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Thread: Buying a used E61 - 8 month ownership report

  1. #26
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    Great cars for DIYers to buy cheap! Had ours for 8 of its 10 years and 100k of its 130k miles. I have maintained it since the warranty ran out in 2014.

  2. #27
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    The tranny was the biggest hit, but it's the nickle-and-dime stuff that will really wear you down. The fuel pumps, rear shocks, brakes, lift gate pump, and even the A/C pump issues were not exactly unheard of things to deal with at 100K, and I could have done all of that pretty affordably myself. Honestly, I think it's the regularity of nickle-and-dime stuff mixed with knowing the cost of dealer service that is most frustrating. Nearest BMW dealership to me is 30 minutes drive, and $205 an hour. Nearest shop I trust in town is $175 an hour. So ANY job that needs doing is near $500 in labor alone. I think we all expect some maintenance will be necessary on our cars, but the thought that your average person could be spending $2K-$3K a year on maintenance items for an E61 is an imposing fact.

    I'd agree with pbonsalb that if you don't have cash to throw around, you need to be a real competent DIY'er with an E61. In our case, we just HAD to have a wagon with an auto tranny, and that limits choice. If this were a turbo wagon, I'd be worried about turbo's at that 100K mark, though. We love driving the car and think that the extended warranty made the purchase totally worth it, but it's hard to deny that living with an E61 long term is not for everybody.

    I definitely think that when the E61 wears out, we will do things different. Lesson learned in all this is that any luxury level car newer than 2005 or so just gets so complex, that it doesn't make sense to buy used anymore. There is just way too much potential for expensive things going wrong, unless you buy a no frills econobox. We have multiple cars now in multiple years (1973, 1987, 2002, 2006), and having some easier/cheaper to work on cars is all the DIY I want to deal with. Also, when we took the wagon to the dealership for this last extended warranty service, my wife commented that the experience at a premium dealership is WAY different than what we have elsewhere. When the day comes that our E61 needs to be replaced, I'll be driving the wife to the BMW dealership so she can pick out something for us to lease.

    Jose
    1987 M6
    Livin the dream!

  3. #28
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    Or buy CPO and then extend warranty if you like the car. We leased an 08 X5 4.8 and I don’t think leasing makes senses. We spent $40k to drive that car for 3 years and 50k miles — too much. We bought the 08 M3 and 08 535xit as CPO and to me they have been they better buys from a financial perspective. Did not extend the warranty but would if I was not a DIYer.

  4. #29
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    That is a pretty big price tag on your lease experience. Right now an X5 looks like it would land at $5k down, with $680 a month lease. That is just under $30k in 3 years. Our wagon is costing us way less than that, with a total price tag of about $21k once paid off at the end of 5 years. I tinkered on the web site of my local BMW dealer and a 2013 X5 with 95K miles would be estimated to still have around $18K trade-in value. So the net cost "if" we had purchased a CPO vehicle 3 years ago for around $36K with extended warranty would be $18K. Basically the same deal as we landed at with our wagon.

    Hmmmmm....... Maybe CPO with a 36 month purchase term is the best way to go about having a newer car. That would mean we have a car we own outright every 3 years, which should still have resale value for the next purchase. With the lower mileage, and extended warranty there is no reliability or repair cost worry either.

    Jose
    1987 M6
    Livin the dream!

  5. #30
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    Our X5 was $66k with the options we ordered and we went 12k over miles. We paid $39k plus in down payment plus lease payment plus over mileage. To buy the car at lease end would have been about $40k — we would have had about $79k in it.

    Had we just bought the car, we might have spent $76k with interest on a 4 year loan.

    Anyway, I don’t think we will lease again or buy new but we might buy CPO again.

    We have had our CPO 08M3 and 08 535xit for 8 years each. We spent $84k on the 2 cars, both financed for 5 years, 1 at 3% and 1 at 1.5%. I don’t know how much the interest totaled. The 2 cars are probably worth a total of $30k today, but we have driven them a total of over 160k miles. They still look decent and run great and we will keep them another few years. We feel like our CPO experience has been much better than our lease experience.

  6. #31
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    So it's a very happy update on this latest repair incident. A very convoluted issue with the extended warranty means it took almost 3 weeks to get things taken care of, but the 530 is back home with a new starter, coolant overflow tank, valve cover gasket, and oil pan gasket. Our deductible is another $100, and the service cost was actually $4300. That now makes for nearly $20K of repairs, in 3 years, on a car we purchased for $14K. Uhhhhh ..... holy sheep shit! BOY was that $4300 extended warranty worth it. Now that all those major system/component repairs have been done, we look forward to another 100K of use with what should be typical repairs.

    I gotta agree pbonsalb. For the next time round, the CPO route really does seem the best way to go.

    Jose
    Last edited by DaHose; 05-02-2018 at 12:43 PM.
    1987 M6
    Livin the dream!

  7. #32
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    Napa is obviously a very expensive area to live. The work you describe would cost less than 1/3 as much in my area but you would not want to drink our wine.

  8. #33
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    DaHose-"BMW ownership really is such a love/hate thing."

    Exactly!

  9. #34
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    And I can't believe not a mention of water pump/thermostat for $400. Parts only!

  10. #35
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    I asked the dealer to look at the water pump and no issue was reported. At least FCPEuro sells a complete kit for that. With a lift, I imagine the job should be easier to do than on your back.

    Jose
    1987 M6
    Livin the dream!

  11. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by DaHose View Post
    I asked the dealer to look at the water pump and no issue was reported. At least FCPEuro sells a complete kit for that. With a lift, I imagine the job should be easier to do than on your back.

    Jose
    I own 3 530xi wagons and self maintain all of my BMW's. One is 2006, other two are 2007. While researching the things that go wrong with these cars before initial purchase 3+ years ago, I found many that had the water pump fail at around 105k miles. Sure enough, the 2006 died suddenly at 105,900.! Second one on the 2007 died at 143k. Just purchased the third car last week. It has 115k and I will be putting a water pump/thermo on it for preventative maintenance. When they fail, it's total and immediate. No signs it coming!
    Not a bad job at all with a lift and worth not getting stuck immediately on the side of the road. FCP is aprox $350. for the pump/thermo kit.
    If you really want a challenge, try a V12 850!! I use two of these 5's in our service business and one is personal driver. Once you get them figured out, it's very economical to operate them. Preventative maintenance is the key on any BMW for sure. The water pump will show no codes before sudden failure. Hope this helps.
    Last edited by TTTXGreg; 05-06-2018 at 10:50 AM.

  12. #37
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    It does help Greg. I was debating on just buying the parts to be ready for when the time might come. Seems like I should do that and just replace whenever I have a free day this summer. When the pump fails, will the car still start/drive?

    Jose
    Last edited by DaHose; 05-06-2018 at 04:44 PM.

  13. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by DaHose View Post
    It does help Greg. I was debating on just buying the parts to be ready for when the time might come. Seems like I should do that and just replace whenever I have a free day this summer. When the pump fails, will the car still start/drive?

    Jose

    Jose, Yes it will operate normal except you don't want to overheat the motor. Mine went out while on highway on the first one. All you get is what I call the "oh $hit" lights indicating overheat. The faster you shut it down, the better. Let it cool and limp the next distance a bit, sit and cool again, and do it until you get to a good spot off the highway. I recommend anyone over 120k to replace it. A bit tricky removing it, but not a bad job. Put the pump/thermostat in as one unit.
    Last edited by TTTXGreg; 05-07-2018 at 12:23 AM.

  14. #39
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    Tint and M skirts coming for the grey one. IMG_0908.jpg
    Last edited by TTTXGreg; 05-07-2018 at 12:27 AM.

  15. #40
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    I just purchased a 2010 535xi wagon, with 40,000 miles on it.
    Took it to Sacramento Dealer to go through it, perform all needed/usual maintenance all to get it back into the BMW "system", do all the updates and give me a list of future service needs.
    They performed all regular maintenance and software updates and came back with an $8,000 bill for "everything else".
    That included:
    Bead blasting the intake manifold runners,
    New brakes and rotors; $1,600
    Replace thrust arm bushings & alignment; $837 & $179,
    Replace valve cover gasket; $1250
    Reseal oil filter housing; $915
    Replace seeping Power steering pump; $2201
    Misc:$ the rest......

    Took it to my local BMW mechanic and he laughed. Said he could do all that for 1/4-1/3 as much. "Don't pay them the $175/hr shop rate they have there!"

  16. #41
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    Several of those jobs fit together like cleaning the intake ports, valve cover gasket and oil filter housing with some labor common to all jobs. I did all that last year.

    You can buy replacement arms with bushings and bolt on faster than changing bushings and you get a new ball joint. I have done it both ways.$

    Brakes are pretty reasonable—I did them as well.

    Have not messed with PS pump. Make sure it’s not a hose or hose clamp. Might be a reseal kit available if it is the pump.

    Dealers have a lot of overhead and charge what their book says.

  17. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by TTTXGreg View Post
    Tint and M skirts coming for the grey one. IMG_0908.jpg
    Tint and dark side markers. Skirts next- IMG_0928.jpg

  18. #43
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    That is doggone purdy there, Greg. I still need to do the water pump, and polish the headlights.

    Jose
    1987 M6
    Livin the dream!

  19. #44
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    Well this is quite the thread. I just put a deposit on a 2006 530xiT. About 145K miles (232K km). Current owners had it about 6 years and did all the usual N52 stuff. The catch on this one is it’s a 6MT with the M Sport package. I am a pretty competent DIY’r and am currently maintaining my E34 M5 and E91. Will drive the E61 and decide whether I want to keep it or sell it.

  20. #45
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    Based on my experience, if yours hasn't already had it done you should at least replace the water pump. I would have liked an MT, but my wife needs an auto.

    Jose
    1987 M6
    Livin the dream!

  21. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by DaHose View Post
    Based on my experience, if yours hasn't already had it done you should at least replace the water pump. I would have liked an MT, but my wife needs an auto.

    Jose
    The water pump was done within the last two months. VGC, and OFHG as well. I have the belt and tensioner on order and will put those on when I pick up the car. Sunroof drains have been cleared and taken off as well so will be interested to see what kind of headaches this car gives me compared to my E91.

  22. #47
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    Sounds like you are good to go on major stuff then, Jason. I should have mentioned that the tranny fluid might need a change. My ballpark number is 70K miles, so I would have changed it twice by now. In the big picture, a fluid change is cheap insurance.

    Jose
    1987 M6
    Livin the dream!

  23. #48
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    So a follow up to this. My OFHG ended up leaking. I took it apart and sure enough the gasket is toast. Thankfully it appears there was no oil and coolant co-mingling. The cost for my dealer locally to do it is likely around $1000. For me, maybe $200. While I was in there I had a good look at the coolant and hoses and they will be getting replaced as well. I will likely do the PS and trans fluid (manual) on it too and then should be at least close to caught up on maintenance. It’s getting filters and a new belt and tensioner as well. Work that would be $1000s at a dealer will be all done by me for about 20%. I need to get my cable and netbook set up to read and reset codes too. Old cars always require work. Best way is to get in front of maintenance and proactive work and stay there. In the long run it’s cheaper. My wife has a brand new Toyota Highlander. It is virtually maintenance free.

  24. #49
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    I follow the “get ahead” on maintenance plan but it is also a hobby for me so I probably do a lot more and spend a lot more than I need. I think the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach works for most things. The list of highly recommended preventative maintenance items is actually pretty small for most models (like cooling system for m50/52/s50/52/m54 and auto trans fluid for older 6 speed automatics and probably a few other things).

  25. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by DaHose View Post
    So it's a very happy update on this latest repair incident. A very convoluted issue with the extended warranty means it took almost 3 weeks to get things taken care of, but the 530 is back home with a new starter, coolant overflow tank, valve cover gasket, and oil pan gasket. Our deductible is another $100, and the service cost was actually $4300. That now makes for nearly $20K of repairs, in 3 years, on a car we purchased for $14K. Uhhhhh ..... holy sheep shit! BOY was that $4300 extended warranty worth it. Now that all those major system/component repairs have been done, we look forward to another 100K of use with what should be typical repairs.

    I gotta agree pbonsalb. For the next time round, the CPO route really does seem the best way to go.

    Jose
    Jose, what warranty company did you go with?

    Thanks,
    Richard

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