BMW 645 any experiences

Just wondering if anyone has an experience of these or 545 745 etc?

I own a 650i Cabrio which has fundamentally the same engine (N62). There's only a few differences.

Had it for four-ish years and love it. Engine is a real gem. There's a fair bit to go wrong, but If you're serious about buying one, find one that's had the common issues sorted (there's plenty out there now). They command a small premium, but will save you a lot in the long run.

Valve stem seals, and oil leaks from the rocker cover gaskets, vacuum pump, and alternator bracket are the usual suspects.

If you can get one that's had the gearbox serviced as well, you're doing well.

Even with all this done, a decent one can still be had for a bargain. Values have hit rock-bottom and are further lowered by internet horror stories (not that I've done much to dispel them!).

Expect 23/24 round town and 30/32 on a steady run.

Owners love them (see all the PH threads). They're well put together (lots of aluminium), have a lovely engine note, cruise beautifully, and still feel 'special'.

Cheers, it's a manual 645 Cabrio I'm looking at......so one less issue as I think the manuals don't have known issues.

Engine light on, private seller and their garage are saying its a code 27E5 Knock sensor 4, then the googling started and the oil leaks issues coming up. To be fair these all seem like (admittedly long winded!) diyable jobs, or very expensive labour element jobs if not! Loads of how to videos out there though.

Drove nice and low mileage, but then I suspect none of the oil leak issues have had to be resolved yet?

But then how many V8 manual cars are out there, especially under £10K?

Cheers for chipping in, just needing some nudges to take the plunge....especially as I probably then need to choose one of the Supra's to sell.

No probs. Hope you get it and enjoy it – perhaps keep a bit of cash aside for potential issues?

I agree – you can’t get much more for your money. And like you say, plenty of DIY guides and help out there.

Is there a link to it by any chance?

Btw, I find this chap’s website quite handy for general maintenance - https://www.meeknet.co.uk/E64/Index.htm

Much appreciated re the website link, some nice photo guides and general info there. I'm terrible at just going for it when buying cars, nervous of the engine light but it has a long MOT so time (probably loads of money too) to get that sorted.

It's I think the only manual cabrio on autotrader

Grew some balls, and bought this from a lovely couple.......we'll see if I was misguided/foolish in time!

So does this mean you'll be letting one of your Supra go?

Congrats! Looks like a good'un and should serve you well. Should hold value very well, too, what with its low miles and super rare manual gearbox.

What are your first impressions of it?

Well timed purchase, that. Hope you get many miles of V8 fun out of it!

So does this mean you'll be letting one of your Supra go?

May be! looking at temporary storage at work for the settling in period so I don't rush into anything, but this x2 supra's and a runaround is er a bit much!!

Supra's both have their good and bad points, one is not a clear winner to 100% keep over the other, but thinking the stock one might have to go. Prices I think will/have plateau'd a bit for TT auto's so it could be a good time?

Congrats! Looks like a good'un and should serve you well. Should hold value very well, too, what with its low miles and super rare manual gearbox.

 

What are your first impressions of it?

 

Well timed purchase, that. Hope you get many miles of V8 fun out of it!

Cheers I did think perhaps it could do a 'bit of a Supra' ie at the very least hold it value? I haven't even driven it far tbh, but it felt a lot better in the Noise, vibration, and harshness stakes.

In all honesty had a bit of an eye on Manual V8's in general, when I saw it nothing came close for the money IMO it's almost the cheapest V8 manual vaguely sporty car out there and can't be the worst plus the low mileage might save my from those notorious oil leaks for a while.

Lovely couple selling it, going through it yesterday and they didn't even know what the DSC button was for so no drifting in the last few years at least!

Slightly left field and spontaneous decision but hopefully one day I can look back at it as a good one!

Excellent, glad you took the plunge, sometimes can be over thought and then do nothing.

Excellent, glad you took the plunge, sometimes can be over thought and then do nothing.

Pretty much what i'm doing

Pretty much what i'm doing

Manual v8 for less than an na auto Supra feels like I can’t go far wrong, it’s probably got x10 the bork factor though!!

Excellent, glad you took the plunge, sometimes can be over thought and then do nothing.

Feels better than money in the bank so far, sorting another insurance policy might be a challenge.

Feels better than money in the bank so far, sorting another insurance policy might be a challenge.

Its amazing what cars you can pick up for vintage Supra money. Top of the list has to be a W12 Bentley for around £20k. I'd probably seriously consider something like the Jaguar Supercharged XFR if I were looking for another play thing. Then there are the out and out luxury V8 motors like a late model L322 Range Rover Vogue, by some distance the most comfortable riding/driving car I've ever owned. These cars are all good and they will generally do nearly as good as a Supra fuel wise. I found it's the road tax that you notice more than anything else. £600 a year does feel like a lot especially for low mileage use.

Still, as we get older we have earned the little luxuries of a more comfortable seat, heated and massage seats, surround sound and entertainment centres and a V8 or bigger that still reminds us what it was like to be young, once, again. Enjoy your new motor.

Its what they can cost when they go wrong though, cheap to buy not to keep on the rd !!

I'm hoping my low mileage pre £500 tax rate one might help me avoid huge running costs, it's going to be a third car, perhap 5k miles a year. Loads of high mileage ones about so by my simplistic thinking I can make some years at that rate and hopefully avoid anything horrific. Loads of Diy repair videos for the known issues, it's a labour intensive car by all accounts so diying where I can should help, always a risk even with Supra's these days.

I don't know about the 6 series but other cars i've looked at can quickly cost a lot of money, even low mileage

full dealer history cars. With Land Rover being one of the worst !

Good luck with yours

Bit of a impulse buy tbh, just ticking the V8 manual box, might be a flash in the pan and 12mth wonder but don't feel I can lose much unless it grenades itself!?

Lay up a Supra or sell one is the question, but think I'll wait a bit to see if I enjoy this new one.

I reckon we are still 4 years or so off peak Supra so, if you have storage and don't need to money, i'd say keep. The only 'hassle' with too many cars is finding the time to drive them. I have three on 1,000 mile insurance and with the others, none more than 5,000. Multi-car policies start to make sense, shame there are none I have found that do pooled mileage though.

It's physical space that's at a bit of a premium and 4 cars really is too much unless I really mothball one somewhere but that's not great for them. eBay has a black auto tt really local, aircon not working and paint needs work, if that hits its bin at £13k then it means I should get a bit more for mine with working aircon and presentable/original (I think) paint.

Healthy slush fund then for the other Supra and/or the 645.

Feels better than money in the bank so far, sorting another insurance policy might be a challenge.

Feel free to drop me a PM if you still need a quote for it, or anything else.

I'd never pretend to someone that these cars aren't without their faults, but despite the leaks, the engine's are strong and dependable (you'll never find examples of anything catastrophic), and the car is put together well and with good quality materials, so rust, corrosion, paint fade, bumper-sag, etc are a rarity.

Very underappreciated, these, and almost like a well kept secret. BMW fanboys don't even know much about them, but luckily it means they're sort of exempt from the BMW image.

As I say, great buy for what you paid. That car had a base price of £50k only 14 years ago and I bet it's as fresh as anything. My car was £72k new, and I bought it for considerably less (to the tune of approx £60k less) only 43k miles/10 years later.

Shame the weather's been rubbish. Would be nice to hear the V8 rumbling about on a summer's evening.

Alex

Cheers weather has been fine here! Nice quiet rumble home once I'd sorted out my payment that got held on a fraud check. Good to hear you think I got it at a good price as I rushed into the viewing/buying before researching fully.

Got the service receipts out and chronologically ordered them up and no extended oil change intervals, some info from another previous buyer that had got a BMW report of all trips to the dealer to that date, so looks pretty well catered for and genuine mileage as far as you can ever tell.

Yeah I've got the original spec list and list price over £50k, had a little traction off play, nothing to fruity just to test the water, nice that it has a safety default mode a halfway house and fully off modes.

No complaints so far, lovely wafter but with a little hooligan side if you must! Also very very little scuttle shake closest feel to a non convertible I've had in a convertible. Still reading about all the buttons/features and reading up on maintenance how to's. Loads of documented stuff for these engines which is great, at least I can plan for the known issues.

Alex I may be in touch, it'll be a fourth policy only limited mileage but I fear I may get stung without a mirrored ncd.

Plans to tidy up the engine bay, whip off the plastic covers and throughly inspect for any signs of the start of leaks. Got some cam cover breather diaphragms on order and thinking of a spark plug change. All looks very new inside the oil cap where you can see the timing chain.

Well as of this morning officially on the road with this now and drove it work. Still a novelty, 'Sport' mode livens up the throttle response nicely and I think it'll spend a fair amount of time in that mode, all very competent seems to corner quite flat but I'm not doing anything really remotely sporty as yet. Getting used to the 1st gear pull away which can be a bit lurchy, otherwise the box is slick/nice. So tractable that while is has 6 gears it'll pull well in the higher ones at low speeds so it's not like you need to be constantly swapping cogs.

Going to give it a real look over and extra clean at the weekend and identify anything that might need attention soon.