For the love of balls someone buy this...

Mike K

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Apr 11, 2008
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2006 550i <----- Click that.

This is my car except with the SMG transmission instead of the full manual. SMG is a full manual transmission with an automatically controlled clutch. It can shift faster than you and is just silly fun to drive.

My wife has been harassing me to change it up and find something that she can drive. I told her I'd keep an eye out so I've been casually looking for a 550i with the SMG transmission. This price is awesome for the mileage. It just doesn't have the Logic 7 stereo which is a deal breaker for me. If an awesome stereo isn't a pre-requisite for you, this car would be a ridiculously awesome driver at a ridiculously awesome price.
 

Outlaw

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Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about maintenence. I've had a couple BMW's and have NEVER had any horror stories. I've done alot of maintence on both cars and there was nothing that made my jaw drop.... Shit, an OEM radiator on my 2002 5-Series was like.... $170 at the dealer.

Also, the SMG transmissions are pretty friggin good. You end up doing the $1,000 pump and you keep going, rarely anything else goes out. Cheaper than a good fresh trans for almost any car. It's all relative.

If I didn't have the boat, I'd definatley be DDing a facelifted 7-series, like an 08 or so.
 

jason05gt

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Jan 17, 2007
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Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about maintenence. I've had a couple BMW's and have NEVER had any horror stories. I've done alot of maintence on both cars and there was nothing that made my jaw drop.... Shit, an OEM radiator on my 2002 5-Series was like.... $170 at the dealer.

Also, the SMG transmissions are pretty friggin good. You end up doing the $1,000 pump and you keep going, rarely anything else goes out. Cheaper than a good fresh trans for almost any car. It's all relative.

If I didn't have the boat, I'd definatley be DDing a facelifted 7-series, like an 08 or so.

My pops 545i had a $5,000 top end engine rebuild under warranty. It was something with the VANOS system. He was going to buy it off lease but decided not to because of the reliability of BMWs. His 7 series had a lot of electrical gremlims as well. They are great cars.....when they have a factory warranty.
 

Outlaw

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So the question is... Is it build quality, component quality, they just aren't designed to last that long, etc...?

In MY Opinion

High Build Quality and designed to last.

component quality is also great, but the fact that there are SO MANY components that make up the car, it just creates more things to break. Say your ECU goes bad on your Civic.... one computer doing basic components, a 750 has multiple systems running complex programs (i-drive, active suspension and handling, etc) It's just a numbers game.
 

jason05gt

TCG Elite Member
Jan 17, 2007
15,307
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Naperville
In MY Opinion

High Build Quality and designed to last.

component quality is also great, but the fact that there are SO MANY components that make up the car, it just creates more things to break. Say your ECU goes bad on your Civic.... one computer doing basic components, a 750 has multiple systems running complex programs (i-drive, active suspension and handling, etc) It's just a numbers game.


I'd say definitely high quality. Some German cars are built to last such as old MB's, but not all of them. The newer ones seem to develop issues with age, but that's just my experience based off my parents owning them. I had a early 90's MB and it was pretty reliable but cost me an arm and a leg to repair.

The caveat here is if you plan on working on the car yourself. You can save big money replacing the brakes yourself, but it's hard to diagnose some of the electrical problems and as you mentioned there are numerous systems.
 

Outlaw

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I'd say definitely high quality. Some German cars are built to last such as old MB's, but not all of them. The newer ones seem to develop issues with age, but that's just my experience based off my parents owning them. I had a early 90's MB and it was pretty reliable but cost me an arm and a leg to repair.

The caveat here is if you plan on working on the car yourself. You can save big money replacing the brakes yourself, but it's hard to diagnose some of the electrical problems and as you mentioned there are numerous systems.

I'll give you that. I had an '82 MB Turbo diesel, that fucking car was a tank. Doing the repairs myself, I was able to save tons of money. I also have a VADcom cable so I can do electrical checks.
 

Mike K

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Apr 11, 2008
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545's are notorious turds. They had a lot of engine issues and overall quality issues. 2006 is when the 550 was released and those have generally been trouble free.

I'm rocking a manual transmission in mine so I remove a big $$$$ potential failure.

It's a low price since it's fairly common knowledge that the repair and maintenance on this thing are going to be pricey and often. Just stash away another $5k that you would've spent on a more bland $22k car.

The 5 series (or any BMW as a whole) take a hit in price because of the perceived cost of ownership but this particular car is especially cheap. When dealers get manual transmission/ SMG cars they tend to either over price them because they're rare or under price them because they think no one wants them.
 

Outlaw

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Jul 24, 2009
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545's are notorious turds. They had a lot of engine issues and overall quality issues. 2006 is when the 550 was released and those have generally been trouble free.

I'm rocking a manual transmission in mine so I remove a big $$$$ potential failure.



The 5 series (or any BMW as a whole) take a hit in price because of the perceived cost of ownership but this particular car is especially cheap. When dealers get manual transmission/ SMG cars they tend to either over price them because they're rare or under price them because they think no one wants them.

I've seen some crazy deals on E60's with manual transmissions.
 
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