Decisions, decisions...

I would appreciate input from readers on whether to lease a current BMW 5 series sedan for two years or extend my current 335i lease until the new F10 series arrives in the US. I would like the new model and body style, but keep hearing the old adage about not buying the first year's model.

Is there validity to that concern, or would the free maintenance take care of things (though it doesn't help with the aggravation of recurrent problems)?

Any thoughts or input would be appreciated.

Richard[

Originally Posted by Runon MD1

I would appreciate input from readers on whether to lease a current BMW 5 series sedan for two years or extend my current 335i lease until the new F10 series arrives in the US. I would like the new model and body style, but keep hearing the old adage about not buying the first year's model.

Is there validity to that concern, or would the free maintenance take care of things (though it doesn't help with the aggravation of recurrent problems)?

Any thoughts or input would be appreciated.

Richard

I would lease new and then look at the second year of F10 production.

Never done it myself, but I've heard that extending a lease is more expensive than it's worth. My understanding is that they don't give you much of a discount over your current lease rates even though your current car is worth a lot less than when it was new. When people compare the rates of a lease extension with leasing a new car, they often go new. Check into it yourself. How much would it cost to extend your lease?

On reliability, I avoid the first year of production of any car. That said, BMW did a pretty good job with the E60. Reliability for their 2004 production was the same as the other pre-LCI years: 2004-2007 are rated average reliability by consumer reports. Things went significantly down hill in 2008 with the LCI's twin-turbo (much worse than average), and if you are thinking about a turbo engine, that's something that would give me pause since it is yet to be seen whether BMW has resolved this problem.

Not to add to the confusion here, but I drive a 2008 535i and never had a problem. The problems with the initial production of the turbo were limited and, if not already resolved, should be resolved by the time the new 5 series comes out next year, IMO. Having said that, lease extensions are almost always too expensive to justify financially. Therefore, I believe that, after you crunch the numbers, you will most likely end up leasing a new E60 for 2 years which is not a bad decision.

Originally Posted by carnuts3

The problems with the initial production of the turbo were limited

Not sure what you mean by "limited". The reliability of the 535 has been bad enough that the data that consumer reports has collected rates it as "much worse than average". In the Luxury Sedan segment, it's at the bottom of the reliability rankings along with the Jaguar XF. BMW definitely dropped the ball here, and reading over the threads in the E60 forum, it doesn't sound like BMW has fixed the underlying issues yet.

and, if not already resolved, should be resolved by the time the new 5 series comes out next year, IMO.

Why?


There are certainly happy 535 owners that haven't had a problem yet. Enjoy your great car!

It's only really viable if extending your lease will occur about the same time you can order an F10 (in which case they extend at the current payment, for, I think 3 months, though might be up to 6 months ). Otherwise extending your lease is uber expensive (in the case of releasing, can can be as much as double or even triple your current monthly payment).

First of all, I want to thank all those who have responded. I have carefully read all comments, which have been most helpful. Please keep them coming!

I can extend my lease for six months at the same monthly cost, though it has been pointed out that the car is a year older, so that that might result in my paying more.

To be more specific, my lease ends on Feb. 28, so six more months would take me to the end of August. My guess is that the F10 won't arrive until some point in the fall...perhaps October? Nobody really seems to know....or does anyone out there have any non-anecdotal information?

It would appear that if October is the projected date (my guess, and mine alone, so that it may be "pie in the sky"), I would have to rent a car for a few months, unless BMW Financial would be willing to extend my lease another two or three months...I don't know about that, though.

Does this add anything to the mix from the point of advice, one way or the other?

Thanks again to all who have been kind enough to have been willing to help me.

One last thing...do dealers always mark up the money factor, and, if so, by how much?

Richard

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Decisions, decisions
First of all, I want to thank all those who have responded. I have carefully read all comments, which have been most helpful. Please keep them coming!

I can extend my lease for six months at the same monthly cost, though it has been pointed out that the car is a year older, so that that might result in my paying more.

To be more specific, my lease ends on Feb. 28, so six more months would take me to the end of August. My guess is that the F10 won't arrive until some point in the fall...perhaps October? Nobody really seems to know....or does anyone out there have any non-anecdotal information?

It would appear that if October is the projected date (my guess, and mine alone, so that it may be "pie in the sky"), I would have to rent a car for a few months, unless BMW Financial would be willing to extend my lease another two or three months...I don't know about that, though.

Does this add anything to the mix from the point of advice, one way or the other?

Thanks again to all who have been kind enough to have been willing to help me.

One last thing...do dealers always mark up the money factor, and, if so, by how much?

Richard

Originally Posted by Runon MD1

My guess is that the F10 won't arrive until some point in the fall...perhaps October? Nobody really seems to know....or does anyone out there have any non-anecdotal information?

Check out a few other threads:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=356874
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=396454

Here is some of what I found:

Originally Posted by RichReg

My source says a memo went out dated 9/30/09 to all dealerships stating production of the E60 ends 12/31/09, and the F10 gets rolled out in June as follows:
535/550: June
528: July
Xi models (including GT) : sometime later, October maybe.