[ImmortalZ]

It was December 2017. My Civic had finally made the trip to Blackworks Engineering at Bangalore where it is getting the race car treatment. The plan for that car was for a very high quality daily driver with 350+ BHP of power to the wheels. However, that evolved into a project that will not be a good daily driver, even though it can be. Thus, I started looking for a new car that would replace my Civic. I had decided that my next car would RWD. My wife, ever so patient with my madness, only demanded that it be as comfortable and spacious as the Civic. Little did she know that this would be an extremely tall order for a German saloon.

I decided to get a late model E60 530d. The design for that car looks contemporary now, with all the LED bits and bobs and the interior, which is acceptable, if the car is well maintained. I saw a LOT of cars over three to four months - so much so that a friend who later started looking for similar cars would show me ads and I would instantly be able to tell him the history of the car and the issues it had. I had come across a couple of incredible examples, both of which slipped out of my hands due to their owners deciding to keep their cars.

I had given up looking for a Bimmer until one fateful day, a contact from the Platino Classic Calicut called me up about an F10 530d with a price tag that would suit an E60. I was sceptical until I saw the pictures and looked up the serial number. This was an early example F10, one of the first of the few sold in India. It had a solid service history - with many warranty replacements and recalls applied on it.



It had all original paint and one ding on the driver side door that the owner kept around for sentimental reasons. The odo was at around 82K KM and the interior was immaculate.











I immediately jumped on it. At nearly double my initial budget, this would bury me for years. But I jumped on that grenade anyway. Now, one might think - an 8 year old Bimmer, run almost 1L KM. I must be mad as a hatter, right? Through this thread, I hope to show all of you - no, I hope to inspire some of you to take the same jump I did. Things aren’t all that bad as you are made to believe.

Now, you must be wondering why this thread is in the modifications section and not the ownership section. As you will see later, keeping a modern diesel operating past its warranty period requires that you do some mods to it. Diesels from this decade are made to satisfy strict emissions laws and last until their warranties run out. But, as I would find out, there still exists a gem of an engine under all that smothering.


The First Service and the Rude Surprise

When I took delivery of the car, the service indicator was still a good 8000KM away. I had planned to do an oil change much earlier, as these long service intervals are mainly to satisfy laws limiting the waste caused by a particular vehicle. They are not good for the engine’s life. BMW has a standard called LL-04 for engine oils used for N57 engines. I planned to change to regular Motul Xcess 5W-40 and a 7000KM oil change interval.

About 4000KM into my usage, the car indicated that it needed an oil top up. These engines are known to consume some oil during their running and this was expected. I took the car to Code6 Cochin for a top up. They added quite a bit of oil (Addinol 5W40 LL-04) until the digital readout showed that the oil was fully topped up (at the MAX mark). I wasn’t entirely comfortable with this as excess oil leads to excess oil pressure, which might cause the turbo oil seals to blow, among other bad consequences. But my concerns were assuaged by Gino. After I reached back to Trivandrum, now I suddenly got a warning which said oil is above maximum value. I looked at the dipstick and it was at maximum. The oil level sensors in these cars tend to get sludged up, so I made a mental mark to get that checked out during the oil change.

About 200KM before I got the oil changed, I got a drivetrain warning while accelerating hard. A day later, I gave the car to Code6 for an oil change, along with the usual filter changes during such services. There was also a slight noise when the car hit irregular road surfaces, which I wanted traced. I also mentioned the drivetrain warning and asked that the car be scanned for any codes, as I knew they had a full BMW service setup at their workshop. I got the car back after a day. The total bill was roughly 21K, which was fair since they changed everything including the cabin air filter.

They also recommended changing the tie rod assembly for both sides at the front, front stabilizer links and the front brake pads. Lemforder tie rod assemblies are roughly 5K a piece and stabilizer links are less than 1K each. This leads us to the first lesson in German car ownership. Get familiar with RealOEM.com, fcpeuro.com and ecstuning.com. The parts that BMW sell you to are made by OEMs. There are multiple OEMs which manufacture these parts and some are factory suppliers and some are aftermarket replacements. Lemforder, FEBI-Bilstein and Meyle HD (yes, only HD marked Meyle) are names you can trust for suspension components. A Lemforder front upper control arm is about USD 200, while Genuine BMW is roughly USD 300. And they are practically the same thing.

Ebay is also a great source for euro car parts with great prices and almost zero shipping costs, straight from countries like Lithuania. While I am here, do note that E60 and F10 BMWs (and generally every other BMW model from that era) come with aluminium suspension components. Do not attempt to shoehorn “genuine” bushings into these control arms - you have to replace them wholesale. Any bushings you find for these parts would be fake as they are not manufactured at all. Caveat emptor.

After I got the car back, I asked for what codes were set in the car for the drivetrain warning. To my surprise, I was told that there were no codes at all. This was far from believable - a modern BMW with no codes set? Surely they jest. I made some hmm huh noises and cut the conversation short. Literally that night, on the way to Trivandrum, I get a drivetrain warning - this time, much more stern - “Full performance not available. Visit service center.”. The car wasn’t kidding - I was barely out accelerating an old Innova. At 3AM, I sent Gino a photo of the warning and asked what to do.



I was told to show the car to the dealership. Now, I did not expect this from them at all - I had given my Boss’ old and completely knackered X6 to them and they had fixed it up to a generally sellable condition. This was newer F series car and therefore much friendlier to diagnose. So I did what any sensible person would do - I ordered the factory diagnostic cable and acquired all of the factory diagnostic software.

After a brief wait for a package to arrive from AliExpress, I was all set. I connected the laptop, fired up the software and hit the read button. Boy, was I in for a surprise.



I was not happy at this point. As you can see in the picture, there are two errors relating to the diesel particulate filter. The first error with the code 245700 is set when the DPF is filled up to a high level (somewhere around 85% of max).

A DPF traps soot particles from the exhaust stream and a regeneration process is carried out by the DDE (diesel ECU in BMW speak) periodically to clear out this soot by burning it away. When regeneration happens, the exhaust gas temperature rises to between 300 and and 600 degC (depending on the type of regen happening at the time) and the soot burns away. This is required because the back pressure increases in the exhaust as the soot accumulates. This is bad juju, as you can imagine.

Now, when 245700 is set, regeneration does not happen anymore. You are supposed to go to the workshop and they are supposed to figure out WHY regeneration isn’t working properly (it can be many number of things - faults in the air mass metering system, bad oil, bad fuel…) and then run a service program that forces a regen to happen and send you on your way. This code was set at 86256KM on the odo on my car - before I gave it for oil change.

And then, there is 245800 - the DPF is clogged so much that the backpressure is too high to be measurable. There are two pressure sensors in the exhaust system - one measures pressure at the turbine outlet and one measures it after the catcon and before the DPF. By measuring the pressure before the DPF, it can figure out how badly the DPF is clogged. And when 245800 is set, the DPF cannot be cleaned out by regeneration anymore. You need to have it chemically cleaned (GBP 700 or so) or replaced (GBP 2000 - yeah, these things are made of precious metals). I was angry and disappointed at the same time. They were supposed to be one of the better ones, and here I was, looking at an extremely expensive repair bill because they did not scan the car when they were supposed to (and I was even told during one of my status enquiry calls - “He’s scanning it AS WE SPEAK.”)

I had decided early on not to touch this car for anything other than periodic maintenance. Why would I need more power? I was expressing my frustrations to Venkat and he promptly told me - “Bring the car to the workshop. We’ll make a downpipe for it.”.



Here’s another info dump - google newTIS. This is a web mirror for the BMW TIS system. The same system that helps you diagnose and understand the systems in the car is integrated into ISTA, the factory diagnostics and programming system. In a searchable and indexed form, the website is far more useful than the version in ISTA when you want to read up on the technical aspects of a system without first having to get a code for it on the car.

I had just shifted to Cochin and making time to drive to Bangalore was difficult. After a couple of weeks, the car become more and more worse - it would shut off in traffic and would shudder and choke. I started seeing EGR valve errors in ISTA. Now, the EGR system in diesels need regular cleaning. By feeding the exhaust back into the intake, cylinder temps are reduced and this leads to a reduction in NOx emissions. This also feeds soot into the intake, which, as you can imagine, is Not A Good Thing™. As the soot clogs up the EGR system and the intake manifold, the car gasps for air and you will see a reduction in fuel economy and performance.

Eventually, I arranged a few days of work from home from my boss and drove to Bangalore. On the way, I was overtaken and kept at bay by a Ritz VDI. The crushing effect on my morale was beyond imagining.


Blackworks Does My BMW

Venkat and Chandru immediately got to work to work on my car. We popped off the air intake system and followed the steps in ISTA to disassemble the exhaust system and removed the DPF from the car.





Many many diagrams were drawn and measurements were taken and Chandru embarked on the process of getting all the bits and pieces for the downpipe to be made. Two days later, the downpipe was tacked up and test fitted.



While the downpipe went for final welding, we got started on the EGR system and the intake manifold. We immediately regretted not having started on this earlier. The sight that greeted us was gruesome. Unfortunately, I did not click any pictures as my hands were black from the mixture of soot and oil fumes that was everywhere on the intake manifold. It was like grease, but of a much more sticky and noxious consistency.

Now, the BMW N57 engine has something called swirl flaps. They are movable flaps on the intake manifold which can close off one intake port, forcing air to flow through the other port, causing swirl. This adds an appreciable amount of torque at low RPMs. They are gradually opened as RPMs increase. The older M57 engines had swirl flaps with a different design which caused catastrophic engine failure when these flaps broke off and were ingested, metal spines and all, into the combustion chamber. The N57 has a different version which prevents this from happening.

However, the EGR slime had covered up everything and there was barely any space for any air to go through. No wonder my engine was barely running at idle.

Here is a picture from the web that is representative of what we saw.

Credit : AvonTuning on Facebook.


We also noticed something that was downright alarming.



The intake port for cylinder no. 2 looked like it was leaking oil all over the head and surrounding areas. We initially suspected that the leak was coming from some other part of the head (and everything in the area is expensive as hell - like the HPFP), but we eventually discovered a damaged intake manifold gasket for that cylinder. It was either installed wrong from the factory or renewed badly by the dealership. Either way, it was not sealing and I had a boost leak. The soot mixed with the oil fumes from the PCV system had caused this oil like film to form all over the area, coating everything and dripping to the floor. We saw the oil dripping when we initially disassembled the under body shield and expected something far worse. However, I am going to replace the oil drain bolt just to be sure.



We made some calls to BMW dealerships and indie parts dealers and the earliest we could get a replacement gasket kit was 3-5 days. BMW had them at their warehouse in Mumbai and it would come to wherever we wanted. But it was not getting sent by next-day air or anything as fast. I could not stay back that long and this damaged gasket was not going to seal.

Now, the jugaad solution is to anabond all over that area and pray it seals until I get to Cochin at which point I could order a gasket kit and have Joe replace it for me. But Venkat doesn’t do jugaad unless there is absolutely nothing else that could be done. And me losing my job doesn’t really faze him. (Just kidding). He made some calls and arrived on a solution. He would scan the intake port plastic frames using a special industrial scanner and then create a 3D model of the gasket that is required to seal it. This would be sent to a CNC cutting place which would then cut the complex shape out of teflon.

Yeah. I’m serious.

The manifold was first cleaned out thoroughly by Venkat and Chandru by emptying an entire can of gasket cleaner into it. It was then washed out by diesel and the result was a pristine intake manifold, which looked like new.



The picture shows maybe half of the gunk that came out of the manifold. Venkat removed, by hand, just as much of this sludge before this picture was taken. The exercise definitely has cost both of them a few years of their lives. Clean diesel - hah!



The plastic frame that you see is what was scanned. Then a 3D model of the gasket was created by Venkat. (P.S : This picture is after the manifold was cleaned out. Apologies for the chronological mismatch.)



A day later, we had the teflon gaskets in hand.






We disassembled everything around the EGR cooler and blocked off the part which supplies EGR gases into the intake manifold. This way, the various sensors and valve assemblies that are part of the EGR system stay intact and communicating with the ECU while we prevent soot from getting into the intake. I’m sorry for the lack of pictures around this section as the grime and gunk were truly revolting. I simply could not take pictures at this point.

Chandru cleaned out the intake port and the areas around it. The valves and the intake tract were all coated with soot that we had no real way of removing. The BMW recommended procedure is walnut blasting the intake to clean it up. We have to get this done sooner or later. Or maybe we have other, more… exotic ideas.



See above picture for the final result of all that effort.

The final welding for the downpipe was complete at this point and it, along with the rest of the intake and exhaust system were reassembled and we were ready to start the car again.



Ports for the O2 sensor and EGT sensor.








Armed with the laptop and ISTA, we cleared the recommended adaptations and hit the START/STOP button. It rumbled into life with a massive pop that spread a huge cloud of soot all over the workshop. The smoke was burning our eyes and and smell was unbearable. However, it was most definitely alive and running.

We noticed an exhaust leak in the engine bay and traced it to a broken PCV pipe. This was made of corrugated plastic and had become really brittle sitting right above the exhaust manifold for 8 years. Us pushing and pulling it to get to the sensors and the DPF had damaged it. We wrapped it with some tape and decided to have it replaced with a cyclonic PCV separator in the future. This will reduce the oil content in the fumes that go into the intake and thus keep the system cleaner.

By this time, it was nearly 11PM and we rolled out the car from the workshop and went for dinner. Along the way, we could feel it adapting. There were clicks, pops, changing exhaust and intake notes… and nonstop nagging from the computer about drivetrain errors. When we pulled up for dinner, we connected the laptop again and checked what was happening. The car was not happy with the EGR valve not causing any variations in the intake air volume and was complaining loudly. It was also not happy with the DPF pressure sensor readings.

But the car was running. We went to dinner, happily.

After dinner, we decided to drive around a bit to see how the car is responding. And boy, did it deliver.

Immediately, we noticed that the throttle response was far more crisp. Minute adjustments in the throttle immediately elicited a response. This was like sport mode, except we were in normal mode. After some cautious prodding, I pressed the drive select switch into sport. And floored the throttle.

There was wheelspin. There was a wiggle from the rear as the traction control lit up. The turbine whooshed loudly and the car took off. This was something I had never experienced before from this car. It was not loud, but the six pot growl was prominent, especially at the higher RPMs. The acceleration was unrelenting. I ran out of bottle far before the engine ran out of steam. The suspension was letting this thing down. We were flying over uneven expansion joints and the DSC and TC were all constantly trying to keep this thing where I was pointing it.

It completely blew my mind. My adaptations were reset. If I had any buyer’s remorse for having bought this car, it was all gone. After we got back to Venkat’s house, we could not stop discussing about what we had experienced. What we wanted to do to make it better. How do we remove the remaining muzzles that BMW had placed on it for economy and emissions reasons.

Dear God, what a machine.

What an engine.

Coming up in the weeks ahead - removing DPF and EGR via software and more.

[abhiram7912]

This thread couldn't have come at a better time. I was thinking about getting in touch with blackworks regarding getting a downpipe made for my 525d with the N57 engine. I need to make some time and drive down from Hyderabad. Did not really think about removing DPF and EGR. Cant wait to see how yours will turn out!!

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by ImmortalZ

a friend who later started looking for similar cars would show me ads and I would instantly be able to tell him the history of the car and the issues it had.

I vaguely remember this

BTW I am so inspired by your passion for BMWs that, I have not only strapped on a pair to get myself my first German, I have also converted my friend(a merc fanatic) to a beamer guy.

If you remember my first question to you was, at what point you thought to get more power out of the BMW?

This thread has not only answered my question, however it has set some really tall order for people who would buy a "high millage" or "previous gen" German muscle.

Really informative. Love every bit

Pramod

[ImmortalZ]

Originally Posted by abhiram7912

This thread couldn't have come at a better time. I was thinking about getting in touch with blackworks regarding getting a downpipe made for my 525d with the N57 engine. I need to make some time and drive down from Hyderabad. Did not really think about removing DPF and EGR. Cant wait to see how yours will turn out!!

Mine has already turned out well. If you wish to get in touch with them, try their Facebook page or PM me and I will give you contact details.

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

I vaguely remember this

BTW I am so inspired by your passion for BMWs that, I have not only strapped on a pair to get myself my first German, I have also converted my friend(a merc fanatic) to a beamer guy.

If you remember my first question to you was, at what point you thought to get more power out of the BMW?

This thread has not only answered my question, however it has set some really tall order for people who would buy a "high millage" or "previous gen" German muscle.

Really informative. Love every bit

Pramod

A lot of the information in this thread applies Mercs as well. The only downside is that the official service tools are a lot more expensive to get than BMW. But it is of course, worth it. Those tools pay for themselves after one or two major services.


One point that I will keep emphasizing as this thread progresses is to stop seeing any used German car as a horror story waiting to happen.

[Dr.Naren]

Good to hear that Blackworks sorted out all the issues. The downpipe also looks really good. I have been running with their decat downpipe since more than 1 year in my S-Cross 1.6 .

[AbhiJ]

Awesome thread, awaiting more updates.

One technical query though... Is teflon the right/an acceptable material for a manifold gasket? I thought these gaskets were usually paper / rubber based?

[ImmortalZ]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Good to hear that Blackworks sorted out all the issues. The downpipe also looks really good. I have been running with their decat downpipe since more than 1 year in my S-Cross 1.6 .

I know. Venkat doesn't cut corners. He either does things properly or he doesn't do it at all.

Originally Posted by AbhiJ

Awesome thread, awaiting more updates.

One technical query though... Is teflon the right/an acceptable material for a manifold gasket? I thought these gaskets were usually paper / rubber based?

Teflon is fine as a gasket material. One thing to watch out for is that teflon doesn't compress nearly as well as rubber does. So you have to be very precise on how much it sticks out from its base in the manifold. Too much and the plastic manifold is going to break when you tighten it down. Too little and there will be no seal.

We ended up choosing teflon because it is near impossible to create a complex shape like this in rubber without a mold. Remember that this is not a flat piece with some shapes cut out of it. This manifold has a series of O rings. So, paper is out completely as a material choice. Also, regular rubber does not like working in contact with diesel fuel. Teflon strikes the perfect balance here. Inert to contaminants, slightly compressible and machinable. Time was against us and we turned to exotic materials and advanced manufacturing.

[abhiram7912]

Mine has already turned out well.

I meant after removing DPF and EGR. I am mostly worried about black smoke. Can you point me towards the cable and the software used?

One point that I will keep emphasizing as this thread progresses is to stop seeing any used German car as a horror story waiting to happen.

I always felt this. Some indian mechanics employ jugaad which will lead to more problems than before. If you are buying a german car you need to be mentally prepared for the upkeep and maintenance. Most indians i feel don't have the concept of preventative maintenance and wait until some part fails to replace it. This leads to origin of those so called horror stories, atleast IMHO.

[rageshgr]

Congrats Immortalz on waking up the beast!, and making it more aggressive.

Your passion shows, and kudos to Venkat to even fabricate such small parts.

Are you considering a remap to complement your new down-pipe?

[ImmortalZ]

Originally Posted by abhiram7912

Mine has already turned out well.

I meant after removing DPF and EGR. I am mostly worried about black smoke. Can you point me towards the cable and the software used?

I would be lying if I say there is no smoke - why else is a DPF there in the first place? But it is nothing extreme.

Search on AliExpress for BMW ENET cable. Look for a seller with high feedback and high number of orders. Choose a registered post shipping or AliExpress Standard. The cable and probably a CD will reach you in 20-25 days. Do not bother with the disc though, as the software on there will be hopelessly outdated.

To get the software, go and register on BimmerFest. Look in the coding forum for a BMW ISTA download thread. You will find a MEGA link with everything you need. This is a complete all in one install which will give you the ISTA tools PLUS the older, but more capable NCSExpert for coding (and others, like WinKFP for programming).

Originally Posted by abhiram7912

One point that I will keep emphasizing as this thread progresses is to stop seeing any used German car as a horror story waiting to happen.

Originally Posted by abhiram7912

I always felt this. Some indian mechanics employ jugaad which will lead to more problems than before. If you are buying a german car you need to be mentally prepared for the upkeep and maintenance. Most indians i feel don't have the concept of preventative maintenance and wait until some part fails to replace it. This leads to origin of those so called horror stories, atleast IMHO.

High quality maintenance on time is everything. Use the best oil. Change it on time. Do not wait for 15K KM. I will be doing these changes at 7-8K. Don't do it any later than 10K. Diesel fuel will mix with the oil because of the higher blow by in these engines. This will drastically reduce the lubricity of the oil as the diesel content increases. This calls for more frequent oil changes.

Use good diesel. Do not use additives.

When there are problems, electrical or mechanical, use quality replacement parts. Using inferior parts will lead to more serious problems down the line. Parts for these cars are fairly priced if you get them outside of the dealership. Penny pinching will only lead to tears.

And so on and so forth.

Originally Posted by rageshgr

Congrats Immortalz on waking up the beast!, and making it more aggressive.

Your passion shows, and kudos to Venkat to even fabricate such small parts.

Are you considering a remap to complement your new down-pipe?

Thank you.

Of course, a remap needs to be done. Routing the right pipes to the right sensors has kept the car running for now. There is no CEL and there is nothing in the built in check control. But if I connect ISTA, there will be plenty of codes. While you can keep using the car like this, it is not acceptable for me.

I will be turning off the EGR and DPF off in the DDE and update the thread after this is done.

[abhiram7912]

Originally Posted by ImmortalZ

High quality maintenance on time is everything. Use the best oil. Change it on time. Do not wait for 15K KM. I will be doing these changes at 7-8K. Don't do it any later than 10K. Diesel fuel will mix with the oil because of the higher blow by in these engines. This will drastically reduce the lubricity of the oil as the diesel content increases. This calls for more frequent oil changes.

Thank you for the info regarding cable and software. Regarding oil changes, after a service my car usually shows around 9000 kms for next service. I get it done around 6000 kms depending on free time i have. Some people might feel thats bit early, but i would rather play safe than feel sorry what with the deteriorating conditions at play in our cities. Once i get the software and other required bits and pieces, i am going to have a go at doing the next service myself .

[ImmortalZ]

Originally Posted by abhiram7912

Thank you for the info regarding cable and software. Regarding oil changes, after a service my car usually shows around 9000 kms for next service. I get it done around 6000 kms depending on free time i have. Some people might feel thats bit early, but i would rather play safe than feel sorry what with the deteriorating conditions at play in our cities. Once i get the software and other required bits and pieces, i am going to have a go at doing the next service myself .

With the software, regular service is usually uneventful. What will be interesting is finding what else has gone wrong in the car without you knowing or noticing.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by ImmortalZ

Dear God, what a machine.

What an engine.

Welcome to the club! Even after 3 years of owning a 530d, she always, always makes me when I revv her. It's a mad car. Incredible tips in your thread - thanks for sharing!

Just looking at the pics, I could tell that your car is of an early build. This exterior + interior colour combo was seen most with the 2010 cars only.

Your appetite for risk is definitely greater than mine. I'd never buy a pre-owned car with over 40,000 km on the odo.

Through this thread, I hope to show all of you - no, I hope to inspire some of you to take the same jump I did. Things aren’t all that bad as you are made to believe.

Agreed, but equally, not everyone has the technical understanding that you do, access to the right resources & garages or time to spend on maintenance & upkeep. Buying an old used German isn't for 99% of the people out there.

I had planned to do an oil change much earlier, as these long service intervals are mainly to satisfy laws limiting the waste caused by a particular vehicle

So true! I keep my oil changes anywhere between the 7,500 - 10,000 km mark.

Lemforder tie rod assemblies are roughly 5K a piece and stabilizer links are less than 1K each.

Wow, that's much cheaper than I'd have thought.

The parts that BMW sell you to are made by OEMs. There are multiple OEMs which manufacture these parts and some are factory suppliers and some are aftermarket replacements

True. My car is still under warranty, but I did a lot of after-market sourcing for my C220. The parts were priced like 1/3rd or 1/4th of what the dealer wanted.

The suspension was letting this thing down. We were flying over uneven expansion joints and the DSC and TC were all constantly trying to keep this thing where I was pointing it.

Also get 275 mm rear tyres if you can. Greatly helps putting all that torque down.

Congrats on your beast. Wish you many happy kms with her!

[Ford5]

I feel so happy when i read a complex german being tuned up, more so in India, which is not Bavaria nor located in Europe. So many factors to consider with their super brains. Feels like the gap between highly complex german-don't-play-around with it, and doing things right is making these germans look like Japanese cars (tuning ease wise) for expert marksmen like Venkat.

[ImmortalZ]

Originally Posted by GTO

Welcome to the club! Even after 3 years of owning a 530d, she always, always makes me when I revv her. It's a mad car. Incredible tips in your thread - thanks for sharing!

Thank you. More to come.

Originally Posted by GTO

Just looking at the pics, I could tell that your car is of an early build. This exterior + interior colour combo was seen most with the 2010 cars only.

Yes, this is one of the earliest cars delivered. It is missing lots of toys that the newer cars, especially the M Sport models have. HUD, Harmon-Kardon, Comfort Seats are the ones I remember off hand.

Originally Posted by GTO

Your appetite for risk is definitely greater than mine. I'd never buy a pre-owned car with over 40,000 km on the odo.

Its more of a calculated risk. Really serious problems for the F10 stem from the 535i motors. Everything else is manageable. The service history is comprehensive and detailed. Numerous TSBs, recalls and software updates have been performed on this car. In other words, its been taken care of by the owner as well the dealerships he dealt with. The N57 engine is trouble free. And of course, there is the bit that you mention below...

Originally Posted by GTO

Agreed, but equally, not everyone has the technical understanding that you do, access to the right resources & garages or time to spend on maintenance & upkeep. Buying an old used German isn't for 99% of the people out there.

I knew at that time that I can count on Venkat and Joe to work on the car if it needed serious work to be done. I agree to your points - one must be willing to spend the time and effort to get to know the car intimately, to find the parts that work, to learn the software, the forums - the list goes on. But this is Team-BHP, right?

Originally Posted by GTO

Also get 275 mm rear tyres if you can. Greatly helps putting all that torque down.

I will need a new set of rims to accomodate that size. I have the non M-Sport poverty spec 17" rims.

Originally Posted by GTO

Congrats on your beast. Wish you many happy kms with her!

Thank you.