Bmw 530GT buying advice
Discussion
Hi all. I've been looking at a 2010 one of these with the 3 litre diesel engine. It's in great condition with 90k miles and is priced at 11k. Does anyone have any experiences of one of these with regard to general running costs and what to look out for?. I am wondering if I would be better off just looking at a standard 5 series saloon?
Depends on what you want it for really. As others have said they are good value as many people consider the looks to be a bit challenging. I had one for about 9 months and the other big downside was boot space - the rear hatch drops pretty steeply so it's actually not that spacious and larger items are awkward get in and out. So if you have kids that still need pushchairs, travel cots etc it's a bit of a pain. The normal 5 series estate is much more practical.
They are a nice place to be on a motorway, but noticeably worse that a saloon/estate car on A/B roads. Depending on the model they will be pretty well specified. They are pretty long with not the best rear visibility, so if you can find one with surround parking it'll be a lot easier to get into tight spaces / parallel park.
In terms of running costs they're not too bad. I got low 30s mpg with a fair bit of town driving and high 30s on a motorway journey without trying too hard. Depending on the wheels you have tyres could be expensive, think the smallest are 19s and if you stick with run flats you could easily be looking at £1000 for 4 branded tyres. Seem to be sensitive to alignment as well and being so wide it's easy to excessive inner wear on runflats.
Also, a high spec means it can expensive if stuff goes wrong. Someone clipped my wing mirror and as it turned out to be heated and 'anti dazzle' (e.g. It takes on a green tint when there are lights behind you) a replacement was £350.
Got rid of it as my wife hated driving it because of the size and I disliked it because of the rubbish electric steering, the Diesel engine (if you need a diesel then BMW make some of the best, but as it turns out I don't) and the wallowy dynamics.
All that said, if I needed a car to do 30k motorway miles a year in and didn't mind the tyre bill it'd be fine. Not sure I wouldn't get a 5 or 7 series saloon instead though.
They are a nice place to be on a motorway, but noticeably worse that a saloon/estate car on A/B roads. Depending on the model they will be pretty well specified. They are pretty long with not the best rear visibility, so if you can find one with surround parking it'll be a lot easier to get into tight spaces / parallel park.
In terms of running costs they're not too bad. I got low 30s mpg with a fair bit of town driving and high 30s on a motorway journey without trying too hard. Depending on the wheels you have tyres could be expensive, think the smallest are 19s and if you stick with run flats you could easily be looking at £1000 for 4 branded tyres. Seem to be sensitive to alignment as well and being so wide it's easy to excessive inner wear on runflats.
Also, a high spec means it can expensive if stuff goes wrong. Someone clipped my wing mirror and as it turned out to be heated and 'anti dazzle' (e.g. It takes on a green tint when there are lights behind you) a replacement was £350.
Got rid of it as my wife hated driving it because of the size and I disliked it because of the rubbish electric steering, the Diesel engine (if you need a diesel then BMW make some of the best, but as it turns out I don't) and the wallowy dynamics.
All that said, if I needed a car to do 30k motorway miles a year in and didn't mind the tyre bill it'd be fine. Not sure I wouldn't get a 5 or 7 series saloon instead though.
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