High Mileage 535d Sport Touring
Discussion
Looking at a high mileage 100k+ 535d Sport Touring. Ive got 3 boys 16/12/5 and I'm tall 6'4", also small dog. Need quality car to take boys to NE England couple of times a year and camping trips to France etc. Total annual miles around 10K.
Got budget of around 10K and always like plenty of power in my cars but reasonable fuel in these days of high fuel.BMW one of my favourite marks
Any advise on the 535 any problem over and above 530d and am I asking for trouble at this mileage. Bought high mileage Merc's in past and gotten stung so not going their again.
Mark
Got budget of around 10K and always like plenty of power in my cars but reasonable fuel in these days of high fuel.BMW one of my favourite marks
Any advise on the 535 any problem over and above 530d and am I asking for trouble at this mileage. Bought high mileage Merc's in past and gotten stung so not going their again.
Mark
What are you paying for it?
The 535d is the perfect blend of space, economy and power, so your spot on there. In my time here and whilst i was looking for my 335d i did come across a few high mileage owners. I distinctly remember several owners with high miles, circa 70-90k saying theirs felt as tight and as good as new.
There were a few x35d owners with 100+ too that hadn't reported any major issues.
I remember someone encountering gearbox troubles around 160-170k and there are obvious springs/damper problems around the 100k mark, i.e. likely to need replacing thanks to the runflats and/or suspension set up.
If the car has had a full service history and if you check the warranty/repairs history and nothing major has been done on the car then there should be nothing to worry about. I didn't find a single engine (cylinder, injector, piston, head, gasket) issue with the 335d engine no matter how hard i searched before i bought. I also struggled to find anyone with turbo issues. Usually if a car is going to blow it's turbo it could be another underlying fault as i've seen 335 owners state multiple turbo replacements but mainly on the 335i's. Can't really think of anything else. Oh, apart from the DPF. There have been a few posts on the DPF. At some stage it will need maintenance or possibly replacing, i don't know how common it is but it's job is collect burn't off soot (stored as very fine ash) at higher miles it can get full and needs seeing to.
The 535d is the perfect blend of space, economy and power, so your spot on there. In my time here and whilst i was looking for my 335d i did come across a few high mileage owners. I distinctly remember several owners with high miles, circa 70-90k saying theirs felt as tight and as good as new.
There were a few x35d owners with 100+ too that hadn't reported any major issues.
I remember someone encountering gearbox troubles around 160-170k and there are obvious springs/damper problems around the 100k mark, i.e. likely to need replacing thanks to the runflats and/or suspension set up.
If the car has had a full service history and if you check the warranty/repairs history and nothing major has been done on the car then there should be nothing to worry about. I didn't find a single engine (cylinder, injector, piston, head, gasket) issue with the 335d engine no matter how hard i searched before i bought. I also struggled to find anyone with turbo issues. Usually if a car is going to blow it's turbo it could be another underlying fault as i've seen 335 owners state multiple turbo replacements but mainly on the 335i's. Can't really think of anything else. Oh, apart from the DPF. There have been a few posts on the DPF. At some stage it will need maintenance or possibly replacing, i don't know how common it is but it's job is collect burn't off soot (stored as very fine ash) at higher miles it can get full and needs seeing to.
It's true that if a turbo goes and a head gasket or injector, fuel pump etc it's going to cost a minimum of £1200 and up to £4k if the dealer doesn't give a good will gesture payment / reduction.
However, you run the same risks with any diesel car. BMW prices are slightly higher (but a good indie is well worth it) but on the plus side i read about more serious faults on 2.0litre VAG's / Fords and even toyotas which love to chew their flywheels and clutches and EGR valves around 100k than i have of 6 cylinder BMWs. Of course the auto's on the x35d's don't have clutches of dual mass flywheels.
100k is a mind game with most. A well looked after car could quite possibly push 250k on it's original injectors, pump, seals, turbo. Just providing it does high miles year by year. Old high mile cars, esp diesel... now they are more prone to serious failure.
My only thoughts on the x35d's are the gearboxes which never receive an oil change. If you plan on keeping it i'd been included to get an indie to change the gearbox oil as most reports indicate 150 - 180k is the sort of range a problem may crop up.
However, you run the same risks with any diesel car. BMW prices are slightly higher (but a good indie is well worth it) but on the plus side i read about more serious faults on 2.0litre VAG's / Fords and even toyotas which love to chew their flywheels and clutches and EGR valves around 100k than i have of 6 cylinder BMWs. Of course the auto's on the x35d's don't have clutches of dual mass flywheels.
100k is a mind game with most. A well looked after car could quite possibly push 250k on it's original injectors, pump, seals, turbo. Just providing it does high miles year by year. Old high mile cars, esp diesel... now they are more prone to serious failure.
My only thoughts on the x35d's are the gearboxes which never receive an oil change. If you plan on keeping it i'd been included to get an indie to change the gearbox oil as most reports indicate 150 - 180k is the sort of range a problem may crop up.
I've got a three year old LCI 535d Saloon with 66,000 on the clock. Not stellar mileage granted, but above average. I bought it new and it still drives like a dream. Having driven 400 miles to the South of France yesterday, it confirms again why I bought it.
They are a wonderful car, fast, comfortable and frugal. My journey gave me a 70mph average and 39mpg with a fully loaded car full of family and toys........ Can't complain at that! It's had a few problems over its life, but nothing major. Tyres are the main money pit, I go through a set of rears every 9,000 miles or so
fronts last about 20,000. The 19" rims can also suffer from pothole damage.
I looking to change it now I don't do so many miles, and I'm in the market for a 997 or similar, but I really don't want to as I've become quite attached to it and it does its job so well.
They are a wonderful car, fast, comfortable and frugal. My journey gave me a 70mph average and 39mpg with a fully loaded car full of family and toys........ Can't complain at that! It's had a few problems over its life, but nothing major. Tyres are the main money pit, I go through a set of rears every 9,000 miles or so
fronts last about 20,000. The 19" rims can also suffer from pothole damage. I looking to change it now I don't do so many miles, and I'm in the market for a 997 or similar, but I really don't want to as I've become quite attached to it and it does its job so well.
paprika said:
BliarOut said:
My E39 has about 90k on it and it has no sign of wear at all 
If I am being brutally honest there is a decent amount of difference from the E39 petrol and the E60 diesel, especially the twin diesel....Even from just a quality point of view.
In all honest i think it depends upon how you drive your car.
Once a car has done over 80k it has passed any "early life failure" ie anything that was wrong, would have broken by now. So, after that it pretty much comes down to normal wear and tear. My 330d now has 140k miles on it, and i drive it V hard (inc towing), so far, it's had (in conjunction with a full BMW FSH):
turbo - blew at 105k
intake manifold (preventative - flaps were rattley ;-( )
EGR thermostat
Clutch and DMF (preventative as the trans had to come out to fix a water leak down the back of the block!)
Propshaft donut
full suspension rebush (twice!)
new springs and dampers on all 4 corners
Trans & diff oil (preventative at 100k, both came out looking like coal!!!)
Now, it drives like new, no squeeks or rattles, track true and corners perfectly.
So, if you drive hard i think you will genuinly start to just wear stuff out above 100k, but if you just pootle around that same point could easily be 150k to 200k miles
As BMW were pioneers in the art of performance diesels, and i think it's not unfair to say that their diesel cars do tend to perform above average, i think that in order to achieve this they have slightly pushed the durability limits downwards a bit if you use all of that performance all the time
Once a car has done over 80k it has passed any "early life failure" ie anything that was wrong, would have broken by now. So, after that it pretty much comes down to normal wear and tear. My 330d now has 140k miles on it, and i drive it V hard (inc towing), so far, it's had (in conjunction with a full BMW FSH):
turbo - blew at 105k
intake manifold (preventative - flaps were rattley ;-( )
EGR thermostat
Clutch and DMF (preventative as the trans had to come out to fix a water leak down the back of the block!)
Propshaft donut
full suspension rebush (twice!)
new springs and dampers on all 4 corners
Trans & diff oil (preventative at 100k, both came out looking like coal!!!)
Now, it drives like new, no squeeks or rattles, track true and corners perfectly.
So, if you drive hard i think you will genuinly start to just wear stuff out above 100k, but if you just pootle around that same point could easily be 150k to 200k miles
As BMW were pioneers in the art of performance diesels, and i think it's not unfair to say that their diesel cars do tend to perform above average, i think that in order to achieve this they have slightly pushed the durability limits downwards a bit if you use all of that performance all the time
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