Year 2000/2001 530d turbo issues

[nellyleelephant]

Me and my girlfriend have just bought a house in France that we're looking to use quite regularly until we are in a position to eventually move out for good.

Currently we have been using her car, a Civic TypeR, which is a laugh, but is a little highly strung and high revving for 300 + motorway miles. The 530d seems to fit the bill perfectly....reasonable pace, impressive economy for it's size and comfort.

We had more or less decided that it was the car for us and were about to start looking around until i read about possible turbo issues, are the problems as scary as they sound or are the cases of failure relatively uncommon?

Thanks in advance
Chris

[nellyleelephant]

anyone?

[[TW]Fox]

They are mechanically complex engines and they are not as bulletproof as the petrol equivilents although turbo failure isn't exactly a day to day occourance.

You'll find the petrol equivilent to be much cheaper to buy, more reliable and it runs on fuel thats 10% cheaper.

[dr matt uk]

Agree with Fox. I looked into getting a 530d as a default choice but realised that most in my price range had starship milage and were a bit tatty. Then I looked at the 530i. I could buy a newer one, with less miles, less likely to have been used by a company rep, no complicated turbos to go wrong, reasonable MPG (I got 36.2mpg on a NSL run from Cornwall to Kent) and on top of that I think it really is one of the best engines BMW put in a road car. When you feel the need, put your foot down and revel in the noise and power.

Get the petrol one!

[nellyleelephant]

i didn't know the petrol version was that frugal! What could we expect to get with 6k?

[[TW]Fox]

nellyleelephant said:

i didn't know the petrol version was that frugal! What could we expect to get with 6k?

A really, really nice 530i SE. Or a shagged 530i Sport with 12 previous owners.

[nellyleelephant]

So SE is the way forward then! We're after comfort more than anything else anyway, so it's no great loss not having the Sport.

[dibbly_dobbler]

Not knocking the 530i at all (love 'em actually) but the quoted mpg must be exceptional ?! Foxy - what do you usually get ?

[[TW]Fox]

dibbly_dobbler said:

Not knocking the 530i at all (love 'em actually) but the quoted mpg must be exceptional ?! Foxy - what do you usually get ?

Economy on my 530i ranges from 20-22mpg doing short trips around town to up to 38-39mpg taking it easy with the cruise set to 70mph on the Motorway.

Unless you are driving as if your trousers are on fire, any reasonably length journey that isn't in town will see you comfortably above 30mpg.

[dibbly_dobbler]

[TW]Fox said:

dibbly_dobbler said:

Not knocking the 530i at all (love 'em actually) but the quoted mpg must be exceptional ?! Foxy - what do you usually get ?

Economy on my 530i ranges from 20-22mpg doing short trips around town to up to 38-39mpg taking it easy with the cruise set to 70mph on the Motorway.

Unless you are driving as if your trousers are on fire, any reasonably length journey that isn't in town will see you comfortably above 30mpg.

That's very impressive - a bit worse than my 130 around town but a bit better on a run. Interesting...

[[TW]Fox]

dibbly_dobbler said:

That's very impressive - a bit worse than my 130 around town but a bit better on a run. Interesting...

'Town' for me is 5 miles from cold - and the first mile is over speed ramps. I doubt it even gets up to proper oil temperature on my daily driving

[Speed addicted]

My 2000 330 Ci, which I'm assuming had the same engine, was surprisingly frugal. 34mpg with the cruise set to around 80 was normal (and I have a pretty heavy foot so tend to boot it up to cruising speed).
lovely engine, and you'll save a heap by not buying the diesel.

[dr matt uk]

[TW]Fox said:

nellyleelephant said:

i didn't know the petrol version was that frugal! What could we expect to get with 6k?

A really, really nice 530i SE. Or a shagged 530i Sport with 12 previous owners.

I'm not so sure I agree. Current market conditions are hitting these cars very hard - I think £6k will get you into a good 2001 / 2002 Sport model.

I paid £7k for an 02 530i Sport Auto, £63k miles, Silver with black leather, xenons, Nav / TV / phone, heated seats, full BMWSH except the last stamp which was an Inpection 2 done at an Indy. It does have the 17" wheels though - I had intended to swap to 18"s but I now like the look of them and the ride around town is very good.

I'm the 3rd owner - first owner ran for 3 yrs from new, second owner ran it for 3 yrs, then me. It's a nice clean car - not quite concourse, but mechanically spot on and everything works as it should.

Any 'heavy metal' with a big petrol engine is just not shifting. If the buyer needs to sells they'll be open to offers as no doubt it's been sitting around for months at an optomistic price as punters are all worrying about the credit crunch and rising fuel costs. My advise is ignore the asking prices - the £7k I paid was £1.5k less than it was advertised for. I just put in a bid of what I thought it was worth and he called back within an hour to say yes we had a deal. I'm sure the price will continue to fall but I have no intention of selling any time soon, so it's of no concern to me.

They really are fantastic cars and represent ridiculously good value right now.

[[TW]Fox]

In theory it will yes but go and view some £5-6k Sport's which look lovely in the pictures. Creased seats, trolley dinks, suspicious spills in the engine bay, etc etc. You want to buy a lovely example thats been cherished for a number of years by its original or perhaps second owner, purchased when it was worth a lot more.

Not one of the many cars photographed parked half on the pavement outside a Kebab shop in Peckham.

[nellyleelephant]

i guess there's little chance of finding one at a BMW dealership for reasonable money?

probably too old for their radar??

[[TW]Fox]

nellyleelephant said:

i guess there's little chance of finding one at a BMW dealership for reasonable money?

probably too old for their radar??

Not at all - I was at Chandlers in Worthing on Monday and they had an Approved Used 520i Auto with leather for £5995 on a Y plate.

[nellyleelephant]

I've come across a 02 525 from Stratstone BMW for just under 6k.

Any ideas how the above compares to the 530?

Sorry for all the questions!

[[TW]Fox]

Exactly the same, as it's the same engine family, just with less performance. It's just as smooth and has the same running costs and fuel economy.

Less than £6k from a dealer though, wow, is it poor spec or something?

[nellyleelephant]

not sure if the following link will work, not the best when it comes to these things.

this is the one

http://www.stratstone.com/vehiclesearch/used/bmw-u...

[[TW]Fox]

Gosh thats a bargain. Go and buy that.