RE: Spotted: BMW 550i manual

[A Winner Is You]

VS02 said:

The colour really is challenging isn’t it

I'm all for something that isn't white/black/silver/grey, but that shade looks like something you'd find in a poorly baby's nappy.

[K50 DEL]

VS02 said:

The colour really is challenging isn’t it

Interior wise absolutely agree, no matter how much time you spend cleaning it that interior is always going to look grubby, just like in the images here.
Exterior colour is lovely though, I would happily choose that.

[Baldchap]

Amazing how power outputs have really increased these last few years.

I was just looking at an Alpina B5 and at 400cc less than this it's almost double the power and oodles more torque.

Modern turbocharged engines really do spoil us.

[cerb4.5lee]

J4CKO said:

cerb4.5lee said:

This has such a great spec. It doesn’t seem daft expensive either for something so rare.

Its an old, sludge green old BMW that has a thirsty engine, petrol is knocking two quid litre.

Its a narrow market for that, its probably half decent and looks well looked after but getting on for nine grand ? I sold a same year Merc CLS 500 five years ago and struggled flogging that, got five grand for it then. I know cars have gone up and its a rare spec, but its rare because its not a very nice colour and people who bought big V8 BMW's didnt like changing gears themselves.

Oh, and dont the engines tend to give trouble on these ?

Sure it will find a face, as if someone bought it new in that spec, someone will buy it secondhand, but if silver with black leather is resale spec, this is anti-resale spec, Its I dont give a fk about resale and am choosing what I want spec, fair play to the original owner but its is rather hideous.

Anyone ran it through WBAC or similar ?

I think that I get sucked in with the spec and the manual gearbox with this. However the reality for me is that I wouldn't buy it because I don't like the colour, plus I much prefer M Sport BMWs to the SE models. The SE models always look unfinished to me.

You make very good points about the engine(they are terrible for leaking oil) and the fact that this type of car should arguably have an auto gearbox.

[cerb4.5lee]

Baldchap said:

Amazing how power outputs have really increased these last few years.

I was just looking at an Alpina B5 and at 400cc less than this it's almost double the power and oodles more torque.

Modern turbocharged engines really do spoil us.

I always think about that when I compare the F82 M4 to the E92 M3 I had. The M4 will just pick up and go at any revs, whereas you had to thrash the life out of the M3 to get it to shift, and you had to wait an age for the revs to climb if you were in the wrong gear too.

The N62 V8 4.8 NA is lovely and torquey in comparison to the M3 though.

[Baldchap]

cerb4.5lee said:

I always think about that when I compare the F82 M4 to the E92 M3 I had. The M4 will just pick up and go at any revs, whereas you had to thrash the life out of the M3 to get it to shift, and you had to wait an age for the revs to climb if you were in the wrong gear too.

The N62 V8 4.8 NA is lovely and torquey in comparison to the M3 though.

I recently did a banger rally in a 1.8 Vectra over the Swiss Alps. First gear to pass cyclists if you caught them at the wrong time! It was only a 2007, so 'modern' to my mind, but so far from today's cars it was unbelievable.

[ATM]

J4CKO said:

Oh, and dont the engines tend to give trouble on these?

I have an auto in resale silver. It was my first ever estate car. I've had mine for 7 years. That's the longest I have ever kept a car. That probably says more about my age and the number of cars I have outside but still the 550i is a beast. I treat mine really REALLY badly and it just keeps on trucking. I had a little performance test a couple of weeks ago with a Tesla and the Tesla lost. I was really surprised by that. Mine is on 120,000 and has given me zero problems engine wise. It does use a bit of oil and there is a very small leak but it doesn't leave drips lying underneath as its that small a leak. It is just weeping a bit from somewhere - I wont bore you with the details.

I bought mine because I wanted a fast estate car. And that's what I've got. It was cheap enough and has no diesel engine related problems to worry about. Price was comparable to the 535d at the time but these are super rare cars.

If you keep putting petrol in the tank it just keeps going and going and going.