BMW 520D 2007

[LosingGrip]

After selling my Golf after a major DSG repair i lost complete confidence in it. It was sold last week and I planned to just get a bike. However it’s nice to have a car as well.

I looked at a Focus ST, Mondeo ST220, Honda Civic, number of Mercedes and Audis. My search history is just cars at the moment.

I didn’t have many requirements other than a long MOT and well looked after. Sadly my budget of £4,000 meant it was a lot of crap at inflated prices.

Saw a lovely looking E39 on eBay. But bids were getting silly with a week left. Focus ST where the bloke wasn’t interested in anything under £3,400.

Came across a BMW 520D on eBay that was ten miles away. Quick message when I finished work today and popped over to see it this afternoon.

131,000 miles, 12 months MOT with the only advisories being low tread of the rear tyres. Good condition with the body work. Inside was in great condition. Full service history with 16 out of 17 stamps been at BMW and the last one at the local garage.

Was up for £3,000. Managed to haggle for once in my life and paid £2,850 for it due to the tyres.

Very happy with it. Drives really well (maybe should have tested driven before paying!). It’s an auto which suits me as well as I’m lazy!

[curvature]

A bargain at that price with all the service history.

[LosingGrip]

I thought so to! It needs another minor service in December but got a local garage that does it .

[LosingGrip]

Filled up with £90 worth of diesel and it was just under a quarter from being empty! That will take some getting used to when my old Golf was £60 to fill up from empty.

It’s missing a few things that I would have liked. Sat Nav, heated seats, and can’t play music through my phone without an AUX cable…but my phone doesn’t have a headphone jack! Third world problems I know.

Good things about it.

Comfy. Very comfy. I’d say better than my Golf which I loved for comfort. It’s quiet and smooth. Power wise it’s more than my Golf (160 compared to 150) but doesn’t feel it. Golf was much better on fuel (50MPG without any effort, 60 when being very careful). This has got 43mpg.

I like the size of it. I’m 6ft 4 and 20ish stone. I don’t feel cramped in it at all.

[Mr Tidy]

Looking at your photo that looks like Sparkling Graphite. I've currently got my 2nd Sprakling Graphite 3 Series, but mine were both manual petrols as I don't do too many miles now!

But if it is 160bhp I imagine it's got the earlier M47 engine which is probably a good thing, as the later N47 can have cam-chain problems.

I had a 3 Series Compact with the M47 for 3 years and it averaged 47.8mpg so 43mpg in a 5 Series doesn't sound too bad, and if you get to waft maybe it's a price worth paying.

Enjoy.

[757]

Keep the oil fresh every 8k - should go for a while - good engines the N47 despite what the internet tells you (I presume its this engine) if overly looked after in the oil department.

[d_a_n1979]

LosingGrip said:

Filled up with £90 worth of diesel and it was just under a quarter from being empty! That will take some getting used to when my old Golf was £60 to fill up from empty.

It’s missing a few things that I would have liked. Sat Nav, heated seats, and can’t play music through my phone without an AUX cable…but my phone doesn’t have a headphone jack! Third world problems I know.

Good things about it.

Comfy. Very comfy. I’d say better than my Golf which I loved for comfort. It’s quiet and smooth. Power wise it’s more than my Golf (160 compared to 150) but doesn’t feel it. Golf was much better on fuel (50MPG without any effort, 60 when being very careful). This has got 43mpg.

I like the size of it. I’m 6ft 4 and 20ish stone. I don’t feel cramped in it at all.

That's a great buy IMO and that tank will last you hell of a lot longer than the Golfs did

You're a bit lighter than me by a stone or so; but same height & I always found the E60 to be a comfy car to sit in... Never owned one as much preferred the E39s, but been out in a few and they're roomier than the F10 I found (I struggle to fit into my FILs F10 530D comfortably)...

I did consider very late E61 530D tourings before I bought my latest F01 730D; as you've shown, the E6x range is a great buy as long as the price is sensible

[LosingGrip]

Gets around 600 miles to the tank according to the OBC. Golf would get anywhere from 450 to 500 depending on how I drove it. But as I’d be doing a lot less miles (bike will be used mainly, this is for when the weather is ste and when I’m with my other half as don’t fancy driving her Micra all the time!).

What tyres would people recommend? I can get some Goodyear’s with 9% off so around £200 for two fully fitted.

[d_a_n1979]

LosingGrip said:

Gets around 600 miles to the tank according to the OBC. Golf would get anywhere from 450 to 500 depending on how I drove it. But as I’d be doing a lot less miles (bike will be used mainly, this is for when the weather is ste and when I’m with my other half as don’t fancy driving her Micra all the time!).

What tyres would people recommend? I can get some Goodyear’s with 9% off so around £200 for two fully fitted.

Haha sounds like me and the wifes asthmatic Racing Jazz

Re tyres; Uniroyal RainSport 5s, Vredestein Ultrac Vortis and any of the Goodyear/Michelin lot would get my vote personally...

Camskill have good prices currently; sometimes they have offers on too...

FILs 530D rides superbly on the Uniroyal Rainsport 5s and they're well suited to the UK climate!

[confused_buyer]

757 said:

Keep the oil fresh every 8k - should go for a while - good engines the N47 despite what the internet tells you (I presume its this engine) if overly looked after in the oil department.

My guess it is one of the last M47s at that age. There was a cross over with some of the early "LCI" 520d using the older engine.

[LosingGrip]

Gone for some Goodyear ones. £200 fully fitted. Getting them fitted on Friday. Haven’t gone for run flats to replace the ones that are on there already.

Service will be booked in for after payday. It’s been an expensive month with getting a bike and car!

[guitarcarfanatic]

Great stuff, a good buy and something you can run until it dies for that money.

Fuelly suggests between 37-41mpg is the norm for these (that's real-world, not what the computer says) which is good for the size/type of car

[Shappers24]

You can get little bluetooth usb dongles which aux out which will allow you to stream media to the stereo. If it doesn’t have USB you can power the dongle from cigarette lighter using an adapter. I use exactly this on a similar age mini and seat Ibiza.

[LosingGrip]

New tyres are on the rear. Goodyear Efficientgrip Performance 2. Will keep and eye on how long they last for.

Fronts have been replaced recently so won’t need doing for a while I think.

[LosingGrip]

One thing I do like is how it wants me to just waft around in it. It’s not a car that wants to be driven quickly all the time if that makes sense?

[LosingGrip]

Two months of ownership now.

Error message popped up last week about the transmission. Got home and turned it off, turned it back on to take a photo to do some research and it’s gone. No issues since.

Only done about 1,000 miles since I got it. Tend to use the bike more to go to and from work.

Averaged 34MPG last month.

[Dinoboy]

Looks great for the money that, I had 2 of them from new and never had so much as a bulb go in around 90k miles over the 2 cars. Still think they look a great shape.

[popegregory]

I loved my 58 plate 20d touring, I took it from 60-210k over 8 years in extreme comfort and nothing went wrong with it until at 210k it gently announced it had had enough and wished to die quietly.

[757]

popegregory said:

I loved my 58 plate 20d touring, I took it from 60-210k over 8 years in extreme comfort and nothing went wrong with it until at 210k it gently announced it had had enough and wished to die quietly.

Interesting, good mileage that for a N47 engine, took my 118d (58 plate) from 40k - 180k - and just checked it's MOT, and it's now on 220k

No issues with the chain or anything, other than a DMF which rattled itself to death around 120k.

Did you double up the oil intervals, as its will known this helps reach the high mileage on these, sure helped with me and is giving the next owner trouble free miles in this department.

Running a 318d 2012 now also (same engine) 140k and double up the oil services (8/10k changes) runs well still.

Wouldn't be put off these, can be very good used bargains due to the "bork factor" but buy carefully they can be proper solid reliable engines, just need a little TLC

Edited by 757 on Sunday 2nd January 13:21

[popegregory]

757 said:

Did you double up the oil intervals, as its will known this helps reach the high mileage on these, sure helped with me and is giving the next owner trouble free miles in this department.

Edited by 757 on Sunday 2nd January 13:21

Just fully serviced every year (averaging about 18k) and driven gently. It’s like most problematic things really I guess, you don’t hear about the good ones and our garage just said it’s either going to be a problem or it isn’t; when I asked about it on about 160k they said it had probably answered itself