Any E70 enthusiasts out there?

[RenoHuskerDu]

I've been looking for a F10 535d for months without success. People seem to be holding onto them, even in Deutschland. Most F10s here in France are 4cyl, and I don't much like 4-pot diesels of any ilk.

Recently I started also considering an X5 E70; 35d or 40d. There is a greater choice of 6cyl vehicles out there on the market in France and Germany. The interior space is considerably greater than the F10. I'm a tall guy, and the extra room for our kids would be useful. We also have a long driveway that requires 4wd to get up if it snows much at all. This winter we had no snow but in years past I had to drive our Disco td5 often just to make it home.

So I'm test driving an X5 tomorrow, having read a few reviews stating that it's the closest to a sporty sedan that you get in an SUV. That sounds good to me.

Are there any E70 drivers lurking who might like to share their advice or experiences?

Thanks,
Reno
Alsace, France

[cerb4.5lee]

Try xdrivers.co.uk its a really friendly forum with lots of owners with plenty of experience regards ownership.

[Chr1sch]

We've just bought a lowly 2007 3.0d and it's bloody brilliant, not too slow in the big scheme of things and handles far better than it ever should be entitled to!

My only criticism is the auto box still feels a tad lazy compared with modern dual clutch cars and ours has the dynamic package which would appear to make the ride pretty firm

Overall we are happy, at 6'3" it's the first car I've ever owned bar my old 530d that I can drive comfortably with kids in the back

We bought through a main dealer and the condition and warranty is very appealing as a result too :-)

[farbbm]

I've also got a 2007 E70 3.0d SE, which I bought from a main dealer 7 months ago after my last BM was written off. Initally I wasn't overly impressed because of it's size and the fact that it can't handle like a 5 series, although it has a good try.

Since we've had ours my only real complaint now is with the 20 inch wheels, the ride can be hard at times on our pot holed roads although you could always change the tyres to non run flats. I also had an issue with the rear fogs lights, that required them to be changed as they kept filling up with water and causing an electircal fault, but the warranty covered the cost of those.

I'm averaging around 26-28 mpg on a mixutre of different roads so it's not that much less economical than my previous car a 525d.

I've also noticed that the build quality seems to be a step up from the E60 (mine was a pre LCI one) and the spec ours has you'd be hard pushed to find a 5 series up to it's level.

So for me it's been a slow burner and it's taken time for me to get along with it but I think that's just me adjusting to the first SUV in the family.

Give it a try and see how you get, I'd be interested in what you think.

[RenoHuskerDu]

Thanks for the information. My test drive today was quite positive. I had the same feeling about the 6spd automatic transmission. I think I will hold out for an LCI with 8spd.

[simes43]

I drive an e70, 8speed diesel. Its relatively agile and just great for covering ground quickly and comfortably.

Spend time understanding the different specs available and
the option lists so that you end up with a car that really meets
your specific needs.

I wanted a msport with comfort access, pan roof and no 3rd row seat option (spare wheel instead).

I plan to tow, so the 3.0d was choosen over the 4.0d because of
economy.

I kepted my X3 for the snow and messy stuff!

[Spuffington]

I'm on my second - had a MY2008 3.0d for 18 months, followed by an E60 535d and E60 550i but now in an MY2011 E70 40d LCI and loving it.

Although it's the antithesis of the 550i, I love it all the same. It blends practicality with comfort with a far better driving experience than anything of this size should offer.

I'm averaging 26.6mpg at the moment, but we are skewed towards a more urban environment. 32mpg is reasonably easy to achieve but much above that is more difficult. The driver who delivered it managed 37mpg, but I've never got anywhere near it. Not had it long but running an ownership thread here....

http://www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&...

The 8-speed box is definitely worth hanging out for and whilst the 40d doesn't seem that potent on first impressions, it's got an indecent turn of speed when requested of it.

In summary, in spite of it being 1) a derv and 2) an SUV, it's one of my favourite cars to date.

[Jon1967x]

Its each to their own as I ran an xdrive 40d msport LCI for 18 months and 30k miles and got tired of it. Previous car was a 335d couple and I replaced the X5 with a 640d gran coupe. Mine was at its best on 19" alloys and winter tyres and did have a feeling of go anywhere, but I do a lot of twisty stuff and while it can do it, the 3 and 6 are a lot lot better. Fuel economy was also in the high 20's whereas I'm high 30's now and even 40s on the motorway.

If you get a very late 2010 build on you'll not only get the 8 speed box you'll also get the combox (assuming it comes with professional nav) and that's a better version of Bluetooth etc. Mine was one of the few 2010 cars that were LCI but pre combox.

Top down view is also great, I'd tick that box.

[Technomad]

RenoHuskerDu said:

Thanks for the information. My test drive today was quite positive. I had the same feeling about the 6spd automatic transmission. I think I will hold out for an LCI with 8spd.

I've never before bought two cars of the same core model, but I'm on my second E70, which must say something. First one was an '07 30d SE, which I replaced last September with a 40D M Sport. On the basis of my experience, I'd definitely advise holding out for an LCI model - the 8-speed box does make a considerable difference and the overall vehicle refinement is a deal better. Handling on both is excellent (improbable for a tall, heavy car) but the LCI model (I think) has more of a RWD bias and it certainly feels that way on the road. As with most BMWs, the basic audio system is dire, but the business upgrade on the later car is a huge improvement - I'd rate it better than the Bose system on my 911. Aesthetically, my personal preference is for the SE+Dynamic pack rather than the M Sport. Strongly suggest avoiding the running board option on the SE - they do NOT make entry and egress any easier and all they do is leave muddy streaks on the back of trousers. The only time they're useful is for standing on to wash the roof. Of which, I went for the pano sunroof on our second car and that does make a huge difference - rather like cruising along in a pleasant conservatory! Our original car gave us 28-31mpg before remapping, 31-34mpg afterwards. The 40d hasn't been remapped (yet) and gives 30-32mpg, although a long run at vaguely legal speeds can easily return 35-36mpg. All round, excellent cars, if not in the same league as the Mk 2 Cayenne for handling and refinement.

HTH…

[farbbm]

Technomad said:

I've never before bought two cars of the same core model, but I'm on my second E70, which must say something. First one was an '07 30d SE, which I replaced last September with a 40D M Sport. On the basis of my experience, I'd definitely advise holding out for an LCI model - the 8-speed box does make a considerable difference and the overall vehicle refinement is a deal better. Handling on both is excellent (improbable for a tall, heavy car) but the LCI model (I think) has more of a RWD bias and it certainly feels that way on the road. As with most BMWs, the basic audio system is dire, but the business upgrade on the later car is a huge improvement - I'd rate it better than the Bose system on my 911. Aesthetically, my personal preference is for the SE+Dynamic pack rather than the M Sport. Strongly suggest avoiding the running board option on the SE - they do NOT make entry and egress any easier and all they do is leave muddy streaks on the back of trousers. The only time they're useful is for standing on to wash the roof. Of which, I went for the pano sunroof on our second car and that does make a huge difference - rather like cruising along in a pleasant conservatory! Our original car gave us 28-31mpg before remapping, 31-34mpg afterwards. The 40d hasn't been remapped (yet) and gives 30-32mpg, although a long run at vaguely legal speeds can easily return 35-36mpg. All round, excellent cars, if not in the same league as the Mk 2 Cayenne for handling and refinement.

HTH…

Regarding the running boards, they are also a nightmare to keep clean, mine always seem to have black marks on them. I'm currently trying various cleaning products to see which works best although so far the only constant is that they all require a lot of elbow grease.

[Chr1sch]

I really like the look of our running boards but we too are struggling, they are tarnished to a degree and i cant wash it off - someone suggested brasso - has anyone tried this and it worked?

I was assuming Autosol would be best?

[Technomad]

Chr1sch said:

I really like the look of our running boards but we too are struggling, they are tarnished to a degree and i cant wash it off - someone suggested brasso - has anyone tried this and it worked?

I was assuming Autosol would be best?

When the running boards on my first E70 started to discolour, I looked at them very closely and it looks as though the boards are either lacquered or plastic film coated, and the discolouration is where the coating has perforated and dirt has gotten underneath. IF that's the case (and I'm not 100%), then no amount of brasso will help as it wouldn't be going onto metal - probably the only thing that could then be done is to strip the coating off, polish 'em up and then either recoat or accept that there's a lot of polishing in your future! It's the same problem we have with motorcycle engines - anything that looks like metal usually isn't - it's a paint/lacquer coat over the base metal, with exactly the same problems once it breaks down as we see with the running boards.

[RenoHuskerDu]

We both used to drive SUVs when we lived in California, and the first thing I did after driving one home from the dealer was to remove the silly running boards. Would that be a viable option for the E70, or would it leave gaping holes etc?

OTOH, I see from a post above (thank you) that they do serve the purpose of protecting the paint from stone chips. The other protection I can think of would be in case some inebriated local drives into the side of my car at low speed (France still has dubious enforcement for drinking drivers). I suppose that the running boards, which look relatively sturdy, might help to a certain extent in that case.

I almost always wear jeans so a little dirt on my cuff is not a big worry. As for the wife, she can learn to 'hop' out!

[Chr1sch]

A chap in a focus drove into us on a roundabout last weekend and the running boards/tyre took it in tweir stride, no paint damage at all, his car was covered in scrathches

Come to think of it we don't have any chips or tar on the doors either and the car has done 50k

[Carmo99]

Technomad said:

Chr1sch said:

I really like the look of our running boards but we too are struggling, they are tarnished to a degree and i cant wash it off - someone suggested brasso - has anyone tried this and it worked?

I was assuming Autosol would be best?

When the running boards on my first E70 started to discolour, I looked at them very closely and it looks as though the boards are either lacquered or plastic film coated, and the discolouration is where the coating has perforated and dirt has gotten underneath. IF that's the case (and I'm not 100%), then no amount of brasso will help as it wouldn't be going onto metal - probably the only thing that could then be done is to strip the coating off, polish 'em up and then either recoat or accept that there's a lot of polishing in your future! It's the same problem we have with motorcycle engines - anything that looks like metal usually isn't - it's a paint/lacquer coat over the base metal, with exactly the same problems once it breaks down as we see with the running boards.

I had this problem a few years ago and read it was the bits of break dust causing a little corrosion. A little TCut always polished them up very nicely. After a few years I didn't bother any more and do it once a year after winter. I agree generally they look nice and are good for loading stuff on the roof rack or cleaning. They do however get the back of your trousers dirty.

As I've posted a few times, I bought one of the first E70's in 2007. I still have, which explains how good it is.

[RenoHuskerDu]

Where's that 'like' button or 'thank you' for a post? :-)

[theboss]

I have a 40d MSport (with SE suspension and 7s) and think its excellent. I got a good deal on a preregistered car so the spec was decided for me, although it was very much in line with my requirements. I thought the reversing camera with top down view was a gimic and wouldn't have specced it, but its actually turned out to be very handy. The one thing I'd have added to the spec would be a towbar - I gather they are expensive to retro fit (to OEM spec).

[Cheib]

I've had a 3.0 SD since I bought it new in 2007....it's a great car in my mind, I just took mine out to Switzerland. Just a great car for getting a family and a load of luggage across Europe and still be pleasant to drive when the roads get interesting.

I'd agree on the 8sp LCI cars but I just can't justify it as mine has only done 30,000 miles was specced very highly by yours truly so the cost of change would be daft on a car which is probably now worth £15 to £20k and done the worst of it's depreciating.

Best option I have on mine are the Comfort Seats which are worth every penny....and you appreciate/use them every second you drive the car.

[Spuffington]

Just retrofitted a Westfalia detachable towbar (OEM fitment) to my E70 and it cost £575 from Starmo Electrics. They came to the house and supplied and fitted the towbar and 13-pin BMW specific electrics. Have used them for other vehicles before and they do a superb job.

Didn't bother having the radiator fan upgraded as I'm not towing - just bike rack.

BMW wanted nearly £2k for the towbar, electrics and fan.

[Chr1sch]

I bought ours for the wife and she just needed a 'wife safe' spec - ie big bouncy tyres, pdc, tinted rear windows for the kids

Ended up with a perfect condition car but very odd spec indeed

1 owner, Utterly immaculate, BMW warranty, 50k miles, 3.0d, 2007 model

No nav or Bluetooth - getting the latter fitted but nav isn't an issue (Had it in my 07 530 and it was crap anyway lol) - no doubt would make it nearly impossible to resell

But then it has: (not sure what was standard)

Dynamic pack (I think this is why we have sports seats, black headlining etc)
Fully electric seats all round and steering column etc
Running boards
Front and rear pdc
Cruise

It is fabulous for its simpleness, do miss heated seats so may get them fitted along with dennison Idrive kit

Do people recommend getting them de-flapped like my old 5 series? (I may extend warranty)

Wife loves it, happy days :-) just hope I never have to sell it as I imagine the relatively low spec would hurt?