BMW 535i F11 Touring
Discussion
I was looking to get into a bigger car as my dog had outgrown my E46. I wanted to stay in a BMW and definitely didn't want a Diesel as I was looking at a keeper, and what with the UK governments guidelines on Diesel didn't want to have sell the car within 5 years.
My E46 was a 328i SEA which I had thrown a great deal of money at to improve and maintain it where I felt comfortable. Therefore I was only willing to have a straight 6 again preferrably 3.0. Mind made up I wanted a 535i.
So the search began and whilst there was a sea of diesels there weren't a great deal, in fact just 2 535i's for sale.
1 of which is still advertised and mine.
My 535i was for sale at Vines BMW in Surrey (I am located on the Wirral) and was advertised 5K below book. I was immediately suspicious but intrigued, I asked for the Spec and then had a chat with the salesperson. It came to transpire that the car had been ordered by a local Vegan Doctor who had traded up to a new 540i touring in exactly the same spec.
The Dealer had the car sitting on their forecourt for 5 months, the reason being everyone wanted leather and this car doesn't have any in sight.
I promptly purchased the car initially on HP but then settled the car within a week of purchase as I wanted to modify and personalise the car to my taste.
This is the car at the dealers
This is the car now after the exteriors mods
The car drives exceptionally well for such a bus, the gearbox has 3 setting i refer to as Grandpa mode, Respectable Citizen mode and Nutter Mode.
GrandPa mode I have found to be very good in Traffic (Stop start, Queues), Respectable perfectly fine for general every day use, and Nutter mode when you want to blow those cobwebs away.
I spend most of my time in Nutter mode as the acceleration is instant not delayed.
I have been using lockdown to improve on the technical side reliability. A known area of weakness is the Chargepipe, so applying Man Maths I decided to upgrade said pipe, at the same time I decided to make some further improvements to help the Turbo work more efficiently.
I went out and purchased some new items.
I have yet to apply a tune to the car as yet.
Already there is a marked improvement in how the car spools and holds Boost. I haven't checked fuel consumption yet but I have never worried about mpg more about smiles per miles.
My E46 was a 328i SEA which I had thrown a great deal of money at to improve and maintain it where I felt comfortable. Therefore I was only willing to have a straight 6 again preferrably 3.0. Mind made up I wanted a 535i.
So the search began and whilst there was a sea of diesels there weren't a great deal, in fact just 2 535i's for sale.
1 of which is still advertised and mine.
My 535i was for sale at Vines BMW in Surrey (I am located on the Wirral) and was advertised 5K below book. I was immediately suspicious but intrigued, I asked for the Spec and then had a chat with the salesperson. It came to transpire that the car had been ordered by a local Vegan Doctor who had traded up to a new 540i touring in exactly the same spec.
The Dealer had the car sitting on their forecourt for 5 months, the reason being everyone wanted leather and this car doesn't have any in sight.
I promptly purchased the car initially on HP but then settled the car within a week of purchase as I wanted to modify and personalise the car to my taste.
This is the car at the dealers
This is the car now after the exteriors mods
The car drives exceptionally well for such a bus, the gearbox has 3 setting i refer to as Grandpa mode, Respectable Citizen mode and Nutter Mode.
GrandPa mode I have found to be very good in Traffic (Stop start, Queues), Respectable perfectly fine for general every day use, and Nutter mode when you want to blow those cobwebs away.
I spend most of my time in Nutter mode as the acceleration is instant not delayed.
I have been using lockdown to improve on the technical side reliability. A known area of weakness is the Chargepipe, so applying Man Maths I decided to upgrade said pipe, at the same time I decided to make some further improvements to help the Turbo work more efficiently.
I went out and purchased some new items.
I have yet to apply a tune to the car as yet.
Already there is a marked improvement in how the car spools and holds Boost. I haven't checked fuel consumption yet but I have never worried about mpg more about smiles per miles.
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