E60 / E61 M5 Buyers Guide

[Contigo]

JLBMatic said:

Guys, just a quick update after a few weeks' ownership (may help or be of interest to others)....

SNIP

Fuel consumption a miserable 11-12 mpg average (mixture of calm runs with occasional full-throttle accelerations, perhaps 'normal' general driving for most....?
Lifting the throttle at every gear change will take some getting used to.... then smooth changes are no probs . Relatively low torque means working the SMGIII box more than I would choose to.
Rear screen heater use renders the FM/DAB radio useless
SatNav will not go to 'full screen' (and probably never will)
Need to find a petrol station that sells Castrol Edge 10W60 fast!

Edited by JLBMatic on Monday 2nd July 23:08

Check your iDrive settings for units is not in US. I switched from US Gallon to UK and went from 11mpg to 14.9mpg.

Lifting definitely helps make a smoother gearchange but who cares?

I think you can hide the side bar computer and it does go fullscreen.

As Eddie says order the lot from Opie. They sometimes do bottles that have a 1 litre included in the deal.

[mondie]

Hi JLB,

Great follow-up post on your ownership experience. We have only had ours a week but its interesting to compare thoughts.

I too really rate the adjustable suspension, it really makes a big difference on rough surfaces so gives you a real choice when just using the car for family duties. HUD is brilliant and it beats me why it hasn’t entered mainstream cars, cost l guess but as a safety and convenience feature its right up there, plus its cool.

The gear changes I don’t find to be brutal, while the difference between S1 to S5 is obvious I find the changes to be fine but l would like faster. Which brings me to S6, does anybody know if there is any way to engage S6 without completely disabling traction control? Its frustrating knowing there is a faster option but at the sacrifice of TC. Anyone know the logic at play here, is S6 too harsh for daily use hence limiting it by having to switch of TC or is it intended mainly for track use?

Seat bolsters are fun and its always a good laugh the first time a passenger jumps in and has the seat grab them at the first corner

Our fuel consumption she is averaging 18-19mpg in mixed driving, probably better than I expected.

If you haven’t already you can set up SatNav so that when in use the right part of the screen displays lane/distance and turn information. In conjunction with the map view its a great system to use.

Unfortunately ours has already developed a fault. I get the message “SOS call system failed” and have lost all audio. Searching the forums it seems to be an issue a few have had, only fix is back to the dealers. I was pleased to find out today that the local dealer will collect and drop off the car from my workplace so its really not much inconvenience at all but a good reminder on why warranty is really a must with these cars unless you are stealing them at silly prices.

Love the car, still feel like l have to learn how to get the best from it but the engine is just a gem. There will never be cars like this built again with the relentless focus on CO2 emissions

Cheers,
mondie

[Contigo]

mondie said:

Seat bolsters are fun and its always a good laugh the first time a passenger jumps in and has the seat grab them at the first corner

Our fuel consumption she is averaging 18-19mpg in mixed driving, probably better than I expected.

If you haven’t already you can set up SatNav so that when in use the right part of the screen displays lane/distance and turn information. In conjunction with the map view its a great system to use.

Unfortunately ours has already developed a fault. I get the message “SOS call system failed” and have lost all audio. Searching the forums it seems to be an issue a few have had, only fix is back to the dealers. I was pleased to find out today that the local dealer will collect and drop off the car from my workplace so its really not much inconvenience at all but a good reminder on why warranty is really a must with these cars unless you are stealing them at silly prices.

Love the car, still feel like l have to learn how to get the best from it but the engine is just a gem. There will never be cars like this built again with the relentless focus on CO2 emissions

Cheers,
mondie

So yours has the Active bolsters that adapt to cornering etc?

Mine developed the SOS Call system failure too and it's still there. I took it to a mate who reset the system and it went away and then came back about a month later. He said it could be related to the BMW Assist and there being NO SIM installed but I have looked and can't see where a SIM card would slot in.

What did the Dealer say? Mine has a warranty on it but it's a 250 excess so not sure if it's worth taking it in to just get rid of a message on the DIS which goes anyway once driven.

[mondie]

Mine does have the active seats, a bit of fun if nothing else.

Searching the forums on the SOS call failure it seems the most common cause is a fault with the Telematics Control Unit, TCU in BMW lingo. Not sure why your car might not have a SIM card installed, l thought they were embedded in the car and would be something no owner would purposely remove. if you are only getting the error message and not losing audio or bluetooth like I have then I too would be inclined to live with it. In my case resetting the iDrive does nothing.

Cheers
mondie

[Contigo]

mondie said:

Mine does have the active seats, a bit of fun if nothing else.

Searching the forums on the SOS call failure it seems the most common cause is a fault with the Telematics Control Unit, TCU in BMW lingo. Not sure why your car might not have a SIM card installed, l thought they were embedded in the car and would be something no owner would purposely remove. if you are only getting the error message and not losing audio or bluetooth like I have then I too would be inclined to live with it. In my case resetting the iDrive does nothing.

Cheers
mondie

Hi Mondie

Thanks for that. Yes indeed it has absolutely no impact on BT or any of the iDrive Audio functionality. The iPod cable works well too.

I will wait until it goes in for it's next service and ask them to reset the TCU which apparently can take 24 hours when fully reset.

[jon-]

Is there a warranty guide somewhere on this forum? I keep having stupid warranty questions (like is the 12 month AUC warranty as good as the extended, what is the requirement for the extended warranty being added to the car, at what age / mileage does the price go up etc) but don't know where to look, and don't want to ask again in this thread.

So I just pretended not to ask, but listed my questions anyway...

Edit:

From P1 - 60k and 100k mile markers. Criteria for the Mondial Insured Warranty is that your car has less than 60k on the clock and has a full BMW Service History. Even if your 3 year BMW Manufacturer warranty has expired you can still get the Mondial cover so long as you meet the criteria above, all that happens is you have to wait 30 days from the date of warranty purchase for the cover to kick in.

I've said it before, I LOVE this thread. Just leaves the question about the AUC vs Mondial.

Edited by jon- on Thursday 5th July 16:58

[mondie]

Contigo said:

Hi Mondie

Thanks for that. Yes indeed it has absolutely no impact on BT or any of the iDrive Audio functionality. The iPod cable works well too.

I will wait until it goes in for it's next service and ask them to reset the TCU which apparently can take 24 hours when fully reset.

24hrs to reset, that sounds crazy! I am hoping its not just some kind of software reset my car needs otherwise l feel I will have the same problem again in the future.

Does your iPod cable plug into the USB port in the centre console and if so, does it charge your iPhone when connected? Mine doesn't and l am not sure if it should.

[Contigo]

jon- said:

Is there a warranty guide somewhere on this forum? I keep having stupid warranty questions (like is the 12 month AUC warranty as good as the extended, what is the requirement for the extended warranty being added to the car, at what age / mileage does the price go up etc) but don't know where to look, and don't want to ask again in this thread.

So I just pretended not to ask, but listed my questions anyway...

Edit:

From P1 - 60k and 100k mile markers. Criteria for the Mondial Insured Warranty is that your car has less than 60k on the clock and has a full BMW Service History. Even if your 3 year BMW Manufacturer warranty has expired you can still get the Mondial cover so long as you meet the criteria above, all that happens is you have to wait 30 days from the date of warranty purchase for the cover to kick in.

I've said it before, I LOVE this thread. Just leaves the question about the AUC vs Mondial.

Edited by jon- on Thursday 5th July 16:58

The extended warranty that most of us now have is not limited to 60k miles+ . Mine has 68k on it and still has a Mondial Warranty which is due for renewal in Sept. I think the answers are on this thread if you look again.

[Contigo]

mondie said:

24hrs to reset, that sounds crazy! I am hoping its not just some kind of software reset my car needs otherwise l feel I will have the same problem again in the future.

Does your iPod cable plug into the USB port in the centre console and if so, does it charge your iPhone when connected? Mine doesn't and l am not sure if it should.

24 hours to properly reset the TCU system according to Eddie who had his done. The dealer left it overnight but only charged him an hours rate apparently.

The iPod cable is the BMW one that is located in the glove box and interacts with the iDrive. I can see all song names in iDrive and playlists etc.. it's excellent. It was fitted to the car by previous owner and I only found it after rooting in the glovebox. Mine does not have a USB connection in the centre console hence the need for this iPod cable.

[ecain63]

Contigo said:

24 hours to properly reset the TCU system according to Eddie who had his done. The dealer left it overnight but only charged him an hours rate apparently.

The iPod cable is the BMW one that is located in the glove box and interacts with the iDrive. I can see all song names in iDrive and playlists etc.. it's excellent. It was fitted to the car by previous owner and I only found it after rooting in the glovebox. Mine does not have a USB connection in the centre console hence the need for this iPod cable.

Overnight job for a full ecu/tcu/other software reboot. This will clear any software niggles and will more than likely give you a couple of minor upgrades on the idrive.

[mondie]

It's amazing it takes that long, is the car left hooked up to some supercomputer all night while a whole series of software and firmware upgrades are downloaded to the various ECU's?

[Mermaid]

This thread has got me interested in the E60/E61 M5.

[ecain63]

mondie said:

It's amazing it takes that long, is the car left hooked up to some supercomputer all night while a whole series of software and firmware upgrades are downloaded to the various ECU's?

You gotta remember its only a simple processor, not a space ship. Done properly i think it takes over 8 hours.

[C11EWM]

Got 180 for my back boxes on eBay this week. Better than nothing.

[ecain63]

C11EWM said:

Got 180 for my back boxes on eBay this week. Better than nothing.

Ive got my boxes spare too so i might follow your path.

[mondie]

mondie said:

Unfortunately ours has already developed a fault. I get the message “SOS call system failed” and have lost all audio. Searching the forums it seems to be an issue a few have had, only fix is back to the dealers. I was pleased to find out today that the local dealer will collect and drop off the car from my workplace so its really not much inconvenience at all but a good reminder on why warranty is really a must with these cars unless you are stealing them at silly prices.

Following up on this post from last week, the car went to the BMW dealer here in Aberdeen today to diagnose the SOS fault and also the PDC system which died on the weekend.

The dealer quickly discovered that the boot had 1-2" of water in the floor and that both the Bluetooth and PDC modules were sitting in water! The BMW warranty doesn't cover water ingress apparently which is infuriating. So now l have to go back to the BMW dealer in London l bought it from to get them to cover the cost of repairs estimated at 1100-1300 quid. Theparts have to come from Germany. Only had her 2 weeks

Cheers
mondie

[Contigo]

mondie said:

Following up on this post from last week, the car went to the BMW dealer here in Aberdeen today to diagnose the SOS fault and also the PDC system which died on the weekend.

The dealer quickly discovered that the boot had 1-2" of water in the floor and that both the Bluetooth and PDC modules were sitting in water! The BMW warranty doesn't cover water ingress apparently which is infuriating. So now l have to go back to the BMW dealer in London l bought it from to get them to cover the cost of repairs estimated at 1100-1300 quid. Theparts have to come from Germany. Only had her 2 weeks

Cheers
mondie

Gutted for you mate, it's so frustrating buying a new car to find things like that and not have the warranty cover this. Another get out for them easily!

Is yours a saloon or touring?

[mondie]

She's a saloon. I assume the selling dealer will have to cover it, thats a battle for tomorrow. I wonder if leaking boots is a common issue with e60 saloons.

[Contigo]

mondie said:

She's a saloon. I assume the selling dealer will have to cover it, thats a battle for tomorrow. I wonder if leaking boots is a common issue with e60 saloons.

For sure the selling dealer will have to prove that the car didn't have the fault and that would be very hard to do for them. Go back at them and see what they say and then start muttering SOGA etc....

Good luck and hope it's the first and last thing you suffer from.

[Daaaveee]

I would just like to say thank you to ecain63 for putting this guide together, with its help I purchased an E60 M5 last week and couldn't be happier, cheers!