I BOUGHT A CHEAP BMW 5 SERIES FOR £1,800!

Alright guys, how's it going? Welcome back. Well, I'm currently outside Gloucester Services, and without wishing to sound like Alan Partridge, it is one of my favourite service stations in the UK. It's a really good shop, that. It's got one of those farm shops in there. Everything's fresh, loads of fresh bread and cakes and all that stuff. Anyway, that isn't the subject of today's video. I'm currently on the M5 heading to the south-west to go and pick up a very cheap BMW 5 Series estate that I bought. I've agreed to buy a late 2012 BMW 520 diesel Touring for just £1,800. Sounds really cheap, doesn't it? I haven't seen it yet in person, although I've seen photographs, and it does look very tidy. It's metallic grey with a black Dakota leather interior, and it's quite a good spec. It's only had one owner from new. It's got full service history, but the only downside is it's done quite a lot of miles. It's done 163,000 miles, so it is quite high. Although I suppose for a 12-year-old car, it isn't too bad, is it? I set off this morning at 6am, and according to my sat-nav, we should be there in another hour or so. So I thought we'd stop at my favourite services on the way down for a cup of tea and some pastries. Let's break up the journey. I always like getting out and about and picking up the cars myself. I did it recently when I went down to London to pick up an old Camry. I was planning to get this car transported, but the transport company that I use bought this 5 Series, which was too heavy for the truck. So the only option was to come down and pick it up myself. I think that's about it then. I'm going to finish my cup of tea. Like I say, we're about an hour away, so I'll give you a tour of the car when we get there. See you in a bit. Well, I picked up the BMW 5 Series, as you can see behind me, and I'm quite pleased with it. It's an awful lot of car for £1,800. I've stopped here at the first services just for a drink, and I thought I'd give you a quick tour of it. So it's a late 2012 BMW 520d, and it is exactly as described, really. It's in really good condition. It's an SE model, so it's got these smaller wheels, but they're not too bad. There are a few little marks on them, but you'd expect that in a car this age and mileage. The tyres are all good. Plenty of tread. We're about 4mm there. They're all matching brands as well. Matching Bridgestones. It's about 3.5mm on the back. It's quite straight down the panels there. There are no dents or anything, and it's also quite a good spec. So let me just open the boot. As you can see, we've got a power tailgate. Can I get it to work? These have got a split tailgate, so you can open the glass like that, or you can open the whole lot. Quite a nice day down here in the southwest. Sun's out. Yeah, it's very clean. Matching tyres on this side. It's exactly what you want to see, really. The same up front. So there's nothing to do to it cosmetically, apart from it needed a bit of a clean. In the back, we've got loads of service history. It's just got stacks of receipts and bills. It's had a new timing chain, new clutch, new dual mass flywheel. It's been serviced every single year. Sometimes, actually, it was serviced twice in one year, because it was doing quite a lot of miles, this. But I don't think it's ever been sat in. The back's in really good condition. And we've got, look at these, we've got rear window blinds. Up front, this, I think, is the best colour combination as well. We've got a nice metallic grey exterior and a nice Dakota leather interior in black. So in terms of spec, then, we've got, let me show you, it's a six-speed manual. Now, it had a preferred automatic, but the manual gearbox from BMW is quite strong. We've got heated seats, ice-cold air conditioning, digital DAB radio. We've even got, we've got sat-nav. We've got a button down here for sat-nav. But when I press it, nothing's actually happening. We've got Bluetooth as well. Maybe we don't have sat-nav, then. We've got a button for sat-nav. It's not something. Got a little cup holder there. But yeah, it's in good condition, isn't it? Apart from needing a quick valet, pretty good. There are a couple of faults, though, that I've noticed. Well, I was told about them, to be fair. We've got one... Hang on, where do I go? Not sure, actually. Anyway, there's one that tells me that I've got a side light bulb out and also an indicator fault. Now, that, I'm told, is because it's had a new headlamp and it was an aftermarket part. Oh, there we go. Side daytime light fault and headlight vertical lane control failure. We need to get that checked out. Under the bonnet, what have we got? There's not an awful lot to see. Same with all modern cars, really, but everything's covered in plastic. But yeah, it has had a new timing chain. I've seen the bill for that. That was about £1,200. It doesn't even need a service because it was done in June this year. It even had an MOT about two weeks ago. When I checked this out using CarVertical, it did check out all fine. Let me show you what I found, then. By the way, it's really important you do one of these checks before you hand over any cash for a used car or motorbike. Let me show you how it works, then. All you need to do is go to CarVertical.com, type in the reg or the VIN. In this case, it is Mike Foxtrot 62 Uniform Bravo Victor, and then check vehicle. What this does is it checks database in 35 different countries. So it checks hundreds of millions of cars. So it tells you if it's ever been stolen, written off, had a mileage rollback, or has outstanding finance on it. It isn't expensive, this, and it's cheaper still if you use my promo code HYPEAK. That's HYPEAK, all one word, and you'll save yourself 20% off each and every check that you do. Right, and the report's ready. So, view report. So it's never been clocked. There's no outstanding finance, and there's no recorded accident damage, and it's never been stolen. That's all good. At its last mileage, it had done 163,000 miles. That was at its last MOT. It is slightly above average mileage, but it's consistent. If we scroll down here, we've got the average market price, CO2 emissions. So it tells us a bit about the car as well. So it's a BMW 5 Series from 2012, manual in grey. It's first manufactured, first registered in September 12. Then we've got inspection, inspection. It's got a very clean MOT history, this as well, which is good. So for its last, I don't know, five or six MOTs, it's never failed apart from that one time in 2017. But for its last seven years, it's never had a single advisor item. The last one was done in August this year with no advisor items. So yeah, that's good news. Well, should we get back on the road then? I've got about three hours until I'm back up in Stockport, so I'll let you know how it's driving. Right, then let's fire this up and head back up north. So it's telling me a service is doing 6,000 miles and yeah, I've got a side daytime light fault. Yeah, and a side daytime light fault. There we go. But yeah, no, I'm not too concerned about that really. How do we get out of this services then? It drives really well though. It's quite strong, pulls well. Considering this is quite a big, heavy car, the two litre diesel does quite a good job. Whenever talking about a 5 Series, I always say that I'd rather have the 530, but it isn't really necessary. In most cases, the 520 does a perfectly good job. I've got 171 miles to go back to the garage and I've got a range, it's telling me, of 197. But I've got just over a quarter of a tank, so I think as I get this on the motorway and I'm starting to do a steady speed, I think that'll increase. I should easily get there on this amount of fuel, so we should be fine. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with this car yet. I suppose, first thing, I'm going to run it to my mechanics and see if they can sort these faults out and then take it from there, I suppose. This is the kind of car that I always get asked for from friends of friends. You haven't got anything cheaper if you're around £2,000, that sort of thing. That's probably what I should do with this car. I wouldn't really feel comfortable retailing a car from the forecourt with 163,000 miles on the clock. Although, having said that, if I'm up front with the description of it, I don't see why not. It's been well looked after, at least, so I've got a better chance than most. Right, well, I'm just getting back on the M5, which will be my home for the next hour or so. So I'll catch all you later on. Cheers, guys. Well, don't let the nice blue sky fool you. We're actually back up north. Who'd have thought it? It's 17.5 degrees up here in Stockport today. Anyway, I've managed to get here in one piece and... Where's my start stop? The test start stop. Fuel-wise, this is averaged... You ready for this? 60.3 miles per gallon. It's really impressive, isn't it? You can see why people buy diesels. 60.3 miles per gallon. They just need to be used. It's no good buying a diesel and just passing around town in it. They just work best on long journeys. And to be honest, I'm quite anti-diesel. I've just had loads of problems with them. But you just can't argue with 60 miles per gallon, can you? Anyway, I'm not far from work now. So my intention with this is... I could do with a good clean, really. But I think first things first, I'm going to run it straight into my mechanics. Ask them to plug it in and see if they can get to the bottom of this warning light issue. On my three and a half hour journey, the car was faultless barring some warning lights. This is the trouble with older German cars like this. They're just too complicated. Mechanically, it's spot-on. The engine's perfect. It pulls nicely. The clutch is good. Brakes are good. Steering's good. All that's fine. But we've got a few electrical issues. We've got the warning light there regarding the chassis, which I think might be to do with the air suspension on the rear. Then we've got the other warning light regarding the side lights and indicators. I'm sure they can all be resolved. It's just, at what cost? I think the best course of action really is to take to my mechanics first, see if they can fix it. If they can't, well, they crossed that bridge at the time, I suppose. But for £1,800, I really can't complain. It's a good, sturdy, solid car, albeit with a couple of warning lights. I had to charge my phone at one point and look at this. Never been used. Give me a couple of days with this one, then, guys. Hopefully, I'll have an update for you. I'm hoping I can fix it. If I can't, then I think I might have to just clean it up and advertise it as it is. I don't like doing that, though, really. I'd rather try and figure out what the problem is. Anyway, leave it with me. Wish me luck. And we're back in my cheap BMW 5 series, and I finally got to the bottom of, well, some of the electrical issues. Not all, I'll explain later, but we have fixed some of them. I'm trying to cast my mind back now, because it's been about three weeks since I bought this car, and I can't quite remember what happened. I think after we last spoke, I took this down to my mechanics for just a general checkover and to see if they could fix those warning lights. If you remember, there was a warning light on for some sort of headlamp fault, indicator fault, and also there was a warning light for some sort of chassis fault, which I'd never seen before. That was me naively thinking that I knew every single BMW fault code, every bong of doom, but no, there were more. Old, complicated German cars really are the gifts that keep on giving, aren't they? In the case of this 5 series, though, it was just more annoying than anything else, because it's a really nice car. It's had money thrown at it over the years. And, of course, that shows in the way this drives and looks. It's a really nice, clean car, this. I know this is a bit of a tired old cliche when talking about a high-mileage car, but it drives like it's done half the miles. It's all very solid and tight. Anyway, after a few weeks with my mechanic, I kept going down there to check on its progress. They'd taken the front bumper off completely to get to the headlamps, and they decided to replace the nearside front headlamp. That was, I think, the original part, and it had failed. It let water in, so all the connects at the back of the headlamp were just completely waterlogged. Water and electrics really don't mix, so it was just causing havoc. So my mechanic replaced the nearside headlamp with a brand new unit. That was around £500, actually. Quite an expensive part. But it had to be the right one. This has got those angel eyes, I think they're called, and it obviously had to match. So that was that done. That cured that fault. Then there was another issue with the driver's side headlamp. The headlamp on the driver's side had been replaced at some point, so that was all fine. But I think it was the... What do they call it? I think it's the amplifier or something at the back of the headlamp. That was faulty. Again, that was full of water. So that's been replaced. And then, of course, it was just a case of building it all back up together. So, at that point, I had not a single warning light on. While it was up on the ramp, a mechanic did a general check over on it, and he said it was absolutely mint. There's nothing wrong with it. I mean, don't forget this was only serviced in July, and it had an MOT in September with not a single advisor item. I mean, for 163,000 miles to not have a single advisor item, it's a pretty good sign. When it was all built back up, a mechanic called me to say, right, the 5 Series is all done. It's all ready to go. So I said, what about that chassis warning light, though? And she said, well, I think it was related to the headlamp issue. There was obviously a lot of water in the electrics, and I think it was just bringing up that light. So I thought, I'm not convinced, to be honest. I'm not convinced about that. Yes, it might cause some odd faults, but I'm just not convinced that that was related. Anyway, I said, I'll pick it up, and I shall try it. And I did just that. I picked it up, and I took it over to Hyde to Tameside Detailing, where I left it for a valet. Now, if you remember, it was quite a clean car to begin with, but the engine bay needed detailing, and, well, it just needed a quick clean, really. So the lads over there did that. I picked it up from there this morning, got it back to work, took some photographs of it, and then that was that. At this point, I'd done another 8 or 10 miles in it, and there was still no chassis warning light on. So I thought, hmm, maybe my mechanic was right. Maybe it was just relating to the water in the headlamps. These roads are very narrow. Come on, then. Let's be having it. Cheers. I thought, perhaps I owe my mechanic an apology. They had a point. Perhaps it was just water where it shouldn't be, and it pinged on this chassis warning light. Anyway, speaking of pinging on the chassis warning light, on my way out today to film in this, guess what? Guess what reared its ugly head? The old chassis warning light again. So I'm not quite sure what to do with it next. It obviously isn't a serious fault, but I'm not entirely sure what to do. I mean, it'll be a cheap car, this, anyway. I've advertised it for £3,495. So it is an awful lot of car for the money, even if I were to sell it with that known fault. I mean, that might be the easiest way, to be honest, but not being one that likes to admit defeat, I think I'll run this back to my mechanics, ask them to plug it in again and just see what they think. It might be a job for Darren Wood, the local BMW specialist, perhaps. But then saying that, I don't want to spend a fortune on it. I don't know what it could be. I've just never seen that warning light before. If you have, by the way, let me know in the comments below. That might actually help me out pinpoint this issue. It drives really well. What I'll do now, then, is I'll pull over somewhere and I'll talk you through my costs. Like I said, the headlamp bill was quite large, to be fair. But still, at £3,495, if I can get £3,500 for it, there's still a little bit of profit. So I really can't complain, to be honest. Anyway, let's pull over here. There we go. Right. Now, if you remember, I paid £1,800 for this car. So we've got £1,800 out in a calculator. The bill at my mechanics. Let me just find this. Right. So it's had a nearside front headlamp. That was £441 plus VAT. A bulb holder. Another bulb holder. A wiring kit and connectors for the offside headlamp. They were £38.72. And some labour. There's no mention there of the amp. I'm sure they did replace that. They told me they had. Anyway, my total bill there was £854.14. So we'll add that in to my total. Then on top of that, we've got £70 for a valet. And I think that's about it. I haven't spent anything else on this car. Because like I say, it was in really good condition. All the tyres were good. The wheels were good. The bodywork was good. So that's it. So it currently owes me £2,724.14. And at least we can put the indicators on without a bong. And we can put the headlamps on. And there's no warning light at all. So we're all good. So I'm actually quite pleased with that outcome. I'm not overly concerned about this whole chassis light business. Because like I say, if I can get three and a half grand for it, less my costs of £2,724 or whatever they were, then there's still, you know, the best part of £800 profit. I think though I'm going to take this back to my mechanics. Just out of curiosity really. Just see what comes up when they scan it. I buy a lot of cars like this. I'm quite well versed with BMW fault codes. And I've just never seen that one. So that's where I'm going to head now. But thank you once again for joining me on this journey. Make sure you give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Make sure you subscribe if you haven't done already. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. I'll leave the links below. And yeah, cheers guys. I'll see you next time.