Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Sep 2005
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Haha...still, £10k is a lot, best I can do is £2k.
Best I can do is £2.
FAO Fox: 330i / 530i... Same engine?
- Thread starter mattyprice4004
- Start date
Best I can do is £2.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Seems this thread is already covered. Yes they are the same engines. The 3 costs more in Sport form to insure than the 5. If you want to buy one delete £1k or so from your budget and stash it away for when it breaks. They do break from time to time. All 530i's are facelift and were produced from October 2000 until mid 2003. The last ones are registered on 04 plates.
Finding a good one now is like finding a needle in a haystack. Lots of Sport models for under £5k now, but not very many that are actually worth buying or have not been abused by an ever increasing succesion of people who thought they needed a 'cheap beema innit'. SE's easier to find in good condition now.
Buy a good one or don't bother. At 19 and paying £1200 a year for a Rover 400 I suspect it's going to be a few years before insurance is reasonable.
I estimate mine costs me about £1000 a year in repairs and servicing, excluding tyres, insurance and fuel. Don't forget that as they get older the purchase price reduces but running costs increase as they become less reliable and bits wear out. A set of tyres for a Sport is £500.
Finding a good one now is like finding a needle in a haystack. Lots of Sport models for under £5k now, but not very many that are actually worth buying or have not been abused by an ever increasing succesion of people who thought they needed a 'cheap beema innit'. SE's easier to find in good condition now.
Buy a good one or don't bother. At 19 and paying £1200 a year for a Rover 400 I suspect it's going to be a few years before insurance is reasonable.
I estimate mine costs me about £1000 a year in repairs and servicing, excluding tyres, insurance and fuel. Don't forget that as they get older the purchase price reduces but running costs increase as they become less reliable and bits wear out. A set of tyres for a Sport is £500.
Soldato
- Joined
- 26 Aug 2005
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- 6,901
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- London
How much is a decent set of tyres (F1s, Proxies) for the 330i/530i?
Much heavier on juice but still in the realms of normal running costs. Supposedly an older steering system due to the size of the engine making the newer system impossible to fit, but i certainly cannot tell any difference between the two.
The 540i is the best in the range, the engine is reliable, the weak points are still cooling system related which they all suffer from. Its trade off is massively reduced fuel economy.
The M5 is a completely different kettle of fish, the 540i's V8 is a fairly relaxed old tried and tested engine which wont drain the wallet over and above the smaller engines other than its thirst.
The M5 engine is massively complicated as i understand it. It takes special oil, has all sorts of complicated VANOS stuff which breaks. I dont really know why as such, but i do know that the M5 carries a massive premium.
The M5 engine is massively complicated as i understand it. It takes special oil, has all sorts of complicated VANOS stuff which breaks. I dont really know why as such, but i do know that the M5 carries a massive premium.