E61 V8 Bearding

[helix402]

There’s a grey 550i on eBay too.

[ATM]

helix402 said:

There’s a grey 550i on eBay too.

Right

Been on and off a few times - no idea why

Not sure it gets a look in when the black jap import by comparison should be absolutely rot free

A couple of cars discussed earlier - smashie had the silver se originally - have disappeared so did they sell, we assume so

[Touring442]

ATM said:

I've had an e39 saloon and also looked at the boot of the e39 estate. Totally different car to the e61 and dare I say an odd comparison. E39 was a great car but they are all old and rusty now. You can find nice ones but you need to really dig otherwise you're buying a bit of a dog and throwing money at it. Also the boot is not even half the size as the e61.

Blimey - the E61 boot is hardly massive. I ran a 525d Touring for a year and was most displeased to find that my E46 Touring boot liner wouldn't fit.

[ATM]

Touring442 said:

ATM said:

I've had an e39 saloon and also looked at the boot of the e39 estate. Totally different car to the e61 and dare I say an odd comparison. E39 was a great car but they are all old and rusty now. You can find nice ones but you need to really dig otherwise you're buying a bit of a dog and throwing money at it. Also the boot is not even half the size as the e61.

Blimey - the E61 boot is hardly massive. I ran a 525d Touring for a year and was most displeased to find that my E46 Touring boot liner wouldn't fit.

The e46 is laughable so yes e39 bigger than that. E46 suspension struts take half the boot space. The e39 isn't as bad as that.

I've slept in my e61 more than once. I've moved house with it so no van rental. I've moved a large American fridge with it. Also a 65 inch TV in its box lay flat obviously. I've got 2 mountain bikes in the boot with the seats up and the sliding cover would still go over them. I think it's bigger than an e39 but I've never owned one myself. So I'll accept my love is perhaps distorted.

With a name like Touring I know better than to pick a fight with you.

[Touring442]

With the rear seats up, an E46 load liner will not fit. Width isn't a problem but the E46 has a longer load area - the E61 tailgate won't shut with it fitted. There's about 4-5 inches in it.

If you want to bring an E61 along, you're welcome to try.

[ATM]

Touring442 said:

With the rear seats up, an E46 load liner will not fit. Width isn't a problem but the E46 has a longer load area - the E61 tailgate won't shut with it fitted. There's about 4-5 inches in it.

If you want to bring an E61 along, you're welcome to try.

Us men all know that 4 to 5 inches is big. Well above average.

[Touring442]

ATM said:

Touring442 said:

With the rear seats up, an E46 load liner will not fit. Width isn't a problem but the E46 has a longer load area - the E61 tailgate won't shut with it fitted. There's about 4-5 inches in it.

If you want to bring an E61 along, you're welcome to try.

Us men all know that 4 to 5 inches is big. Well above average.

I knew it!

[Bonham]

james_zy said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-550i-M-Sport-Tourin...

One of the best examples that has appeared in the last 6 months (besides some of the Japanese imports, but they aren't to everyone's market).

LCI, average milage (115k), FBMWSH, with nice combo of carbon black with beige interior. Not sure if it has pro nav though...

That's mine! Bought it back in March - absolutely love it! Only managed to put a couple of hundred miles on it so far, but fk me, it's rapid!

Had an e39 530i touring just before this, and loved it. This is just a whole different beast!

[bolidemichael]

Bonham said:

james_zy said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-550i-M-Sport-Tourin...

One of the best examples that has appeared in the last 6 months (besides some of the Japanese imports, but they aren't to everyone's market).

LCI, average milage (115k), FBMWSH, with nice combo of carbon black with beige interior. Not sure if it has pro nav though...

That's mine! Bought it back in March - absolutely love it! Only managed to put a couple of hundred miles on it so far, but fk me, it's rapid!

Had an e39 530i touring just before this, and loved it. This is just a whole different beast!

Photo onto this thread, please

[Bonham]

bolidemichael said:

Photo onto this thread, please

Apologies - missed this response.

It's absolutely filthy right now - but here's a pic from the day I collected it.

I'll get it washed and get some decent pictures up as soon as I can.

[bolidemichael]

Bonham said:

bolidemichael said:

Photo onto this thread, please

Apologies - missed this response.

It's absolutely filthy right now - but here's a pic from the day I collected it.

I'll get it washed and get some decent pictures up as soon as I can.

That's actually a hyperlinked comment to the 'fast estates' thread.

[Jules Sunley]

Had a nice run out and meet with my car club on Sunday and a few decent photos were taken by a photographer member. Bloody warm so the ventilated seats came in handy and of course sticky tyre weather meant a fun drive home

[g3org3y]

Jules Sunley said:

Had a nice run out and meet with my car club on Sunday and a few decent photos were taken by a photographer member. Bloody warm so the ventilated seats came in handy and of course sticky tyre weather meant a fun drive home

How do you find them? Occasionally when I use them they seem great, other times less effective.

My understanding is they don't 'cool' the seat as such but as you mention ventilate so depends on the cabin temp.

[Jules Sunley]

g3org3y said:

Jules Sunley said:

Had a nice run out and meet with my car club on Sunday and a few decent photos were taken by a photographer member. Bloody warm so the ventilated seats came in handy and of course sticky tyre weather meant a fun drive home

How do you find them? Occasionally when I use them they seem great, other times less effective.

My understanding is they don't 'cool' the seat as such but as you mention ventilate so depends on the cabin temp.

Exactly as you say, I can't feel any 'draught' or anything through the leather perforations but I do find they mean no 'sticky back' when getting out of the car (sorry for any mental image created!) so just make it more comfortable and when I get back in the car having been in the heat they mean I'm comfortable much sooner. The seats are one of the many things I love about the car being the comfort ones with the pillows you can angle in on the headrests and also being active seats so I can turn on the inflating bolsters which are hilarious when cornering hard. It's hard to believe so much tech' was in a car in 2005.

[ATM]

Auction

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234094668624

[Jules Sunley]

I was up at Caffeine and Machine earlier this evening and met up with owner of 1 of the other 2 E61 B5 Tourings. Nice to get 2 of the 3 UK RHD cars together (third is in Edinburgh so unlikely we will get all 3 together)

[paul n]

ATM said:

Auction

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234094668624

What are peoples opinions on this? It is local to me so i did view just before the auction finished but didn't really have to time to get sorted to put a bid on. It went for £7600 but i messaged the guy and he is having issues with the buyer (and to be fair there was a few things the seller didn't' put in the advert so somebody not viewing before bidding might be disappointed) so there is potential for me buy it if the sale falls through

it looks a decent car but history has a few small gaps but also a few big bills done so that is good. anybody know the history of the car? does 7.5k seem about right for one?

assuming MPG is as bad as i imagine it would be? (what's it do on a run)

looks like these are generally reliable if looked after

does look a lot of car for the money and would scratch my V8 itch!

[Dammit]

Would you please let me know if you pass on it? And, if possible, why? I am also interested in buying it (or, indeed, any good 550i M-Sport Touring).

[g3org3y]

paul n said:

ATM said:

Auction

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234094668624

What are peoples opinions on this? It is local to me so i did view just before the auction finished but didn't really have to time to get sorted to put a bid on. It went for £7600 but i messaged the guy and he is having issues with the buyer (and to be fair there was a few things the seller didn't' put in the advert so somebody not viewing before bidding might be disappointed) so there is potential for me buy it if the sale falls through

it looks a decent car but history has a few small gaps but also a few big bills done so that is good. anybody know the history of the car? does 7.5k seem about right for one?

assuming MPG is as bad as i imagine it would be? (what's it do on a run)

looks like these are generally reliable if looked after

does look a lot of car for the money and would scratch my V8 itch!

Looks like a great spec with some very rare options (night vision for example!) and I really like that tan interior.

How easy are the 'undisclosed' issues to sort?

How frequent have the oil changes been?

Has the autobox had a ZF service?

Have the valve stem seals been done?

I'd be interested to know the source of the Feb 2020 oil leak and how it was sorted (and whether other preventative measures were taken at the same time).

I notice it has Option S2TB 'Sports Automatic Gearbox'. Unfortunately I don't know much about that? Is that the regular autobox with a different sports map and flappy paddles or it is a whole different type of box?

In terms of reliability, depends who you ask (not US YouTubers!)! They do have a rep for leaking oil and coolant (small cheap gaskets but labour intensive to sort). I believe this 4.8 is better than the earlier 4.4 in that regard. Then of course you have the valve stem seals which is often considered a 'when' rather than 'if' situation. This chap outlines a lot of the issues.

Edited by g3org3y on Saturday 31st July 06:28

[ATM]

After 11 months of being sat abandoned I finally got my old girl fired up and running today. Needed some small bits and pieces of the engine refitting as it I had left it disassembled. Then about 7 litres of fresh coolant, 35psi in the tyres and a replacement battery and we were off. Took it for a short blast on private roads as it has not MOT.