2006 530i M Sport

[jsbmw]

Dear all,I've placed booking on a 2006 E60 530i M Sport, unregistered UK specs. Condition looks superb, however specs seems to be on the low side compared to what I would have expected. E.g. there are no cd-changer, tv, memory seat (semi electric only), head-up display, night vision, side and rear shades, xenon lights etc. I plan to check with BMW Malaysia to extract the full specs / accessories the said car was registered with before signing the final agreement.I'm currently into my 5th year of driving 525i E39 Japan specs. Generally very happy with it except for the common problem with Japan specs - no radio! And of course, the main reasons of upgrading are the newer technology BMW offers.I understand that Japan models generally better maintained and come with low mileage, and higher specs compared to UK version. In addition, rust is a concern with the latter. I'm hoping that my foreman will be able to detect any undesirable defects, especially the tampering of mileage meter (heard that the data stored in the key is not easy to be tampered with?).DILEMMA - saw a 2007 E60 530i M Sport Japan model that costs around RM25k more at RM275k. Comes with Xenon lights and TV, but no Parktronic. And if I'm choosing this one, I'll definitely want to change the CCC to overcome the radio frequency compatibility issue. This, again, poses some concerns as it'll be meddling with BMW original electronics!And if paying more for one year newer model, shouldn't I be paying for the NEW 2007 model...? (with LCI facelifted?).Or should I just find a 525i M Sport with high specs, or 530i standard (since 530i M Sport hard to find)? [The more I read about M Sport, the more confused I am about the difference between standard version. I guess the suspension is the main difference that really gives value??] Please advise...1) Settle for 530i M Sport UK?2) Choose 530i M Sport Japan, then modified CCC & PDC?3) Look out for other 525i or 530i (probably not M Sport) with high specs? (which again, is very difficult as many specs cannot be identified by just looking at it!).

 

[Herbert]

Jsbmw,

Welcome to the forum.

As a matter of formality, please introduce yourself in the newbie section first so that other Official members and Club guest could get to know you better and give you their opinions and/or comments for your above questions.

 

[jsbmw]

Sorry, didn't know the rules. Done, hope the short intro will do. I'm in a desperate situation now!

 

[alxy]

End of day, it depends on what features matter to you. If you actually look hard enough, you can find Jap-spec cars with PDC. I should know, since I managed find mine . But those are quite rare, so you have to be patient. Then I just changed the CCC (and added in a DVD changer as well). It's not as complex as it seems, and there are quite a few people who can do this for you (like Obermaier). But you won't be able to upgrade your software anymore after this (which is not a serious issue).

To me, I found that I prefer a car with all the bells and whistles, so I did not consider UK-spec cars. Like you also said, UK-spec cars in general are less well taken care of than Jap cars (BMWs in UK are not considered as much a luxury car as in Japan). And Jap cars also in general have lower mileage. Note also that UK cars might not have the iDrive set-up for SatNav (i.e. the 6" screen, instead of 8", and no GPS antenna built-in. So adding SatNav would cost a whole lot more)

Unless you are Low Taek Jho, spending about 250-300K on a car is a pretty steep investment, so end of day, you have to feel happy in your car. So maybe you need to think this way: when you sit in your car, would it bother you to see that you have no memory seats, xenon lights, SatNav, etc... or would you just enjoy the va-va-voom performance...

Good luck bro!

 

[jsbmw]

Thank you for your reply.

Another hopeful question - what are the main differences between 2006 and 2007 (new LCI) models other than cosmetic changes?

I read that the LCI production commenced on March 2007, but the car I looked at, claimed to be manufactured in Sep 2007 (Japan specs), is pre-LCI. My consideration is that, since the LCI model is the final batch of the E60 production before being replaced by F10, it'd probably worthwhile going for it. Any take on that?

 

[joederic]

BMWs in UK spec just make troubles .....

 

[Peter Sauber]

hi jsbmw,

Two things that come to my mind when we are on grey imports.

(1) M-sport version

i'm a bit sceptical over the m-sport version from overseas i.e. grey imports.

i hv heard of the importers just brought in the ordinary ones and fixed the m-sport stuff like steering, suspension and bodykits here. best of all, the bodykits are not m-sport but only the replicas which u may not be able to tell the difference.

(2) Mileage and service records

There are a lot of opinion on the above but at the end of the day there isnt a conclusive evidence to suggest that the mileage is accurate. Largely, i'm not sure whether a 5-year old car for example has only 20 odd thousand of km on it. It is a bit unbelievable. I have heard of some guys who bought cars with 20k-30k mileage on them but have alternator, water pump and oil leakage problems. These items are normally good for use at 20k-30k mileage...then how can they go kaput so fast whereas like mine which is a AB one with 60k all these items are still good?

Conclusion is i would rather get the local ones such as AB, sapura, etc. (although maybe pay a bit more but we have peace of mind) which i'm sure about the mileage and service record. Sorry guys, just my 2 sen...and i stand to be corrected...

 

[nazrin]

Bro, just get the registration card in UK from d importer and all info is urs....available in the net! just pay a little bit if you need details....!!!!
You also can check whether it is a ori M Sport Spec or M-Sport wannabe.....but I don't think you can do it for Japan spec....

 

[jsbmw]

I think any reasonable mind will probably not believe the extreme low mileage staring beautifully at you when you grip the wheel...

The E39 525i (Japan) I'd driven for 4 years recorded approx. 33k KM when I took ownership. I had little problem over the last 4 years, thank god. I consider myself an average user and that's approx. 18k KM a year. So to believe someone who spend on an UDM and clock a mere 6k a year...na...

The E60 530i M-Sport (UK...will have to experience to tell!) I bought 2 weeks back cost RM100k more than my previous purchase, and I'm crossing my fingers that it'll last at least 4 years, if not more. Mileage? 26k KM. Too good to be true? I'll give the benefit of the doubt, and who cares so long it'll last a good 4-year
(Well at least exterior and interior wise, this looks brand new!)