Which BMW?

Peter Fenwick wrote: Don't worry, not going near a diesel! My problem is by the time you discount all the cars that have potential problems, there are practically none left. I do wonder about BMW when they do seem to have more than their fare share of serious problems like Nikasil, vanos etc

Peter, being honest with you,  anything that is created by humans will have parts that fail. It just depends on the nature of the beast and how good the manufacturer is at identifying and rectifying problems and taking ownership of issues raised.

I have worked in the motor trade now for 13 years and one thing I have seen change is how quickly a vehicle needs to be readied for the market. i.e. a car is designed, prototyped, tested (by a few blokes testing a few model variations) and unless the find anything terrible within the short test period, the car is fired into production very quickly. The longer a car takes to get from the drawing board to the first owner is money wasted so with the amount of technology that has to be squeezed into them nowadays needs a couple of years of intensive testing to realize any defects but by then,  manufacturer A has already flooded the market with their car which makes manufacturer B lose out on thousands of sales and the car will flop.

The newer the car you buy, the more problems they are destined to have. Warranty payouts are so much bigger than ever before on vehicles and that is because their test bed is now the public. You will not find a manufacturer that has made a trouble free car within the last few years. My only advice would be, whatever you do decide on, try and buy a model which was made near the end of the production series as most or all of the problems will have been ironed out by 5,6 years down the production line.

My old faithful E34 is now 15 years old and apart from a few wear and tear bits and some niggly things i never seem to get round to fixing, she's still as solid as the day she was born. I'd put a months wages you couldn't say that for a current E60 or any current prodution model for that matter. That is how Ican justify a V8!

With that in mind............

get a the bus! lol!

Mike

540 V8 wrote: daddy cool wrote: Dont rule out the v8's Peter , they arent as juicy as you think  infact i would say from my experience that they are better on fuel than a big six . A big fat DITTO on the above!

Yip.

I was after a late E39 530i.  Saw the E60 545i and on paper had the same fuel economy so that to me was a no brainer.

My E60 returned on average over a year 28.5mpg including a number of trips towing heavy stuff plus M'way cruises to the wrong side of the border so balances it out.

Peter Fenwick wrote: Bit of a price difference though. I could afford an E39 530. I couldn't afford an E60 545i.

Yeah there will be now, it wasn't so much two years ago when I changed.  Plus my first E60 was good bit below book.  I was comparing prices of 03/53 plates E39 530i's with 53 plate E60 545i's in the summer of 2007.

Peter Fenwick wrote: I also don't believe that I would get as good or even better mpg out of an E39 V8 than I would out of a straight 6.

I agree, you won't.  You would have to go to the newer V8s to get that.

The newer V8 4.4 litre in the E60 is far more economical than the older V8 4.4 litre in the E39 even though they are essentially the same engine except the newer V8 has additional inlet valve timing over the older V8.  Hence power is also up from ~286bhp to 333bhp.

The newer V8s will match the older bigger 6 pots, like the 3.0 litre engine in terms of economy, but yes the E60 will cost you more to buy unfortunately which you won't get back via fuel consumption savings.

Peter Fenwick wrote: To be honest i'm erring towards a late E36 328 coupe. The E39 just isn't DIY friendly and paying for someone to service/repair a car is what makes them expensive.

The E36 coupe is one sexy looking car, a neighbour had one of the last 328i Coupes with all the Mkit on it and it looked terriffic in the dark blue.

But would you not find that going back to an E36 after owning an E39 would a difficult move?  I suppose you would have been spoiled in the 530i you had.  You would have smaller amounts of space in the E36 after the E39 and the E36 (granted a 318i) I was in didn't have particularly comfy seats, but that could be due to the fact that I'm a bit wider than I should be...

Out of all the cars I've owned I did the most amount of DIY on the E39.  Front pads and discs, water pump, thermostat and cover, rear anti roll bar links, both front wheel sensors, both engine drive belts.  All easy stuff and your E36 328 will have essentially the same engine as a 530i (M54) except the M54 will have a slightly different inlet manifold and dual vanos. 

So I'm afraid I would have to disagree that the E39 is not a diy friendly car.  Haynes do a manual for it which helps a bit, after you have found and corrected the mistakes in it of course.....

If I were you I'd go for the E39 530i Sport in dark blue or black with as many toys on it as you can find.  That is theee most sexiest car IMO. 

Let us know how the hunt goes, best of luck with it.

Andrew

Peter - this has been hanging around on Autotrader for a while.  Seems like its a long way north though, but this might explain price and that it hasn't moved.  Spec looks like its std Sport but its got the all important self stirring box.  No association with the seller, etc.

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/BMW+5+SERIES/N e-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-9-21-43 -50-59-62-240-4294966943-4294967078/advert.action?R=20093634 1124745&distance=428&postcode=E15+3AR&channel=CA RS&make=BMW&model=5+SERIES&min_pr=1000&max_p r=7000&max_mileage=100000&vehicleYearOfManufacture=2 001&vehicleRegLetter=Y

Soon to be changing your signature then Peter? fingers crossed!

Mike