Category: BMW

Surprised to see a 2010 BMW 650i unicorn pop up at CarMax this week. This is a second generation E63 as BMW folks know, and the last year for this model. This 11 year old offering gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, there’s a chance coming to score a CarMax E63 M6 of fabled V-10 fame, aka the one who got away from me when I was looking to replace Guenther. It was this 2007 BMW M6 selling for $23,998 and only 44,000 miles. Still kicking myself.

I’ve test driven a couple of these big (4,400lb) coupes and they fit me like a glove – better than a 3-series by far. Cup holders suck. If you really REALLY want to see an in depth review of this car here’s a NewCarTest review from 2010. The 2010 BMW 650i sold new for upwards of $80,000. This one is just over $20,000 and eligible for MaxCare until it’s 16 years old. Still amazes me. Suspect CarMax will go to a 125,000 miles cap but that’s still plenty of driving miles left. The 650i has a 360hp V-8 that will only get you into the five second 0-60 mph zone, not terribly quick. Find this four owner, accident free beauty here in Athens, Georgia.

Remember the fully loaded 2011 Mercedes E550 unicorn I wrote about in October 2020? (Act like you do while catching up on it here.) Well here’s its BMW twin, a 2011 550i chock full of features usually only found in the more expensive 750’s.

A handsome interior with a nice infotainment screen, the car also has all the buttons – blind spot, collision avoidance, lane departure, my beloved night vision assist, and heads up display.

The BMW 550 also has rear DVD entertainment for the kids or your Uber customers. But wait there’s more! Cold weather (heated seats and steering wheel) and convenience packages, air conditioned seats, and a 400hp twin turbo V8.

If the car had AWD it would be perfect. It’s a two owner, accident free southern car currently here in Naples, Florida. Enjoy.

Again, to quote one of our readers, “driving rich” is the whole ides of this blog – acquiring high end, highly depreciated unicorns from CarMax and leveraging their bumper-to-bumper MaxCarewarranty to protect against extraordinary repairs. I wish I could remember who sent that to me.  Anyway, this low mileage, 11 year old long wheelbase BMW 750Li is very, very nice for a stupid low $15,998.  It’s also the first year of the fifth generation, no bubble-butt trunk lid.

Here’s the review from Car and Driver when the car was new.  When the car sold for just under $100,000.  And here’s a long term testfrom Automobile magazine.  It’s modestly equipped with blind spot monitors, lane departure, rear DVD, and seat massagers,  and also comes with a 4.8 liter twin-turbo V-8 good for sub-five second 0-60 sprints.  This is a real autobahn cruiser at a used Corolla price.

I would not own this without MaxCare, and my experience is that MaxCare for 750’s is expensive.  But with a starting price of $15,998 it’s worth a try.  Think about it – the warranty can protect you until the car is 16 years old, and for maybe almost 100,000 more miles.  That’s driving rich.  Find this two owner, accident free luxury car here in Pleasanton, California.

(CarMax Covid-19 impact at the bottom.)  Just got an alert from CarMax that this car dropped another $1,000.  Okay not the deal my 2010 Mercedes S600 was last year at $30,998, but this 2015 BMW 760 Li unicorn is much newer than mine, and here to say there are few things as sweet as a V-12 European motor.  Silky sooth, powerful, and quiet power plant for big luxurious European sedans.  Not a lot of them sold here.

This BMW 760 Li sold for probably $150,000 new ($50,000 more than the V-8 750) and is now only $44,998.  Fairly well equipped car with auto cruise control, seat massagers, and most every luxury amenity (although no night vision) and was first listed a month or two ago for thousands more.  Check out that back seat.

The twin turbo 6.0 liter V-12 launches the BMW to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds and a governed top speed of 155mph.  Saw a review that hit over 190 mph on the autobahn in Germany.  Find this beautiful car here in Raleigh, North Carolina.  And of course, don’t buy without MaxCare!

CarMax Covid-19 Update – Last wrote about CarMax and coronavirus here.   Learned this week CarMax has laid off 15,000 of their 27,000 employees nationwide.  Half of their 200+ stores are either shuttered or by appointment only.  Inventory is at 55,000 cars….financial analysts saying that’s at an all time high for “year end” – but fiscal year end for CarMax is the end of February.  I’ve written before that CarMax tends to beef up to 70,000 cars during this period, dropping to 45,000 or so at the low point in the fall – so not sure what that’s about.  I do know that something is up with transfers – not the free regional ones, but the long distance transfers we pay for.  Transfers that used to be $750 are now almost $1,500, and the $949 coast to coast moves are now $1,999.  Don’t know if that’s a real increase due to real cost jumps, or a price that says “we really don’t want to do long distance transfers at this time”.  What I do know is there would have to be a really, really unusual deal to get me in a CarMax at this time – say a 2015 S65 AMG Coupe?