thorns

Anyone priced up a mechanical warranty on an M5 lately? Imagine most of the early ones would be in the final years of being eligible for the likes of Autosure?

Nice looking car Tye, they do look sharp in silver. Must be an animal with the tune! Given Kiwi's attitudes to odo readings over conditions, the kms and a tune may deter a lot of people?

^^ Have been avoiding going to look at that M5 in case I drove away in it. I think if it was a LCI I may already own it. Agree about Southern Car Specialist, bought my M50d a few years back from them, well priced and a good team there in my experience.

How much louder does the downpipe make the car, does it have ridiculous amounts of pops and bangs, or not too bad?

How did you get on with the mods? Have a M235i and out of boredom considering chipping it to muck around with it. Was the MHD pretty straight forward, and is it a noticeable boost?

The M135i was the original though as I figured could kill two birds with one, replace the wifes golf with it while I still get a sports a car to play with, however she was not interested in it and told I should just buy what I wanted. She also loves the look of the M235i so is actually interested in a car purchase for a change which is a nice bonus over all the other things I buy where she just rolls her eyes lol.

So, have pretty much decided for now to jump into a F22 M235i for a play and need some man maths opinions.... Given I have a tendency with my toys to only keep things for less than a year before I have itchy feet and want to try something different, which end of the market should I jump into? I realize no matter what with a car like this i will take a bath, I'm cool with that, just trying to minimize the size of that bath. Do I jump in at the bottom with a higher km import at low $30k, or go for the NZ new with 50-60k on clock worth $40k? Or is it probably a pretty even affair and likely to lose similar amounts on either car?

Plan was for some track days, but mainly weekend fun car. Got the quote back from Birds including the suspension upgrade kit, 3025 pounds delivered, or around 5800NZD, then add 1200NZD customs, so around 7k all up in parts. Not really worth it in my mind, be better off financing the difference to get into an M2....... now thats an idea lol.

Yes thats what I have been looking at, just waiting to hear back re shipping costs etc, imagine it would be 5k+ NZD fitted which starts to make me question buying the car in the first place. F22, 2 door RWD model

Just looking at one of these as my next fun/weekend toy along with a few other options. Lack of LSD seems a head scratcher to me, but see there is a decent aftermarket solution for these. Has anyone here fitted one to any of the 135i series or 235i series (believe they are much the same drivetrain?). Are they worth while? Seems a few thousand pounds from UK sites + shipping/taxes on top, so not exactly a cheap option once cost to install is taken into account.

Is this issue also something that now seems to be appearing more and more with the later model F10 M5 engines as well, now most are out of factory warranty? Have noticed a few US forums starting to make noises about it, but often they are not stock M5s so interested to hear if it is something that should be considered/budgeted for before buying one.

Anyone know how you would go about buying an Autosure warranty for an M5 if I was to buy the car privately?

Just looking to replace the front rotors and pads on an E60 550i (2006 model). Have rung a few places and there seems to be two different sizes commonly listed. The overall diameter are the same but with two different heights, 77mm or 81mm. Anyone know what size is correct for my car, and is the height referring to the overall height of the rotor or is it an offset value?

48k final selling price, bit of a bargain for the buyer it feels.

Has anyone had to do any of the main consumables on the M5 during your ownership? Trying to price up worst case scenarios to check i am happy proceeding with potential worst case. I figure brakes and clutch are probably the main ones to be concerned with, but finding it hard to get NZ pricing on these. Tyres are easy enough to work out, and don't care about the fuel use side as it wont be a daily driver. Rough estimates seem rotors and pads all round could be around 5k, and clutch I can only find US examples where is $7-8k although dont seem to be a common thing as pretty solid on a unmodified example, although any idea what might be more realistic clutch cost in NZ? Anything else on the consumables I should be considering for my worst case scenarios that I am overlooking apart from oil top ups? Warrantys seem to cover suspension these days so that's one less thing to worry about.

Good to know about the possibility of aftermarket warranty, what kind of limit do they put on the claims and any idea on the cost for a 3-4 year one?

Thats the man math juggling I am going through at the moment. Pay the premium for the included BMW servicing/warranty plan and for two years, best case scenario I'm paying for fuel and a set of rear tyres, worst case a clutch/brakes which I would hope would be picked up in there certified/approved inspection process Or pay 10-15k less, then buy a aftermarket warranty (if they exist for an M5?), but still have to pay servicing and any warranty excesses and costs on top. No interest in modding the car, I figure 560hp should be enough. Its part of the attraction, its bonkers as they are delivered on the showroom floor.

So am currently contemplating the silly thing of buying a F10 M5 because after all who doesn't need a car that can transport the family in comfort while also being a muscle car? Curious as to where there values end up? Seems at present they are 40-80k depending on year and condition. Seems the E60 M5's have stayed pretty constant at the mid 20's mark for a tidy one (seems to be pretty steady from when I bought a E60 550i 4 years back), do these F10's drop down to those values in the next few years, or are they likely to always be priced slightly above due the lack of issues compared to the E60? Also wondering how much of a premium the NZ New models that are BMW approved may hold over the import ones, would it be worth spending larger into the later 16/17 models that are NZ New, and also coming BMW approved with 2 yr servicing/warranty? A couple on trademe at 80k that fit that criteria, my man maths suggests they may be worth 50-55k in 2 years time at the end of the warranty period? This is based off the current 2014 models on there for sale. Either way I know this is not a smart decision financially, but I like to roll the dice from time to time.

Chers, will check the battery tonight. guessing there is a label saying install date somewhere on the battery?

So the new battery didn't really solve it then? just something you need to be aware of?

I have this warning come up at the moment saying I have an increased battery discharge. Car still starts and runs perfectly normal. From a google around the net, it seems if not using the car regularly and not for long trips (guilty of both at the moment), this can sometimes cause this issue. So I plan on chucking a charger on it once a week for a start at least to test out if this is the actual case, or if it is actually a dud battery perhaps. Has anyone had this issue also? Could someone recommend me a charger that can is suitable for the battery style in these cars also, any particular amp rating etc, I'm kinda green when it comes to electrical items.

Also, anyone able to recommend someone in Christchurch to do the job?

Sorted

Thanks for the above examples, yeah 35% looks to be the plan. For some reason I imagined it being a lot darker. That darkness should offset the white nicely!

How dark does everyone recommend going on tints? The car it will be going on is a E60 550i in Alpine white. Would 35% end up looking a bit too dark on this with the contrast? Not after a full blacked out look as this is a family car, so am I better going 50%? Any suggestions?