Help with choosing a F10 530D

[Iddz]

Hi guys,

Have been looking at buying a 530D but do not want to make the wrong choice, I currently have a 535D 2008 which I will be selling to get the new 5 series.

I have been looking around and found that the 2010 and 2011 look to be returning less MPG (41 combined) whereas the 2012 model is returning 49MPG combined, does this have a different uprated engine? Also looking at the facelift 530d 63 plate + which is out my budget but just to compare they look to be returning the same kind of MPG as the 2012 model? Is this the same engine? So the facelift just has uprated steering wheel and lights and iDrive?

Regarding the sound system I understand that I am going to have to downgrade as my current car has Logic 7 and sounds awesome! Cannot seem to find any F10s with the HK system and if I do they are rediculously priced so will probably be doing a DIY upgrade for the sound systems as I have read a number of forum post promoting a few different systems under £500

Also the last question is that I would like the bright day time running lights (angel eyes) I have seen a number of F10 5 series who have really dim angel eyes that you can barely see in day time, what year do the brighter DRL come in at? Is it an optional extra?

Regards,

Edited by Iddz on Tuesday 5th June 09:57

[gizlaroc]

The bright angel eyes are on the xenons aren't they?

Not sure how realistic any of the figures are, and whether they changed real world, probably just adapted the software so the mpg increases for the test.

What do you get out of your E60?

I had a pre facelift E61 535d that used to say 30mpg average and calculated was 27.
I had a post facelift E61 530d that used to say 34mpg average and calculated was 31.
I had a 2010 530d F11 that used to say 38mpg average and calculated was 32/33.



The older the car the more realistic the official figures seem to be, rather than newer cars getting much better figures.


My old 1.9tdi A4 from 1995 had an official combined for 44mpg, it did 44mpg.
A new A4 2.0tdi has an official combined of 67mpg, most owners are getting 45mpg and moaning like mad.

My 535d had a combined of 29mpg, so pretty close.
The new 530d has an official combined of over 60mpg, I bet no one, can get anywhere close to that over 30k miles.



Do you do a lot of miles?
Have you calculated overall costs and how much difference say 30 vs 40mpg is?
I did a couple of years ago and......bought a petrol.

Seriously, when buying a 3-4 year old car, and with me only doing around 18k miles a year it works out about 3-4% more a month.
The difference for you between a 2011 and 2013 530d I bet it is around 1% at best.


What I am trying to say is once you work out the true cost and realise there is actually very little in it, you then get into the car you really want to be in, and ownership is so much nicer when you are not MPG watching.

[bmwmike]

Also to add the biggest cost is probably still depreciation compared to pre/post LCI fuel consumption

[Andehh]

I utterly adore my 2010 F10 530D! My last tank i calculated an average of 41mpg of general cruising to & from work - short journeys 10-15mile cross country where I am not pushing on too much (speed limit +some) , but not really the MPG anyway either.

My long term average over the last year is 39.5. I am not a sporty driver, but neither do I hang about when i don't have to - my time is very important to me.

I replaced the front speakers - tweets, mid & subs about a year ago, following a youtube video which wasn't too hard at all. Just took several hours of very careful & slow methodical work. Sounds much better, but I do long for more (excessively so) bass. I am a sucker for an over the top sub still.

As for the engines, as far as I am aware they are tweaked version of the same base unit. Getting slightly more bhp out of it (emissions reasons?), but I doubt the real world differences in mpg are as much as they state!!! I certainly wouldn't spend more then £100s for the later models due to engine alone - you'd never see that back on fuel.

Edited by Andehh on Tuesday 5th June 12:02

[custardkid]

switch to the 8spd gear box?

[Iddz]

gizlaroc said:

The bright angel eyes are on the xenons aren't they?

Not sure how realistic any of the figures are, and whether they changed real world, probably just adapted the software so the mpg increases for the test.

What do you get out of your E60?

I had a pre facelift E61 535d that used to say 30mpg average and calculated was 27.
I had a post facelift E61 530d that used to say 34mpg average and calculated was 31.
I had a 2010 530d F11 that used to say 38mpg average and calculated was 32/33.



The older the car the more realistic the official figures seem to be, rather than newer cars getting much better figures.


My old 1.9tdi A4 from 1995 had an official combined for 44mpg, it did 44mpg.
A new A4 2.0tdi has an official combined of 67mpg, most owners are getting 45mpg and moaning like mad.

My 535d had a combined of 29mpg, so pretty close.
The new 530d has an official combined of over 60mpg, I bet no one, can get anywhere close to that over 30k miles.



Do you do a lot of miles?
Have you calculated overall costs and how much difference say 30 vs 40mpg is?
I did a couple of years ago and......bought a petrol.

Seriously, when buying a 3-4 year old car, and with me only doing around 18k miles a year it works out about 3-4% more a month.
The difference for you between a 2011 and 2013 530d I bet it is around 1% at best.


What I am trying to say is once you work out the true cost and realise there is actually very little in it, you then get into the car you really want to be in, and ownership is so much nicer when you are not MPG watching.

That helps that you've had the same cars as me! I do a lot of miles over the year, 30k or over, so definately need a diesel, my commute to work is mostly motorway to manchester and back (around 40 miles each way) and the car has been averaging 33 MPG just doing that, had a 525D previously (3L facelift as well) which was slightly better. I do not need the extra power the 535D is giving me as i barely use it anyway so looking for a newer 5 series instead which hopefully would give me better miles per gallon, note that I have all my cars remapped as it really does improve MPG for me anyway guess it depends on the type of driving you do but before the remap my 535D was returning 29 MPG for the same journeys! So hopefully a 2012 530D should be close to the 40MPG mark after remap and a much nicer a fresher look and interior.

[Iddz]

Andehh said:

I utterly adore my 2010 F10 530D! My last tank i calculated an average of 41mpg of general cruising to & from work - short journeys 10-15mile cross country where I am not pushing on too much (speed limit +some) , but not really the MPG anyway either.

My long term average over the last year is 39.5. I am not a sporty driver, but neither do I hang about when i don't have to - my time is very important to me.

I replaced the front speakers - tweets, mid & subs about a year ago, following a youtube video which wasn't too hard at all. Just took several hours of very careful & slow methodical work. Sounds much better, but I do long for more (excessively so) bass. I am a sucker for an over the top sub still.

As for the engines, as far as I am aware they are tweaked version of the same base unit. Getting slightly more bhp out of it (emissions reasons?), but I doubt the real world differences in mpg are as much as they state!!! I certainly wouldn't spend more then £100s for the later models due to engine alone - you'd never see that back on fuel.

Edited by Andehh on Tuesday 5th June 12:02

That's great mate I am also expecting around the same MPG figures that you're getting, what would you say you would recommend a F10 to have the most before I make my decison on which one to get? Do you have xenon lights? Are your angel eyes the bright type ( can be seen during day time) How long have you owned it? any issues that you've had with it? What mileage did you purchase it at?

[gizlaroc]

Iddz said:

.....my commute to work is mostly motorway to manchester and back (around 40 miles each way) .....


So hopefully a 2012 530D should be close to the 40MPG mark after remap and a much nicer a fresher look and interior.

I would say if you expect around the 40mpg mark, with your driving pattern, you won't be disappointed.


I have another 530d LCI E61 at the moment, that too is averaging 33mpg.
I bought it to replace the E350 petrol as a family wagon, leaving me with more money to play with for something else, but I think I'm struggling to get used to diesel again.


BTW, doing your commute, my E350 would be returning 35+ mpg.
£93 a week.
A 530d doing 40mpg would be £88 a week.
Mind you, a 530d may be more like 45mpg doing what you are doing, but still, not the huge savings we think we are going to get.

Edited by gizlaroc on Tuesday 5th June 12:46

[bmwmike]

I had 37+mpg from my f10 530i petrol coming back from Gatwick yesterday. Until I got into town (31mpg and dropping). But still, not a huge difference.

[gizlaroc]

bmwmike said:

I had 37+mpg from my f10 530i petrol coming back from Gatwick yesterday. Until I got into town (31mpg and dropping). But still, not a huge difference.

No there's not.

Petrol has advanced far, far more than diesel in the last 20 years or so.

In fact, petrol has advanced at a terrific rate in the last 6 years or so.

[Iddz]

gizlaroc said:

I would say if you expect around the 40mpg mark, with your driving pattern, you won't be disappointed.


I have another 530d LCI E61 at the moment, that too is averaging 33mpg.
I bought it to replace the E350 petrol as a family wagon, leaving me with more money to play with for something else, but I think I'm struggling to get used to diesel again.


BTW, doing your commute, my E350 would be returning 35+ mpg.
£93 a week.
A 530d doing 40mpg would be £88 a week.
Mind you, a 530d may be more like 45mpg doing what you are doing, but still, not the huge savings we think we are going to get.

Edited by gizlaroc on Tuesday 5th June 12:46

That's impressive if I can achieve 45 MPG! What year was the E350 by the way as I was also considering one of them?

[gizlaroc]

Iddz said:

That's impressive if I can achieve 45 MPG! What year was the E350 by the way as I was also considering one of them?

It is 2011, but the MY12 model with the later M276 engine and 7g 'plus' gearbox.

I was going to sell it, hence buying another 530d, but after getting back in the BMW I realised just how good the Merc is, to be fair I think it is the silky smooth V6 petrol that does it, I had the E350cdi before that after I didn't get on with the F11 5 Series, and I hated that.

I better explain that.
I went from my E61 535d to a 2007 E320cdi estate, I really fell for the big wafty Merc, but when the F11 arrived I really wanted one, I bought one but found it a bit bland compared to the E61, it was comfy, well put together, but just not dynamic. I thought, if I am going to do the comfort thing I may as well buy another Merc, so I bought an early S212 E350 cdi Avantgarde.

I just didn't like it, parameter steering (not linear), noisy cabin, poor seats and wasn't actually any comfier than the F11.
In hindsight I should have kept the BMW. I kept it for about 5 months and then got rid of it. I can't even remember what I bought then to be honest, had a few, M3, 130i, ML, X3, etc. etc.

The E350 I am in now I bought because it was the right price, I bought it 2.5 years ago, the dealer was a Volvo dealer, said there was no service history (electronic, a quick call to Merc showed full history and £1700 service just been done, including tyres) and who wants a 3.5 litre V6 petrol these days?
I thought I would buy it, run it for a couple of months and sell it for a profit, put it like this, the E350cdi estates with less spec were going for £20k+, I paid £13750 for the petrol.

Genuinely the best 'all round' car I have owned, engine is amazing, silent when cruising, sounds glorious when pressing on, great load space, 7 seats and the MPG amazes me.
I have now had it 2.5 years and it is at 110,000 miles, I have decided to keep it forever.

I would however, happily swap for an F11 535i, not knocking the BMW at all, they are both great.

[Fox-]

I have had two F10 530d's. A 2010 and my current 2015.

The answers to your questions..

a) MY12 cars produced after November 2011 have an N57TU engine with 258bhp and lower CO2/higher mpg than the older ones, which are 245bhp. My first one was a 245, my current one is a 258. My current one is about 5% more fuel efficient than the old one. The engine changed only once and was the same until the end of F10 production after Sep 11.

b) None of the pre facelift cars will have HK which is why you can't find it. Prior to the LCI it was the BMW Professional audio system. It's actually the same system without the HK name.

c) The facelift changed the front and rear lights, touch controller for iDrive, steering wheel on M Sport models and made a number of under the skin changes in terms of things like soundproofing. Build quality was also increased in areas like the seat base. NBT iDrive was introduced from MY13 onwards (September 2012) and not the facelift - so there are about 9 months of pre facelift cars with the newer idrive.

d) Bright white DRL's are on all LCI cars and pre LCI cars with Xenon headlights. Pre LCI cars without Xenon headlights get crap halogen lights with dim DRL.

My lifetime average on my 2010 car was 35mpg. The lifetime average on my 2015 car is 39mpg though I do a few more long trips than I used to. I routinely average high 40's on long trips but sub 30 in pure town driving.

Edited by Fox- on Tuesday 5th June 20:26

[Andehh]

I used to do a 40 mile commute, 90% quiet motorways. With a little bit of effort I could get very high 40s mpg very easily. Cruise control at 70mph, seat heavily reclined. Effortless.

The 8speed auto box is essential, as is the wide-screen professional satnav, xenon lights and M sport pack (looks wise).

I would have liked heated steering wheel & upgraded speakers (though I would have needed full BMW professional system to out do my speaker replacement).

I would want to know how much the uprated engine/infotainment systems are and what benefit they might offer. Might be worth 6 months saving to sneak into the post face-lift?

Other then that, my 85k miles in it have been a genuine pleasure! I adore the car, and the 3L engine + auto box is a sublime combination.

Edited by Andehh on Tuesday 5th June 20:58