This is my first post... So please dont flame me if I mess up.

I been a member for months, but now the time has come to get a 97+ 540/6. I was wondering is it a good idea to buy one from states up north were they get alot of snow? I had a 94 integra years ago that came from New York no mechanical problems at all but when I went to modify the suspension all kinds of bolts was rusty and breaking (Dont want to go through that again). I live Cali and the prices are kinda high. But I found a 1998 540 6speed with 92K on it at a Bmw dealership in Michigan for like 12k! Its not a CPO or nothing..

So what you guys think? Should I just would out and find the best deal I can here in Cali or go and get the car from Michigan?

You couldn't have picked a state that puts more salt on the roads. I would do a nation-wide search, but when looking at cars that are 5-10 years old, I would avoid any that spent any time in the rust belt area.

I bought my car from a thousand miles away, in Houston. So you don't have to stick to California. There is the whole southern US to search. Your patience will be rewarded.

When I was searching, I saw a lot of good deals in CA surprisingly...did you check ebay, www.cars.com, and www.autotrader.com ?

Yeah I checked thems site and I found some good deals just none good as the one up north. I was just seeing what you guys thought. I'm probably gonna get one from here in Cali or a southern state.

great question. i live in michigan and bought my bmw from plano, texas while i was visiting the area. what i found since i've had the car is thier isn't much under the car that can rust. just about all the suspension parts are not steel muffler, exhaust are also none rust. just touch up the body parts if you get a chip with paint. my 2 cents

I'm from OH, went to AZ to get mine.

Another thing to consider is that a lot of people up North have a "beater" car to drive in the winter, so it may not have seen much of the salt if the owner kept it indoors over the winter...just depends. As long as the body is good, I wouldnt worry too much about rusty bolts and such...some PB Blaster will usually help out, plus BMWs have good underbody covering that keeps most of that out of the engine compartment.

I wouldn't buy a michigan car unless it was deeply discounted. Cars from good climates are just so much better. If you spent time in the Honda world then you know how CRX's rust over the rear wheelwells if you look at them wrong. My last car was a CRX that had spent it's life in SoCal, Texas, and Georgia. Not a spec of rust on it. Now the BMW will undoubtedly survive the rust better than the CRX, but I'd need a big discount to buy a michigan car.

So do you guys think that 12k for a 1998 540i/6 with 92k on it is a good price or should I try and get it lower? The only reason I'm even considering it is because its at a BMW dealer and I wouldnt think that BMW would sell a car that could possibly be messed up even if its used. I would think they would send them "messed up" cars to auction or something..

I got mine from st louis, garage kept, not a single spot of rust on it. I don't take it out in the salt, have a truck for that. Theres alot of us in the rust belt that do know how to take care of a car- you just don't want a car that was daily driven in winter.

I wouldn't consider a car from the north. Even if it's way cheap, I wouldn't be able to look at it in advance to see how bad the rust may or may not be. Plus, since rust is fairly common up there, it's almost assumed a used car will have some. So chances are rust wouldn't reduce the sales price that much anyway.

Also, when it came time for me to sell, it would be very hard for me to unload it here. I mean why would someone here in TX buy my rust bucket when all the other cars around here still in good shape? So in effect, I'd be buying high and selling low, and that ain't good.


BTW: does anyone have the link to that dumbass that coated the entire bottom of his mustang with a thick layer of wheel bearing grease to protect it from salt? That was great...especially when all the rocks started sticking to it! :lol

I'll never buy a car from the North East. I had a car from New York and the rear suspension completely rotted out from beneath the car.

So do you guys think that 12k for a 1998 540i/6 with 92k on it is a good price or should I try and get it lower? The only reason I'm even considering it is because its at a BMW dealer and I wouldnt think that BMW would sell a car that could possibly be messed up even if its used. I would think they would send them "messed up" cars to auction or something..

don't bank on the fact that a dealer wouldn't sell a "messed up" car. dealers are just as shady as private sellers. the only difference is that you might have a little recourse if something does go wrong with the dealer car.

So do you guys think that 12k for a 1998 540i/6 with 92k on it is a good price or should I try and get it lower? The only reason I'm even considering it is because its at a BMW dealer and I wouldnt think that BMW would sell a car that could possibly be messed up even if its used. I would think they would send them "messed up" cars to auction or something..

It's a good price, but not a great one. I wouldn't put much stock in the fact that it's at a BMW dealership. It's probably being sold as-is, and they are just as willing to screw you as the guys at the buy-here-pay-here lots. I prefer to buy from private sellers. You get a feel for how the car was treated, you have a better chance of figureing out the history / getting records, and the the cars are generally cheaper.

The link below is for 97-00 540i6's within 300 miles of 90210 (the only socal zip I know), under $13K. All have over 100K miles, but I'd rather have a high mileage engine than salt issues anyday. I'm loving my 140K mile '99 540i6. High mileage doesn't bother me. With modern vehicles, if you take care of them they will last almost indefinitely.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/searchresults.jsp?num_records=25&search_type=both&distance=300&address=90210&style_flag=1&make=BMW&model=540I&make2=&start_year=1997&end_year=2000&min_price=&max_price=13000&transmission=Manual&engine=&drive=&doors=&fuel=&max_mileage=&color=&keywords_display=&sort_type=priceASC&body_code=0&certified=&advanced=y&default_sort=priceDESC&keywordsrep=&keywordsfyc=

don't bank on the fact that a dealer wouldn't sell a "messed up" car. dealers are just as shady as private sellers.

In my experience, you have to look hard to find someone who is shadier than a used car dealer. In a random cross sampling of 100 people, I'd guess only 2-3 would be as willing to screw you as the typical car salesman.

There are of course exceptions on both sides. There are honest car dealers and there are sociopathical private sellers, but as a rule I'd trust a random guy off the street more than a dealer.

Thanks guys for all your responses... I'm going to stick to cars from the south and hopefully with records.

My car has been daily driven in Iowa for 10 years. Regular washings including underbody washes in the winter work wonders. Most of the parts in the suspension are alumnimum, the exhaust is stainless steel. Even when I was replacing a wheel well liner just this fall I did not see any rust other than on the little screws that hold on the cover itself. Replaced them with new ones and am back in business. Most every other car my age I've seen up here has rust starting pretty bad, but not mine. Either by design, or care, but probably both. Would I prefer to buy a car from the South? Probably. But provided I can get a look at the car, or some shots of the underbody I would have no problem buying another one from this area.

This is off the topic but I notice that most Green 5series go pretty cheap not matter what milage. I've seen the best deals on them.... I've searched this site up and down for pics of modded (rims, lowered, m-tech) Green 5s and just cant find them were are they?

I bought a 2002 Oxford green 530i from a dealer in AL. It spent its first 3 years leased in NY. I was concerned about the rust issue but I took a good hard look and it was in excellent shape, had only 38K on it and had over a year of cpo left. I really wanted a 530 sport premium manual in oxford green. Not many of those around so I pulled the trigger.

In my experience, you have to look hard to find someone who is shadier than a used car dealer. In a random cross sampling of 100 people, I'd guess only 2-3 would be as willing to screw you as the typical car salesman.

:lol
I got a hearty laugh out of that remark!

My car has been daily driven in Iowa for 10 years. Regular washings including underbody washes in the winter work wonders. Most of the parts in the suspension are alumnimum, the exhaust is stainless steel. Even when I was replacing a wheel well liner just this fall I did not see any rust other than on the little screws that hold on the cover itself. Replaced them with new ones and am back in business. Most every other car my age I've seen up here has rust starting pretty bad, but not mine. Either by design, or care, but probably both. Would I prefer to buy a car from the South? Probably. But provided I can get a look at the car, or some shots of the underbody I would have no problem buying another one from this area.

As I have seen it said on this forum many times, sometimes it all comes down to being proactive as an owner and doing "preventative maintenance." My car has been daily-driven in Massachusetts for 6+ years now, where they put roughly 3 gallons of liquid calcium chloride per snowflake on the roads (to keep over-confident SUV drivers from spinning out and gridlocking the entire metro area in an inch of snow). There isn't a single spot of rust on the undercarriage or the body. Some of that is undercoating and stainless, I'm sure, but I'm guessing most of it is the result of previous owners who were fanatical, like me, about getting the salt off the car as soon as possible. I've been to the car wash 4 times in the last 10 days, and we haven't even had a real storm yet.

The caveat emptor is, of course, that not everyone's fanatical. (I think there is salt from LAST winter on my wife's minivan, for example. :eyecrazy ) So having said that, if you see something in MA or NH that looks interesting, let me know and I'll check it out for you. Although prices here are generally over-inflated by the bimmer snobs, so...

I just got done checking out the underside of my car...I recently bought a 528i off ebay and wanted to go over it top to bottom...my car spent 3 years (75K miles over that period) in MI, then went to auction and spent another 6 years in Missouri...the underside looks excellent...it's mostly aluminum that doesnt rust and the only rust I found was on some of the big suspension nuts but not too much of it...I've noticed that from the factory, the underside is well protected with cosmoline and other rust inhibitors-MUCH better than other makes. You should have seen my old Wrangler, the WHOLE underside was rusty because it's all steel basically, what a pain in the ass that was to work on!

yeah once you get under the car you'll see even the exhaust is made from rust proof material.

my 2003 530i is forsale...link in my sig. if you are interested...im from indiana and my car is always garage kept over winter...not a scratch or dent on the car...

Has anyone had any problems pulling their rotors, due to rust? When I did by brakes, they just pulled right off. Just one tiny example of the difference.
On my wife's (rust belt) car the ventilated portion in the center of the rotor was even packed with rust. That's what four MA winters will do, and yes it got washed regularly. Too bad that car washes are required to recycle water. They strain it and get the dirt out, but they are just spraying the underside of your car w/ salt water.

I know that many of you that still live in those climates, do the best you can for your cars, but there is still a big difference over the long run. It is very rare that my car is ever driven in rain, let alone snow and salt!