Chickened out on an E60 w SMG

[93 525 Paul]

Drove and fell in love with a 545 with SMG. Looking around the web though, it seems the SMG system is rare, only installed on a few percent of E60s. Rare is bad in this case as the system is described as impossibly complicated and prone to expensive failures including pump and seals. Called the Beemer dealer here and the service advisor I spoke with said he doesn't see many of them (they are rare) but the ones he sees are ~$2000 repairs. No problem if you have a warranty, but no chance in this private party sale. It's a real shame, because I like the car a lot.
Anybody in Bimmernut land have any sequential manual gearbox experience?

[Russell]

No. However I fear any on the newer BMWs as used cars because of the lack of maintianance, especially ALL fluid changes. I am also concerned over the electronics and the cost if something breaks or just needs updating out of warrently.

[Tiger]

You shoudl check the service record of the car if you are still interested... maybe it has been repaired already.