100k+ miles F11 530d touring, am I mad?

[RicoOS]

I'm looking at buying a 530d Touring and am looking at a purchase budget of up to about 9k. I had originally been thinking about a post facelift E61 530d touring, where I'd probably be looking at maybe 60-80k miles on it with full service history, but can't help but notice there are more than a few very nice spec F11's 2011-2012 with 120-130k on them, along with full service history that "look" really good.

I will probably be putting 20-25kpa on the car and most of those miles will be on expenses, so spending even a grand or or more in maintenance a year isn't too much of an issue. Additionally I believe in preventative maintenance and would get it maintained by a good specialist, considering I would keep the car for 3-4 years likely, so anything I buy will end up with a LOT of miles, am I mad to consider the F11 with those miles on it to start with?

Does anyone have experience of serious miles F11 530d's, what kind of things would I need to do prevention wise other than the standard service things and areas like DPF etc?

Any other issues I should know about, things like preventative timing chain replacement etc?

[Djtemeka]

I wouldn’t be put off too much. Diesels like mileage. If the car had 40k on it then it would be a city car (knackered suspension with all the bumps etc) or the car would just sit and not get used. I’d say 10k/year would be right for me.

[Billy_Whizzzz]

Not remotely mad and you’ll be absolutely fine. In all likelihood it will just be routine maintenance for the next 100000 miles

[survivalist]

I’ve only had 2, but in my experience the 3L diesels are pretty reliable. In fact I’d be more wary of lower mileage ones in terms of DPF issues and wear and tear on the suspension. As someone else said these diesels are designed to do big mileage.

Only a couple of things I’d look out for/consider. One would be changing the oil mor me frequently than the condition based servicing suggests. Seems to me that the oil change intervals are very high to entice company car buyers (lower TCO when fleet buyers are comparing brands/models).

The second is changing the fluid and filter in the automatic gearbox. BMW state these are sealed for life, but ZF suggest that their units do need servicing. Worth trying a few to see why the shift is like as well.

[DailyHack]

Wouldn't worry about it, buy on condition always. The UK has such a weird obsession for low mileage cars, makes "high mileage" 100k> utter bargains, for those in the know

Cars were designed to be driven at the end of the day. Be proactive at fixing things when/if they crop up and just over service them, and just make sure you have spare £2k rainy day fund just in case

5 series are very strong cars, especially the 6 cylinders.

You say 20/25k a year? That's ripe for a 520d is it not, they are very good engines also if maintained correctly...

I know a few taxis use the 520d's with mileage ranging from 230-300k, quite astounding

Edited by DailyHack on Thursday 13th June 23:06

[Court_S]

Should be fine. A chap I work with does big miles (c.30k per year) and both of his F series fives have dealt with it fine. His current 530 is approaching 100k and it certainly had worn its miles well. He does a mid point oil service.

As others have said, buy on condition/service history.

[Earthdweller]

We ran these and X5’s on our work fleet running then up to around 250k miles before replacement.. they were replaced on a 4 year cycle

They are pretty robust and bullet proof and can take a lot of abuse .. ours were/are hammered 24/7

Ours were maintained and serviced properly with no expense spared .. they’d go on forever

Edited by Earthdweller on Friday 14th June 10:31