BMW 530d (F10)
Discussion
Seeing as I request buying advice here (many thanks to those who replied):
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I thought I'd post up what I actually ended up buying, which goes against at least two of the requirements I set out in that thread.
Firstly on the 'out with the old' side, I'd owned my Focus (a 1 litre ecoboost with 123bhp) for 4 years and overall it was a great car. It was just as happy making short trips to supermarkets as it was going down to the Alps as per the picture below.
It only let me down once when an electrical fault occurred whilst it was on the driveway. It ended up costing over £700 to fix, but dwelling on that would make it sound like a much worse car than it was. In short, I would summarise it as:
Pros
- Very fuel efficient up to about 80mph
- No squeaks or rattles; it felt very solidly built
- Super quick to heat up, both in terms of the engine and interior, so was great for short journeys
- Heated windscreen, which was just brilliant
- Plenty of space for bikes, tip runs etc
Cons
- Slow
- Mine was a Zetec and was very low spec. So keep fit windows in the rear, no central armrest, very basic 1980s looking infotainment etc.
- For that one major fault I had to use the local official Ford dealer. They got the only 1 star review I have posted online. Also the part that was faulty wasn't available new from Ford so the existing part had to be reconditioned, which seemed very odd for a car that was 4-5 years old.
As much as the Focus was a near perfect car for me, it wasn't exactly exciting. I've been using a fair few rental cars for work over the last year which was a handy way of trying out more modern cars to see how they compare. Two things I learned from that were that firstly none of the other cars (Corsas, a Corolla, a Nissan Cashcard plus some others I've forgoten) felt appreciably quicker than the Focus and that secondly I was partial to an auto. When I started the thread above I knew the criteria I wanted my next car to meet, but was still unsure exactly which one I wanted. Then by very handy coincidence I got an upgraded rental car which was this 520d G30:
From that point on i knew it had to be a 5 series, which meant a bit of an increase in budget and also a diesel. I think I saw one advert for a petrol 535, but clearly they were super thin on the ground. So a 530d it was and I bought this:
It's surprising given that the F10 and G30 are two different generations how similar they are. The G30 was clearly a fair bit ahead in terms of the full digital dash, fancier idrive / infotainment, but it still seems more of a mid-life upgrade than a whole new generation. The G30 certainly felt plusher inside, but then mine has much more natural feeling steering, albeit the steering wheel itself is quite old fashioned and not as nice. Mine also has the odd indicators that BMW used at the time!
There are a couple of jobs to do. It needs a service, the brakes need sorting and I'll also be looking into how to upgrade the infotainment, at the very least the radio which is unfortunately FM only, not DAB (an option box not ticked). But with those bits sorted it'll be good to go. In pretty much every logical way the Focus was a far more appropriate car me, but every time i see the BMW on the drive I feel like I've won something
In fact, I might go for another look now...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I thought I'd post up what I actually ended up buying, which goes against at least two of the requirements I set out in that thread.
Firstly on the 'out with the old' side, I'd owned my Focus (a 1 litre ecoboost with 123bhp) for 4 years and overall it was a great car. It was just as happy making short trips to supermarkets as it was going down to the Alps as per the picture below.
It only let me down once when an electrical fault occurred whilst it was on the driveway. It ended up costing over £700 to fix, but dwelling on that would make it sound like a much worse car than it was. In short, I would summarise it as:
Pros
- Very fuel efficient up to about 80mph
- No squeaks or rattles; it felt very solidly built
- Super quick to heat up, both in terms of the engine and interior, so was great for short journeys
- Heated windscreen, which was just brilliant
- Plenty of space for bikes, tip runs etc
Cons
- Slow
- Mine was a Zetec and was very low spec. So keep fit windows in the rear, no central armrest, very basic 1980s looking infotainment etc.
- For that one major fault I had to use the local official Ford dealer. They got the only 1 star review I have posted online. Also the part that was faulty wasn't available new from Ford so the existing part had to be reconditioned, which seemed very odd for a car that was 4-5 years old.
As much as the Focus was a near perfect car for me, it wasn't exactly exciting. I've been using a fair few rental cars for work over the last year which was a handy way of trying out more modern cars to see how they compare. Two things I learned from that were that firstly none of the other cars (Corsas, a Corolla, a Nissan Cashcard plus some others I've forgoten) felt appreciably quicker than the Focus and that secondly I was partial to an auto. When I started the thread above I knew the criteria I wanted my next car to meet, but was still unsure exactly which one I wanted. Then by very handy coincidence I got an upgraded rental car which was this 520d G30:
From that point on i knew it had to be a 5 series, which meant a bit of an increase in budget and also a diesel. I think I saw one advert for a petrol 535, but clearly they were super thin on the ground. So a 530d it was and I bought this:
It's surprising given that the F10 and G30 are two different generations how similar they are. The G30 was clearly a fair bit ahead in terms of the full digital dash, fancier idrive / infotainment, but it still seems more of a mid-life upgrade than a whole new generation. The G30 certainly felt plusher inside, but then mine has much more natural feeling steering, albeit the steering wheel itself is quite old fashioned and not as nice. Mine also has the odd indicators that BMW used at the time!
There are a couple of jobs to do. It needs a service, the brakes need sorting and I'll also be looking into how to upgrade the infotainment, at the very least the radio which is unfortunately FM only, not DAB (an option box not ticked). But with those bits sorted it'll be good to go. In pretty much every logical way the Focus was a far more appropriate car me, but every time i see the BMW on the drive I feel like I've won something
In fact, I might go for another look now... Pistonheader101 said:
Stunning motor, congrats.
Just seen your car buying thread requirements, 8k budget. That’s one Helva budget creep!
Thanks, yeah there was a fair bit of budget creep but I really did want a 5 series. Handily I got fair money for the Focus in part exchange at £4.5k (I was thinking it was worth £4k), so it wasn't too painful. Just seen your car buying thread requirements, 8k budget. That’s one Helva budget creep!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff