Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: Craig in Canada
The M62 engine family runs at 108C in normal conditions. This creates relatively high temperatures and pressures in the cooling system. When you get up to around 100k miles, sometimes less, plastic components will need replacing. There are usually warning signs - typically the float level stick in the expansion tank might snap off or something. At that point replace the e-tank and rad (the parts aren't very expensive).
My experience is from the E39, not the X5, but it's the same engine. Not sure how much of the cooling system is replaced. By contrast, my M52 engine runs at 93C in normal conditions and my identical cooling system plastic parts are fine for 13 years now.
I really don't consider the fact that you can drive a "cheap van" with no coolant a selling point for a cheap van. They're also low tech, inefficient, and no fun whatsoever. I've never said to myself "I wish I was driving a cheap van instead of this BMW because then I could neglect it." No vehicle should be driven with the temp in the red and no coolant. If that's what the owner did, it could get really expensive. The M62 is much more tolerant to overheating than any of the BMW inline 6s but...
Ooooh, here come the BMW folks. No fun in our vans. Just ONE of them can make me about 3500.00 a week. They are all business! If we tried to run BMW's we would be gone! Fragile and over priced, both for purchase and repairs, is my opinion of BMW's in general. And your rebuttal is hilarious, as if a business owner running for a profit would want a BMW? Not a smart and successful one.
And 108 is not really hot at all. No excuse for failures like I read about all over with BMW's and their cooling systems.
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
ummmm, youre REALLY comparing a van engine (likely iron block and heads) to an advanced, far higher power density high-end vehicle engine (aluminum block and heads likely)?!?
Irrelevant. Any vehicle these days that has an aluminum bloc and heads or an iron block with aluminum head is prone to severe damage should overheating occur. The head will warp and need to be removed and made straight again, this means a headgasket job.
WRONG answer. I bet if you check you can't find a V8 made anywhere that does NOT have aluminum heads, regardless of block material. almost everything made is aluminum heads, period. It's the dissimilar metal engines that are worst in this regard, not the all one metal kind. Late model GM truck motors really can be run without coolant with no damage, as they flip flop 4 cylinders back and forth to avoid warping the ALUMINUM heads.
These van engines ARE pretty high powered, making around 400 foot pounds of RELIABLE torque and hauling around a 9000+ pound vehicle for at least 250k miles (average) without any major repairs. One I drive five days a week has over 400k miles on it. No smoke, no oil consumption, and 16 mpg! Just hitch another BMW up to yours and let me know how long it lasts!
I would bet you could compare almost any car to a BMW and show lower cost of ownership. I've had a few, and after the experience I swore never to buy them again. They may be even worse than Mercedes to own long term.
As for power density and/or performance, my Chrysler has stood up well to my buddy's new M3, all the way up to over 150 mph. I'm sure some of that is due to his fear of it breaking if he flogs it! Yet we have cars identical to mine with nearly 200k miles on them and all original running gear.
Enjoy yours. But my opinion remains. Fragile, overpriced, and expensive to own. Better trade early.
Fair enough. I'm a big fan of BMW's and that has not been my experience. People are not buying BMWs for low cost transportation. There's an esthetic/performance value people are willing to pay extra for...just like those who buy SRTs. The comparison between SRTs and BMWs is like apples to oranges. They are bought by different kinds of people with different likes/dislikes/preferences - to be sure. I for one share the opinions that the car magazines have consistently putting BMW products in the "best of" class year after year.
At the same time, SRTs are not cheap transportation either.
