[GTO]

Originally Posted by Axe77

If I were to sell my car and buy a new one, just the EMI alone would account for 50k a month for a comparable vehicle. Which means in about 2-3 months worth of EMI I have already drained through my annual cost of keeping a car from the 6th - 10th year mark.

Not to mention, the down payment, depreciation hit etc. Keeping your current 3GT for longer will save you 15 - 30 lakhs in the longer run. I'm a big believer of buying the right luxury car and using them for long. They age so well anyway. Plus, what would you upgrade to? Is the 3-Series LWB really that much of an upgrade? I don't think so. The G30 530d? Other than the engine, it'll just be more of the same thing.

An in-warranty BMW will cost you about 75000 - 90000 / year to own (as my records have shown). An out-of-warranty BMW will cost you 1.5 - 2 lakhs / year in upkeep. Who wants to spend 30 - 40 lakhs to save 1 lakh a year????

Does the car feel tight and nice to drive even in the 6 - 10 year period.

This also comes down to how you keep it. Forget BMWs, my 8 year old Hondas (Civic & 1st-gen Vtec) felt really nice & tight.

It has also allowed me to refresh the car given that its out of warranty. So it has an M Sports upgraded steering for a while now and literally the week it exited the 5th year of warranty, I remapped it from a reliable source to about 225 BHP

Absolutely. Keep investing a bit to keep the spark alive and not get bored of the car. My remaps have led to on the open road.

Honestly while I would love owning a 6 cylinder diesel, the economics of continuing to make the most of this car are simply unbeatable.

Maybe we can find a pre-worshipped M340i for you after 4 years .

[vredesbyrd]

Originally Posted by GTO

You can now buy a good F10 or an E-Class of similar vintage for the price of a new Hyundai Creta. But it is important to understand there is no such thing as a cheap German luxury car. They are expensive to own. The upkeep costs will be in line with any 60 - 80 lakh rupee car.

Absolutely agreed about this
Seeing what happened to Lancer_maniac's 530d, would you recommend an immediate timing chain replacement post purchase on any used 2013+ 530d's that have run north of 60-70k?

On the contrary, the W212 E350 CDI with a remap sounds like a great alternative deal but is it reliable and fun enough (haven't driven the E350 yet)?

Although my purchase (and capability to do) so is still 2-5 years away (waiting for NCR top dump it's load of near 10 year 530d's soon), better to know things beforehand. Or should I just find a 3.2 Endeavour to have mental peace over touring?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

would you recommend an immediate timing chain replacement post purchase on any used 2013+ 530d's that have run north of 60-70k?

If not change, most definitely a thorough check of the same! I have also added it to the checklist of my own car.

On the contrary, the W212 E350 CDI with a remap sounds like a great alternative deal but is it reliable and fun enough (haven't driven the E350 yet)?

The W212 is also very sorted, but not as much fun as the 530d. In terms of reliability too, I'll place BMW above Mercedes.

should I just find a 3.2 Endeavour to have mental peace over touring?

Any day better than a used 10-year old 530d. As I've often said before, I am okay with owning my own car beyond 10 years / 100,000 km, but no way I'll buy anyone else's old / high mileage car.

[podaraditya]

Hi Rush,

I was going to start a thread on my pre-worshipped 5 series but I chose your thread as its one of most visited and all BHPians should know what a gem of a guy @Maverick5490 a.k.a Sushil is. I have certainly benefited a ton from your detailed review and the tips you have offered all through in purchasing the right 5 for myself. Thanks.

Before purchasing I got a PPI done from an SA at Infinity Lalbaug. Though the car passed with flying colours the SA decided to slap a Rs 3.15 Lacs bill for various jobs that “may” be required on the vehicle (rip-off club). Surely, he thought that the car is changing hands and let’s spook this new owner. I wanted to double check if the car indeed required so much work. This is where the hunt for Maverick5490 begins. Credit to @Sahil because I got to know about Maverick when he mentioned about him on one of the threads however at that point in time, I did not know his name real name was Sushil. After multiple searches on team-bhp I got Mav’s number from the owner of Max Shine at Thane. I was delighted and how. I contacted Sushil and we set up an appointment at his Turbhe ASC. The Lalbaug SA had advised me to replace shocks and buffers all round for a massive sum including labour.

Now comes Sushil’s technical prowess and diagnosing skills. He could pin point the problem with great accuracy. Result = A massive drop of 60% from the bill given by the Lalbaug SA. Once he got the parts replaced, he told me “just D-R-I-V-E and there will be no problem whatsoever”. Being my first German luxury car, those words inspired confidence. Whoever wants to service their Beemer’s at an ASC should try and get Sushil to figure out what’s best for them. I was a bit stressed in owning this pre-owned 5 but with Sushil around those fears have disappeared overnight. I have no regrets in driving from Prabhadevi to Vashi now, in fact I look forward to it.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by podaraditya

Now comes Sushil’s technical prowess and diagnosing skills.

Sushil is awesome, man! Great tech understanding and a true petrolhead . He's made owning a BMW so much easier for me & many other BHPians. We had met up socially a few weeks ago and it was fun talking about this incredible car industry we're a part of. Man's a buddy of mine now.

I was a bit stressed in owning this pre-owned 5

Not fair! Share pics of your car, including the entire purchase experience, price paid and what you like / don't like.

Congrats!

[Axe77]

Sushil is a big reason why I have immense confidence in continued ownership of a luxury barge like BMW. I have complete trust in him.

But you really do have to be vigilant as a walk in customer because the general SAs will totally take you for a joyride with organised loot.

[amitverma]

has any F10 530d owner tried to retrofit one of the Wireless carplay modules, like this:
https://www.bimmer-tech.net/category...y-mmi-retrofit

I really wish the car had carplay and I am keen to add this to mine. Also, can anyone please point me to a good BMW guy here in Delhi NCR where I can get this installed from.

Thanks

[cosmic_ocean]

Originally Posted by amitverma

has any F10 530d owner tried to retrofit one of the Wireless carplay modules, like this:
https://www.bimmer-tech.net/category...y-mmi-retrofit

I really wish the car had carplay and I am keen to add this to mine. Also, can anyone please point me to a good BMW guy here in Delhi NCR where I can get this installed from.

Thanks

I have a carplay system installed on the stock screen of my 2011 - 5GT 530D
here's the link:

https://youtu.be/Deyo8JWRRHI

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by GTO

Maybe we can find a pre-worshipped M340i for you after 4 years .

I have off late given my garage and 3 GT replacement some preliminary thought recently.

To start with it was useful to rule out what “doesn’t” work.

1. German SUVs. X5/X3.

The back seat is absolutely pathetic in the X3 so not even in the reckoning ever. Plus it only comes with the same 2.0d engine.
Saw the X5 recently. Pro is you upgrade to the 3.0 engine. But disappointingly the back seat remains pretty ordinary in the X5 in the X5 too with limited / no recline. The revised X5 is worse than the old X5. No way I’d splurge big money on an X5 for that back seat in return.

2. 6 GT.

Pros: Access to the 3.0 engine plus a great back seat. However, ruled out for following reasons:

- Air Suspension: I am really scared of air suspensions and my experience is that the chances of it failing are reasonably high and very expensive to repair. As someone who’d keep such a car for 9-10 years or more, a major air suspension capex is not something I’d be willing to chance.

- Spare Wheel kept in boot: Having used this format in the 3GT, I feel a spare wheel should lie within a wheel well, even if it means a shallower boot, is more practical (less impractical?) than a spare wheel kept in the main boot. Luggage can be placed in a neater fashion. Also, the 5 / 3 allow for drop down seats creating a flat floor so at least so it will facilitate some flexibility in luggage in the car for 3 person touring.

- Rear spoiler: This does not facilitate bicycle racks on the rare occasion I might want to carry a bike “outside” the car on a rear mounted rack. At least a regular sedan will allow for this.

3. E class. / GLE etc
No real performance oriented engine. Also, I am at the edge of my budgets wiht such a purchase and the peace of mind which BMW has given me biases me heavily towards BMW. Ordinary engines that are just way too impractical in sedan format and while comfortable as an SUV its still just not exciting enough.

So what could work?.

Saw both the 5 and the LWB 3 the other day. These are clearly THE two front runner options i can foresee (most likely going the less than 2 - 3 year used window unless I time some spectacular deals for new combined with some irresistible finance schemes). Going in rough order of preference:

1. 530d:
- Stonking performance
- Diesel efficiency means performance and FE go hand in hand
- Excellent ride quality
- Excellent back seat comfort
- Adaptive suspension that’s slightly superior to the LWB 3
- Adequate boot with drop down flexibility making it acceptable
- Slightly better interior quality than the 3

2. 530i

All of the above but compromising on FE. Performance a step down from the 530d but a notable step up from the 2.0 diesel I am currently used to.

3. LWB petrol / 2.0 diesel
Only major con is this doesn’t allow me the option of 3.0 Diesel engine and is perhaps a hint lower on the suspension front than the superior 5. Other than that:

- Every bit as comfortable in the back seat as the 5.
- Boot space again is comparable to the 5
- The big toss here is the choice between diesel and petrol. Petrol means a slightly better engine but with significant cost on the FE front. Diesel means the only upgrade is in the comfort of the product. Engine wise I remain in the 2.0d territory although given my experience now with the 3GT, I would at a minimum do a prompt remap - same as on my GT.

4. Camry hybrid

This now seems like a distant option but if I cannot rule out the possibility - I do appreciate what it brings as a package.

5. M340i X drive

Extreme outlier for only two reasons. Abysmal FE and bad ride quality. I think the latter might be fixable with regular tubeless perhaps but however much a smile it brings while driving if the ride quality is really bad unlikely I would opt for it. Fact is, when I have the option to get a car with better ride and also drives well, I am not sure if I can make a significant ride compromise for outright driving pleasure but - “never say never”. I would definitely not rule it out completely.

Assumption

Choosing one of the above sedans presupposes that I will have a two car garage where the second car is a reliable sturdy crossover / pseudo SUV like vehicle, tentative options being Creta / Alcazar / Safari / XUV 5OO / Citroen C5. Sweet pricing spot would likely be 22-28 lakh but going up to 35 is not ruled out. Most likely timing to buy this would be when the GT is about 7-7.5 years old so its timed well with enough residual life in the GT - neither too soon nor too close to the time of its replacement.

If the garage shapes up differently for any reason, it could impact the above decisions on the primary car.

[.cArMaNiA]

Greetings from Deutsche Cars.
This is in regard to the due mandatory and urgent technical campaign in your vehicle. The technical campaign is recall from BMW INDIA which is totally free of cost.

Kindly make your vehicle available to our BMW Deutsche Moti Nagar facility for the campaign.

Deutsche Cars is committed for best of the services.
For any further understandings and appointment kindly feel free to contact the undersigned or call @ 01147260038.

Received this mail yesterday for my 530d (Production year 2016, one of the last batch of F10, bought in 2017)

Anyone else got this mail ? This email is bcc'ed, hence I think it has been send to a group of owners. Called my service advisor and he confirmed my car is part of the recall.

I guess this recall might be for EGR inspection. Shall send the car for inspection in few days.

[shovan]

Of late I've been getting pathetic FE, I'm not usually one to check and monitor the efficiency but i was taking one too many trips to the pump. This kind FE in a 30d engine doesn't sound right to me even in the city, plus i was driving sedately. Anyone else getting similar figures? If this one gives me 5.1-9, I only wonder what is plight of petrol owners

Apologies for the dusty picture, I have 3 construction sites around me.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by shovan

Of late I've been getting pathetic FE, I'm not usually one to check and monitor the efficiency but i was taking one too many trips to the pump.

Something definitely wrong, dude. Even if I drive hard on the open road, I've never seen below 6 - 8. I almost never drive hard in the city, and these numbers are for the highway. A tuner once told me that FE is like the barometer of engine health. If it falls too low, might be a good idea to get an overall checkup performed.

Dirty or clogged air filter? Adulterated diesel? Low tyre pressures?

[Hayek]

Originally Posted by shovan

Of late I've been getting pathetic FE, I'm not usually one to check and monitor the efficiency but i was taking one too many trips to the pump. This kind FE in a 30d engine doesn't sound right to me even in the city, plus i was driving sedately.

Your average speed shown there is 9.1 kmph. That explains it. Either your driver has been idling with the AC on or you have been trying to cross Elphinstone Road or some equivalent horrendous junction. Have not checked this in my X3 but if you set the display to show you instantaneous consumption in litres per 100 km, my Superb used to show idling consumption of 1.5-1.6 litres per hour.

[GTO]

The time you get a speeding ticket, but you really don't mind because you always wanted a nice moving shot for the album

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by GTO

The time you get a speeding ticket, but you really don't mind because you always wanted a nice moving shot for the album

Haha. Here's mine from less than two weeks ago.