[adhrp]

Originally Posted by kwstandard

Someone mentioned spark plugs, and the answer is no - I did not change them at 50k, only at 100k. I have never changed plugs on modern cars that soon. If I ran a tune, that would change for sure. Modern plugs should go 100k without issue. I currently have 3 other BMW's, and have had 6 others in the past. Never changed plugs before 100K and have never had a degredation in performance.

BTW, I plan on keeping this car for a while. I'll post updates later with any future issues I have. I'm a believer in doing proper maintenance and that it really makes a difference in how long these cars last. Hopefully I'm right?!?!

BTW, I have the Ivory leather massaging seats and they still look great. No edge-wear, no discoloration.

Terrific! I am inspired by this. I knew I was over-maintaining my 3 series and I think I wasted a lot of money doing that. With the X3 I've decided I'm going to just follow the CBS. With the future M550i, I will do the same. Glad to hear the ivory leather has held up well. I was inclined to pass on cars with ivory leather due to the potential upkeep involved.

[H_T]

Originally Posted by BMW012

The hypothetical question is would it have been the same, better or worse result, if he did 100k miles in 10 years as opposed to the +4 years?

I read somewhere that 10000 city miles is equivalent to 100000 highway miles with any vehicle.

Not sure how accurate that statement is.

But it is great to hear a report like this getting an idea of what to expect.

[ZephyrCustomz]

Bought the car at 50k miles. Came with very detailed service records from BMW. Drove 50k miles in 1 1/2 year Car is also modified stage 2, downpipes, upgraded spark plugs, and aggressive transmission tune. have had not a single mechanical issue luckily.

- Flex disc replaced at 65k
- front control arms replaced at 70k (nj potholes suck)
- oil change every 5/6k miles to be on the safe side
Thinking of doing trans, diff and transfer case service soon but otherwise car is a trooper.
I will say though, these OEM wheels suck. They bend way too often.

[G30M]

Originally Posted by H_T

I read somewhere that 10000 city miles is equivalent to 100000 highway miles with any vehicle.

Not sure how accurate that statement is.

But it is great to hear a report like this getting an idea of what to expect.

it's all about load, lubrication and wear.

cruising at 1800rpm at 20% throttle (highway miles) vs 6000rpm at wide open throttle (race) vs frequent 3000-5000rpm at 50% throttle (city miles in a manual car in the 90s).

lubrication - do you change your oil frequently, oil quality

wear - partly engine design, break in, cold starts (zero lubrication), etc

for example on my jet ski it won't move until you hit 4000rpm, and if you want to have fun it's gotta be at 6000rpm or above, and most of the time wide open throttle - seadoo recommends engine oil change every 100 hours, and even then the older engines needed to be rebuilt before hitting 1000 hours.

[G30M]

Originally Posted by ZephyrCustomz

I will say though, these OEM wheels suck. They bend way too often.

hmm the wheels are not light!
bend with normal use or with hitting potholes and kerbs?

[NGT2]

Originally Posted by g21

it's all about load, lubrication and wear.

cruising at 1800rpm at 20% throttle (highway miles) vs 6000rpm at wide open throttle (race) vs frequent 3000-5000rpm at 50% throttle (city miles in a manual car in the 90s).

lubrication - do you change your oil frequently, oil quality

wear - partly engine design, break in, cold starts (zero lubrication), etc

for example on my jet ski it won't move until you hit 4000rpm, and if you want to have fun it's gotta be at 6000rpm or above, and most of the time wide open throttle - seadoo recommends engine oil change every 100 hours, and even then the older engines needed to be rebuilt before hitting 1000 hours.

Lol jet skis. So much fun. Such headaches. We had an electric driveway gate at the old house. It broke 2-3 times per year. I started called automatic gates the jet skis of housing features.

To your point, there’s also the city wear on other components, like suspension. But I can see more reason to be optimistic about the long term on these engines. I drive fairly aggressively, I think. The damn car has so much torque and is so damn fast, I’m rarely going much over 3k rpm in my daily driving. And I’m still hauling ass, relative to traffic.

[Gspsaku]

Originally Posted by kwstandard

Well, I just turned 100,000 miles on my 2018 M550i & thought you guys/gals might want a quick note on how it has performed, mechanically.

Overall, It's been really quite good. It has never burned any oil between regular oil changes, I still get 30+ MPG on the highway and I have never had it strand me on the side of the road. Even better, I still smile when I drive it!

The only mechanical issues I've had are:

1) 31-months in, 79,886 miles, Alternator replaced. It was "whining" but still worked fine. Cost (dealer): $1,768

2) 40-months in, got a CEL, Thermostat error (but never ran hot), dealer replaced thermostat. Asked for inspection of other wear items, was told Rear Driveshaft Giubo was cracked (rubber) and Engine Mounts were cracked. I had them replace both. Total visit cost (dealer): $3,704

So, $5,472 in repairs - all in the last 12 months. I'm not really sure if I needed the Giubo and Engine Mounts. Ask a dealer to find issues, and they will...

I've done all regular maintenance according to the BMW schedule, with a few additional items not on the BMW list:

I did the first oil change at 4,000 miles & second at ~10k, then stayed on the 9-10k schedule according to the BCM.

Transmission fluid/filter, Transfer Case & Diffs at 50k & 100k.

Spark Plugs at 100k

I have not changed the coolant yet and, shockingly, I'm still on the original brakes - but they are getting close. I'll probably do the rears in the next 30 days. The fronts still have a bit of life in them.

My biggest complaint has been the tires/wheels. I ordered mine with runflats (but got the spare tire kit too) and unfortunately it came with Goodyear F1's. These are the worst tires I've ever owned. I went through 10 tires and 1 wheel in the first 3 years. I did have Tire/Wheel insurance, so they were all free - but it was a headache to deal with. I finally got fed-up with the hassle and replaced all 4 with Michelin PS3 ZP tires over a year ago and have had zero issues since. These are really good tires if you want runflats, and they are wearing alot better than expected.

The only other issue was a bad Display Key. 32-months, 84,295 miles, Digital Display Key replaced. Display on the key was locked, but still started the car. Cost: $853. I didn't really need to replace it, as in 2018 if you got the Remote Parking package with the display key you still got 2 regular keys, but I replaced it anyway.

I have every package and option that was available for 2018 except B&O stereo and rear video screens, so the "tech" items (Night Vision, Auto Parking, Remote Parking, HUD, Gesture Control, Driving Assist Pro, Dynamic Handling, etc.) have held up pretty well.

Cheers.

How many miles are you at now? Any additional issues/problems?

[kwstandard]

UPADTE: I'm at just over 115k miles now. Zero new issues. Car still runs/drives (and looks) great.

[admranger]

I'm surprised you got 70k on the thrust arm bushings. Mine were both done by 39k miles and the car has been in AZ and NV most of its life.

Did you ever do a transmission fluid flush/replace? Not judging if you didn't, just curious.

[adhrp]

Originally Posted by admranger

I'm surprised you got 70k on the thrust arm bushings. Mine were both done by 39k miles and the car has been in AZ and NV most of its life.

Did you ever do a transmission fluid flush/replace? Not judging if you didn't, just curious.

OP stated in his first post that he did transmission fluid/filter change at 50K and 100K miles.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by adhrp

OP stated in his first post that he did transmission fluid/filter change at 50K and 100K miles.

TY

As an aside on the spark plugs lasting 100k miles on these cars, here's what a 39k mile stock plug looks like vs. a new one on my M550i:

[adhrp]

Originally Posted by admranger

TY

As an aside on the spark plugs lasting 100k miles on these cars, here's what a 39k mile stock plug looks like vs. a new one on my M550i:

How does one evaluate spark plugs? Other than the deposit on the older one, the gap on the plugs looks the same to me between those two.

I remember when I changed my F30's spark plugs at 60k miles, I wondered whether I wasted money because they looked more or less like the new ones that went in.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by adhrp

How does one evaluate spark plugs? Other than the deposit on the older one, the gap on the plugs looks the same to me between those two.

I remember when I changed my F30's spark plugs at 60k miles, I wondered whether I wasted money because they looked more or less like the new ones that went in.

Corona staining is no big deal. However, the electrodes were a bit more worn on the old ones than the new ones. Do you need to change at 39k miles? Absolutely not. Probably a waste of money but the car objectively idles smoother now (coils and plugs so as to which made the most difference).

If money is a concern, probably wait until 100k. My car doesn't see a lot of highway miles due to my back issue (sadly), so I just yanked the plugs and coils to see if it would make a difference (and it did). YMMV

[papoman3]

kwstandard This is great info! Probably one of the few positive posts about this car's reliability.
I've been looking at a 2018 M550i with 77k miles that the dealership is selling to me for $30k. I checked the Carfax and all the services have been done at that dealership. I'm 50/50 right now because I'm concerned about those N63 engines. However, being the TU2 I'm guessing it should be more reliable than the infamous first gen. They're offering me an extended powertrain warranty for $4k but when I read the fine print it says it's limited on engine and transmission. So I'm like "What's the point?" My fear is to buy a car for $30k and then needed $15k in repairs. Thanks for reading in advance.

[NGT2]

Originally Posted by papoman3

kwstandard This is great info! Probably one of the few positive posts about this car's reliability.
I've been looking at a 2018 M550i with 77k miles that the dealership is selling to me for $30k. I checked the Carfax and all the services have been done at that dealership. I'm 50/50 right now because I'm concerned about those N63 engines. However, being the TU2 I'm guessing it should be more reliable than the infamous first gen. They're offering me an extended powertrain warranty for $4k but when I read the fine print it says it's limited on engine and transmission. So I'm like "What's the point?" My fear is to buy a car for $30k and then needed $15k in repairs. Thanks for reading in advance.

I’d definitely check the exclusions and inclusions on the warranty. The cooling system has been the most prevalent failure that I’ve noticed by following the forum.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by papoman3

kwstandard This is great info! Probably one of the few positive posts about this car's reliability.
I've been looking at a 2018 M550i with 77k miles that the dealership is selling to me for $30k. I checked the Carfax and all the services have been done at that dealership. I'm 50/50 right now because I'm concerned about those N63 engines. However, being the TU2 I'm guessing it should be more reliable than the infamous first gen. They're offering me an extended powertrain warranty for $4k but when I read the fine print it says it's limited on engine and transmission. So I'm like "What's the point?" My fear is to buy a car for $30k and then needed $15k in repairs. Thanks for reading in advance.

One of the few positive posts about reliability? Really? Can you point me to all those unreliable posts?

The N63TU2/3 is proving to be just as reliable as the B58. Plenty of sample data now. Pretty much the only common issue is coolant leaks (for the B58 as well) which is repairable and not something I consider engine reliability issues.

That said, without a warranty and 77k miles, any BMW is going to require repairs and/or maintenance $$$. You sound like you should be looking Japanese.

BTW, $4k for a powertrain warranty?!?!?! Did they ask you to bend over? These are usually "thrown in" because they are almost worthless.

[AP]

Yes this is all good news and this really shouldn’t be a surprise to us.

Thanks for the update

[Mach550]

I did my plugs at 60k at about 90 now and probably could have gotten more life out of them.

Other than that I haven't really had out of the ordinary things, one low coolant alert years ago for the turbo side but nothing since.

I shifted from doing excessive miles to now having to remember months. Going to bring up the guibo this time around to double check it. Seems like it comes up a lot for road vibration posts.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by Mach550

I did my plugs at 60k at about 90 now and probably could have gotten more life out of them.

Other than that I haven't really had out of the ordinary things, one low coolant alert years ago for the turbo side but nothing since.

I shifted from doing excessive miles to now having to remember months. Going to bring up the guibo this time around to double check it. Seems like it comes up a lot for road vibration posts.

Yup, 60k is when BMW says you should do plugs, so not really an issue but maintenance. I will probably stretch mine a little too, just like I do with coils - wait for a misfire and do them all.

[Fast Dawg]

Originally Posted by kwstandard

UPADTE: I'm at just over 115k miles now. Zero new issues. Car still runs/drives (and looks) great.

I'm new to this forum because I am considering buying a used 550i X drive. How is your car holding up now? Any problems in the last five months?

I have a 2020 Silverado 2500HD that I bought when I moved to a rural area and had a need to tow a trailer from time to time. I don't need this truck now because it's way too big and I won't be towing a trailer any more. I drove sports sedans for years before I retired but had some very bad luck with an Audi and couldn't believe the depreciation on a MB E350 AMG that I got rid of just because the market went nuts in 2020.

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by Fast Dawg

I'm new to this forum because I am considering buying a used 550i X drive. How is your car holding up now? Any problems in the last five months?

I have a 2020 Silverado 2500HD that I bought when I moved to a rural area and had a need to tow a trailer from time to time. I don't need this truck now because it's way too big and I won't be towing a trailer any more. I drove sports sedans for years before I retired but had some very bad luck with an Audi and couldn't believe the depreciation on a MB E350 AMG that I got rid of just because the market went nuts in 2020.

I know the question wasn’t asked to me. But forums allow expansive discussion.

The G30 has been extremely reliable. So much so that it has helped BMW climb quite high on the reliability ratings from Consumer Reports and others. The Toyota collaboration has paid dividends on that front.

Obviously, do your PPI and check the car over to be sure it was well maintained. But the G30 and similar newer BMWs are really throwing away that “unreliable” image of the brand.

And no, the cars aren’t boring to drive like Toyota cars.

Toyota, Lexus, and BMW are the top three most reliable brands in our annual auto reliability brand rankings, with the German automaker jumping up 10 spots from last year to join the two reliability stalwarts on the podium.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars...s-a7824554938/

[NGT2]

Originally Posted by Fast Dawg

I'm new to this forum because I am considering buying a used 550i X drive. How is your car holding up now? Any problems in the last five months?

I have a 2020 Silverado 2500HD that I bought when I moved to a rural area and had a need to tow a trailer from time to time. I don't need this truck now because it's way too big and I won't be towing a trailer any more. I drove sports sedans for years before I retired but had some very bad luck with an Audi and couldn't believe the depreciation on a MB E350 AMG that I got rid of just because the market went nuts in 2020.

By all accounts the M550 is holding up well. I have a 2020 with 30k miles. Very very enjoyable car. You won’t be disappointed.

But the depreciation sucks. Obviously less so if you buy used, but still.