Fscking Bla...
I have just read the entire thread, and the views expressed on this is exactly the reason why this car is priced at 55k.
1. Does it have Active suspension, if so, costs go up significantly in terms of maintenance, shocks are expensive then in this case, as it is with any BMW that has active suspension.
2. Get it without logic 7, it breaks, the amp cost a fortune to repair
3. Check if the navigation is working, if not this is not repairable by any person of sane mind or pocket, if it has a gluelee like residue on it, its been leaked on.
4. If the navigation is working, and it has automatic trunk closer, inspect the hydraulic system for the trunk lift, pipe has been known to wear, pisses out its fluid, it goes straight on top of the nav. Expesnive to replace from BMW, a decent scrappy you can get a set for like 1k (pipes and actuator, not the nav)
5. It does not have comfort seats, which is a no no, by association this is probably the best feature of this car, and you dont have it, remember that once you drive a car with comfort seats, you can never drive another, but for 55k....
6. So yea, this was the first car that BMW introduced MOST on, yea it was iffiey, and confused the crap out of many. But this is now the standard that all of your BMW's have, even the E90's.....
7. On the MOST, the modules that usually go are the voice control, followed by the logic 7, the voice control can easily be bypassed, and your car should not be specced with logic 7 as it looks to be a poverty spec. I summarize the reason for this is the sealing of the boot, as all of these modules sit in the LR corner, perhaps a coincidence, or not...
8. the rest of it, for the love of cheese guys, this car is not going to explode.
9. Yea the turbo can go tomorrow, it could happen, but that would be no more expensive to repair then on the very same E39 you are driving now, if it eats swirls for example, your toast too, gee same risk you will face with a second hand E90 330d that has 101,000 on the clock or older then 5 years old. If well maintained... these motors are indestructible...
10. This is not the crappy GM box that the rest of the current E series cars have got, even the E39 received the GM box, this instead has the ZF box which is far more durable, stronger, as in, a better gearbox...
11. Check for stuff thats going to cost you money up front, how are the tyres, how is the suspension/wear, does it have a spare key, what is the windscreen like, this can/will be expensive.
12. Parts, depends on what your looking for, but parts are plentiful at second hand dealers, but I mean there are shitloads, MD has about 5 or more standing as complete cars or semi complete. Parts hardly move on these, I paid for a customer a second hand tailgate the other day at that was 4k, gee surprisingly more or less the same then on an E90 in the second hand market.
13. A bonnet from the agents is over 25k, yikes, thats shit expensive right, well an E90 LCI is about 13k, and both can be picked up second hand for under 5k.
14. The rest of the car is rock solid, of a better design, of a better quality then its smaller brothers, this is BMW's flagship car for a reason, and the E65 was BMW saying to the world, look what we can do, did they go overboard on it, yes, did they have issues on it yes, but most have been solved and have known solutions online.
15. If you have nobody to maintain the electrics on it, I will, I can code on this car, any used module easily except CAS, DME and Kombi. Those can be done but requires considerable more effort. But I can take a used ask and code it to your car easily..
The E65 is not for everybody, the design was revolutionary, a good or bad revolution, I do not know, but it rocked the auto industry, I for one love the shape, but more correctly, I love the interior. BMW went backwards as far as I am concerned with the F series.... All F01, F10 and even the F30 interiors are so similar, that you have to look twice, on the E65, you KNOW your sitting in a 7 series.
16. The bad parts about the tech is that it probably does not support bluetooth, which is annoying, it more then likely has a cordless telephone that takes its own sim card, this is annoying.....
17. It does not play MP3's, only from the facelift model onwards. this once again is VERY annoying, this can be solved, as well as the phone issue with a cut in parrot thingy for about 5k, then you will be able to stream bluetooth to the radio, I will do this for you if you want, but you have the exact same issues now on your E39.
If you like the car, buy it, you run NO MORE mechanical risk with this car then what you would do the equiv 5 series.
You have been to my place, pop past with the car, i will tell you in 2 minutes if its a good buy or not.
One last thing, on the E65, this is the motor of choice, the 730d is what you want, simply because you CAN retrofit a motor out of an E46 diesel, Japan Auto has plenty of diesel motors, not so much on the V8's, and the 745's were problem motors.
The 750 replaced the 745 after facelift, and that motor was much bigger, you do not buy a 760 unless you have huge balls and pockets, cause there are VERY limited engine supplies, and nothing in aftermarket.
In order of operation do the following
1. Send me the VIN so that I can check options list
2. Visually inspect the car for stuff that is going to cost you money, spare key, windscreen, tyres ect, and then work out what you would need to spend.
3. After 1 and 2 checks out ok, bring me the car, I will spend probably about an hour on it with you, and we can take a decent look at it
4. After that test drive time, slow methodical, and then put on your seatbelt...
If you want it, and all 4 points checks out, then buy the flippen thing and call it a day, then roll around in a 55k space ship looking like the boss, that you may have to spend 20k on to get perfect, and at 70k which is less then what you would pay for a yaris, you can own BMW's flagship,
Forgive the tone of the post, but I will advocate and try and change perception of the bigger BMW's until the day that I die, because people simple choose not to understand. It IS BMW's flagship....
Out of all the BMWs that I have owned, and including my current fleet. tied for 1st place of my best cars I have ever owned, is my 730d and my 530d... I cannot decide which one I loved the most... I am bordering on the 7....
Edit : One last thing, you will not sell this easily, nobody or very select few wants this car, but your paying the right value for it, if you do not spend much on recon, you can drive this car for 3 years and sell it for what you paid for it... I shit you not.. I have proven this with my E60
raise:
