Which E61

[Singh911]

After many years enjoyment, my E39 530i M sport Touring sadly got written off and im now looking at an E61 - undecided between 530i or 535d an would welcome thoughts/experiences. Approx mileage is 12k pa, a lot of city driving and the odd trip to the Alps.

My budget is anything up to £20k. My must haves are leather, heated seats and satnav. The cars are available from £13k upwards - whats the consensus on what model year represents good value for money? Is it better to get an lci car or were the upgrades not worth the extra? I'd prefer to spend a bit more upfront rather than get a cheaper car with lots of maintenance around the corner.

Looking at values, it may come down to lci 530i or lci 530d v pre lci 535d

Cheers

[va1o]

I'd go for the LCI, you can get a good one well within budget and it will always be worth more than a pre-LCI.

[scz4]

I had a prec LCI 530d for 4 weeks before selling it on again and collected a LCI 550i last weekend.

I was always sceptical when reading about the quality difference between the pre-lci and lci models. Now perhaps it's because I've gone into the top of range (ex M5) so things generally feel better, but there is a huge difference in the feel of the cabin. Materials seem better, nicer plastics, climate control etc all looks a lot more modern, keycard & start button too.

I do however prefer the doorcards on the pre-lci.

There is a document online released by BMW stating the changes made in 2007 and it's about 20 pages long.

Edited by scz4 on Thursday 12th May 08:50