[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

[SocalBM]

Check for a warranty.

[Desmo85]

Has extended warranty till '19 or 100k miles whichever comes first.

[ezmaass]

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

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?

[Tuesday]

If it's a good enough deal grab it. I saved insane money buying a 2013 - like a ridiculous amount so to me it was worth it. I still have a lot of tech, 704 suspension and NBT so aside from the TU engine and a few cosmetic changes I don't feel left behind.

[1HOT BMR]

Make sure you like it - a lot! Don't buy it just because the price is good.

It is no sports car. It feels very big and heavy. Check to see if it has the Adaptive Drive option (marketed under several different names) which is the active shocks and sway bars which came standard with the M Sport 550i in 2011 - albeit as part of a $6,500 option package. This suspension together with the Integral Active Steering option are two things that make the car feel much more tossable and less massive. There is a night and day difference when you drive a car with or without these options. Without it it will feel like a Buick, with it it will feel like a sports sedan . . . just like a BMW

Make sure you like the seating position and you are able to adjust it to your liking. I still cannot get over the feeling of sitting in a bathtub when I drive it. The cowl is very high and when you adjust the seat higher you cannot see the instruments because the steering wheel covers them.

I don't know what kind of Navigation system comes with the Z4 but the Navigators on both my 550i and my X5 are worthless If this is something important to you then set money aside to buy a Garmin and use that instead - I do.

In the area of reliability my 550i which I ordered new has been flawless for 3+ years and 20K+ miles.

[ezmaass]

Originally Posted by 1HOT BMR

Make sure you like it - a lot! Don't buy it just because the price is good.

It is no sports car. It feels very big and heavy. Check to see if it has the Adaptive Drive option (marketed under several different names) which is the active shocks and sway bars which came standard with the M Sport 550i in 2011 - albeit as part of a $6,500 option package. This suspension together with the Integral Active Steering option are two things that make the car feel much more tossable and less massive. There is a night and day difference when you drive a car with or without these options. Without it it will feel like a Buick, with it it will feel like a sports sedan . . . just like a BMW

Make sure you like the seating position and you are able to adjust it to your liking. I still cannot get over the feeling of sitting in a bathtub when I drive it. The cowl is very high and when you adjust the seat higher you cannot see the instruments because the steering wheel covers them.

I don't know what kind of Navigation system comes with the Z4 but the Navigators on both my 550i and my X5 are worthless If this is something important to you then set money aside to buy a Garmin and use that instead - I do.

In the area of reliability my 550i which I ordered new has been flawless for 3+ years and 20K+ miles.

Good points here, too. The Dynamic Handling Package (DHP) is where you'll find the Adaptive Drive stuff now - and I agree it's a necessary option. I almost didn't realize how necessary until I drove a car with and then without. It provides you with the ability to control the dampers, but the active anti-roll is not to be overlooked either in this system. I'm shocked at how well it works to keep such a beefy car flat in the corners.

The steering was also improved for the LCI, so this may be a reason to consider the 2014 if the deal on the 2013 is just "so so" or perhaps doesn't include everything you need/want, including DHP.

I've found the navigation to work well so far. Although, my previous BMW was an 07, so it's a big, big improvement. The only other system I have to compare it to is my wife's Audi MMI - which purely stinks IMHO.

[Desmo85]

Thank you guys so much for the input, I will let you know the outcome.

Only info I have beside the equipped extras is that the owner went bankrupt and now the bank wants this car liquidated ASAP.

[Desmo85]

The vehicle has no wintertyres mounted, so there will be no testdrive anytime soon. Bummer. 😔

[Grover432]

Originally Posted by Tuesday

If it's a good enough deal grab it. I saved insane money buying a 2013 - like a ridiculous amount so to me it was worth it. I still have a lot of tech, 704 suspension and NBT so aside from the TU engine and a few cosmetic changes I don't feel left behind.

I agree. I picked up a 2013 535 X Drive, save about $8,500 compared to a new one. The 2013 550 is already insanely fast compared to your last car and the improved fuel economy of the '14 won't be made up for by the difference in purchase price.

[scott135i]

+1 on the 2013. It is likely very worth the cost savings. I leased a 2013 instead of waiting for a 2014, because it was (a) a lease, and (b) I am paying what those who leased a 535xi for, for a loaded $80k 550xi.

No brainer - the updates are great, but there will always be updates. If the difference in price is substantial, get the 2013. Substantial is all relative to the person and their situation, but if I were buying, and the difference was $10k or more relative to the price of this particular car, then I'd save the money and spend it in mods/upgrades, or pocket it and go to vegas.

[nal13]

A word about the 2013 to the 2014. We have both and I'm not sure if its the model line but the steering is significantly different between the two. Our 2013 528 has a much less connected, much lighter feel. Its perfect for long drives and cruising but not all that sporty. The 2014 550 on the other hand has a much heavier, better weighted, more responsive/connected feel. It is almost as if BMW changed the steering for 2014 to shut up all the critics who have complained in the past several years of the lack of connection between the driver and the road. (sorry for the run on sentence)

[BigKutta]

Originally Posted by ezmaass

That's a pretty big switch!
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.

There can be many reasons, one of which being that there are plenty of people with plenty of money that get bored easily.

However, any concerns can easily be addressed by taking a walk over to the service department with the VIN and asking them to print out the service history of the car. This will tell you exactly what work has been done on the car by any BMW dealer in the country.

[Grover432]

Originally Posted by nal13

A word about the 2013 to the 2014. We have both and I'm not sure if its the model line but the steering is significantly different between the two. Our 2013 528 has a much less connected, much lighter feel. Its perfect for long drives and cruising but not all that sporty. The 2014 550 on the other hand has a much heavier, better weighted, more responsive/connected feel. It is almost as if BMW changed the steering for 2014 to shut up all the critics who have complained in the past several years of the lack of connection between the driver and the road. (sorry for the run on sentence)

You can't compare the steering feel of a 528 and 550 and explain it by LCI updates. The different model's steering systems are tuned differently; the 528 is more Buick like and the 550 is more sporty. While the LCI cars get a slight improvement in steering feel, most automotive journalists didn't notice much of a difference. The 550 M Sport has a higher steering effort dialed in as well, when compared to a non M Sport 550..

[nal13]

Originally Posted by Grover432

You can't compare the steering feel of a 528 and 550 and explain it by LCI updates. The different model's steering systems are tuned differently; the 528 is more Buick like and the 550 is more sporty. While the LCI cars get a slight improvement in steering feel, most automotive journalists didn't notice much of a difference. The 550 M Sport has a higher steering effort dialed in as well, when compared to a non M Sport 550..

That's why if you read my post I said I wasn't sure. Its just an observation that I have made

[ezmaass]

Originally Posted by Grover432

You can't compare the steering feel of a 528 and 550 and explain it by LCI updates. The different model's steering systems are tuned differently; the 528 is more Buick like and the 550 is more sporty. While the LCI cars get a slight improvement in steering feel, most automotive journalists didn't notice much of a difference. The 550 M Sport has a higher steering effort dialed in as well, when compared to a non M Sport 550..

I can attest to feeling the difference in the steering. I had looked at moving to the 5 about a year ago, and the lighter, slightly less connected feeling of the car was actually one of the reasons I decided against it. For me, the steering is noticeably different now in the 2014 - much more like the 3 feel I was coming from.

What should be noted, however, is that the steering was perfectly accurate and precise in the pre-LCI cars. I think the major complaint was that it just lacked feedback (that "connected to the road" feel) you get with classic hydraulic systems, and the all electric system was lacking some of the traditional feel - leading reviewers (C&D for one) to use words such as "numb" to describe it. But they, nonetheless, still admitted that it was more about "feel" than actual precision. The Driving Dynamics switch can dial-in more weight to counter the light feel, but it can't help you feel the road any more.

For the OP, you'd really need to drive both to see if you cared either way. I know many people are into getting a better deal, and if you can save $5k, $8k, etc, it's worth it to some. The way I look at it, this is a fairly expensive car. My MSRP was $86k and change. Like my past BMWs, I'll probably keep this one for several years, and I want to be 100% satisfied when laying out this kind of cash - so the difference of $5k or $8k in cost is a rounding error when I put it in context. Personally, it would probably take a much more significant savings for me to feel it worthwhile to trade the LCI updates.

As for the savings, you also need to consider how much you're ACTUALLY saving. If you're leasing, that's one thing - this doesn't apply. But if you're buying, you need to sell the car at some point. When you buy something for less, you generally sell it for less. It's a model year older, and pre-LCI versus post-LCI may become more relevant to future buyers (time will tell). What you actually pay to own the car is the delta between your purchase and sale prices. So maybe an $8k savings is more like a $4k savings once you factor in the sale prices of both cars in 3 years. If you use KBB as a guide, you'll see that there's roughly about a $3.5k - $4.5k price difference between model year values (2011 and 2012) with the same options on a moderately equipped 550. So, had you bought a 2011 when the 2012's were just out and claimed an $8k savings up front, if you were selling either of those cars today, you'd be getting an average of $4k more for the 2012 - leaving you with only a $4k savings on the 2011, not $8k. So when considering to give up the newer model year, along with the updates it brings, an $8k savings dropping to $4k may suddenly seem less attractive for some. Again, if you're leasing, this probably doesn't matter.

If it were a 535, perhaps I'd place less emphasis on the pre/post LCI. But considering the importance of the LCI engine updates (injectors, valvetronic, additional HP/TQ, economy, oil consumption, etc) for a 550, I'd have a good look at whether the savings is significant enough to justify the trade-off. And if you're really going to go pre-LCI, why not milk it for every penny of savings you can get, and get something even earlier than a 2013 with a CPO warranty? You'd have a bigger margin of savings on a car generally the same as the 2013.

Ahh, decisions, decisions. At the end of the day, you'll get a GREAT car with either decision, so this is truly a "high class problem" as they'd say.

[Grover432]

Originally Posted by ezmaass

I can attest to feeling the difference in the steering. I had looked at moving to the 5 about a year ago, and the lighter, slightly less connected feeling of the car was actually one of the reasons I decided against it. For me, the steering is noticeably different now in the 2014 - much more like the 3 feel I was coming from.

What should be noted, however, is that the steering was perfectly accurate and precise in the pre-LCI cars. I think the major complaint was that it just lacked feedback (that "connected to the road" feel) you get with classic hydraulic systems, and the all electric system was lacking some of the traditional feel - leading reviewers (C&D for one) to use words such as "numb" to describe it. But they, nonetheless, still admitted that it was more about "feel" than actual precision. The Driving Dynamics switch can dial-in more weight to counter the light feel, but it can't help you feel the road any more.

For the OP, you'd really need to drive both to see if you cared either way. I know many people are into getting a better deal, and if you can save $5k, $8k, etc, it's worth it to some. The way I look at it, this is a fairly expensive car. My MSRP was $86k and change. Like my past BMWs, I'll probably keep this one for several years, and I want to be 100% satisfied when laying out this kind of cash - so the difference of $5k or $8k in cost is a rounding error when I put it in context. Personally, it would probably take a much more significant savings for me to feel it worthwhile to trade the LCI updates.

As for the savings, you also need to consider how much you're ACTUALLY saving. If you're leasing, that's one thing - this doesn't apply. But if you're buying, you need to sell the car at some point. When you buy something for less, you generally sell it for less. It's a model year older, and pre-LCI versus post-LCI may become more relevant to future buyers (time will tell). What you actually pay to own the car is the delta between your purchase and sale prices. So maybe an $8k savings is more like a $4k savings once you factor in the sale prices of both cars in 3 years. If you use KBB as a guide, you'll see that there's roughly about a $3.5k - $4.5k price difference between model year values (2011 and 2012) with the same options on a moderately equipped 550. So, had you bought a 2011 when the 2012's were just out and claimed an $8k savings up front, if you were selling either of those cars today, you'd be getting an average of $4k more for the 2012 - leaving you with only a $4k savings on the 2011, not $8k. So when considering to give up the newer model year, along with the updates it brings, an $8k savings dropping to $4k may suddenly seem less attractive for some. Again, if you're leasing, this probably doesn't matter.

If it were a 535, perhaps I'd place less emphasis on the pre/post LCI. But considering the importance of the LCI engine updates (injectors, valvetronic, additional HP/TQ, economy, oil consumption, etc) for a 550, I'd have a good look at whether the savings is significant enough to justify the trade-off. And if you're really going to go pre-LCI, why not milk it for every penny of savings you can get, and get something even earlier than a 2013 with a CPO warranty? You'd have a bigger margin of savings on a car generally the same as the 2013.

Ahh, decisions, decisions. At the end of the day, you'll get a GREAT car with either decision, so this is truly a "high class problem" as they'd say.

After the next generation 5er comes out there won't be that much of a difference in value between pre LCI and post LCI cars. The value difference you use as an example is for generation change cars, not a refresh like the current LCI. I appreciate the LCI has more HP, but that is more about a pissing contest with MB than need for more performance. As to the steering changes, I'm no expert, just relying on what all of the auto journalists have said; no significant change. I think the real change will come with the next generation. As to rounding error - if that's what it was to the OP, why would he even have posted the question?

[ezmaass]

Originally Posted by Grover432

After the next generation 5er comes out there won't be that much of a difference in value between pre LCI and post LCI cars. The value difference you use as an example is for generation change cars, not a refresh like the current LCI. I appreciate the LCI has more HP, but that is more about a pissing contest with MB than need for more performance. As to the steering changes, I'm no expert, just relying on what all of the auto journalists have said; no significant change. I think the real change will come with the next generation. As to rounding error - if that's what it was to the OP, why would he even have posted the question?

The example I used was for 2011 and 2012 - both pre-LCI F10. Seeing that there can be a $4k difference in value within the same model just one year apart, I'd expect that could easily continue or even expand over the LCI "gap"? Once the next gen comes out, it'll negatively impact resale on all F10's equally, I'd imagine. But we still have roughly 3 years until that becomes a problem.

I don't know - I hear the argument for saving a few bucks, but I personally can't see it. For anyone buying a 550, I'd think a few grand in any direction won't make or break them... so it really needs to come down to the savings being of greater value than the newer MY, updates, etc.

[Tuesday]

I saved over 20K getting a 2013 - this car could steer like a city bus and I would still love it.