It's officially been a whole YEAR since I purchased my 2018 M550i used from Carvana... I picked it up with 49,959 miles on the clock and as of this afternoon I just turned over 65,560.
In that time I've had a fuel pump and relay board go bad, a turbo waste-gate actuator on Bank B of the twin turbo setup get stuck (went ahead and replaced it), a pair of lower control arms replaced and the regular maintenance. Couple of oil changes, a 50k mile service (engine oil, transmission oil, went ahead and changed spark plugs, air filters, had diff fluid changed) fresh set of rear brakes/rotors, and as of last week a fresh set of 4 tires. I can hear the front brakes starting to squeak as well so that's probably coming up soon.
All in all, if it wasn't for the 3rd party warranty I got through Carvana, I'd of paid some SERIOUS cash to keep this thing on the road. But because it was covered, it hasn't' really been all that expensive to maintain & keep on the road... the 50k mile service I knew was going to be a bit of a big one but that NEEDED to happen and I knew that going into it. However, after all this work has been done what's it been like to DRIVE?
It's probably the best car I've ever owned ha. I had the resonators in the exhaust replaced with just straight pieces of pipe in the middle of the stock exhaust.. so I kept literally everything else stock except for those resonators being deleted essentially. When I start the car up in "Comfort" it has a nice lil' growl but it's mostly quiet.. when you throw it in "Sport" which is what I typically daily drive in, it's like the perfect amount of rumble, especially under load, for a daily driver.
It's got torque for DAYS it feels like, especially from 1.5k to 4k which is where most of your around town driving is. Not to mention the ZF 8-speed is the BEST automatic transmission I've ever owned by a LARGE margin. I got digging into these more and more recently after watching a drifter build a ZF car with a clutch and realized just how BULLETPROOF these things are... so as long as you're staying ontop of maintenance there is NO reason they can't last the life of the car.
I drive about 25 minutes mostly highway with average speeds at 70-80 MPH, then a few miles of 45-55 MPH and boy there's not much more I could ask for. It has all the "quickness" I'd ever need in the 0-80 MPH category, and when you need to launch it? With X-Drive it's actually pretty fast and stable.. sure it's a big, heavy luxury sedan but I'm not tracking it so I'm not as concerned with how it corners. It handles speed well, so cruising at speed is quiet. I've put a 12-inch subwoofer in the trunk and the sound deadening is so good I have to open the middle port-hole to the trunk from the rear seats just to hear the bass fully ha.
If you're looking at used M550i's I'd say this: It's a GREAT car if you have SOME kind of 3rd party warranty that's covering the major mechanical and electrical pieces. Otherwise I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.. I'll drive it another 1-2 years and then find another fun daily but for now? I give it a 8/10.