[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by GTO

Just had to share this pic. Looks menacing, the way it was parked. Had gone for lunch yesterday. All other cars in the basement, but a small tip ensures I get the best spot. The lone car in this driveway.

The car looks great and I am sure it increases the visual appeal of the place where it is parked. I think it is good for these hotels when such a lovely car is parked at such spots. :-) You car looks amazing as always!

The style in which the valet guy parked it makes me think he's an enthusiast too

You give your car to valet? I am still a bit nervous about letting valets handle my BMW. I have never given my BMW to a valet yet. I strictly use my beater car when I need to use valet parking. Maybe I am a bit too paranoid and maybe it is time I start trusting valets to park my BMW too. If they can be trusted with a remapped 530d, they can surely be trusted with a stock 320d.

[SR-71]

Damn every time I convince myself its not worth throwing 60L on a car (3 in my case), I see one of these nice pics and it gets side tracked again from my resolve! Lovely pictures.

[sumeethaldankar]

+1 Dr AD. Even I refrain from giving my car to a valet and I have a humble Swift. I keep wondering GTO how do you get comfortable giving your car to the valet? Does it have a valet mode where the gears etc gets restricted?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

The car looks great and I am sure it increases the visual appeal of the place where it is parked. I think it is good for these hotels when such a lovely car is parked at such spots.

Thanks! Yes, most definitely, they park all the nice cars 'at the front'.

You give your car to valet?

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

I keep wondering GTO how do you get comfortable giving your car to the valet?

A necessary evil in Bombay. I usually give a fixed 100 bucks for the best parking spot. About half the times, I park it myself there and about half, I hand it over to the valet.

No option of not giving it to the valet because then, you have to either walk a lot or take the other cars. And I don't like taking the Sunny when I'm out for a good time. Jeep is impossible during the day as it's open.

Originally Posted by SR-71

Damn every time I convince myself its not worth throwing 60L on a car (3 in my case), I see one of these nice pics and it gets side tracked again from my resolve!

Go for it . Lots of neat German cars for way lesser money than that too (including pre-worshipped 530ds).

[GTO]

In a car that is otherwise crafted with very high quality materials, it's disappointing to see such poor quality rubber lining being used. I had commented earlier on this thread about the rubber beading of the rear windscreen becoming brittle & broken.

Now, see the front windscreen:




The rear windscreen's rubber lining has totally disintegrated & disappeared!


For the sake of comparison, here is my Nissan Sunny's rubber trim. Car is a year older than the BMW:

[gnome]

Long back, I used to own a 2008 3-series. That had the exact same issue of windscreen rubber disintegrating. I don't recall running into any other obvious quality issue. Wonder why they haven't bothered fixing that till date!

[lordtottuu]

Ha, the rubber quality has been plaguing me for a while now as well. I've been talking to a few FNGs to source replacements for them as I'm too scared to think of what BMW will ask for replacing it.

Do you feel like NVH levels have gotten worse with the rubber eroding over time?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by lordtottuu

I'm too scared to think of what BMW will ask for replacing it.

Dealer will replace the entire windscreen with the rubber lining. I asked.

You should probably check with Windshield Experts if you're keen. Outside of the dealer, I've only seen Windshield Experts maintaining exacting standards. Go to anyone else and leakages can happen.

Do you feel like NVH levels have gotten worse with the rubber eroding over time?

Nope. And no water leakage either.

[lamborghini]

Not just BMW, but it is a bane of most German / European cars : rubber components that end up cracking due to the heat and conditions.
We've had the same on our Germans across brands, along with the other issues of sagging roof-liner.
In fact, just recently got the F30 sunroof rubber lining / gasket changed with the help of Maverick Sushil.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

Not just BMW, but it is a bane of most German / European cars : rubber components that end up cracking due to the heat and conditions.

Incidentally, my 530d's parking spot never has direct sunlight on it. Not even for an hour.

Furthermore, many parts of USA & Europe have more extreme weather conditions than good old Mumbai.

[GTO]

Over the last ~10 days, I've lived with a Compass Diesel AT, MG ZS EV & Altroz DCA. Used them for highway trips as well as my city travels. No better way to understand a car than to test it in your home city on familiar roads.

As a downside of that, the 530d & Jeep have been started just once in 2 weeks! Thank God for the trickle charger suggested by Androdev (you can see the wire coming out in the image below).

Am taking her out today and so looking forward to it . Nothing quite like high-revving your own 6-cylinder beast after driving all these media cars.

[GTO]

No media car right now, so been having a lot of fun with the 5! Took her out 4 times since the last update, almost everyday .

Rear tyres are slipping & sliding. I think it's partly my driving style and partly the 650 Nm torque going to the rear. But this happening at ~12,000 km since the tyre change is quite early. The remapped car chews through rubber. Literally.

Who cares when you're having so much fun though!! Car feels super tight. These Germans age so well, she doesn't feel like she's almost 9 years old.

Nothing quite like stretching her legs on the open road. See how this Dzire has covered the "Army" board. It was positioned such that even his number-plate would've been hard to catch for the speeding cameras (from top angle):


I L-O-V-E Sunday lunches. In fact, I love late Saturday nights, long Sunday lunches and being at home on Sunday evening (chilled evening before Monday). Why Sunday lunches over Sunday dinner? Emptier roads (Bombay is too charming on Sunday mornings), easy parking, easier table booking, long 5 hour brunch or lunch sessions (not possible on Sunday night as I prefer to sleep early). Sunday nights are a mess in Bombay...too much crowd everywhere. Shot @ Diablo, a restaurant I highly recommend for the food + music + ambience:

[Pier39]

Thanks for your detailed review on the 530d. I have just booked a 530d Msport -carbon black MY2022. Looks like there is a production lead time of 45-55 days to roll them out.

Due to semi conductor shortage - the following features will not be a part of the package.

a) LED handhelds for the rear passengers
b) 360 degree camera for parking
c) Touch remote key parking via the handheld

[AKSarkar1]

Originally Posted by GTO

she doesn't feel like she's almost 9 years old. See how this Dzire has covered the "Army" board. It was positioned such that even his number-plate would've been hard to catch for the speeding cameras

I wouldn't have been able to guess that the car is 9! From my personal experience with Germans they only age well if you take care of them (especially post the 5 year mark), a big chunk of the credit goes to you for maintaining her in mint shape!

Looking forward to more updated with the 5er!

[M00M]

Originally Posted by GTO

As a downside of that, the 530d & Jeep have been started just once in 2 weeks! Thank God for the [url="https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/184814-ownership-review-bosch-c7-battey-charger.html"]trickle charger suggested by Androdev.

Can you please attach a picture where you have connected this in the car ? In my Lexus ES the dealership told me to connect it to the front fuse bay negative terminal and the body as positive terminal and not in the battery which is there in the boot. Still trying to wrap my head around the correct location to connect this.