640i has lower ownership costs than the 640d?

[Audia5audia5]

Do 12k miles a year, mostly motorway.

Narrowed car choice to the 6 series now.

I’ve spent a lot of time on all the threads on all the forums, and I know this question about 640d vs 640i has been asked all the time but please bear with me as this is solely about cost of ownership.

So don’t judge me, but ChatGPT says the 640i would have slightly lower long term ownership costs than the 640d even with my mileage.

What do you guys think?

If I go for the 640i, it will be the N55 engine (2015/16) and for the 640d would be the N57S (2016/17).

Rationale is the 640d faces more issues with the DPF/EGR/timing chain.

Appreciate the 640i is a lot more fun to drive, although much fewer options available so it’s very difficult to find the spec you want etc.

So basically if the cost of ownership is similar let alone better for the 640i, then I will go for the 640i.

[CraigyMc]

Both engines have a timing chain and you will spend more on fuel for the 640i.

Using chatgpt while it's as unreliable as a drunkard is not sensible.

Edited by CraigyMc on Wednesday 9th October 09:08

[milu]

Can’t see it myself.
I also fancied a petrol but ended up diesel GC

It will happily do 45+ mpg on motorway so that’s going to take some beating.
Performance is similar with more torque in diesel.
I’m not sure either is ‘fun’ to drive. But capable,swift, nice interior etc
Mine actually has grown on me a bit. Only had 3 months mind.
I guess good maintenance is key on either model
I have a suspicion that many of the diesel ones have ‘adjusted ‘mileage.
And less servicing as a result
There were lots of deals when new with mileage restrictions.
Mine was a private owned( not lease) car with not particularly low mileage.
62k on a 18 plate which I believe to be genuine

Edited by milu on Wednesday 9th October 08:12

[Huzzah]

I think I'd look at the predictable costs (otr, ins, rfl, fuel) work out my fighting fund. Then buy the 640. (Actually probably a 630 because I don't push on that hard)

[Frankychops]

640D every day. its a better engine for the car also.

in GC guise.

[ZX10R NIN]

For your usage it's the d.

[fflump]

Have you estimated the opportunity cost of purchase and expected depreciation for the two models?

These are significant contributors to cost of ownership.

[Audia5audia5]

Cost of ownership would be a sum of:

- Annual tax. 640d: £255, 640i: £335
- Insurance: 640i roughly £100 cheaper
- Servicing (every 10k max)
- Repairs
- Fuel
- Depreciation - 640i should be better?
- Live in London so ULEZ could soon include euro 6/diesels post 65 plate in 5 years
Plan to keep the car long term as a daily driver.

I also feel the 640d should be cheaper long term given my mileage but wanted to see others opinions.

Whichever car I go for I would get a stage 1 remap, afaik both are good for remapping

[Audia5audia5]

milu said:

Can’t see it myself.
I also fancied a petrol but ended up diesel GC

It will happily do 45+ mpg on motorway so that’s going to take some beating.
Performance is similar with more torque in diesel.
I’m not sure either is ‘fun’ to drive. But capable,swift, nice interior etc
Mine actually has grown on me a bit. Only had 3 months mind.
I guess good maintenance is key on either model
I have a suspicion that many of the diesel ones have ‘adjusted ‘mileage.
And less servicing as a result
There were lots of deals when new with mileage restrictions.
Mine was a private owned( not lease) car with not particularly low mileage.
62k on a 18 plate which I believe to be genuine

Edited by milu on Wednesday 9th October 08:12

Ahh yeah I am starting to beware of any odometer tampering now too.

The car I was interested in, was a 2017 640d, 72k mileage, £17,250.

Although I looked at the MOT history and it was 42k mileage on March 2023 and 70k mileage on March 2024.

For me, whatever the reason it isn’t a good sign. What do you think?

[milu]

Audia5audia5 said:

milu said:

Can’t see it myself.
I also fancied a petrol but ended up diesel GC

It will happily do 45+ mpg on motorway so that’s going to take some beating.
Performance is similar with more torque in diesel.
I’m not sure either is ‘fun’ to drive. But capable,swift, nice interior etc
Mine actually has grown on me a bit. Only had 3 months mind.
I guess good maintenance is key on either model
I have a suspicion that many of the diesel ones have ‘adjusted ‘mileage.
And less servicing as a result
There were lots of deals when new with mileage restrictions.
Mine was a private owned( not lease) car with not particularly low mileage.
62k on a 18 plate which I believe to be genuine

Edited by milu on Wednesday 9th October 08:12

Ahh yeah I am starting to beware of any odometer tampering now too.

The car I was interested in, was a 2017 640d, 72k mileage, £17,250.

Although I looked at the MOT history and it was 42k mileage on March 2023 and 70k mileage on March 2024.

For me, whatever the reason it isn’t a good sign. What do you think?

Dunno. At least it went up lol
Maybe been used by latest owner as a motorway car. Be interesting to see if ownership changed last March.
Then serviced accordingly
I intend to change oil on mine every 6k or so

[Mirinjawbro]

Audia5audia5 said:

Do 12k miles a year, mostly motorway.

Narrowed car choice to the 6 series now.

I’ve spent a lot of time on all the threads on all the forums, and I know this question about 640d vs 640i has been asked all the time but please bear with me as this is solely about cost of ownership.

So don’t judge me, but ChatGPT says the 640i would have slightly lower long term ownership costs than the 640d even with my mileage.

What do you guys think?

If I go for the 640i, it will be the N55 engine (2015/16) and for the 640d would be the N57S (2016/17).

Rationale is the 640d faces more issues with the DPF/EGR/timing chain.

Appreciate the 640i is a lot more fun to drive, although much fewer options available so it’s very difficult to find the spec you want etc.

So basically if the cost of ownership is similar let alone better for the 640i, then I will go for the 640i.

long term average for 640d coupe was 38. this was 95% normal driving and lots of motorway.

fill ups were around 550 a tank

coupe back seats do not fold. very annoying. i should of checked

every panel also had dents and scratches from carparks and lovely shoppers. it overhangs nearly every parking space

id go petrol now looking back

[jv021]

I owned a 640i for around 5yrs (I drove a 640d and performance-wise it was similar to the 640i)

I also owned a 530d (F10 so similar platform and tech to the 6 series and similar base engine)

In terms of costs, both cost very similar amounts to service, Diesel a little more expensive, but not enough to swing a decision.

Neither car needed any repairs aside from servicing / maintenance.

Biggest difference will be fuel costs, 530d managed an easy 40-45mpg without trying, the 640i just about managed 30-35mpg in similar conditions / commutes.

[Jayho]

Audia5audia5 said:

Cost of ownership would be a sum of:

- Annual tax. 640d: £255, 640i: £335
- Insurance: 640i roughly £100 cheaper
- Servicing (every 10k max)
- Repairs
- Fuel
- Depreciation - 640i should be better?
- Live in London so ULEZ could soon include euro 6/diesels post 65 plate in 5 years
Plan to keep the car long term as a daily driver.

I also feel the 640d should be cheaper long term given my mileage but wanted to see others opinions.

Whichever car I go for I would get a stage 1 remap, afaik both are good for remapping

Types of journey probably more important than the miles driven probably. There are online calculators where you can plug in MPGs of 2 cars and your anticipated milage to get a rough guestimate of cost difference.

But in reality, if you're going to remap whatever you get, why are you really all that worried about general running costs? Just test drive both and see which ones gives you more tingly feeling and go for it.

[Audia5audia5]

milu said:

Dunno. At least it went up lol
Maybe been used by latest owner as a motorway car. Be interesting to see if ownership changed last March.
Then serviced accordingly
I intend to change oil on mine every 6k or so

So there was a change of ownership prior to this huge mile increase, suspect it must have been due to the new guy working. I actually have his full name from service invoices and found him on fbk, might message him haha.

The car has physical invoices of service on 2019/21/23.

The idrive system also says was serviced 2017 and 2020.

Do you think I should go for it? Has most of the spec i want and looks cool - black and black alloys.

[Audia5audia5]

Jayho said:

Types of journey probably more important than the miles driven probably. There are online calculators where you can plug in MPGs of 2 cars and your anticipated milage to get a rough guestimate of cost difference.

But in reality, if you're going to remap whatever you get, why are you really all that worried about general running costs? Just test drive both and see which ones gives you more tingly feeling and go for it.

I’ve driven both, 640i gives more of the tingle. But in terms of fuel efficiency and remapping - it shouldn’t decrease the average mpg assuming driving normally.

I’m thinking of going for 640d and then with a remap that should compensate any difference in the tingle let’s say from 640i

[milu]

Audia5audia5 said:

milu said:

Dunno. At least it went up lol
Maybe been used by latest owner as a motorway car. Be interesting to see if ownership changed last March.
Then serviced accordingly
I intend to change oil on mine every 6k or so

So there was a change of ownership prior to this huge mile increase, suspect it must have been due to the new guy working. I actually have his full name from service invoices and found him on fbk, might message him haha.

The car has physical invoices of service on 2019/21/23.

The idrive system also says was serviced 2017 and 2020.

Do you think I should go for it? Has most of the spec i want and looks cool - black and black alloys.

So guy probably bought it to use. Mayyhe sought out a low ish mileage one for that reason.
If it helps you decide.
I paid £17500. Private sale.
1 owner. 62k miles. 2018 final edition. A dealer wanted £21k for a similar car, same colour etc
The advert for mine was poor though. It was only when I chatted to owner that I became more interested

[Audia5audia5]

milu said:

So guy probably bought it to use. Mayyhe sought out a low ish mileage one for that reason.
If it helps you decide.
I paid £17500. Private sale.
1 owner. 62k miles. 2018 final edition. A dealer wanted £21k for a similar car, same colour etc
The advert for mine was poor though. It was only when I chatted to owner that I became more interested

Wow amazing deal!

Mine is 3 owners, 72k mileage, 2017 but decent spec and £17250 (agreed to reduce price by £250)

I’m just wary of the service history - seems like needs to be serviced/oil change every 10k max. For this car there’s 3 physical oil change services and 2 more on the idrive system, assuming they were oil change too. So that’s 5 oil changes for 72k miles 🤔.

What was the service history like for your car?

Also what spec do you have? Anything you would recommend?

[Audia5audia5]

Jayho said:

Types of journey probably more important than the miles driven probably. There are online calculators where you can plug in MPGs of 2 cars and your anticipated milage to get a rough guestimate of cost difference.

But in reality, if you're going to remap whatever you get, why are you really all that worried about general running costs? Just test drive both and see which ones gives you more tingly feeling and go for it.

When I input an average mpg of diesel of 45 and petrol of 35, it only manifests as around £500 difference annually with my mileage. Not actually that much difference. I guess over 5 years £2.5k

[Chamon_Lee]

Audia5audia5 said:

Jayho said:

Types of journey probably more important than the miles driven probably. There are online calculators where you can plug in MPGs of 2 cars and your anticipated milage to get a rough guestimate of cost difference.

But in reality, if you're going to remap whatever you get, why are you really all that worried about general running costs? Just test drive both and see which ones gives you more tingly feeling and go for it.

When I input an average mpg of diesel of 45 and petrol of 35, it only manifests as around £500 difference annually with my mileage. Not actually that much difference. I guess over 5 years £2.5k

just to provide a more balanced view to these MPGs i wouldn't bet on an average of 45 from the 40d. I suspect it will be closer to 33-38mpg and 25-30mpg for the 40i.

a 20d does an average of 42-45mpg and a 20i isn't great at around 33mpg.
50 50 driving

[OutInTheShed]

MPG varies a lot with journey type.

If it really is 42mpg against 32 mpg, that's about an extra 4p per mile, £400 on 10k miles a year.

Rationally that's no big deal, compared to the real total costs.
If you're trying to save money to that extent you should be looking at a more mundane car.

The big question is probability of big bills.

But if your mix of driving is likely to drag the petrol option down to the 20s, then the equation is quite different.
45mpg vs 25mpg is a real saving.