Well, finally got to 100,000km. I’ve had the 530d Touring for 2 years and 9 months and normally I’d be knocking on the door of 130,000 or so by now, but I’ve been flying on business trips more than originally planned and the 150,000km agreed in the leasing contract are not going to be achieved by the time the car goes back in December.
Still managed to spend a lot of time behind the wheel though. Basically I’ve ended up driving it intensively a couple of weeks then left it standing for a couple of weeks whilst I was off somewhere else. This involved undertaking some very long journeys, where I established that the factor limiting the range was my bladder rather than having to fill up the car. The fuel consumption never failed to amaze me, despite the performance. With a little bit of restraint I could achieve over 1,000km from a full tank before bottling it and filling up. Highest fuel consumption was a foot to the floor dash from Hannover to Munich on a Saturday afternoon – 550km and the car was running on fumes, but I did those 550km in a little over 3 1/2 hours. Best was around 42mpg. Pretty good for a 1.9 ton estate car with around 240hp, an automatic gearbox and space for 4 people (5 at a push) plus luggage.
It’s proven to be very robust too. The original tyres were replaced at 90,000km (though admittedly I did around 30,000km on winter tyres) as were the brake pads. Considering how often I was travelling the far side of 200km/h I think this is good going. Apart from servicing, the car was never once at a dealer and apart from 3 stone chips on the bonnet, the metallic black paintwork is totally immaculate. The driver’s seat is a bit shinier than the others but there are no other signs of wear to the interior. There’ve been no electronic gremlins and I’ve not even had to replace a blown bulb.
The reason you buy a BMW though, is for the handling and this is where the 530d really excels. It’s incredibly agile for such a big heavy vehicle, with well weighted and precise steering, totally neutral handling and absolute stability even at very high speeds, as well as seriously powerful brakes. The downside of course is a rather (ahem) firm ride. Actually the ride iss better on the runflat summer tyres than the non runflat winter tyres, but the best you can really say is it at least rides better than an A6.
I opted for the bells and whistles Navigation System which is still the best system I’ve seen on a production car. The voice activation is useful on the odd occasion it actually understands my German and the internet access has proven a novel way of passing the time in traffic jams, though my iPhone is faster.
So, as a fast, economical, spacious and reliable long distance cruiser, lots to recommend it. But (and this makes me sound really spoiled as it's a fully expensed company car) to be honest I never really warmed to it, even after almost 3 years. The styling is dull compared to the 530d saloon I had previously and there is noticeably more suspension and road noise. The dashboard is beautifully finished but dates very much from BMW’s baroque period, and I had a real good taste bypass when I thought that combining light coloured wood and dark brown leather upholstery was a good idea. What was I thinking? The expensive leather is described as “nappa” but feels more like “PVC”, though the comfort seats are just that – amazingly comfortable over very long distances. I’ve been reminded how good they are with occasional long distance forays in rental cars, when my back starts playing up after 200km or so – never had that with the BMW.
So we’ll part in company in December, the 530d and I. Already ordered my next company car. I thought long and hard and did my best to not order yet another BMW but failed. Didn’t go for another 5 Series though – a 335d Coupe. Not in black either – M Sport Le Mans Blue for that real mid life crisis look!
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A friend of mine has had a 335d coupe for a while. Previously he had two 330's but an increase in annual mileage meant he opted for the diesel. He is very impressed.
His other car is a Cobra. Not quite as economical.
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I have to say that the X1's seats are spot on - they were given an extensive trial last week, they are leather and have the extending squab (for more support below the knees) - brilliant in every respect.
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Excellent report BP, that's the sort of write up i want to read should i be looking at a car, real life use warts and all.
Good solid dependable car, can see why they keep selling here.
How do main dealer (presumably that's where you go) servicing costs compare to Britain, are you in the £120+ an hour labour rates yet.
The saloon 5 you had before, was that a E39 or E61, E39 to my eyes was one of the best and most handsome saloons ever made.
Was sorely tempted by a low mileage M5 in Oxford Green with light tan leather and dark wood about 5 years ago, wish i'd taken the plunge in retrospect, most unusual colour and trim choice for that model and my personal favourite, 03 plate, one of the last made and approved used from a good main dealer.
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Yes, it's a very solid car. I would have no hesitation buying one secondhand if I were after a large saloon or estate.
The labour rates here for BMW main dealers vary between around 80 Euros per hour up to around 110 Euros in downtown Munich.
My saloon was an E60, a 2004 pre facelift model with the older fiddlier i-Drive. I know not everyone likes the styling of the E60 though I do personally, especially in dark colours. The biggest step backwards compared to the E39 in my opinion was the very hard ride. BMW managed a ride/ handling compromise with the E39 which they've yet to better (though the F10 is a step in the right direction) and it's not just the runflat tyres - on my E61 the ride is actually worse with the non-runflat winter tyres.
Funnily enough, I also looked at a metallic green high spec E39 M5 some years ago before opting for an M3. The decision between an M3 and a similar aged M5 at the time was largely personal preferences. Whopping depreciation on the M5 meant there wasn't much between them in terms of price.
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Labour rates show rip off Britain is alive and kicking, and little wonder good indies are so popular here.
I liked E60 saloon shape after a while, except for the front which looked like a mock up for road testing which never quite got finished.
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An interesting and comprehensive report Bagpuss.
I too have one of these but a 2.0 diesel manual in basic spec (still pretty generous, and far from poverty!). Only additions were a basic 'Business' satnav and CD changer which were on offer at £350 for the pair. Oh and silver paint (which is stone chipped to hell on the bonnet, but OK elsewhere).
I bought the car new in 2008 and have done 91,000 miles so far.
It is in SE spec (is yours an M Sport with it's cement-based suspension?) and I find the ride very good, certainly nicer than the Volvo S60 I had before (even with it on 16" wheels to the Beemer's 17" and run flat tyres on the BM too).
Tyre wear has been unbelivably good with 70,000 miles out of the fronts and over 50,000 from the rears. Changed the fronts to Michelins and ride has improved. Will do the same to the rears, but they still have 4mm left!
The cloth seats are comfortable, even for 12 hour cross-continent drives, although the black fabric shows every speck of dust.
Engine quite powerful enough, but seem to be changing gear so often as will only pull 6th over 50mph (even then reluctantly) and there is not the same torque as the old 163hp D5 Volvo I had which would pull top eagerly from any speed.
Boot is big and practical, and cabin spacious. Virtually silent inside even at silly autobahn speeds (on the autobahn I hasten to add!) with muted conversations quite possible at over 100mph.
Reliability on mine has been poor and I fear that I have Bagpuss's church mice nibbling at my electrics, or maybe just taking random wires out and replacing then in different holes!
Rear air suspension problems on numerous occasions, eventually leading to the whole system's replacement to a much noisier system which also occasionally throws up some error messages. Bluetooth has failed, entire audio system has failed, noisy badly wired speakers, etc.
At the moment it is telling me I have a reversing light out, but I have replaced the bulb 3 times and that has not cured it. Argh!
Got an extended warranty discounted by BMW when they found I have been back to have faults fixed on about 20 occasions. Nothing dangerous, just mainly annoying niggles. Dealership (Tunbridge Wells) has been excellent.
Fuel consumption is good. In general driving between 46.3mpg and 47.8mpg, with 49.5mpg to 51.3mpg on gentle (rare) long motorway and main A road trips in the UK.
Handles well, but as Bagpuss has noted, it is a car lacking in personality and character which is a bit sad. I would say it is comfortable, economical, cheap to run, good on company car tax, but has no soul.
Would consider another new version next time, due to the extreme efficiency on both fuel for the company and tax-wise for me, but would be more tempted by a XC60....
Will drive it 'til uneconomical to repair first I think. Who knows what will be on the market then!?
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Sorry to here about the problems with your 5 Series. Most of our employees run BMWs (3, 5, X3) and they've all been reliable except for one where the Start/ Stop thingy gave up the ghost.
A colleague of mine has a 520d Touring manual. It's certainly not a poor relation to the 530d as it has its own advantages. I find the 4 cylinder engine (surprisingly) quieter than the 6 and the weight difference is noticeable in the more agile handling of the 520d. What the 520d does not have is the enormous midrange torque of the 530d, but the engine responds more like a petrol engine with a (for a diesel) relatively wide rev band and linear response.
Mine will also not accept 6 gear below 80km/h, I think this is due to the very high gearing BMW likes to inflict on the diesel models.
My car is not an M Sport, though my next one will be - and on 18" wheels - gulp.
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Reliability on my 3 has also been poor. Had to have BMW Assist out twice now for severe misfiring and limp mode. Going in tomorrow for a "software update" which takes a staggering 7 hours and I'm told will improve matters.
Also has noisy front suspension, severe tramlining under braking despite decent tyres and correct pressures, there's water getting under the passenger door seal in heavy rain, one of the bonnet catches doesn't spring back properly and needs 'resetting' with a screwdriver every time the bonnet is opened, and there's a faintly ominous whine on 2nd gear I don't like the sound of. It's done 46000 miles.
OK I took the car over from someone else and suspect it hasn't had the easiest life, but you couldn't break a BMW a few yrs ago.
Love the drive, but would be disgusted if I'd sunk £24k of my own hard earned into it. Colleagues have all had problems with theirs too.
I want to love it, and in many ways I do, but far too many problems to be able to do that. Will be perusing the list carefully when I get to order the new one.
Last edited by: DP on Thu 6 Oct 11 at 23:41
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Mine will also not accept 6 gear below 80km/h...
But would you want it to? You have five gears to span the range of low to upper-medium speeds, and a sixth for high-speed cruising. The Verso's sixth isn't much use below about 90 km/h, which is fine with me - I just use fifth instead. (Mrs Beest will barely use it at all, but that's another story, along with the cruise control, and the headlamp height adjuster.)
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The old rule of multiplying the gear by 10 to get the change up speed is a good one.
So 50mph in fifth and 60mph in sixth.
The CC3 will take sixth at a lower speed since the remap, but it still needs to be over 50mph to be comfortable.
Third can seem too low a gear for 30mph, but the speed awareness courses advise that because you are less likely to stray over the limit.
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It is a fair point about wanting it to have higher gearing.
With my Volvo S60 the engine had tons of torque. from 30mph upwards if you were in top (5th) it would really surge forward, and this gave it so much flexibility.
In the 520d I have 6 gears and clearly and obviously they are set to give the best fuel efficiency /lowest co2 levels (part of the reason why I bought it instead of a V70!). But I have to change gear ALL THE TIME! It seems that unless I am doing 60mph-plus I have to change down to make progress, meaning that I am forever fiddling about with the gearstick.
So in that respect I get rather annoyed and miss that flexibility. The Volvo was returning over 50mpg when it left me having got better and better the more the miles went on, so was not more thirsty because of the lower gearing.
Mind you, on a high speed run the high 6th gear does result in a silent engine and those clever boffins at BMW have got wind noise down to virtually nothing, and the change to the Michelin's has reduced road noise still further from quiet to very quiet, and certainly more comfortable, which it was to a certain extent on the Goodyears, just less so.
My wife has a VW Eos 2.0T Sport with 18" wheels and the ride is really comfortable, so 18" need not mean pain, but Bagpuss, on an M Sport 3 series? Oh dear...Good luck. I know a very good chiropractor by the way!
Having said that, the majority of roads I use on the continent are streets ahead (ahem) of ours back in blighty. It is shocking after a nice cross continent blast to get used to such shoddy surfaces over here. Over there 18" might be like riding on air!
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>> It is a fair point about wanting it to have higher gearing.
>>
>> With my Volvo S60 the engine had tons of torque. from 30mph upwards if you
>> were in top (5th) it would really surge forward, and this gave it so much
>> flexibility.
>>
The trade off there is the relative low top speed. Not really an issue in the UK but explains the low number of Volvo D5s in Germany.
You run out of revs before you run out of throttle travel which is an odd combination I've never come across before. Sitting flat out with still another inch-and-a-half of throttle travel available which only results in black smoke with the rev counter already at on the red line.
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>> The trade off there is the relative low top speed.
What was that gmac, just as a matter of interest?
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The car indicates 137mph while doing a true 130mph (163PS D5). The later 185 D5 is supposed to be good for 142mph with the 6 speed 'box.
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130ish in the S60. It hadn't occurred to me top speed would be a criterion for anyone these days!
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In the UK it's not. When I'm in the UK the S60 can keep up with most things due to the limits. The 530d that Bagpuss talks about is a phenomenally fast car given a clear road.
My car has 420Nm about 310lbs ft torque, the 530d takes off like I'm driving a old knackered Metro.
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...But I have to change gear ALL THE TIME!...
A remap may improve matters, it did for me.
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A remap of what? How, who and where? I don't want to have anything done that would invalidate the existing extended warranty or that would need to be notified to insurers, as it is still a company car.
It is not a major problem, just a pain in the left leg with all that clutchwork!
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...A remap of what? How, who and where?...
Answers to those questions here:
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=8080
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>> on an M Sport 3 series? Oh dear...Good luck.
Yes, my wife is already referring to it as my midlife crisis car. Actually M Sport suspension is standard on the 335d even without the styling package and the 18" M Sport wheels really suit it. We'll see, could have been worse, I did seriously consider 19" but they come with an explicit warning about ride comfort issues. The M Sport package was also the only way to get alcantara seats.
You're right about the lack of wind noise on the 5 Series, forgot to mention that. There is no wind noise at all up to (an indicated) 250km/h. I got so used to it I only realise how remarkable it is when I drive other cars.
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Thanks Iffy. Will give it a miss on this car as it is bound to end up making the car have a hissy-fit elsewhere. 'tis a sensitive beast :)
In an ideal world I would have the 530d / 535d, but the extra cost of the car, plus tax implications would not justify it. In fact getting something as prestigous as the BM took some doing, and was only given the thumbs up after I did a spreadsheet showing that it was slightly cheaper for the company to buy the new beemer than it was to buy a year old V70 when servicing, fuel cost, depreciation, etc were factored in over 3 years of ownership. As it happens it has been the least reliable car on the fleet, but I don't think it is indicative of BMW's normally. I would have to think long and hard before buying another though.....
It gets it's first taste of winter tyres this week (crazy really as it is a lovely day out there, but I remember snow in November last year and getting stranded in Calais.....). Then I will keep driving the thing untill it costs too much to fix. Not too much hardship really.
As a mid-life crisis car I would not have chosen something with concrete for suspension Bagpuss! My guess is that you will only have such a car once, but I am a teensy-bit jealous!
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>> As a mid-life crisis car I would not have chosen something with concrete for suspension Bagpuss!
Fortunately I still have my old Merc W124 Coupe for when I feel the need to drive something a bit more soothing. Funnily enough I stumbled on an old copy of Autocar from the 80s a while back, with a road test of the then relatively new W124. The testers actually complained about the firmness of the suspension. My how times change.
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BMW 5-Series E61 Touring - BMW 530d - 100,000km Report - legacylad
