Hey All,
Been looking for a third car for daily driving and occasional cone killing duties to take over the duties from my ailing e36 M3. After reading the R53 buyers guide, I'm in the market for an 05/06 but most in my price range have high milage (125k+) or have some sort of issues with them.

I found an 05 with 60k miles at a sweet price due to the seller going back to her home country (was here for school), however it's an automatic. According to the buyers guide, one should stay away from the CVT autos if planning on putting any serious milage on the car - something that I will definitely be doing if it takes over my daily driving duties (~25k mi/yr). Also, with the CVT, autox may not be as much fun as with the 6sp, but it's been done before.

Service records are all up-to-date. If I were to carefully maintain the CVT, will I lessen the chances of having a complete failure?

I would really like to hear from some CVT MCS owners out there for their advice and guidance.

Thanks!!



*edit* crap, I posted this in the wrong section. If a moderator could please move it to the right section I would appreciate it!

 

This subject has been well-covered: r53 auto trannies are *NOT* the dreaded CVT you'd find in the r50. The r53 auto has a Aisin 6-speed torque converter type transmission. If the car's been well-tended, 60k miles should be nothing to worry about.

I can't personally speak to auto-x, but from what I hear the auto r53s don't suffer any.

 

Thanks for the clarification!