Living with a 645/650

[Nath911t]

Sold my car the other day and before I'd bought that one I was looking at the 645/650 in coupe and convertible versions.

What are they like to live with?
The mpg won't worry as my last car was a CLS500. Any tips and hints in what to look out for when looking over one? Would prefer pre March 2006 for the cheaper tax. Ideally would like a black soft top with a light interior

[Nath911t]

Thanks Gents.
I had a read of those threads yesterday and found them interesting especially about the valve stem seals, coolant pipe and rocker cover gaskets. The last thing I want, is to stitch myself up from lack of knowledge and have big bills from the start instead of enjoying it.

Will need to find a good specialist as well. I do very little mileage as well - the last car was less than 4k in 18 months and my previous E60 530i was similar over 3 years. I took the runflats off the E60 and that made the car ride better and presume the 6 will be the same with ordinary tyres on it?

Spec wise, I'd like a V8 in soft top in black with a light interior even though I've found myself looking at ones different to that just to keep my options open. Drivers seat bolsters like most of the range don't seem to hold up too well. I didn't know sat nav wasn't standard.

There's a few I've book marked but the sellers seem a bit cagey replying to questions. Has anyone done a secondary decat delete? I'd imagine that would sound good but would it drone?

Lastly and before anyone's eyes start bleeding from long posts, does anyone see these get the same following as the 8's?

[Nath911t]

Cheers for that trickywo Some of those might be a bit too much for me but I don't think I could leave it standard, that's for sure.

After seeing the Mystic blue in gf15 links above, that is another colour to add on my list. I've got 2 lined up for tomorrow to view so fingers crossed. Typical car hunting that starts off with a budget of £6/7k and I end up looking ones for £10k!

[Nath911t]

Very nice I'm also a big fan of easy to clean wheels. I'd imagine the run out to LM will be a joy.

[Nath911t]

Nice out of interest what did you replace it with?

One question I have. On the soft tops is the rear window going up/down standard throughout and do they suffer from much wind buffeting?

[Nath911t]

Very nice

[Nath911t]

Are you guys getting the wind noise from a coupe or soft top?

Well to date, I've looked at 4 and all of them have been no good. The best one I've seen so far - I was passing so stopped to look at it on a forecourt - was a black 630i Coupe. Proper history but not many extras and 120k miles.

[Nath911t]

J.R.B. said:

Convertible in my case.

You'll kick yourself if you go for a 630i over either of the V8s so keep looking.

I know I will. I spoke to my local hire car company and I can get a good rate for a small car either daily or weekly so not all is lost. I'll keep looking but I can relate to your words. I don't think I couldn't have a V8 in my life

[Nath911t]

LFB531 said:

Mines a coupe as pictured above.

I'm surprised you're struggling to find one (and agree it must be a V8), are you being very hard nosed on price?

I saw that after i posted my comment

I don't think I am been hard nosed. I'd prefer a pre March 06 and I don't have a set budget. I had a look at some in and around 30 mile radius of North Hampshire and they just weren't for me. The only one that does tick some boxes is an 06 650 in black, with black trim advertised at just under £10k - problem is, I still prefer a lighter interior colour.

[Nath911t]

I guess I can live with most of the trims. My last one was beige/cream, before that it was grey, black then kids nappy brown/orange - although that one made me feel sick so it was sold quite quickly ...

I've just come back from trying a CLK280 sport cab that was local. Not for me. It felt sluggish and lardy like it was pulling a caravan. I think you're right about having to travel a bit.

[Nath911t]

Claire-i1bmr said:

Nath911t,

When you do find 645's worth looking at, do have a proper listen to the engine with the bonnet up as I got a low mileage 2004 645i just over 6 weeks ago and after a couple of hundred miles it developed a tapping sound that could be a number of things including the vacuum pump, tensioner, HVA's (lifters), cylinder (gulp), bearings of various description.
Apart from that, when I did my research I found the same stuff you did and got lots of feedback to say the 645 and 650 has a great engine.

Claire

Hi Claire, thanks for the heads up and sorry to hear about your car. I've just read your post on here and hope it gets sorted out soon. Nothing worse than a "new to me" car having teething problems

[Nath911t]

Thanks for your replies.

Took today out and had a look at a few while clocking up a fair few miles in the process going literally round/inside the whole M25. Unfortunately, I've come back empty handed. While I appreciate the age of the cars, the descriptions on some of the ads and even talking to them beforehand to what I saw was an eye opener when I got there and a waste of time. The best one i saw today was a 630d but that was never going to happen. Still, there's always tomorrow

[Nath911t]

The five I've looked at apart from one have just been bitty. A few receipts representing a fsh, oil leaks with saturated sump trays. Tyres that will need replacing asap. Air con units not working. Knocking front suspension joints. Water leaks.

I can live with the slight wear and tear on the body, interior and wounded seat bolster as there an old car but when I know I'll need to throw my wallet at it straight away for cars up to £10k I'm happy to walk away when they're firm on the price. None bar one has actually looked nice. That one was at Surrey Hills but I couldn't test drive it as it was buried in the back of a warehouse and I needed to make an appointment, which was fair enough as I turned up on route to look at another one. The blue with black interior didn't really do it for me under the lights either although that may change when it's in natural daylight.

Fingers crossed, I've got 2 soft tops to view over the weekend. A 645 in silver with black interior and my preferred choice of a 650 in black with cream interior. Both look good. Both have no unusual failures showing up on the DVLA Mot history check inc advisories for oil leaks and have some good extras that show up via the BMW vin chassis decoder. I've searched through auto trader, gumtree (sigh), here, the infamous auction site and a couple of other places.

[Nath911t]

LFB531 - Thanks for that I sent them an email last night having seen your link. A bit love/hate with not that much extras but a worthy contender. Thanks. I've called them numerous times today, to be told they'd call me back in 10 minutes but no call returned and there website stated they close at 3pm - I did throw in a small cheeky bid to him on the phone - but not taking the pi55. If you look at the date on the sat nav screen it shows 11th Jan 2017.

Alez88, I disagree with you on your opening statement. I don't a have a budget although I did initially. The ones I've looked are asking top money for not much better than a £5k car with faults I could easily find. They may have seen nice cars advertised then chanced their arm with the price with the ones they're trying to off. Albeit, thanks for your comment and I agree with the avoid dealers and M badges

The search continues .....

[Nath911t]

Fair statement

A quick update. I've looked at a few more inc the one in the link above.

Best I've seen to date has been a 54 plate 645 coupe, under 70k miles, some options inc electric/heated sports seats, pano roof, pro nav, cupholder - fixing present but no cupholder, telephone in the centre console and few other things but nothing worth getting excited. Two minuses - current keeper only owned for 6 months and 8 previous keepers! New'ish tyres (rft), recent BMW service, some stamps just normal garages, mot advisory for discs/pads.

Edited by Nath911t on Tuesday 17th October 07:47

[Nath911t]

gf15 said:

On the discs & pads, get a quote from your BMW main dealer and ask for Value line parts (as the car is more than 5 years old). Not all dealers would quote Value Line pricing. From memory front discs + pads + wear sensor dropped from £560 down to under £300 for my 650 @ BMW York. This was about 3 years ago. You get the same part numbers irrespective of how much you pay.

I'll remember that for future reference

I looked at 18 altogether with very different specs and coupe to convertible. I picked this one up yesterday.

[Nath911t]

LFB531 said:

Come on, we've shared the journey, now you've got to tell us the last chapter!

Without a doubt A big thanks to you all on here you've chipped in with your comments.

Not really has the opportunity to use it much due to birthdays, nights out, etc this weekend. The drive back was about 100 miles. It's so different to the CLS500. Much more usable and behaves better on the A/B roads it's been down. It's a 54 plate 645. The spec is good enough for me although the Logic 7 and dynamic drive could have been good but not something I will miss. From memory it has pro nav, memory heated sports seats, pan roof, telephone in the centre console - still can't get the Bluetooth to pair to my galaxy yet. So far I love it.

A couple more pictures:

[Nath911t]

Thanks.

I had another attempt at the bluetooth ans it just won't pair up. I get as far as putting in a code in the idrive and my phone and that's it. When I opened up the glove box there is a cable in there with some sort of connection that maybe should go to something. I'll try and get a picture of it later on.

The pan roof raise about a couple of inches. Shame it doesn't go back. Oh and that red one was not nice at all. It looks good on paper. Hawthorns in Farnham have/had two 645's with low mileages and both were lovely even at £11k. Shame the black convertible sold.

[Nath911t]

Collectingbrass said:

Have a look here

https://5series.net/forums/diy-do-yourself-14/self...

From what you say it sounds like someone has already pulled out the CD changer

Thanks for the link. Just been out and looked at it's an ipod adaptor in the glove box and no multiplay. I had another go at trying to pair it and no good. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

[Nath911t]

HerrSchnell said:

And nor will you, they changed the Bluetooth coding in Android 4.2 and for each subsequent update meaning that any phone running Android 4.2 or higher won't connect to older modules like the one in your 645.

Options are to scour the xda developers forums for a patch or a modded rom which includes the patch and then root your phone to install the software or buy something like this Grom adapter which replaces your CD player with a box giving USB / iPod functionality and Bluetooth connection through the stereo when the additonal dongle is used.

http://gromaudio.co.uk/products/grom-usb3-usb-andr...

I've used one of their boxes for 6 years now and it's been faultless.

I managed to get it to pair to my phone although I've not took it any further. Might take a look at them at some stage but taking/making calls isn't a priority for me - I'd prefer to leave my phone in the boot.

Thanks Claire.