[Das Johnson]

I’m asking for information on reliability for the 2011 n55 xdrive. My dads was jet black with many amenities which he appreciated over his old e39 that broke down in the parking lot of the dealer as we were trading it in. He passed away in 2015 and I sold the f10 with 80k miles. It was displaying the drivetrain malfunction error before I sold it. The recent carfax check says it’s around 120k miles now, and I still have the number of the man who bought it. There’s a lot of sentimental value this vehicle has for me. Recently I felt like I made the wrong decision on selling it and losing the car with so many memories.
Ah but that’s not the point of this post.

Skip to below here for my question

The initial cost of buying it back I am prepared for, however I’m coming to you guys the experts asking whether or not this will break my bank over the next coming years. I remember the e39 being relatively inexpensive. What do you guys know about the N55/electronics/drivetrain reliability of the 2011? Anything noteworthy that would indicate staying away? Will the drivetrain malfunction error grenade my engine or was it a common code error?

Thank you all very much for reading

[JDMSteven]

Originally Posted by Das Johnson

I’m asking for information on reliability for the 2011 n55 xdrive. My dads was jet black with many amenities which he appreciated over his old e39 that broke down in the parking lot of the dealer as we were trading it in. He passed away in 2015 and I sold the f10 with 80k miles. It was displaying the drivetrain malfunction error before I sold it. The recent carfax check says it’s around 120k miles now, and I still have the number of the man who bought it. There’s a lot of sentimental value this vehicle has for me. Recently I felt like I made the wrong decision on selling it and losing the car with so many memories.
Ah but that’s not the point of this post.

[SIZE="6"]Skip to below here for my question[/SIZE]

The initial cost of buying it back I am prepared for, however I’m coming to you guys the experts asking whether or not this will break my bank over the next coming years. I remember the e39 being relatively inexpensive. What do you guys know about the N55/electronics/drivetrain reliability of the 2011? Anything noteworthy that would indicate staying away? Will the drivetrain malfunction error grenade my engine or was it a common code error?

Thank you all very much for reading

I personally believe that N55 cars are very reliable, just make sure they're taken care of. My 2011 535i xDrive only has 42k on it but I got it with 19k from the original owner who took great care of the car. In the time I've had mine it's never let me down, just oil changes. If you're confident that the car has been taken care of, all the seals are good and the trans shifts well I'd say you're safe.

[Das Johnson]

Originally Posted by JDMSteven

I personally believe that N55 cars are very reliable, just make sure they're taken care of. My 2011 535i xDrive only has 42k on it but I got it with 19k from the original owner who took great care of the car. In the time I've had mine it's never let me down, just oil changes. If you're confident that the car has been taken care of, all the seals are good and the trans shifts well I'd say you're safe.

Thank you for your reply,

That makes a lot of sense. I'll have to give it a good look over once I reconnect with the guy.

Have you noticed any big electronic issues or faults over ownership? I know some recent posters have mentioned the valvtronic motor going on their 2011's.

[JDMSteven]

I personally can't speak for that, believe it or not its been my most reliable car but it is very low mileage. Used to be my daily and now retired to a once-a-month take it to the car show and park it back up deal

[neverdone]

I've had 4 N55s and the only issue I've ever had was one of them had the common oil filter? Gasket? Issue, cant remember off the top of my head, but they've all been very reliable.

[Surly73]

I have a 2011 535xi. I have past experience with long term out of warranty ownership of E39s (528i and 2x540i which were my dad's), E46 (a friends), E90 and now the F10.

The F10 now has only 71,000km. It has required the most work of any BMW I've ever had, but my F10 had 7 years of warranty and everything was taken care of under warranty. It was in for something every month or two (and I don't put on a lot of miles as you can see). I'm hoping/praying now that it's out of warranty that these were all "easly failures" which should have come out under warranty if I drove more miles.

I believe the 535i to be the most reliable/least trouble of the F10 series - that I'll grant without a second thought.

I've required 8 fuel injectors (2 replaced after a DTM, all 6 reportedly replaced again after a DTM and cold running issues), 6 spark plugs (cold running issues), a driver's seat bottom (heater failure), AC condensor (massive leak), VANOS recall, fuel pump recall, door lock actuator failure (both front doors), CIC head unit, transfer case, PWG control solenoid x3 (and it's gone again), parking brake actuator (didn't sleep causing parasitic battery drain), battery (early failure). I think there's more but it's not coming to mind.

As I'm starting to DIY more things, I wonder if the dealer techs just weren't all that good and the story might be different if I was maintaining everything from the start. Not sure.

This year I've planned lots of maintenance activities - front/rear diff fluid, transmission fluid and filter, preparing for the inevitable OFHG job, and doing a belt/tensioner job at the same time. I'll need to replace the turbo wastegate solenoid again myself now too. Brake fluid, coolant. A lot of things like this are normal long-term maintenance work and not scary, though they require a different toolkit than days-gone-by.