RE: BMW 6 Series (E63): PH Buying Guide
Discussion
Dad had a new 645 manual convertible just after they came out.
Was the first V8 I drove and he put about 80k on it in 3 years.
His needed a clutch after about 2k miles and at the end of the deal it felt very worn out suspension and interior wise but it had a fairly hard life.
I quite fancy one as a weekend ype car as it has 4 seats/v8/rwd and the manuals go like scalded cats but £5k seems a lot of money as they will undoubtably need a complete suspension overhaul etc to be the car they once were.
That v8 is awesome though, sounds awesome once the exhaust baffles start deteriorating a bit =)
Was the first V8 I drove and he put about 80k on it in 3 years.
His needed a clutch after about 2k miles and at the end of the deal it felt very worn out suspension and interior wise but it had a fairly hard life.
I quite fancy one as a weekend ype car as it has 4 seats/v8/rwd and the manuals go like scalded cats but £5k seems a lot of money as they will undoubtably need a complete suspension overhaul etc to be the car they once were.
That v8 is awesome though, sounds awesome once the exhaust baffles start deteriorating a bit =)
I always liked these, in V8 form, but two pages in and we've seen one with cheesy dark tints and another one in orange with writing over the sunband. I think I'll have to put off owning one for about 10-15 years now, until they come out of the other side of this part of the BMW ownership cycle 
Limpet said:
Am I the only one who thinks these are deeply ugly? Side profile is OK, but the front end is hideous. It always looks to me like someone has fitted the lights, bumper and grille from a completely different car.
I liked many of Bangle's BMW designs - Z4 and 5 series, for instance - but this I've always hated. The boot looks like its been grafted on from another car as well. Front and back are a mess. Still, all subjective - if you don't think it's boggingly ugly it's a bargain.cerb4.5lee said:
annodomini2 said:
Limpet said:
Am I the only one who thinks these are deeply ugly? Side profile is OK, but the front end is hideous. It always looks to me like someone has fitted the lights, bumper and grille from a completely different car.
Agree, hate the styling on these, I personally don't think they look right from any angle.This car has got to be the pinnacle of Bangle's interesting experiment where he wanted to see just how much people were blinded by the badge and would still buy a fugly motor.
Interesting tag line on the PH story too - surely when headlining on something subjective, it should follow a consensus? Clearly everyone has their own taste, but I very much doubt that the majority would credit the 6 as "stylish". Additionally, "Bangle's best" design is pretty much akin to Minardi's best F1 car - all lean towards being horrific, just some marginally less so than others...
Hello Chaps, excellent 6 series up for sale at the moment with everything you want, manual box, V8, Coupe, Black, FSH, looked after under BMW warranty.
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
maz33 said:
Hello Chaps, excellent 6 series up for sale at the moment with everything you want, manual box, V8, Coupe, Black, FSH, looked after under BMW warranty.
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
Seems over priced according to this thread surely?http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
They are fantastic cars! I've had my early 650i coupe for over 2 years now and covered 10,000 miles or so.
It offers superb performance, a great exhaust sound (even in standard trim) and remarkable economy. I bought mine when it was just my other half an I, we now have a little boy who is 1. Surprisingly its not been a problem, the baby seat fits nicely in the back albeit with the passenger seat further forward than you would normally have it (rear room is very limited) however the boot is cavernous and swallows the pram and any other bags and things we need. It's probably as practical as my other halfs E87, with the exception that it obviously does not have rear doors and if its raining securing a baby seat is not particularly pleasurable!
I have to say (touch wood) so far nothing has gone wrong, save the I drive CCC locking up once every few months for a few minutes.
I keep thinking about changing it but cannot come to any decision as to what to do, as finding anything I actually like for the money I have that is any more practical and as fast is very difficult!
My only disagreement with the buying guide would be regarding the 630i, in my experience it serves little purpose. It is considerably slower in both power outputs than either of the V8's. I've never yet heard the comment about the drive being better, I test drove both and to me the dominating experience of both test drives was the torque of the 650i, and the lack of it in the 630i. Lastly, fuel economy, an acquaintance of mine had a 630i for a reasonable length of time. The overall economy difference was 1mpg, I know which I would rather have.
It offers superb performance, a great exhaust sound (even in standard trim) and remarkable economy. I bought mine when it was just my other half an I, we now have a little boy who is 1. Surprisingly its not been a problem, the baby seat fits nicely in the back albeit with the passenger seat further forward than you would normally have it (rear room is very limited) however the boot is cavernous and swallows the pram and any other bags and things we need. It's probably as practical as my other halfs E87, with the exception that it obviously does not have rear doors and if its raining securing a baby seat is not particularly pleasurable!
I have to say (touch wood) so far nothing has gone wrong, save the I drive CCC locking up once every few months for a few minutes.
I keep thinking about changing it but cannot come to any decision as to what to do, as finding anything I actually like for the money I have that is any more practical and as fast is very difficult!
My only disagreement with the buying guide would be regarding the 630i, in my experience it serves little purpose. It is considerably slower in both power outputs than either of the V8's. I've never yet heard the comment about the drive being better, I test drove both and to me the dominating experience of both test drives was the torque of the 650i, and the lack of it in the 630i. Lastly, fuel economy, an acquaintance of mine had a 630i for a reasonable length of time. The overall economy difference was 1mpg, I know which I would rather have.
quavey said:
Lastly, fuel economy, an acquaintance of mine had a 630i for a reasonable length of time. The overall economy difference was 1mpg, I know which I would rather have.
How fortunate that you both had exactly the same driving route at exactly the same time to enable a useful and accurate comparison between the cars Fox- said:
quavey said:
Lastly, fuel economy, an acquaintance of mine had a 630i for a reasonable length of time. The overall economy difference was 1mpg, I know which I would rather have.
How fortunate that you both had exactly the same driving route at exactly the same time to enable a useful and accurate comparison between the cars the_hood said:
Would be interested to hear more.
The 645 had some things I loved about it. Firstly I specced it as a manual which was not a common option apparently, and I loved the sound of the V8. From a driver's point of view it was quick enough, though I found the clutch not as nice as my previous E39 M5...it was very binary. Hated the run flats and changed them out for regular Michelins which transformed the car.
The M6 was an exclusive edition car and beautifully finished inside with gorgeous full leather. The engine was amazing but only if you could find somewhere to use it and had no V8 rumble. Lots has been written about SMG. Suffice it to say that it was awful as an auto, but if you learned to do a micro lift on upshift you could use it very smoothly. It was too heavy for a track and underbraked for the purpose..I ran it at a couple of tracks in Germany including the Nürburgring and it was just not the right car for that activity.
On an autobahn the thing was mind-blowing....my vid vid here flat out. Engine sounds great if you can get the rev right up there.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTMKkPxei0I
CS Garth said:
The bloke had just contributed very positively to an interesting thread and that is your input? Really?
Yes - that's right - its my input. Because it comes up time and time again, usually from V8 owners. Claims, usually based on anecdotes, that the V8's are as fuel efficient as the 6 cylinder engines. It's just not true, its man maths at its finest and it gets misleading when people ask for genuine advice. There are many great things about the V8, but 6 pot efficiency is simply not one of them. It's the same with the 5 Series as well.The V8's are more thirsty than the 6 pots. If they were not then they'd have almost identical combined consumption figures (No matter what you can, rightly, say about the NEDC testing methodology, the one thing it does offer is consistency between models in the same range) and they don't, they are miles apart. Look on, say, Spritmonitor.de and you'll notice the average for the 630i is 27mpg and the V8 is 22mpg. It's near enough 20% more efficient!
I'd often touch 40mpg in my 6 cylinder 5 Series, a V8 would get nowhere near. I never saw 15mpg over a tank, V8 owners often do.
Whether or not the V8 is worth the extra fuel cost is of course a completely different story - you could very well argue that it's worth the extra - but honestly, can we stop with the ridiculous myth that a 4.4 litre V8 uses the same amount of fuel as a 3 litre Six? Especially when you consider that BMW petrol six cylinder engines are amongst the most efficient on the market anyway.
There is absolutely a credible case to made for purchasing a 630i.
Remember of course the entire reason BMW introduced the N54 engine was to offer V8 power and performance but 6 cylinder efficiency. Perhaps they should have popped on here first because apparently the V8 already offered 6 cylinder efficiency, what a waste of time it was developing that turbo six!
Edited by Fox- on Monday 3rd October 21:37
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