Quote:
Originally Posted by Desmo85
Hello Neighbours,
I currently drive a 2009 E89 Z4 and I have the chance to get a low mileage '13 550i. Fully loaded, m-package. Hence it is a completely different car and I have to wait for a testdrive till friday, I was wondering what your guys experiences are, what should I be checking for when testdriving it?
Cheers
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That's a pretty big switch!
I don't know what kind of deal you're getting, but I would personally just buy a 2014 new. Here's my reasoning:
I always scratch my head when I see a car that's 1 year old or less for sale. Immediately I start to think, "Why did someone keep this car, from new, for a year or less?" I'm sure there are many of legitimate reasons, but there may also be plenty of reasons related to the car, itself. If I can't determine, without a shadow of a doubt, that the car had nothing to do with the quick turn-around, I'd steer clear. That may be silly, but it's in my nature to be conservative. Even if the car is under warranty, it can be a real pain and inconvenience if there are considerable issues. OR, it could just be that some guy bought it, drove it around a bit, and decided he wanted the next model when it came out or something else... great. But I'd have to know that definitively.
The 2014 550 also has an updated engine - the N63TU ("technical update") as opposed to the N63 that's in the 2011 - 2013 550's. There are several reasons why I'd go for the N63TU here:
1. Power - the new engine makes more power. Power is up from 400hp to 445hp... over a 10% increase.
2. Efficiency - the new engine now has valvetronic and is more efficient than the previous engine. One of the bigger issues with the N63 was the amount of oil it turned. SUPPOSEDLY, this is one of the areas addressed with the new engine. It still may burn more oil than you'd like, but it should be better. Some people have had terrible oil consumption issues with their pre-LCI 550, while others seem to get decent/acceptable consumption.
3. Reliabiilty - the TU engine received various upgrades that bring it more inline with the updates done to other BMW engines (e.g. N54 --> N55) for reliability. One of the more talked-about issues has been injector failures. BMW moved away from the piezo injectors to the same Bosch injectors now found on the N20 and N55, which should be considerably more reliable.
Not to mention, there are a host of other new features now on the LCI cars - LED lights, new iDrive touch controller, etc, that may make it worth it. If you were otherwise considering a 2011 versus a 2014, I could see there being a substantial price difference. But I'm guessing the difference between a 2013 and 2014 in price may be more workable (< $10k?) and worth considering the potential advantages of just going new?