Hello. Will be buying my first BMW between now and May of 08. I'm pretty much set on the 525i (or is it 528?) or the 530i. I'm going to shoot for a certified used 06 - that will be a comfortable purchase price for me. My biggest two questions are: is the 530i a big upgrade from the next step down and something not to be missed or is the 525i (or 528i) prety much the same experiance? Also, I'd like to get back into a standard trans but am weary of those high repair bills I've heard about - is a new clutch one of those horrible bills (as it was for my Carrera) and how many miles can I figure on going between clutchs? I assume the auto trans is bullet proof.

Thanks for all advice.

depends on your driving style and driving skills. Any e60 with cost you alot of money to repair at the dealer. Last week i had my front brake pads and rotors done at the dealer because i felt like being lazy, the bill for pads and rotors was $684.00. So imagine how much the clutch will be, but I sure it's not as much as the Carrera---I believe for 996 model clutch was almost 2k at the dealership here in ct.

Yeah, 2k at least for the P-car. If I can get away with under that for a 5 series I'll count myself ahead.

Okay, so being more specific, If I am an excellent driver who likes to drive fast, throw it hard into the curves, brake late, etc., is the 530 way more impresive than the 525? (I'm not going to the 545 or 550 because I like the idea of 6 pistons, plus 75% of the time I have my three-year-old in the car with me).

Cheers.

2004-2005 525 had the previous 2.5 engines from the previous 3 series which produced 189hp and 174 torque. It's a peppy engine that works well in the 3-series, but not so well in the 5-series. Weigth is the ailing factor. The 5 is way too heavy for such a weak engine. The 2006 525 had a more spirited engine, not by much, but 215hp, as well as the 530 which got bump up from 225hp to 250hp. The inline six imo are much funnier to drive-due to the weight advantages over the v8, in which you can toss them into the curves and smile. If you want to burn anyone of the line then 550 is the way to go. In addition, keep this in mind, alot of 5's out there are still covered under warranty-so you'll probably won't hear to many horror stories of expensive bills. But just remember these are truly moving computers, so anything that goes wrong will require a trip to the dealer. Hopefully, bmw won't go the direction mercedes did in quality.

I would go CPO with out a doubt and go w/ the 530 if you have any doubts about HP....... it only takes 1 time merging on a highway