E63 - Help me decide

[GONKO85]

Hi All.

So I am coming from a 530d M Sport E60 and looking for a sportier looking coupe that is also a bit of a luxo barge, has presence on the road and feels a little special.

I am heavily leaning towards the E63, but not sure what variant to go for. I like the effortless power the 3.0d lumps give and this appeals the 635d. This is before we consider the remap options.....330+hp and enough torque to leave the axle on the motorway
I also hear the 3.0 petrols are nice and easy to maintain, sound pretty good and have decent power, although I have heard that they can feel slightly underpowered?

Then there is the 645i which is full of known issues from coolant leaks, oil leaks.....which are not cheap to fix.

So the 635d makes the most sense I think....but should a car like this have a petrol and sound like a nice V8?

[StuTheGrouch]

I went from an E46 330 M Sport to a E63 645 and am now driving an E60 530 M Sport.

I had quite a few problems with the 645 initially (gearbox rebuild, coolant leak, parking sensors failed etc), but otherwise it was a good car. Whilst it had the V8 noise (quite muted though), was quick in a straight line etc, I just never quite got on with it. The ride wasn't all that, so you will notice that coming from an E60. The mpg wasn't too bad considering the engine size (23-24 mpg). The space in the back was terrible.

It's personal preference, but I didn't like the automatic gearbox in the 645. Overall it was a good car but, as I said, I just didn't love it. I bought it because I wanted something a bit more special than the E46, but it never quite lived up to it. I rate my E46 and E60 above the 645; the fact that they are manuals might play a big part in that though.

[d_a_n1979]

I test drove the 630i, 645 and 650i before I ended up with my 730D land barge. The lack of 4 doors is what made me go for the 730D; the 650i was lovely though as was the 630i... Unfortunately the 645i I went to see was a dog, but it was local, so had to give it a once over

For me, I'd personally go for a 630i if offered one in excellent condition and with a good spec; however, the 650i does offer that V8 purr and can soon be opened up to more of a growl with a decent exhaust

Overall; the 630i is lighter and IMO, handles better. It was great on the B roads I took it down and handled them very well indeed. The 650i did very well too; but you could easily feel the weight difference on the twisties

Depending on your budget, I'd go for a 630i or 650i; but ensure that they've been well looked after and have lots of service history and paperwork to back this up!

Edited by d_a_n1979 on Tuesday 19th February 12:14

[GONKO85]

Me being based in ireland the 650i is non existant here. Although, I am not opposed to getting a ferry back from the UK with a 650i.
E46 M3 is also just within budget.....but I just think they are too problematic to use as a daily hack.
I would do 15-20k+ miles per year too. Not overly concerned with fuel costs but the 635d would be a chunk cheaper. And in Ireland, cheaper tax.
The 45i is EUR 1,800 per year

I could bring myself to pay it, but the horror stories on the 45i are edging me toward a 6 pot.
Petrol or diesel seems to be the question.

[Boyblue2]

If you are at all worried about running costs go for the 635d. So far in five and a half years mine has cost only servicing and tyres, 40 - 45 mpg , more power than the 630i and with a remap 350 bhp and 700 nm torque.
The V8s do give problems and can be unreliable. Read the reports on E63/64 Facebook. Don't forget these cars are getting a bit long in the tooth, I would go for a 635d of 2009/10 with less than 90k miles. Less to go wrong with a diesel, check for wet rear carpets.

[naturalaspiration]

630i for me too. Note that facelifted E63 from 2008 onwards has a direct injection N53 unit with the well known leaking injectors issue - and having the direct injection sounds nowhere near the N52 predecessor which was the last of a kind (BMW's last naturally aspirated port injection inline 6). If you're ok with the raw/original pre-facelift looks then 630i with N52 engine is a peach - go for later 2006/7 models. Revs happily and sounds great at that. 260PS is just about right. And if you could only find one with a manual gearbox you would really enjoy the B roads.

[Collectingbrass]

GONKO85 said:

Hi All.

So I am coming from a 530d M Sport E60 and looking for a sportier looking coupe that is also a bit of a luxo barge, has presence on the road and feels a little special.

I am heavily leaning towards the E63, but not sure what variant to go for. I like the effortless power the 3.0d lumps give and this appeals the 635d. This is before we consider the remap options.....330+hp and enough torque to leave the axle on the motorway
I also hear the 3.0 petrols are nice and easy to maintain, sound pretty good and have decent power, although I have heard that they can feel slightly underpowered?

Then there is the 645i which is full of known issues from coolant leaks, oil leaks.....which are not cheap to fix.

So the 635d makes the most sense I think....but should a car like this have a petrol and sound like a nice V8?

I've had a 2004 645 for 2 1/2 years. The only problems it's really given me have been the headlight modules which eat xennon control modules as they aren't particularly waterproof & it's bumper off to get at them and a couple of cracked alloys needed replacing. It does loose a little oil & water (1/4 pint every couple of months if that) but it is 15 years old and I've never had a shed that doesn't.

The thing with these cars is, and I include the 630s in this too, they were £60 - £70k cars when new and there aren't many of them. That means that if anything needs replacing it's ebay or OEM (shout out to Cotswold BMW parts desk...) and tyres are £200+ a corner. As an example, when the centre brake light went it was £120 for a new module, not £2 for a bulb.

Don't get me wrong, they're great cars that are different to the norm and the V8 while muted sounds great. The PH buying guides were a great help when I was looking for a good one and if you go in with the mindset that they are complex machines you won't go far wrong.

[rayyan171]

635d is a great car. Really good fuel economy and amazing value for money, extremely well built cars. Power works really well in these, Diesel engine sounds good too. Not much issues with them, common thing is glow plugs. Even swirl flap issues aren't really a problem anymore, but people do blank them if they want to. No major issues other than common diesel stuff. Gets around 550 miles from a 80L tank. Really nice options are the panoramic sunroof, Heads-up display, active steering. Edition sport models had the better bonnet and nicer 19" wheels.

[Philv8s]

I have an Alpina B6 so a supercharged V8 and since a few bits were sorted after first buying it nearly 3 years ago it has been plain sailing. Just routine maintenance now, just booked a gearbox service for next week as a preventative measure. I may swap out the shocks this year and suspension bushes also but the car has been great really considering the mileage (over 115k).
They are complex cars and were expensive new so go in with your eyes wide open and buy on condition and history rather than mileage these days would be my advice.
Great cars and have have aged well in the looks department imho.