BMW 535d M-Sport E61 LCI - Daily wagon
Discussion
One summer's evening, as I bounced down the road from pothole to pothole in my then-daily classic Impreza after a particularly rubbish day at work, I found myself longing for some refinement to waft about in. Also, having just moved into a lovely house in a very quiet rural area, I was painfully aware of how loud the Scooby was every morning when I fired it up at 5.30am for my 12 mile commute to the station, particularly given my landlord lives 50 yards away. I'd therefore been planning on buying a second car to daily for a while and this particularly painful journey decided it. The search began.
My needs/wants were:
- AWD (preferred but not essential)
- Auto
- Comfortable
- Practical (load space and reasonable ability to park)
- Some some scope for excitement
- Reasonably economical
- Not starship mileage
I tried a variety of cars as as I had no idea what I would like. I appreciated having driven the brilliant impreza for so long I would need to calibrate my expectations on dynamics, but nothing pepared me for how numb modern motors would leave me. This was going to be tough.
Some of the cars I tried: Audi A6 (various engines including the biTdi), BMW X3 30d (lovely engine but cramped foot space and very jiggly ride), BMW 330d GT (lacklustre), Jag XE and XF (comfy unless on big wheels but dull and the heater controls aere ridiculous). They were all mostly OK but nothing really grabbed me. I loved the biturbo A6 but it was a saloon and I really wanted an estate for added practicality - the price was also at the very top of my budget. I also didn't liked the gearboxes on any of the Audis. I did come to the conclusion the msport bmws were not really noticeably harsher than the non-m-sport SE, and usually have nicer bodywork.
When I was starting to lose all hope I randomly tried a very tired older E60 530D SE. Think it was 2004. (Incidentally on the way to look at this one I learned to never, EVER drive my Scooby in Croydon). The E60 was in a very poor state so I nearly didn't even drive it. I'd made the journey so thought I might as well take it out just to add the data to the growing database in my head, and so glad I did. It was so much more comfortable than the newer BMWs but no less dynamic. I preferred the gearbox too. Power was OK. I decided the 530d E61 (estate version of this E60) was probably the car for me, provided it wasn't any harsher to ride than the saloon.
That afternoon I also had a 2008 E61 535d lined up to look at. I thought it was overpriced for what it was and I was only really going to look at it so I could rule out needing the extra grunt of the twin turbo setup. This was one of only a few on sale in the UK at the time.
I immediately feel in love with it.
Gorgeous deep blue paint. Saddle leather interior with sports seats. It has adaptive xenons, the better logic 7 sound system, panoramic roof. 75k miles. And it was a dream to drive. And yes, I did "need" the extra grunt of the twin turbo setup. You know the kind of man-logic that has you saying to yourself things like, "I need the extra power to get me out of trouble"...? In fairness, I take regular road trips with the wife to Wales so the extra squirt would be very handy for dispatching caravans, etc.
Turned out it was suffering from the usual and almost expected thermostat failure common with these engines. The main and/or egr thermostats stick open so the car runs too cold and takes a good half hour for the heaters to run warm (and they never get hot this time off year). The car has no temperature gauge so most owners would never realise they had a problem. Frustratingly I had asked the dealer to check this before I took the car. They assured me they had but within a day of taking delivery I knew they had lied to me. It went back to them to fix under warranty. Picking the car up a week later I plugged in my obd2 reader and fired up torque on my phone. Barely 60 degrees after half hour of driving (should be 88). They hadn't fixed it. I was so disappointed and felt really let down. I'd paid top money for this car and chose a dealer for that reassurance. These guys specialise in top-spec bmws and my car was the cheapest on their lot. How's do outfits like this get away with such behaviour?
Stewing in my anger and disappointment whilst considering my options, I waited at a junction for my turn to join a roundabout.
Then got rear-ended by a Ford S-Max.
His foot slipped off the brake, apparently. I didn't even see him coming but reckon he was going some to have pushed my 1.8 tonne wagon a full car length onto the roundabout and deployed the headrest safety restraints (airbags did not deploy, thankfully). Well this is what insurance is for and it was duly fixed and I got it back as good as new.
I got to drive a brand new (600 miles) Volvo S90 for a week while they fixed the wagon. Mixed bag of a car to my mind. Comfortable. Very slow with the 4-pot petrol. The auto gearbox works by some ancient form of telegram system such is the slowness of its reactions. With the start-stop engaged (you have to disengage it every time you start the car) pulling out from junctions was plain dangerous. The delay from applying throttle to the car actually moving required real forward planning. It's not a car designed for town driving that's for sure. Everything is controlled by the big touchscreen in the middle of the dash. For me this made the climate control system fiddly to use on the move with far too much time required to look away from the road. I liked the look of it, and the heated steering wheel is an option every car should have. Would I buy one? No chance.
Back to the wagon...
The thermostat issue needed fixing and the dealer had already refused to take it back even before I told them about the accident. They effectively washed their hands of me and the car. I'm too busy to get into a fight over it, particularly given its a good chance changing the thermostats would likely only fix the problem for a few months. There are many stories on forums of owners having repeated thermostat failure and eventually opting for an extra third thermostat in the radiator top hose. I opted for this solution and it's working well for now. I monitor coolant temps and it always stays around the desired 88 degrees.
The only other thing to fix is a whistle from the panoramic roof above 60mph. Munich Legends serviced the car recently and say it can be adjusted. It'll go back in for that next month.
I've never owned a car and not added my own touch to it. This car is no different. First job was to replace the chrome grill with a matt black item.
I had a light tint applied to the rear lights, which I love. I wanted a tint over the bright silver eyebrows above the headlights. Using carly I'd coded out the orange running lights that did in that housing and the angel eyes are now the sidelights. That bright silver accent is the only part of the car I don't like. However they couldn't do it so sent me round the corner where a vinyl man stuck a gloss black wrap over that part. I don't think I like it so will look at other options.
I was planning on debadging the back then came across some cool matt black badges so went with those. I like it a lot.
She's now booked in for a remap at JFA in Maidstone. They will delete the EGR and remove the swirl flaps prior to mapping. Power safely increased from 286bhp to approx 336bhp and torque up from 580nm to approx 680nm. Should also slightly increase economy from the 33mpg I'm currently seeing.
Here she is as she currently sits on her winter wheels and tyres:
Coolant temp is displayed on the hidden menu if you want to keep an eye on it (YouTube E60 hidden menu to get in to it and one of the items shown is temp). Also, does the Rev counter have an outer ‘hatched’ area that shows the approach to the red line and if so see if it moves (the hatched area is larger when the engine is cold and reduces as the engine warms. It did this on pre lci cars but not sure about yours but it may help.
Otherwise, nice car with nice spec. Enjoy!
Otherwise, nice car with nice spec. Enjoy!
Lovely car OP. I’m a big fan of these, more in a touring guise 
I was considering one of these myself before I bought (and regretted buying) an 06 730D. The later models, LCi ones, are still of interest to me and could possibly be my next car, as long as service history and maintenance has been kept up properly. My only concern are electrical niggles etc...
Which normal alloys has it come on, 18” ones or the 19” ‘Spiders’?
I was considering one of these myself before I bought (and regretted buying) an 06 730D. The later models, LCi ones, are still of interest to me and could possibly be my next car, as long as service history and maintenance has been kept up properly. My only concern are electrical niggles etc...
Which normal alloys has it come on, 18” ones or the 19” ‘Spiders’?
Edited by d_a_n1979 on Saturday 18th January 15:36
Sn1ckers said:
Coolant temp is displayed on the hidden menu if you want to keep an eye on it (YouTube E60 hidden menu to get in to it and one of the items shown is temp). Also, does the Rev counter have an outer ‘hatched’ area that shows the approach to the red line and if so see if it moves (the hatched area is larger when the engine is cold and reduces as the engine warms. It did this on pre lci cars but not sure about yours but it may help.
Otherwise, nice car with nice spec. Enjoy!
Thanks. Yup checked the temp with the hidden menu first time I realised there was a problem. It's a pain having to do that every time you start the car though so picked up a cheap Bluetooth obd dongle. Works really well with Torque Pro. Otherwise, nice car with nice spec. Enjoy!
Unfortunately they did away with the warm-up indicator around the rev counter on the LCI. God knows why.
d_a_n1979 said:
Lovely car OP. I’m a big fan of these, more in a touring guise
I was considering one of these myself before I bought hand regretted buying) an 06 730D. The later models, LCi ones, are still of interest to me and could possibly be my next car, as long as service history and maintenance has been kept up properly. My only concern are electrical niggles etc...
Which normal alloys has it come on, 18” ones or the 19” ‘Spiders’?
Thanks. It came with 18" msport wheels which I quite like. I'd like the 19" spiders but on the roads around here they'd be cracked before I got to the end of my road (asking with my spine). Its difficult enough finding a good set. I was considering one of these myself before I bought hand regretted buying) an 06 730D. The later models, LCi ones, are still of interest to me and could possibly be my next car, as long as service history and maintenance has been kept up properly. My only concern are electrical niggles etc...
Which normal alloys has it come on, 18” ones or the 19” ‘Spiders’?
Quite fancy E46 M3 csl style rims but they don't fit without big spacers. There are a few replica options in 18" and 19". Can't really justify a third set of wheels though. Not when I'm about to refresh the impreza and I'm still building the forged engine for my Rover BRM!
Stuballs said:
Popped along to JF Automotive in Maidstone yesterday for a cheeky remap. Made some decent gains. Power up from 291bhp to 351bhp. torque up from 604nm to 775nm. It's somewhat quicker and economy is improved. Next will be an XHP gearbox remap.
Christ on a tricycle that's some improvement... That'll keep your rear tyres in check 
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