01-02-2024, 01:36 PM | #1 |
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Am I abusing my BMW M550 ?
Hey M550 owners - i wanted to describe a few aspects of my driving habits and ask for comments on whether I'm treating my M550 in a manner that can shorten it's life.
First, like many of you, I love driving this car. There's just something about a perfectly executed car, everything you need, almost nothing that you don't - that appeals to me, and has a way of making every drive fun, even work commutes. I baby this car. No driving it in the rain, I rarely allow it to get dirty. I change my oil at 5K & I check my tire pressure weekly by guage and before every trip with iDrive. I replaced the runflats with Pilot Super Sports. Have 11,000 on the car and about 5K on these tires. I'm blessed with good quality, smooth roads on my commute, mostly 2 and three lane interstate type highways. I purposely miss the morning and evening rush by staggering my departure time. I'm a spirited driver, but not an aggressive one. If the speed limit is 75, I'm going somewhere between 85 and 95 depending on traffic, time of day, etc. I never weave in and out of traffic and I never take the bait when kids driving Mustangs want to get racy. There are times where my speed might get up to 110 or so briefly, because the traffic is light or i'm in a passing situation. So, all that said, if I drive my car approximately 120 miles per week at 85-95, once in a while over 100, am I shortening my car's life with my driving habits ?
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01-02-2024, 03:33 PM | #2 |
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mcjones44us, nothing that you described sounds abusive at all. My only question is, how quickly do you accelerate? If "spirited" driving means constantly mashing your foot down and enjoying 1g acceleration, you are definitely shortening your car's life. If not, just continue maintaining it regularly and it should serve you well. As far as I know, hard cornering and braking will wear out those components faster but don't otherwise decrease the lifespan of the car.
Having said that I would welcome comments from others on behaviors that could reduce (or extend) the life of the 550. The N63 used to be notoriously unreliable but in theory those issues were addressed with the TU2 version in 2016 so all G30 models should have the TU2 or TU3 engine. |
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mcjones44us20.00 |
01-02-2024, 04:36 PM | #3 |
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Get it upto operating temperature and drive it. It's a vehicle built for the autobahn, you can sit at 120mph for as long as the fuel lasts. (And your license haha)
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01-02-2024, 08:24 PM | #4 |
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I'd argue you are baby'ing it and if the car is warmed up should go fine for a long time.
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mcjones44us20.00 |
01-02-2024, 10:37 PM | #5 |
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Drives: BMW 550i (2023)
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: Columbus, Ohio
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You sound almost like me with driving habits. Got my ‘23 in June of this year and the car has never seen rain and is put away during the winter months except if the winter is mild and no salt is on the ground…hence this year…so far. My ‘23 has 2800 miles on it, first oil change at 1200 miles and came with NRF Potenza S007 Summer Only tires.
I drive very much normal and within 10 miles per hour of the speed limit depending on road type. I prefer to drive in Sport mode and use a ‘fuller throttle” take off from red lights just feel the power and hear the V8. The car is a fun ride A few days ago, I was out enjoying a run to the the office and came across a Charger SRT at a red light. Light turned green and we both started out normal, but got on it after 35 mph and the M550i started pulling away before I let up. First time for that and it was exhilarating to say the least. |
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01-03-2024, 12:45 AM | #6 |
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Sounds fine to me, as long as it’s warmed up ie oil temp sounds perfectly ok to me
Motorway miles are going to be the easiest on the car and I’d have thought the least wear and tear. Should be able to sit there all day. I lookafter mine as well as this is a keeper , I envisage this being my last car as newer models just don’t appeal. |
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01-19-2024, 10:41 AM | #8 |
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There's a reason the car looks like its going 100mph standing still.
Because that is what it wants to do.
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01-19-2024, 11:47 AM | #9 |
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I wish I could store mine away like you but this is my one and only car, and what a car!
One of my 2 favourite cars I’ve ever owned. And the other? Well that was a 2002 e39 530i msport whichbhad from new and owned for 10 years. Biggest regret was selling it but I only have space for 1 car The m550 is however a worthy replacement Just getting it’s first oil change undertaken in a couple of weeks time (outside of our U.K. 19000 mile 2 year serving schedule) I enjoy it so much for the first time I’ve had to increase the mileage on my insurance! |
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01-19-2024, 06:44 PM | #10 | |
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Quote:
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