At the mo i own a Vauxhall Omega 2.5 Elite, i am thinking of getting 7 series BMW 3.0 or maybe a 5 series, has anyone got any tips, buying advice and actual running costs on these cars, it will proberly end up being a 1996/1997 model ,are BMW's worth the extra 50% buying cost over say a Vauxhall Omega 3.0 Elite bearing in mind i do like my Omega and might still upgrade my 2.5 for a 3.0 model, confused i am.
PS:I have only ever driven one BMW and it was a shed & i do my own servicing
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I was once told by a man who had both an S reg Elite and an E39 BMW of unknown age and model. He said that the Omega Elite was 90% of the BMW and the BMW was not in all honesty worth the extra money. The BMWs seem to be very spartan too, unless you're lucky to find one with lots of optional extras. What age is your Omega? Maybe a post 2001 Elite would be better value.
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You'll make a small fortune buying an E39...
Just start with a large one...
Ignore the badge & go for the Omega
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I had a '7' for a while and in my view it is a vastly over-rated, over-priced car. Servicing costs were very high and I was not impressed by the standard of servicing from the local BMW dealer (I usually do my own work, but for warranty reasons I went to the 'stealer'). I had various faults out of warranty, including a surging engine on cold start (never fixed) and a climate control failure (c. £700 just for parts). Water pump impeller failure (common on mid-late '90's BM's, I'm told) plus an electrical fault that resulted in the battery going flat if left standing for more than a day (annoying). The dealer had the car for two days, charged me about £400 and didn't fix the fault.
I eventually got a circuit diagram for the car (not easy) and located the fault myself within 30mins. (was a fault with a relay in part of the sophisticated wiper pressure-control system).
Oh, and the eletrically-operated auxilliary waterpump failed - a mere £300 for the part. All of this on a car with less than 80k miles and certified FBMWSH.
The basic mechanics of the car are good, but there is too much electrical sophistication and even at £100/hour the dealers don't have Cambridge engineering graduate to fix them - just a more highly trained version of the Kwik-Fit fitter (no disrespect to latter).
I replaced it, on a whim, with an old (1998) Nissan QX and I actually enjoy the QX much more. It is not as quick and doesn't handle as well, but it is very nicely made and everything works likes its brand new. It has been totally reliable since I got it nearly a year ago. It is whisper quiet, with a smoother and quieter drivetrain than the BMW. Best of all it cost less than a years 'BMW depreciation', and that was from a franchised dealer with a 'proper' warranty, year's RAC etc. etc.
BMW are just not VFM, certainly not the 7's.
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Of course there's always a Lexus or one of those German copies, the E class, to consider.
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Can't speak for the BMW, but my friend has a facelift Omega Elite 3.0 and it is a great car to travel in. It has all the toys that you could ever think of and drives very well. It is a 2000V reg and cost him less than £9K about a year ago.
I had a 2.5 Cavalier (same engine as your current Omega) and the 3.0 in the Omega has definitely got more welly.
Only downside is the 4 speed auto which can be caught in the wrong gear when driving enthusiastically. This could be avoided by buying an MV6 of course.
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Used Car Buyer has an article on buying BMW 7 series and from other's experience I agree with it.
ALL electrics are dodgy
Engine failures are VERY expensive: any noise at all = walk away
Bodywork should be perfect
IT will cost a FORTUNE in parts - and you will not have some specialist tools to diy
Electrics must all work, electrics will fail, electrics cost a fortune, there are over 400! electric things to check. the nice displays on the dash fail through age and cost £300 to replace .
Like an old Jaguar but much more expensive..
BTW : did I mention the electrics?
:-)
madf
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