2011 550 Reliability?

[550fanboy]

hi guys this is my first post and i am about to make a big decision regarding my first car purchase, and have it narrowed down to 2 so far. its between a lexus gs 350 (2013 certified) or a BMW 550 (2011 certified). i know the gs350 is more comparable to the 535 but after test driving the 550 i cant bring myself to settle for the 535!

unfortuantely the 2012 and 2013 550's are a little out of my price range, but the 2011's are right in line with my budget. my question for everyone on this forum is - HOW RELIABLE ARE THE 2011 MODEL 550's?? i remember reading somewhere on this post that the 2011 528's and 535's had some issues, but were there any similar issues with the 550's? the ones i am looking at are certified pre-owned so should come with the 6 yrs 100K miles warranty, but i still want to be certain i wont run into any issues outside the powertrain. are there any major performance differences between the 2011 modesl vs the 12, 13, and 14's?

any advice would be appreciated. i know this is bimmer forum so there is going to be a bias, but i feel that most admit the Lexus would be more reliable over the longer term (im looking for this car to last me 8-10 years). but the BMW is just calling me......

also i am a New Jersey resident and will be driving to NYC every day....and there are tons of potholes....how often do you think i will have to replace or re-align the tires?

any and all advice would be appreciated. thanks guys!

[stephenkirsch]

8-10 years? Don't get a bmw v8 unless you like throwing money at it. The V8s just need a lot of TLC once they go out of warranty.

Go with the 535 instead. Put a few thousand into engine mods (maybe even less) and you'll be just fine. You can get the 535 engine to 375hp pretty easily.

[M54B30i]

The v8s are not the problem. Your problems will probably be turbo related. high pressure water pump which both 550 and 535 after your replace those it will most likely be just the regular maintenance . if you want more reliability best bet is the 528.