E61 V8 Bearding

E61 V8 Bearding

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Discussion

ATM

Original Poster:

18,271 posts

219 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
I've just bought one of these and thought it would be good for owners, almost owners and previous owners to have somewhere to get Bearding. Pic of mine



Edited by ATM on Monday 27th July 13:51


Edited by ATM on Saturday 18th August 17:43

hornetrider

63,161 posts

205 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all

ATM

Original Poster:

18,271 posts

219 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
hornetrider said:
I did a search honest....

philmots

4,631 posts

260 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
Nothing like a new thread thoughcool

Is that the one that was on the trader and eBay for last few weeks? How is it?

Excuse to post a pic anyway...


dom9

8,068 posts

209 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
Currently on holiday in Crete but will get some pics of my 545iT SE up when I'm home.

75k on the clock and just had a transmission fluid change and bespoke cat-back exhaust and I am loving it!

Sadly, the dog has learned how to get round the dog guard so the I-drive is getting a little 'sticky'!

It would be good if we got a bit of a register going as I can see me badly wanting a 550i M Touring in a year or two!

ATM

Original Poster:

18,271 posts

219 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
I like it. Sure they're a few niggles but that's always going to be the case buying private for reasonable money. I'm already thinking of non-rft as I am a serial hater of rft. I did check the pressures on mine yesterday and found that 3 were on around 20 - 25 psi. I only managed to do 3 for 20p and refused to put a 50p in the machine. Then this morning on my way to the gym I got a flat tyre warning come up. I've got my own pump somewhere so I'll need to do them again and reset the computer.

Anyway on to today's niggle. As above - now moved to here -

So this is what is now starting to niggle 5 days in. It feels like there is some throttle pedal lag. In normal drive [not tested sport] at lower revs if you blip the throttle pedal quickly then the engine doesn't respond. It is as if the fly by wire - I hope it is fly by wire or I'll look like a plum - waits for a second to see what you do next with the throttle. Has anyone else noticed this or is mine goosed?


jboy72

375 posts

181 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
ATM said:
I did a search honest....
I guess the fact that I started that thread in early 2013 and still own an e61 550i says something for them!

I must admit I am from time to time vaguely tempted by a 550i GT, but find the prospect of spending circa £13k to trade up unpalatable...


hornetrider

63,161 posts

205 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
jboy72 said:
I must admit I am from time to time vaguely tempted by a 550i GT, but find the prospect of spending circa £13k to trade up unpalatable...
That's the problem isn't it hehe

Mind you deep down I am mightily tempted by the E66 750i posted the other day for the princely sum of 5k.

jboy72

375 posts

181 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
ATM said:
Anyway on to today's niggle. As above - now moved to here -

So this is what is now starting to niggle 5 days in. It feels like there is some throttle pedal lag. In normal drive [not tested sport] at lower revs if you blip the throttle pedal quickly then the engine doesn't respond. It is as if the fly by wire - I hope it is fly by wire or I'll look like a plum - waits for a second to see what you do next with the throttle. Has anyone else noticed this or is mine goosed?
Throttle lag can be a bit of an issue with e60s and e61s generally I think. If the previous owner was content to waft around at 1200rpms then this may have exacerbated the issue. I have tried the fabled TBA reset myself and it definitely does work. So maybe give that a go? If you spend a lot of time in City traffic like I do then the car may think that you are wafting around at 1200 rpms out of choice and not by dint of traffic and go back into sleepy mode - in which case you can just do the reset again!

ATM

Original Poster:

18,271 posts

219 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
ATM said:
hornetrider said:
I did a search honest....
There isn't much banter in the above thread. Not since 2013 anyway. All seems to be related to mpg or wood. I managed to do about 110 miles on Saturday for £22 which I am happy with. Filled up before and after. Surely the point of buying a big v8 is not to even think about mpg. Mind you I was tempted by an M5 touring but their running costs are just frightening. I only paid 8 thousand for my car.

jboy72

375 posts

181 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
hornetrider said:
That's the problem isn't it hehe

Mind you deep down I am mightily tempted by the E66 750i posted the other day for the princely sum of 5k.
Yes, it is a bit. A cheaper v8 is also much more tempting for me and I am considering swapping my Alfa for an e39 540i!

ATM

Original Poster:

18,271 posts

219 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
jboy72 said:
hornetrider said:
That's the problem isn't it hehe

Mind you deep down I am mightily tempted by the E66 750i posted the other day for the princely sum of 5k.
Yes, it is a bit. A cheaper v8 is also much more tempting for me and I am considering swapping my Alfa for an e39 540i!
I was looking for a nice E39 540i Touring but they were going for like 4 grand and I thought for the extra money I'd prefer an E61.

hornetrider

63,161 posts

205 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
ATM said:
I was looking for a nice E39 540i Touring but they were going for like 4 grand and I thought for the extra money I'd prefer an E61.
The problem with the E39 V8 is the steering is a recirculating ball instead of the conventional rack found on the E61. It makes a real difference to the driving experience, I drove one and it felt really vague.

While I mention it, it also had a manual box which felt like stirring porridge. In that respect, those two primary controls on the 61 are light years ahead of the 39.

ATM

Original Poster:

18,271 posts

219 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
hornetrider said:
ATM said:
I was looking for a nice E39 540i Touring but they were going for like 4 grand and I thought for the extra money I'd prefer an E61.
The problem with the E39 V8 is the steering is a recirculating ball instead of the conventional rack found on the E61. It makes a real difference to the driving experience, I drove one and it felt really vague.

While I mention it, it also had a manual box which felt like stirring porridge. In that respect, those two primary controls on the 61 are light years ahead of the 39.
I believe the E39 boys use an E60 shifter on their manuals as an upgrade.

jboy72

375 posts

181 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
hornetrider said:
The problem with the E39 V8 is the steering is a recirculating ball instead of the conventional rack found on the E61. It makes a real difference to the driving experience, I drove one and it felt really vague.

While I mention it, it also had a manual box which felt like stirring porridge. In that respect, those two primary controls on the 61 are light years ahead of the 39.
I owned an e39 530i and recall that the general wisdom at the time was that the power hike in the 540i was not worth suffering the vague steering. Having said that, the 540i did have plenty of fans. I have never driven an e39 540i though, I just like the look of it on paper. Maybe I should go back to an e39 530i sport - it was a pretty good drivers car it must be said.

On another note, I drove a manual 523i and 525i (both e39s) and the box felt ok to me - admittedly not as good as the manual box in the e60 525d I had a go in.

ATM

Original Poster:

18,271 posts

219 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
jboy72 said:
hornetrider said:
The problem with the E39 V8 is the steering is a recirculating ball instead of the conventional rack found on the E61. It makes a real difference to the driving experience, I drove one and it felt really vague.

While I mention it, it also had a manual box which felt like stirring porridge. In that respect, those two primary controls on the 61 are light years ahead of the 39.
I owned an e39 530i and recall that the general wisdom at the time was that the power hike in the 540i was not worth suffering the vague steering. Having said that, the 540i did have plenty of fans. I have never driven an e39 540i though, I just like the look of it on paper. Maybe I should go back to an e39 530i sport - it was a pretty good drivers car it must be said.

On another note, I drove a manual 523i and 525i (both e39s) and the box felt ok to me - admittedly not as good as the manual box in the e60 525d I had a go in.
I've got a 528i banger which I really like - see pic above. I got it for £600 - thread here - http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=149...

It's an auto and occasionally the box seems a bit sluggish but I suspect a fluid change might help. Obviously I have done very little to it and now I've decided I need an estate it's basically surplus to requirements.

dom9

8,068 posts

209 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
I too was looking for a good 540i Sport Touring but they are thin on the ground without big miles.

I'm currently averaging just shy of 20mpg with a pretty even split of stop-start town driving and long runs.

It can be painful but it's so worth it with the sound of that V8 with the new exhaust.

Also update the Business Nav with a 40 quid 2015 maps disc and that seems to have worked perfectly.

No niggles for me at the moment though I was worried by a harsh crash into 1st gear coming to a stop when I first got it but that seems to have sorted itself out after a fluid change, reset and some less tool-like driving now I'm used to the auto.

Definite 'lag' to the throttle on mine and a throttle re-map box thing is available but it doesn't bother me too much. May be more pronounced on the 4.8?

philmots

4,631 posts

260 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
ATM said:
I like it. Sure they're a few niggles but that's always going to be the case buying private for reasonable money. I'm already thinking of non-rft as I am a serial hater of rft. I did check the pressures on mine yesterday and found that 3 were on around 20 - 25 psi. I only managed to do 3 for 20p and refused to put a 50p in the machine. Then this morning on my way to the gym I got a flat tyre warning come up. I've got my own pump somewhere so I'll need to do them again and reset the computer.

Anyway on to today's niggle. As above - now moved to here -

So this is what is now starting to niggle 5 days in. It feels like there is some throttle pedal lag. In normal drive [not tested sport] at lower revs if you blip the throttle pedal quickly then the engine doesn't respond. It is as if the fly by wire - I hope it is fly by wire or I'll look like a plum - waits for a second to see what you do next with the throttle. Has anyone else noticed this or is mine goosed?
Mine came with 4x new Goodyear NCT5 Runflats, I don't mind the Runflats bit as it rides ok but the tyres are terrible.. I can't bear to throw them so they'll stay for the meantime. I'm going to replace them with Pilot Supersports when the time comes, I'm also tempted by the 19" Spiders too. Although the Touring officially needs 4 x front wheels as you can't fit the staggered wider rears without spacers - not for me.

They take very high pressures, sure it's 2.5/3.0 front/back.. Then reset the tyre warning straight away.

Re throttle blipping, when you say quick, how quickly? If I blip mine as quick as I possibly could it doesn't do much but it does respond. If I blip it just fairly quick then it's super responsive. There's a way of resetting the throttle pedal which I can't quite remember but it's all over Google, I did it and noticed a faint beep and a difference, but apparently by just using a lot of full throttle will do the same thing as it wakes the car up to your driving style.

Mines averaging 21mpg, never really do any long runs in that average (last average on a long highish speed run was 24mpg) I think that's all pretty reasonable really. Mpg is calculated properly as the computer is optimistic!

Another nice tip (I got from Hornetrider) is you've a few miles left on the range after you've passed 0 which does help as it can be a pain going to the petrol station too often. I went about 2 miles over and got 67 litres in. Tank holds 70 I think.



Edited by philmots on Monday 27th July 17:06

ATM

Original Poster:

18,271 posts

219 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
philmots said:
ATM said:
I like it. Sure they're a few niggles but that's always going to be the case buying private for reasonable money. I'm already thinking of non-rft as I am a serial hater of rft. I did check the pressures on mine yesterday and found that 3 were on around 20 - 25 psi. I only managed to do 3 for 20p and refused to put a 50p in the machine. Then this morning on my way to the gym I got a flat tyre warning come up. I've got my own pump somewhere so I'll need to do them again and reset the computer.

Anyway on to today's niggle. As above - now moved to here -

So this is what is now starting to niggle 5 days in. It feels like there is some throttle pedal lag. In normal drive [not tested sport] at lower revs if you blip the throttle pedal quickly then the engine doesn't respond. It is as if the fly by wire - I hope it is fly by wire or I'll look like a plum - waits for a second to see what you do next with the throttle. Has anyone else noticed this or is mine goosed?
Mine came with 4x new Goodyear NCT5 Runflats, I don't mind the Runflats bit as it rides ok but the tyres are terrible.. I can't bear to throw them so they'll stay for the meantime. I'm going to replace them with Pilot Supersports when the time comes, I'm also tempted by the 19" Spiders too. Although the Touring officially needs 4 x front wheels as you can't fit the staggered wider rears without spacers - not for me.

They take very high pressures, sure it's 2.5/3.0 front/back.. Then reset the tyre warning straight away.

Re throttle blipping, when you say quick, how quickly? If I blip mine as quick as I possibly could it doesn't do much but it does respond. If I blip it just fairly quick then it's super responsive. There's a way of resetting the throttle pedal which I can't quite remember but it's all over Google, I did it and noticed a faint beep and a difference, but apparently by just using a lot of full throttle will do the same thing as it wakes the car up to your driving style.

Mines averaging 21mpg, never really do any long runs in that average (last average on a long highish speed run was 24mpg) I think that's all pretty reasonable really. Mpg is calculated properly as the computer is optimistic!

Another nice tip (I got from Hornetrider) is you've a few miles left on the range after you've passed 0 which does help as it can be a pain going to the petrol station too often. I went about 2 miles over and got 67 litres in. Tank holds 70 I think.



Edited by philmots on Monday 27th July 17:06
Spacers dont scare me. I have a set of BBS wheels in my lockup which are 18 inch but the offsets are way out for the E61 so I would need spacers on all 4 corners to use them. They are 10 inch wide rears and 8.5 fronts. That should allow me to run 285 / 275 rear and 255 / 245 fronts. I'll need to go and have a double check on offset, then maybe get some spacers and try a test fit.

philmots

4,631 posts

260 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
I'm not sure on how wheels all fit.

10" sounds optimistic, the Touring has really narrow arches to increase boot space which is why the 19" option was never with the wider staggered ones.

Anything wider I think ends up sticking out the arch.