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09-12-2019, 02:02 PM | #1 |
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530i Reliability
Hey all,
I'm visiting from the E90 forums hoping I could get some insight on the general reliability of an E60 I'm considering. Just for some background here are some of the specs, It's a 2004 530i with a 6 Speed manual. Seems pretty clean from the pictures, appears to have the sport pkg which I'm actually most afraid of because of the "active/dynamic steering" which sounds like it will break and be catastrophic. The car has 137,000 which isn't that high considering my first E90 had 170k and all it needed was the vcg replaced. My main question is; are these early model E60 (2004) notorious for issues (Electrical/Mechanical) that I haven't heard of apart from the basic BMW things like VCG and water pumps, etc?
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2020 BMW 530i M Sport
2015 BMW 740Li M Sport 2016 BMW 328d M Sport |
09-20-2019, 09:42 AM | #2 |
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Sorry I didn’t see this earlier. The car you mention is actually very solid. I picked up a 2005 530i last year to tinker with. My car also has the sport pack with active steering and dynamic drive. I have not had any issues with anything related to the sport pack. I was like you, in that I figured it would be something to break. In reality, it’s a very strong system and isn’t a common failure point. It’s one of the best driving, best handling cars I’ve ever driven. Since the car you are looking at is a manual, you won’t have anything to worry about with the automatics. And since it’s a 2004 it will have the M54 engine, which is very very solid. The water pumps are mechanical on the M54 and are about 45 bucks and takes about an hour to change, very easy. Same with the VCG, it’s much easier than on the N52. You should go for it, it’s so much fun!
I bought the car with about 160k and now I’ve put another 10k on it. One of the previous owners sort of neglected it so I had to put some work into it, along with some extra stuff I wanted to do to make it perfect. Here’s what I had to do when I first got it to make it road worthy: Set of four tires New cabin air filters (did not have any installed when I got it) New engine air filter (old one was well beyond usable life) Cleaned leaves from between radiator and condenser (common on E60s) Cleaned leaves from evaporator box from engine bay Oil change Rear differential oil change New A/C belt and Serpentine belt. And here’s what I’ve done to restore it to its former glory: Replace front and rear struts Replace front control arms Replace both front wheel hubs (bearings were shot. Making noise) Replace front thrust arms Four wheel alignment Installed new ventilated comfort seats I bought from junkyard Installed new headunit Replaced headliner and front a pillar covers New wiper blades Replaced rear window beauty seals Polished headlights Wrapped steering wheel with new sew-on leather cover Had Aux coded to radio by Bimmertech I think that’s it. It’s a blast to drive, I actually drive it more than I drive my 2016 535i. |
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