My Bavarian barge - long term report
Discussion
I did an early shift today so this afternoon I called in to the Hungarian car washers and as the weather was nice but not too sunny or hot I gave it a quick polish at home. In the sunlight it's as swirly as hell if you look closely but to be honest living out in the sticks within days it'll be covered in mud again so I'm not that bothered. One day I'll get it detailed as black is very unforgiving of swirls, dings and scratches.
It's five years and three months old now with 73,000 miles up, but you'd never think that from sitting inside. I've had her from two years old when I bought her as an ex BMW management AUC. I've often thought about moving it on but for what? I can't afford an F01 yet and it'd be daft getting another E65 now so I think she'll be soldiering on for a while yet. I originally wanted a 5 or a 330d but when I started looking I realised that everyone else had the same idea. I kept finding cars that had some but not all the stuff I was looking for and the perfect spec evaded me. Some didn't have xenons, some didn't have nav, some didn't have auto, etc etc so I ended up having a go in a 7 for a laugh as literally everything on my wish list and more was all as standard. After one drive I was smitten. It set me back £27,000 with a year's BMW warranty left and 19,000 miles up. I'll probably bail out at the end of next year when it'll have done around 90,000 miles and I'm hoping it'll still be worth around £10k as a tidy private sale, so £17,000 for five years and 70,000 miles motoring in a 7 Series seems pretty good value to me.
It doesn't go to the BMW stealers any more as they didn't seem any more capable and were double the price of a good specialist I use, who uses only BMW parts and oils. It had a few brain farts while under warranty (leak on the cylinder head, sat nav packed in and the passenger door wouldn't open) but since then touch wood, it's been pretty good. The door handles and door mechanism seem to be an E65 weak spot as since then both the driver and rear passenger door handles have both had problems which turned out to be the cable inside fraying at the ends. Not a big job but annoying as at first they only stick intermittently and only properly give up the ghost when you're in a foreign country with the whole family on board! The only other issue was the paint on the button to open the centre console wore off and then eventually the whole thing fell apart, probably as a consequence of me pressing it twice in every journey to take my phone in and out the snap in charger. The button was about 50p from the stealer but stripping down the centre console (which contains the iDrive controller and buttons) was apparently a nasty job.
Electrics seem to be okay, contrary to the nightmares you hear about E65s. Cold and damp autumnal weather sometimes seems to affect the DSC system and it gives you a warning that the DSC has been deactivated and to drive carefully upon startup. Restarting the engine cures this and it's only happened a handful of times in three years. Oil usage is low and consumables are no more expensive than any other car I've run. I've stuck with the OEM Pirelli P Zeros, although I tracked down some part worn P Zeros for the back last time round (about 2mm worn) which cost a fraction of the new price and so far have been great.
Fuel economy is a mixed bag. I only work about 4 miles from home so it barely gets warm most of the time and my fuel economy suffers. I'd say 25mpg around town, 30 odd in mixed use and on a long run over 40mpg is easily done, not bad for something this big that'll do 153 mph!
So in all would I recommend barge motoring? Yes, absolutely. Every journey is a treat. You arrive in supreme comfort and totally unflustered. Mot of my friends thought I was mad getting a 7 Series until they went in and drove it and now they'd have one in a flash. In terms of value for money you're getting an enormous amount of car for your cash. People are frightened by the potential bills but if you buy carefully and not too old then I'd say go for it. A blown turbo or new gearbox on an E65 is not that much more than it would be on a 3 or a 5!
Downsides? Well everyone thinks you're loaded for starters, as non car people don't really understand that a five year old E65 is worth about as much as a new Renault Clio and subsequently there's lots of 'you and your big flash car' type jibes and I suppose in these enlightened times you could argue that no one really needs such a big, opulent car as really a Toyota Aygo does the same job. Beardy, lentil-eaters do make you feel that you're destroying the planet, but hey, screw 'em. The biggest issue I have is tight city centre car parks where the width (rather the length) of the thing can be an issue. Testament to this is the little collection of dints all down either side from careless Aygo drivers and their doors...
So the pics then....
(All the original links have died - more pics at the end of this thread)
It's five years and three months old now with 73,000 miles up, but you'd never think that from sitting inside. I've had her from two years old when I bought her as an ex BMW management AUC. I've often thought about moving it on but for what? I can't afford an F01 yet and it'd be daft getting another E65 now so I think she'll be soldiering on for a while yet. I originally wanted a 5 or a 330d but when I started looking I realised that everyone else had the same idea. I kept finding cars that had some but not all the stuff I was looking for and the perfect spec evaded me. Some didn't have xenons, some didn't have nav, some didn't have auto, etc etc so I ended up having a go in a 7 for a laugh as literally everything on my wish list and more was all as standard. After one drive I was smitten. It set me back £27,000 with a year's BMW warranty left and 19,000 miles up. I'll probably bail out at the end of next year when it'll have done around 90,000 miles and I'm hoping it'll still be worth around £10k as a tidy private sale, so £17,000 for five years and 70,000 miles motoring in a 7 Series seems pretty good value to me.
It doesn't go to the BMW stealers any more as they didn't seem any more capable and were double the price of a good specialist I use, who uses only BMW parts and oils. It had a few brain farts while under warranty (leak on the cylinder head, sat nav packed in and the passenger door wouldn't open) but since then touch wood, it's been pretty good. The door handles and door mechanism seem to be an E65 weak spot as since then both the driver and rear passenger door handles have both had problems which turned out to be the cable inside fraying at the ends. Not a big job but annoying as at first they only stick intermittently and only properly give up the ghost when you're in a foreign country with the whole family on board! The only other issue was the paint on the button to open the centre console wore off and then eventually the whole thing fell apart, probably as a consequence of me pressing it twice in every journey to take my phone in and out the snap in charger. The button was about 50p from the stealer but stripping down the centre console (which contains the iDrive controller and buttons) was apparently a nasty job.
Electrics seem to be okay, contrary to the nightmares you hear about E65s. Cold and damp autumnal weather sometimes seems to affect the DSC system and it gives you a warning that the DSC has been deactivated and to drive carefully upon startup. Restarting the engine cures this and it's only happened a handful of times in three years. Oil usage is low and consumables are no more expensive than any other car I've run. I've stuck with the OEM Pirelli P Zeros, although I tracked down some part worn P Zeros for the back last time round (about 2mm worn) which cost a fraction of the new price and so far have been great.
Fuel economy is a mixed bag. I only work about 4 miles from home so it barely gets warm most of the time and my fuel economy suffers. I'd say 25mpg around town, 30 odd in mixed use and on a long run over 40mpg is easily done, not bad for something this big that'll do 153 mph!
So in all would I recommend barge motoring? Yes, absolutely. Every journey is a treat. You arrive in supreme comfort and totally unflustered. Mot of my friends thought I was mad getting a 7 Series until they went in and drove it and now they'd have one in a flash. In terms of value for money you're getting an enormous amount of car for your cash. People are frightened by the potential bills but if you buy carefully and not too old then I'd say go for it. A blown turbo or new gearbox on an E65 is not that much more than it would be on a 3 or a 5!
Downsides? Well everyone thinks you're loaded for starters, as non car people don't really understand that a five year old E65 is worth about as much as a new Renault Clio and subsequently there's lots of 'you and your big flash car' type jibes and I suppose in these enlightened times you could argue that no one really needs such a big, opulent car as really a Toyota Aygo does the same job. Beardy, lentil-eaters do make you feel that you're destroying the planet, but hey, screw 'em. The biggest issue I have is tight city centre car parks where the width (rather the length) of the thing can be an issue. Testament to this is the little collection of dints all down either side from careless Aygo drivers and their doors...
So the pics then....
(All the original links have died - more pics at the end of this thread)
Edited by bennyboydurham on Monday 16th May 16:12
Couldn't agree more. Recently sold my E65 with over 200k on the clock and doing 40k in the previous year alone! I tried an A8, Lexus LS and S class before the BMW and the BMW was by far the nicest.
Cars are utterly superb, handle really well (especially with direct drive and EDC), the 730d engine is wonderful and will return over 40 on a motorway run (I averaged 34 mpg combined). Full of toys, beautifully made. If I needed to do mega miles again I would not hesitate to buy another E65!
Simply stunning motor.
Cars are utterly superb, handle really well (especially with direct drive and EDC), the 730d engine is wonderful and will return over 40 on a motorway run (I averaged 34 mpg combined). Full of toys, beautifully made. If I needed to do mega miles again I would not hesitate to buy another E65!
Simply stunning motor.
Superb report. Just about to put my mint 2000 E38 728, 128k miles, up for sale after 12 months of utter pleasure, 28-30mpg, 11,000 miles over the year, £400 repair bills, £50 MOT, £400 set of tyres and 120mph autobahn cruising. Purchased for £2200, hope to sell for same, giving £70 per month running costs plus fuel.
Looks lovely.
The decisions you made to come to the conclusion of buying an E65 are the same as mine.
They have all the options i would like and for the smae price as a slightly newer 3 series.
Some of the 7's on sale at dealers now seem great value.
And the MPG you've managed would mean i would save over £1200 a year in fuel compared to my current car.
The decisions you made to come to the conclusion of buying an E65 are the same as mine.
They have all the options i would like and for the smae price as a slightly newer 3 series.
Some of the 7's on sale at dealers now seem great value.
And the MPG you've managed would mean i would save over £1200 a year in fuel compared to my current car.
I must admit, I have a massive soft spot for these facelift or not! One of my good mates Dad owned a pre-tartedup 735i that was specced to the heavens.
The only thing that really went wrong on it was the rear DVD screen, which stayed on but couldn't be diagnosed by BMW for ages. It meant it would drain the battery completely overnight. Something like 80 hours were eventually spend on finding, and rectifying the fault including the interior (all or parts, I do not know) being ripped out to find the issue.
Imagine the cost if it wasn't under warranty
The only thing that really went wrong on it was the rear DVD screen, which stayed on but couldn't be diagnosed by BMW for ages. It meant it would drain the battery completely overnight. Something like 80 hours were eventually spend on finding, and rectifying the fault including the interior (all or parts, I do not know) being ripped out to find the issue.
Imagine the cost if it wasn't under warranty
Great write up! I've had my 745i for just over 3 years now and love it. Bought it for all the reasons you mention. Drove 3600 miles on a Euro road trip last year, great way to travel and managed to stretch "her" legs on the Autobahn. Don't think I've ever travelled so fast with so little fuss!
Max M4X WW said:
Love it, Only ever been in one 7 and it was only briefly (robsa's car above) with 200k odd on the clock and it still felt great and a big step up above my E39 540i.
Nice colour and interior combo too and its a facelift
Max you old dog, should have known you would be one here! Still working for that wonderful company eh? Nice colour and interior combo too and its a facelift
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