Just for your reference, it appears the 520i is not offered in the US. The base model would be the 530i. It doesn't seem like a 530d or a 550d are offered in the US...but for some kind of comparison:

with little effort I was able to find a 2019 540i xDrive with the M sport package for $53k on cargurus. Factor in taxes and its $57k. Factor in that I haven't even bothered to check autotrader or shop around emailing/calling dealers as I would do if I was interested in purchasing one.

Yes you can't get that deal everywhere and it might not be typical. But it's there

For $60k you can certainly get a lot more BMW than a 520i in the US

Thank you for these numbers. I just went to the German configurator to have a look at the exact prices. This is what I get: 540i base model with M package is €66250 base price after taxes, straight from the BMW dealer.

But in Europe, we have VAT, depending on the country, 19 to 21%.

Before the taxes, the price is: €55672. Considering the exchange rate of 1.12 USD to EUR, still significantly more expensive than in the US but far, far off of the €100k.

Diesel is by default more expensive because of better economy.

Ah, I see, you are talking about a second hand car. All the numbers I included in my replies refer to a brand new car delivered to order. For a reference, I just visited a US configurator. A brand new 540i M package is exactly $62550 and the configurator says: "MSRP excludes destination & handling fee of $995, tax, title, license, and registration."

Sorry, but a brand new car will be much more expensive then in the US than in Germany.

I think you are again confused. It’s a brand new car. The MSRP is over 60k, but MSRP != selling price.

Perhaps it’s common to pay MSRP in Germany, but if you’re paying MSRP in the US for a non special vehicle you’re doing it wrong.

> Sorry, but a brand new car will be much more expensive then in the US than in Germany.

You’ve provided no evidence to suggest this is the case.

German cars are _significantly_ more expensive in Germany than the exact same model in the US. I was astonished at the price difference (factoring in currency conversion, VAT, etc). The same applies for electronics. I sold a used iPad to a German colleague for substantially _more_ than what I had paid for it, and it was still a bargain for him.

German cars in Germany are also more likely to be made in Germany, whereas a lot of the US models are made in Tennessee or South Carolina.

Wikipedia claims that Spartanburg hosts the only US factory and only the X models (SUVs) are manufactured there.

No idea how much cars cost in Germany let alone Europe only what the Germans told me.

I don’t think they sell the 520i in the US, at least I can’t find them. Here’s a 540i for $62k and I guarantee I could negotiate it to less than $60 with a 6.5% tax.[1] M5s here are over 100k. 550i are about 90k.

No chance of a 550d touring coming stateside, I can’t compare prices. Diesel wagon with 4 turbos wow!!

[1]https://www.bmwofgwinnettplace.com/detail-2019-bmw-5_series-...