Discussion
Afternoon all,
I'm thinking about selling the 535d Touring and grabbing myself one of these but I would like a bit of clarification please.
Pretty much everything you read on tinterweb tells you to stay away due to the catastrophic running costs.
Now from what I can make out, it seems the main and most significant issues are the gearbox or should I say torque converter and the DRC.
If I was to look at examples with coilovers and a refurbished gearbox are they still likely to catupault me into bankruptcy?
I know the intercoolers are prone to leaking but I'm expecting preventative maintenance.
Can anyone provide some insight and information please?
Cheers,
H
I'm thinking about selling the 535d Touring and grabbing myself one of these but I would like a bit of clarification please.
Pretty much everything you read on tinterweb tells you to stay away due to the catastrophic running costs.
Now from what I can make out, it seems the main and most significant issues are the gearbox or should I say torque converter and the DRC.
If I was to look at examples with coilovers and a refurbished gearbox are they still likely to catupault me into bankruptcy?
I know the intercoolers are prone to leaking but I'm expecting preventative maintenance.
Can anyone provide some insight and information please?
Cheers,
H
The Terminator said:
Very expensive car to maintain , lots of common problems all expensive to fix.
Had one last year , it had 11k spent on it in 18 months before i bought it . Then i spent nearly £2k on it in 6 months .
Still wasnt right .
I have got a C6 S6 v10 , far better car , no drc or gearbox problems.
Can you tell me what that £11k and £2k was for please? Was it DRC components and gearbox?Had one last year , it had 11k spent on it in 18 months before i bought it . Then i spent nearly £2k on it in 6 months .
Still wasnt right .
I have got a C6 S6 v10 , far better car , no drc or gearbox problems.
This is exactly what everyone says but when you look into it, it's usually huge amounts of main dealer labour that inflates the total costs so much.
Ug_lee said:
They are a gamble like anything else in life. Some will provide sterling service, others will throw up some pretty horrific stories. See my garage for an idea of my costs over the last year. This is a year where it needed its cambelt and front brakes replacing. Also had some bodywork done.
If you go for coilovers avoid H&R it goes soggy and as soon as you put anything in the boot, it's on its arse.
If gearbox goes it's £3.5K to replace. No more than any other premium slushboxed car/4x4 of the time. Some of the costs for other items especially through dealerships are expensive. Internet postings from (possibly misguided) owners spending ridiculous amounts on their cars means they have a very bad reputation for reliability and cost in fixing if they do expire. Shop around and with a bit of lateral thinking costs can be reduced considerably.
Get VAGcom so as to diagnose the myriad of niggly things that inevitably crop up with these cars. If you need to take your car to a specialist for everything and are not handy with the spanners costs can rise very quickly.
When they are working well, they are very special indeed. Just go into ownership with your eyes wide open to potential pitfalls and a decent slushfund and you'll (probably) enjoy ownership.
Very helpful, thanks Lee.If you go for coilovers avoid H&R it goes soggy and as soon as you put anything in the boot, it's on its arse.
If gearbox goes it's £3.5K to replace. No more than any other premium slushboxed car/4x4 of the time. Some of the costs for other items especially through dealerships are expensive. Internet postings from (possibly misguided) owners spending ridiculous amounts on their cars means they have a very bad reputation for reliability and cost in fixing if they do expire. Shop around and with a bit of lateral thinking costs can be reduced considerably.
Get VAGcom so as to diagnose the myriad of niggly things that inevitably crop up with these cars. If you need to take your car to a specialist for everything and are not handy with the spanners costs can rise very quickly.
When they are working well, they are very special indeed. Just go into ownership with your eyes wide open to potential pitfalls and a decent slushfund and you'll (probably) enjoy ownership.
Edited by Ug_lee on Friday 1st November 18:54
I've been looking around on RS246 for lots of info and I have already learnt a large amount.
I'll always try and tackle most jobs if I can, so I'm not afraid of getting the tools out.
A lot of the cars seem to be fitted with the Bilsteins and I've heard good things about them.
So other than the gearbox and DRC, what else is likely to need doing? Perhaps start with the largest, most expensive items at the top of the list.
Well it sounds like my thoughts are echoed which is good to hear.
On a kind of separate note, does the number of previous owners put anyone off when buying a car like this?
I've always tried to buy a car with as fewer owners as possible but wasn't sure what other peoples feelings are.
Thoughts?
Thanks for all the comments by the way.
On a kind of separate note, does the number of previous owners put anyone off when buying a car like this?
I've always tried to buy a car with as fewer owners as possible but wasn't sure what other peoples feelings are.
Thoughts?
Thanks for all the comments by the way.
Not sure I'd agree with all of the above but I thought I'd share my experience as I've now owned my Plus for just over 4 months.
First off and most importantly the gearbox.
This is probably the most expensive part of the car to replace and if you are unlucky enough to buy a car that needs a refurbed gearbox, you won't see much change from £4k. Bear in mind that the easiest way to remove the gearbox is to take the engine out with it and whilst that's out, you can quite easily spend another large chunk of money replacing other parts that will more than likely fail in the not to distant future. EGT's for example.
When taking the cars out for a test drive, make sure the gear changes are smooth and there is little to no slipping. If you're in D mode, you may catch the gearbox out by accelerating when the revs are very low causing the 'box to panic and instead of just grabbing a gear, it will allow the TQ to slip slightly so it can think about what's going on.
When considering a car, check to see if the gearbox has been serviced as it's recommended to service it at around 40k intervals. Depending on what you read, this can vary.
DRC/Suspension
Well documented issue and if it's still on the car, I'll put money on that at least one of the shocks is leaking. It's quite an expensive item to service and requires special tools to do so. MRC and Unit 20 I think have tools to do the job.
If you want to play it safe, make sure the DRC has been replaced with coil overs. Bilsteins are highly praised as an alternative.
Uprated ARB's are a great investment and the Hotchkis products are awesome. It improves the cars handling a great deal.
Tyres
Not as expensive as what Beefy states above and if he's only seeing 8k from a set then he's driving like a lunatic pretty much everywhere.
I've covered over 7k since I've had the car the Michelins that are currently on there have plenty of tread left.
Once these have worn down, I'll be replacing them with either GY Eagle F1's or Vreds. Both are around the £140 mark each so you're looking at £600 for a set fitted.
Brakes
Depending on where you go and what you chose, you can probably get all 4 replaced for around £800. ECP often have discount codes for these which always helps.
Engine
Pretty solid really and as long as it's been serviced regularly and looked after by it's previous owners, all should be well. They're pretty bombproof as well.
MAF's can be pricey if they need replacing and just remember there's 2 of them. These can be changed quite easily but just make sure everything's seated properly when you put everything back.
Diverter Valves can also fail but it's not that much of a ball ache to change them.
Rocker Cover gaskets can leak but I don't think they're a huge amount to change and I'm pretty sure they're a DIY.
Intercoolers
Check these carefully as you're looking at around £6-700 to have them refurbished. This is a DIY if you fancy it, you just need to remove the bumper.
If you intend to modify the car then you're probably better off replacing the original IC's with Wagner products.
I think that covers most aspects but just be mindful of the fact that these were £60-70k super cars in their time and do need a little TLC now as they're getting a little long in the tooth.
Don't let high mileage and a high number of previous owners put you off, sometimes these can be just as good, if not better than a low mileage example. This is a lesson I learned when I was looking around.
Oh, some cars will have been remapped but as long as it's been done by a reputable company then it should be fine (hopefully).
RS246 is the place to be if you need C5 info. There is a buyers guide which is definitely worth a read.
Good luck and as long you buy with your eyes wide open, you'll love the little beast.
First off and most importantly the gearbox.
This is probably the most expensive part of the car to replace and if you are unlucky enough to buy a car that needs a refurbed gearbox, you won't see much change from £4k. Bear in mind that the easiest way to remove the gearbox is to take the engine out with it and whilst that's out, you can quite easily spend another large chunk of money replacing other parts that will more than likely fail in the not to distant future. EGT's for example.
When taking the cars out for a test drive, make sure the gear changes are smooth and there is little to no slipping. If you're in D mode, you may catch the gearbox out by accelerating when the revs are very low causing the 'box to panic and instead of just grabbing a gear, it will allow the TQ to slip slightly so it can think about what's going on.
When considering a car, check to see if the gearbox has been serviced as it's recommended to service it at around 40k intervals. Depending on what you read, this can vary.
DRC/Suspension
Well documented issue and if it's still on the car, I'll put money on that at least one of the shocks is leaking. It's quite an expensive item to service and requires special tools to do so. MRC and Unit 20 I think have tools to do the job.
If you want to play it safe, make sure the DRC has been replaced with coil overs. Bilsteins are highly praised as an alternative.
Uprated ARB's are a great investment and the Hotchkis products are awesome. It improves the cars handling a great deal.
Tyres
Not as expensive as what Beefy states above and if he's only seeing 8k from a set then he's driving like a lunatic pretty much everywhere.
I've covered over 7k since I've had the car the Michelins that are currently on there have plenty of tread left.
Once these have worn down, I'll be replacing them with either GY Eagle F1's or Vreds. Both are around the £140 mark each so you're looking at £600 for a set fitted.
Brakes
Depending on where you go and what you chose, you can probably get all 4 replaced for around £800. ECP often have discount codes for these which always helps.
Engine
Pretty solid really and as long as it's been serviced regularly and looked after by it's previous owners, all should be well. They're pretty bombproof as well.
MAF's can be pricey if they need replacing and just remember there's 2 of them. These can be changed quite easily but just make sure everything's seated properly when you put everything back.
Diverter Valves can also fail but it's not that much of a ball ache to change them.
Rocker Cover gaskets can leak but I don't think they're a huge amount to change and I'm pretty sure they're a DIY.
Intercoolers
Check these carefully as you're looking at around £6-700 to have them refurbished. This is a DIY if you fancy it, you just need to remove the bumper.
If you intend to modify the car then you're probably better off replacing the original IC's with Wagner products.
I think that covers most aspects but just be mindful of the fact that these were £60-70k super cars in their time and do need a little TLC now as they're getting a little long in the tooth.
Don't let high mileage and a high number of previous owners put you off, sometimes these can be just as good, if not better than a low mileage example. This is a lesson I learned when I was looking around.
Oh, some cars will have been remapped but as long as it's been done by a reputable company then it should be fine (hopefully).
RS246 is the place to be if you need C5 info. There is a buyers guide which is definitely worth a read.
Good luck and as long you buy with your eyes wide open, you'll love the little beast.
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