BMW 5 Series buyers guide E60/E61 (2003-2010) Reliability and problems (520/525/530/535/550)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- BMW 5 Series (E60/E61) Buyers guide for 520i, 520d, 523i, 525i, 525d, 528i, 530i, 530d, 535i, 535d, 540i, 545i, 550i. Avoid buying a cheap broken BMW 5 series sedan or touring estate and find the BMW 5 series that you want without breaking the bank. Used BMW 5 series can vary in price and reliability with common problems or using them as company cars for high mileage. With our guide you'll be able to avoid the ones with problems. Avoid the mistakes of buying the cheapest broken BMW 5 Series as a project and attempting to fix the BMW E60 E61 5 series due to valve stem failure, Vanos unit failure, broken timing chains, or oil leaks with our review. This buyer's guide covers the E60 and E61 BMW 5 series from years 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 in all trims from SE to Sport. If you are deciding between the BMW 5series or are an owner looking for a guide, but considering other vehicles, like the Audi A6 or Mercedes E-Class then why not check out this video and others from our channel.
The issues discussed in our buyer's guide to the E60 BMW 5 Series include timing chain stretch, faulty fuel door, and high pressure fuel pumps, which we review.
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best car i have ever owned 525 M sports
Nice video. Appreciate the exact bulletin numbers and parts' codes.
After owning a 3 Series E90 model 330i N52 engine I moved to E60 530i same engine 258hp 300Nm of torque RWD manual. This car is refined, powerful and smooth. Everything to look for! A true BMW!
12:28 lists the 535D engine as an M47 where it should be M57.
Some more noteworthy common issues:
The wiring from the body to the rear hatch on the E61 is prone to fail on all E61's. It's a matter of when, not if. Relatively easily repaired, tons of videos on it. Problems include light bulb errors, trunk boot not opening, or opening when braking, shopping hatch not opening and the remote not working.
The diversity antenna on the E61's fitted in the trunk spoiler is also prone to failure as it's very exposed to the elements. This will not only stop the remote from working, but can also reset the iDrive and reduce the FM radio antennas capacity.
The pre LCI automatic gearbox torque converters are much weaker than their LCI counterparts. If your revs start going up/down when driving on the highway at a stable speed, this is most likely the culprit. There are tons of sellers online which sell refurbished LCI converters and will take your pre-LCI converters as a trade in.
The E61's are especially prone to getting water in the spare wheel compartment. It's not just the MPM which is located there, but tons of other modules and relays. It's adviced to move all these modules and relays to a higher point in the car. Even if you have an E60, it's worth taking a couple of extra minutes to move these.
E61's rear suspension is an air suspension, which can be a huge pain in the butt. It's not uncommon for the compressor relay to get flooded in the trunks spare wheel compartment and either not working at all, or running as soon as the car gets power.
The iDrive units, especially the most common variant (CCC) tends to go bad resulting in the unit failing to boot and the screen not turning on, or just flashing. There are companies which you can send your CCC units to refurbish them. Or you can troubleshoot them yourself and follow online guides. This is especially annoying since you adjust your automatic climate controls with the iDrive screen.
That's all I can think of from the top of my head. I've got some M57 content on my profile for whoever is interested. Can definitely recommend a later model E60 (2006:ish and above) with the newer key and some updated modules paired with an M57 engine of some sort. I'd say E60 over E61 for reliability as the E61's come with more common issues.
Good spot, since I say it correctly it doesn't look like a script error so just a mistake on my part. 100% you are right it should say M57 👍
I owned a E60 550i for about 7 months, best car i've ever owned and still to this day i regret selling it, here in UK you can't find them anymore
I own a 525d of 2007. Living in Switzerland, I have to drive it slow because of the speed limit on highways. But I would like to note that i drive it with only 5.4 L/100 km consumption. This is notably less than what the 535d consumed... had the 2004 model which needed 7 Litres for the same distance and speeds. So... a margin of more than 20% of fuel savings. It seems to me that the 4 cylinder engines suited the test-conditions of EWG better, but the straight six was the better and even more efficient motor.
Owner of 2008 550i 4.8l V8 msport package, best and the most reliable car ever owned(7+ years of daily driving). I know most people dislike the n62 motor, but if you take care of it, it'll run forever. Can't say the same thing about the turbo charged motors though.
Some years since E60/61 were new....... this is a useful video. Even back in the day it was a struggle to keel track of engine changes. A bit more info on E61 rear suspension would have been nice. Overall a decent vid & absent of waffle.....Thanks
The 5 series E60 is my personal favourite 525i / 530i
E60 my best car ever.
You own it?
@@thegamecreed133 My son does.
channel needs more views
Really appreciate comments like this 👍
Thanks for the informative video!
Im going to get tomorrow i hope a bmw 530d
Thoughts on e60 pre face lift 550i
Good job 👍
thinking of getting a e60 520d as my first car
Ive owned an E60 msport 2006 520d since 2019, ive put over £5000 swapping out litterally every bit of running gear, control arms, coils,shocks,track rod ends, discs, pads , drop links, propshaft center bearing, prop CV joint, prop to gearbox linkage ( guibo), the list goes on, boost pressure sensor, map sensor, maf sensor, throttle body, egr cooler etc....... its been nothing but a money pit mate, car drives great but high milage are troublesome with worn out parts. Ive spent that much on the car that i plan to keep it as i would never get my money back if i put it up for sale.... Oh i forgot to mention another £2,000 spent on an engine replacement 2 years ago.
As your first car i would probably give such an old car a miss but hopefully if you did decide to get an E60 you managed to get a good relatively low milage model. 👍
I recently bought a 2008 530i and it randomly said the car was at high vehicle temperature and it went after after I turned the car off and on and it went, running at 100°C on idle heard thermostats open at 97°C is there any solution?
E60 M5 best car ever
من ایران زندگی میکنم متاسفانه در ایران فقط مدل ۵۲۰ ۵۲۵ ۵۳۰ اومد و تعداد ۲۲ دستگاه ۵۴۰ اومد ولی مدل ۱۰ سیلندر نیمد و متاسفانه این نوع بی ام و ها ب بنزین خیلی حساسه بنطر شما جهت خربد موتور ام ۵۴ بهتره یا ام ۵۲؟؟؟؟؟هنوزم سالم باشه ی ۵۲۵ یا ۵۳۰ ب پول ایران ۲ میلیارد قیمت داره .
I got an offer for 15k euros for a 2008 BMW 520i E60 (N43 engine) with 68k miles on it.
Do you think is a good opportunity to jump into one of these?
I really like the presence of it and the prestige that it gives to the driver.
Did you buy it? I have seen a car with the exact same model and edition and mileage but I'm worried about the engine size and the direct injection problems, would appreciate your opinion.
my only gripe with mine is seats feel a bit too firm
getting used to seat now its getting comfier
I turned 18 half a year ago and i am looking for a car. My cousin suggested getting a e60 with a 525d engine. Is this a car i should look after?
Too expensive to maintain.
3 liter disel version has really good gas mileage and after 2 years of having it i had bearly some problems
@@RT.music_off ok! How many kilometers is too Much ?
Did you end up getting this? I am eyeing an E61 525d with 280K kilometers for around 2500€ but am worried it will break down after 2 weeks
@@777dave no not yet!
9:37 Wow that appears to be a LWD model!
Yes, rare to see but they're out there 😁
What is lwd model ?
@@bbmanebbmane8926 oops, LWB, long wheelbase
Correction: petrol engines were Euro4 at minimum.
No Euro 3 here…!
Used to be popular on the road, now they are all in the Junk Yard
My 2009 535xi E61 daily driver would say otherwise.
Lol. 300k km's running strong here :)
My 2006 is still mint 217k
i have a 2004 530i e60 221k is still mint too
Not true! Mine is still running and runs very well. Of course, it get well maintained.