2006 BMW 6 Series 650 review from North America

In general it's a very good car. It is a pleasure to own. However it is also very expensive to run, even when ignoring gasoline costs and taking into account the warranty

The run flat tires are a pain. I live in New York where the streets are not very good and maybe this is the reason that I have so many problems. The tires and wheels are not covered by the bumper to bumper warranty, and so far I have spent $2000 fixing them. I have replaced 2 wheels and 2 tires so far, and I have a problem with the rear left tire now. I replaced it 6 months ago. Probably low profile tires are not a good option in a city like New York.

Little things break every now and then, but they are covered by the warranty, like the roof would not go down 2 times last summer, a problem that my dealer fixed both times. Also the window would not go down once.

In general many little things; bulbs, sensors etc that have you run to the dealer quite often, which is annoying, especially when you have paid close to $100k for the car and have a busy schedule like me.

Now the major problem with this car that you cannot get it running even with a small amount of snow on the street. I do not understand why the wheels spin with such small amount of snow. Why does not BMW put a limited slip differential on the vehicle. Infinity puts these on G35-37 (known as Nissan Skyline abroad). I could not get my car out and I called a friend to pick me up. He has a G35 Coupe, which has limited slip differential as standard. How can Infiniti fit this on a $35k car and BMW can't put it on $100k car?

I do not say that I like my car a lot, but it is definitely not good value for the money. It is a rip off. I mean for $100k you should get at least as much as someone gets for $35k.

Ride quality and driving experience is much better in the 650, do not get me wrong

In general I would not buy this car for $100k if I had the chance to choose again. I would probably buy a Porsche C2S or C4S.

My advice is do not buy a used one, mine is a lease and it is going back in 6 months. If I had paid for all the services and the little things that broke so far, and if I included the tires and the wheels I have changed, I would have spent more than $10k over the course of 30 months on this car in addition to the lease payments.

No issues with the engine or the transmission so far at all. Everything operates smoothly.