2016 at 21:05

N62?

good luck with that unreliable motor

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Joel Ness
06/01/2016 at 23:15

Just saw one the other day pretending to be a bro truck. It was rolling coal all over the place. No it was not a diesel.

phenotyp > Joel Ness
06/02/2016 at 01:08

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/6-months-in-my…

Matter of fact, I do.

A year and a half ago I traded it for an 09 535, turbos be damned.

phenotyp > RallyWrench
06/02/2016 at 01:12

Nailed it.

The updated LCIs were better. But, hell, the last hydraulically-steered 5ers. The F10 I drove was the most disappointing car I’ve ever driven.

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/2015-bmw-528-a…

WK2 > Joel Ness
06/02/2016 at 03:02

My dad used to have a 2006 550. It was a great car from what I remember. It had a fantastic soundtrack and was genuinely a fun to drive. I learned to drive in it, so it’ll always hold a special place in my motoring heart. I imagine though by now that the iDrive is starting to show its age among other things.

Joel Ness > phenotyp
06/02/2016 at 06:44

Well, wow, ok. So you had the exact car I'm looking to get. I just read your post and it reflects how I felt about the car after the test drive. This one has 127000 miles on it. So it's a fair bit older than your previous one. I have to ask, what made you decide to switch to the 535?

Joel Ness > Joel Ness
06/02/2016 at 06:46

Oh, history lesson time: I'm coming from an e39 540i msport 6 speed.

RallyWrench > phenotyp
06/02/2016 at 09:41

I recently drove my first F10, a 528I, and it felt no better than a high-spec Accord. Nothing special about it whatsoever, very disappointing. It also broke the timing chain rails at 63k miles, because the N20 series engines are proving to be crap as well.

phenotyp > Joel Ness
06/02/2016 at 10:08

Given how badly every goddamn piece of rubber and plastic failed on the N62, the fact that the 535 was way more my taste in terms of colors, had 40K fewer miles, active suspension, was an LCI with the prettiest taillights ever made... no brainer. it amazed me how different the “same” car can feel— the 35 feels so much lighter, and less over-insulated from the road.

Kinja'd!!!

Before I found the 35, I’d driven a couple manual 550s , but honestly, that manual just didn’t draw me in at all. The autobox with the paddle shifters and true sport modes is so much better-developed.

So far, I’ve only had it strand me on the road once (water pump failure), and had to replace the HPFP (even though it had been done once before), both under warranty.

phenotyp > RallyWrench
06/02/2016 at 10:10

I’ll never be disappointed by a shitbox car. But the F10... so disappointing. Definitely won’t be looking for one when the time comes to replace the E60.

phenotyp > Joel Ness
06/02/2016 at 10:12

Nice!

Joel Ness > phenotyp
06/02/2016 at 11:06

I'm gonna take this under advisement. I'm going to check it out the second time today in about 6 hours from now. I'll be checking it out more thoroughly

phenotyp > Joel Ness
06/02/2016 at 11:28

Yeah, the tough thing with the N62 is that if it’s leaking coolant in the valley channel (discovered mine was when the heads were off), or leaking at the rear main seal, you’re hosed. Like looking at more-money-than-you-paid-for-the-car-type hosed. The valve stem seals are big problems, too. Takes a special tool to do in a reasonable amount of time, and there are, of course, 32 of the damn things.

When the steering angle sensor crapped out, and the coolant light came back on... I was done with the damn thing.

Joel Ness > phenotyp
06/02/2016 at 13:48

Yeah, I've got the same valley pan issue with the e39. Can't say I'm scarred of most maintenance but I don't know how easy it is to work on this generation of bmws.

Joel Ness > phenotyp
06/02/2016 at 13:54

Are there any telltale signs of said issues? Like the rear main seal produces black smoke on startup, right?

phenotyp > Joel Ness
06/02/2016 at 14:05

Not really much in the way of outwardly-visible signs, at least in my experience.