Should I spend £5.5k on an E60 530d touring or £14k?
Discussion
Torn on this one. I've got £14k to spend on an estate and I've settled on a 530d touring (or the relatively rare 535d!).
If I spend £5500- 6500 on one what I'll get is a high miler (which does not necessarily put me off dependant on history and where it's been driven ie motorways miles) and with more of a thirst than a later one. But it would possibly have plenty of life left in it. The gamble is that if all is ok- great- I've got myself a bargain and I'd have plenty of cash left if things went wrong and it needed fixing.
Or should I spend £14000 and get a 'fresher' touring, in excellent condition, relatively low miles with hopefully no issues.
What to do??
If I spend £5500- 6500 on one what I'll get is a high miler (which does not necessarily put me off dependant on history and where it's been driven ie motorways miles) and with more of a thirst than a later one. But it would possibly have plenty of life left in it. The gamble is that if all is ok- great- I've got myself a bargain and I'd have plenty of cash left if things went wrong and it needed fixing.
Or should I spend £14000 and get a 'fresher' touring, in excellent condition, relatively low miles with hopefully no issues.
What to do??
rix said:
true, but it will guarantee a LCI 535d with better performance and economy than an older prefacelift 530d 
Obviously. It will also guarantee an expenditure of 8.5K more for what is a very ordinary car presumably being bought as a tool for a job. I'd either lease a newer one or go down the 'banger' route.
Motorrad said:
Obviously. It will also guarantee an expenditure of 8.5K more for what is a very ordinary car presumably being bought as a tool for a job.
I'd either lease a newer one or go down the 'banger' route.
Sorry but what absolute nonsense, spending £14k doesn't guarantee a trouble free car, in the same way buying a cheaper one also doesn't guarantee if wont be reliable. Perhaps spend somewhere in the middle get a decent one with a warranty and some cash left over to keep it in tip top condition over the next few years.I'd either lease a newer one or go down the 'banger' route.
They have the potential to go big time eye-watering wrong at any age and mileage, the only benefit of a low mileage car in this regard is the ability to buy a decent warranty to protect yourself from bills.
Plus the LCI E60 is a big improvement from the early example with cheap wacky interior and crappy lights but I'd admit even I'd find it hard to spend another £8.5k purely on that basis!
Of course you could pick up an early 530i with the M54 engine in it carried over from the E39. Far less of a mechanical liability and not THAT thirsty.
Plus the LCI E60 is a big improvement from the early example with cheap wacky interior and crappy lights but I'd admit even I'd find it hard to spend another £8.5k purely on that basis!
Of course you could pick up an early 530i with the M54 engine in it carried over from the E39. Far less of a mechanical liability and not THAT thirsty.
T16OLE said:
Sorry but what absolute nonsense, spending £14k doesn't guarantee a trouble free car, in the same way buying a cheaper one also doesn't guarantee if wont be reliable. Perhaps spend somewhere in the middle get a decent one with a warranty and some cash left over to keep it in tip top condition over the next few years.
I think you misread what Motorrad was saying. OP, as people have said, just because a car is newer and less miles doesn't really mean it's any less likely to have a big bill hanging around the corner. I'd much rather have a well maintained 100k mile car than a questionable 30k car.
Say the £14k 535d was more reliable / cheaper to run than a 5.5k 530d anyway, the depreciation would massively offset it.
Edited by BriC175 on Friday 9th November 08:23
My Uncle spent £21k on a 2006 535d from a main dealer when it was just over 3 years old.
It's been nothing but trouble.
It's had oil leaks - several. Mostly from the same place that BMW can't seem to fix.
2 new turbos.
1 new oiler cooler.
Complete rear wiring loom and replacement rear screen.
It had 40k miles on the clock and now it has 60k.
One of the oil leaks and the turbos were fixed during the original 12 month warranty. Luckily he decided to get an extended warranty at £75 a month which has (after much haggling on the phone and in the garage) lucikly covered the rest.
I'm not saying they are all like this, but beware they are a money pit when they go wrong.
It's been nothing but trouble.
It's had oil leaks - several. Mostly from the same place that BMW can't seem to fix.
2 new turbos.
1 new oiler cooler.
Complete rear wiring loom and replacement rear screen.
It had 40k miles on the clock and now it has 60k.
One of the oil leaks and the turbos were fixed during the original 12 month warranty. Luckily he decided to get an extended warranty at £75 a month which has (after much haggling on the phone and in the garage) lucikly covered the rest.
I'm not saying they are all like this, but beware they are a money pit when they go wrong.
T16OLE said:
Sorry but what absolute nonsense, spending £14k doesn't guarantee a trouble free car, in the same way buying a cheaper one also doesn't guarantee if wont be reliable. Perhaps spend somewhere in the middle get a decent one with a warranty and some cash left over to keep it in tip top condition over the next few years.
If you'd actually bothered to read my posts on this thread you'll see I used the phrase 'spending 14K doesn't guarantee a trouble free car' some hours before you wrote that stream of s
t. fking muppet.Swings and roundabouts, I spent £14k on a 40k mile 530dMsport, I did 14k miles in 6 months of hard driving and it didn't miss a beat
A far better car than my prev e90 320d, effortlessly quick and lovely on long journeys...
Mine was a 56 plate with the 235bhp engine, averaged 42mpg at a steady 80mph and it was an auto!
I've driven a few 04 plate versions and they are noticeably slower...(215bhp engine)
Truthfully the only thing I didn't like was the auto box which is pretty dim witted and slow to shift.
Having sold it a few weeks back for an estate, I lost less on it than any other car I've owned (less than £1k) and I'd buy another in a heart beat (but need cash for house move...)
I also don't buy the LCI vs non argument, the post LCI cars have nicer headrests and rear lights... Mine was a lovely place to be
Personally I would always go lower mileage but I'd stop at about a £10k budget (a nice 530s touring on a 56 plate with 76k miles went for £7.8k on eBay last week...
A far better car than my prev e90 320d, effortlessly quick and lovely on long journeys...
Mine was a 56 plate with the 235bhp engine, averaged 42mpg at a steady 80mph and it was an auto!
I've driven a few 04 plate versions and they are noticeably slower...(215bhp engine)
Truthfully the only thing I didn't like was the auto box which is pretty dim witted and slow to shift.
Having sold it a few weeks back for an estate, I lost less on it than any other car I've owned (less than £1k) and I'd buy another in a heart beat (but need cash for house move...)
I also don't buy the LCI vs non argument, the post LCI cars have nicer headrests and rear lights... Mine was a lovely place to be
Personally I would always go lower mileage but I'd stop at about a £10k budget (a nice 530s touring on a 56 plate with 76k miles went for £7.8k on eBay last week...
Brother in laws dad (no idea if there is an official term for the family tree relationship) had a number of 5's in a row all of which i was lucky enough to drive. E39 530d Msport, followed by early E60 530d se, followed by facelift E60 525d Msport. All Autos, all company lease cars from New, all did 50k+ before being replaced.
I don't think any of them had any issues, but, in my opinion the last one felt pretty much just as fast as the other 2 despite the smaller engine and was capable of mid 40's without too much trouble, The interior was much nicer that the earlier E60 too. On that basis perhaps go for the earliest Facelft that fits your budget.
I have also driven a mates 57 plate facelift E60 520d se and was impressed with how well it went, didn't sound nearly as creamy as the 6's though, got much better fuel economy, i would imaging servicing and reliability are probably better too.
I can remember years ago a colleague drove an E39 530d Msport and the injectors needed replacement which ran to something like £800.......also it might be worth checking what model years suffered from the dodgy swirl flap issues......
I don't think any of them had any issues, but, in my opinion the last one felt pretty much just as fast as the other 2 despite the smaller engine and was capable of mid 40's without too much trouble, The interior was much nicer that the earlier E60 too. On that basis perhaps go for the earliest Facelft that fits your budget.
I have also driven a mates 57 plate facelift E60 520d se and was impressed with how well it went, didn't sound nearly as creamy as the 6's though, got much better fuel economy, i would imaging servicing and reliability are probably better too.
I can remember years ago a colleague drove an E39 530d Msport and the injectors needed replacement which ran to something like £800.......also it might be worth checking what model years suffered from the dodgy swirl flap issues......
I spoke to the BMW specialist that I get my Alpina serviced at about this when I was looking at changing (ended up keeping the Alpina - better the devil you know etc). His view was the 530d is cheaper to buy than the 535d, has less to go wrong it and cheaper bits (ie smaller brakes, one less turbo etc) but goes almost as quickly. He reckoned that as long as it was FSH and had the swirl flaps done then they could handle high miles. FSH was critical at any mileage (on 530d and 535d) though as missed or late oil services had a significant effect on engine life.
Ellieb10 said:
I spoke to the BMW specialist that I get my Alpina serviced at about this when I was looking at changing (ended up keeping the Alpina - better the devil you know etc). His view was the 530d is cheaper to buy than the 535d, has less to go wrong it and cheaper bits (ie smaller brakes, one less turbo etc) but goes almost as quickly. He reckoned that as long as it was FSH and had the swirl flaps done then they could handle high miles. FSH was critical at any mileage (on 530d and 535d) though as missed or late oil services had a significant effect on engine life.
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