[NerdyMillennial]

Likes
- Exterior styling. The 5er in my opinion is one of the most well-proportioned sedans ever.
- Well-balanced ride quality in comfort mode
- Driving dynamics. Because of its adaptive suspension, the car completely changes the way it drives based on the chosen drive mode. Comfort / Sport / Eco pro.
- Monstrous inline 6-cylinder turbo diesel engine. 265 HP & 620 Nm torque
- ZF gearbox
- Superb brakes
- Excellent cabin insulation
- Nappa leather seats are very comfortable
- Adaptive LED headlights
- Head-up display
- 360-degree camera system
- Wireless Apple Car Play
- 4-zone climate control. This feature is a family favourite during road trips.
- Ergonomics. In an age of soft touch or complete touch screen systems, this car has well-placed tactile buttons for everything except for adjusting AC fan speed which is touch sensitive.
- Comfort access aka keyless entry and go

Meh
- Hands free operation for the boot lid is only for opening. Needs to be shut manually by hand.
- Steering feel in comfort mode.
- Default flat EQ settings do not do justice to the excellent Harmon-Kardon 464W 16-speaker system. Highly recommend adjusting this to your liking.
- No full-screen option for Apple Car Play. The same can be coded if the iDrive is updated to versions NBTEvo_N or greater. My car unfortunately has the NBTEvo_M.
- Unlike iDrive 7, iDrive 6 UI is not adjusted for right-hand drive cars.
- Gesture control
- Indirect TPMS. It does not show the exact pressure in each tyre but only lets you know of significantly lowered tyre pressure by sensing the RPM of each wheel and comparing it with the rest.

Dislikes
- Expensive spare parts and repairs
- The car is not under warranty or BSI. We have knowingly entered this potentially dangerous territory.
- Space saver tyre reduces the boot space significantly
- The wireless phone/display key charger is very slow
- Rear seat back angle is a touch too upright for my liking. The rear seats on my friend’s F10 520d are noticeably more reclined.
- Rear entertainment displays.
- Left ORVM is not auto-dimming anymore.
- Android Auto is missing on iDrive 6.
- Significantly low ground clearance of the G30 530d M Sport variant at 139mm. All variants of the G30 530i and 520d seem to ride a bit higher at 144mm as per websites like carwale, cartrade etc. BMW does not seem to publish official figures for the same.

[NerdyMillennial]

Like most of us here, I have been captivated by cars since childhood. However, my fascination with BMWs began only a couple of years ago when the 3 series would cost 30L, the 5 series 50L and the 7 series 70L.

The 5 Series in particular grabbed my attention when I got a ride in my friend's F10 520d which was the second ever bimmer I rode in (The first ever was another friend's 320d GT). Just weeks after that, he was invited to the launch of the all new G30 here in Pune and asked me if I'd like to tag along, of course I did!

The star of the show was this 530d with white interiors which was unveiled using its display key remote parking feature.



At the same time, in another corner of the showroom stood a white G30 in 520d guise. We enjoyed exploring both cars and learning about their differences. As good as the 520d was, the 530d with its features, M Sport kit and most importantly the performance specifications just blew me away and I made up my mind that it has to be one of the cars that I must get during my lifetime, all this even before I drove the car. A few months later, I got to drive a relative's G30 530d and now I was properly obsessed with it!

In the following months, I drove the 320d GT one night, it felt luxurious and adequately quick but certainly did not hold a candle to the refinement and finesse of the 530d which was understandable given the vast price difference. Where the 3GT completely smoked the 5 was the rear seat legroom and boot space, the thing would give E class a run for its money.

Soon after, on a trip to Australia, I rented the 220i convertible M Sport for a day to drive around Sydney for plane spotting. This car was a completely different experience. It had a 2-Litre 4-cylinder petrol engine that revved to almost 7000RPM which was a lot of fun. More than anything we just enjoyed cruising around town with the top down in this fun little car looking for places to go and click pictures of planes till we ran out of light!


Everything said and done, my heart was still on the 530d as my bimmer of choice when the time would come. I knew the benefits of buying pre-owned thanks to posts on TeamBHP and soon started frequenting used car websites to look at cars available as my pass-time.

Fast forward 4 years, one fine morning, the following conversation took place :

Dad: The driver said Corolla is running low on fuel, get it filled once he is back.

Me: Already!? Anyways, I'll top it off. Now I feel that we should have moved fast to close the deal on that red pre-owned Grand i10 back in December, it was pretty much a brand new car and would have been a perfect replacement for the corolla which has now become our default beater car, gas-guzzling one at that.

Mom who doesn't like hatchbacks, especially with black interiors: I am glad that you didn't, you know that I did not like that car. We should get a new car instead, like that Skoda we saw in the showroom before we got your Honda City a couple of years ago.

Dad: Which car was that?

Me: Skoda Superb... but then the Corolla will remain as a beater, or we'll have to assign those duties to the City.

Dad to me: Show.

Dad (After seeing the official website): Seems good! Go take a test drive today, and if you like it, book one in blue colour.

Me: If we are going to spend so much, might as well spend a bit more and get a pre-owned BMW 530d instead. I have seen one listed for sale, it's even blue!

Dad: Show. (sees the photos, official website, youtube videos and likes it). I like the car, even the exterior and interior colours are good.

Mom: Showw. (looks at the photos). Masta aahe re, I love the blue colour and interiors aren't black either.

Dad to me: Go see the car and if everything checks out, finalize it.

Me: DONE!

I contacted the dealer and he shared with me the BMW service history of the car over Whatsapp. And other than regular maintenance and two tyre replacements the only out of ordinary entry was that the left headlight assembly was replaced under warranty.

I drove down to Mumbai where the car was the very next day once the dealer confirmed that he will let me have the car inspected by BMW, took her out for a spin and to inspect under the sun. She drove and felt like a brand-new car and save for a few minor paint chips on the front bumper and bonnet, the exterior was in perfect condition. The interior was also in perfect condition except for the rear climate control panel which was not sitting flush on the right side and a little spot on the leather of the driver's seat. I also noted that the previous owner had later replaced the tyres with tubeless ones, Dunlop SP Sport Maxx at the back and Momo Outruns at the front while retaining the staggered setup. Satisfied with the car (except for the front tyre choice), we decided the get the inspection done at Navnit Motors, Thane where the car was going for its scheduled maintenance in the following two days.

As soon as we got an all-clear from BMW, we proceeded further to close the deal and within 2-3 days, brought the mighty blue car home! It is a 2018 car with ~15800kms on the ODO as we brought her home.


All prepped for customary Pooja

[NerdyMillennial]

As I write this post, the car has completed about 6500kms over the past 6 months with us.

Exterior:

This picture is a testament to the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" as it captures the overall demeanour of the car perfectly. A very sophisticated lady who can turn into a freak at the push of a button, how you see her then depends on which of the two personalities appeal to you in any given moment.


The M Sport bumpers and black kidney grills makes front look menacing.


Its a long car at 4936mm. While short overhangs help a lot, its the middle part that raises your adrenaline even at crawling speeds due to low GC of 139mm for the 530d M Sport and uncultured roads in and around Pune which is where she is primarily driven. However, this will only catch you off guard with a scrape if you are not really paying attention, otherwise it is manageable for the most part.


The width at 1868mm though on the wider side (Fortuner is 1855mm), is perfectly useable on our normal city roads, it is the very narrow lanes that one has to be very careful on since she hogs most of the road leaving no space for other cars to pass.


For one reason or another, these will be the most seen sides of the car by others while she is on the move.


I just love these alloys and how the blue coloured M Sport brake callipers match the car. Notice the little "bump" below the bumper acting as an air deflector. Also, those black vents behind the wheel...


...are functional.


And so are these on the side of the front bumpers. Notice how different the Mediterranean Blue colour looks when the angle of light hitting it changes. These pictures were clicked within 2 mins of each other.


There are ducts on either side of the lower central grill which direct air towards the inside of the front wheels. I presume these are for brake disk cooling while also reducing drag?


The car also has what BMW calls Active Kidney Grills up front which are basically normal front radiator grills but with electronically controlled flaps which remain closed to reduce drag while driving...


...and only open up for brief periods when the car needs extra cooling or when the AC has to work hard. When closed, the car breathes through the lower grill of the bumper. There are no buttons or menus on the iDrive to control or alter their behaviour in any way, the car does everything on its own as it sees fit. Fun fact: the hybrid versions of the 5er abroad have "Active flaps" on the bumper grill as well.


The Adaptive LED headlights look amazing on the car. They work extremely well too. The real magic however happens once the headlight switch is moved to the "auto" position, they obviously light up once it starts to get dark but most importantly the low beam bends in the direction the steering is pointing. The same keeps happening when you engage the (very powerful) manual high beams where both the high and low beams turn in the direction of steering. It is only when you are on the highway with the high beam assist enabled that these really come to life. Using the camera mounted on the windshield, the system monitors the road ahead and they split the beam such that everything other than the car in front of you (or coming towards you) is lit by the very powerful LED high beam and they react in real time as you change lanes, the "dark spot" also adjusts itself. This system works extremely well with cars and properly maintained trucks, however it struggles to recognise some of the trucks which are painted in various funky shades or with improper lighting on them in which case the system does not split the beam and those vehicles are shone with the torturously bright high beam and you have to disable the high beam assist till you pass them. How do I know that these assisted high beams are torturously bright? Well, when the system does not recognise the vehicle in front, even the light that is reflected off of the reflectors on that vehicle will blind you. I don't know for sure but I have a feeling that the high beams are brighter when the assist function is enabled since that is when they only shine on the area the car thinks is safe.


The ORVMs are adequately sized and do their job well. They are also able to swing the other way so they won't break if a biker decides to knock them over. These mirrors with convex outer edges take a while to get used to at first but they are fantastic once you are accustomed to them.


The passenger side mirror is not the dimmable kind anymore on the G30. It however does tilt down when the reverse gear is engaged, provided the mirror adjuster switch is set to driver's side. I found the tilt angle to be a bit too shallow for my sitting position but I was able to code it to tilt further downward when in reverse using BimmerCode and its perfect now!

[NerdyMillennial]

Interior:

The interiors of the car exude class and luxury. Almost all contact points are wrapped either in leather or some other soft-touch material. Even the storage compartments of the door are wrapped in soft touch material. It is a very good place to spend long hours in.

My car has the Ivory White interiors with black headliner. The centre console tilts towards the driver's side like in every other BMW and reminds you that the car was designed primarily with the driver in mind.


Driver's view. The ergonomics of the dashboard and controls are spot-on with everything perfectly within an arms reach and exactly where you would look for. In an age of touch screens and complex menus taking over the most basic of controls, this interior with well placed tactile buttons for controls goes to show that an aesthetically pleasing yet functional cabin can be executed without the need of touch screens and clunky menus for everything. The steering wheel is thick and nice to hold, however two blank buttons on the steering right under the driver's nose is a sore sight on such an expensive car that costs upwards of 80L on-road.


A closeup of the center console which houses the basic BMW controls like iDrive controller, gear lever, parking brake, auto hold, drive modes, DSC and of course of the parking camera system. BMW drivers of the previous generation sedans will notice two major changes here. First is that the central door lock button has been moved to the doors themselves and that the thumbwheel that used to be placed near the AC vents for varying upper body temperature is now missing and the same...


... has been moved into a menu inside of iDrive which can be accessed by the menu button on the AC control touch screen. Its worth noting that this barely used, confusing feature is now dual zone unlike in the previous generations where the wheel affected both the driver's and passenger's upper vents.

It took me quite a while to come to terms with the existence of this feature since it seemed redundant when the car already has fully independent climate zones in the front for the driver and passenger, until I actually used it when I was down with a cold. So here is why BMW includes this feature, suppose you are driving or sitting for a while and your feet get hot, so you turn on the vents near your feet but its not cold enough so you reduce the temperature to compensate for that and now the air coming out the upper vents is too cold for your face, this is when you can go into this setting and fine tune just the upper body vent air temperature to a slightly warmer or cooler one than the rest of the vents in your climate zone! Of course, now one can argue that you can just turn off the upper vents entirely, but that's not what we're here for. We're here for sharing and discussing how our BMWs pamper us and this is just one of the many ways in which it does that.


Headlight controls on the right side of the steering wheel also have buttons for front and rear fog lights along with left / right parking lights. The black wheel is used for adjusting the brightness of all buttons and instrument panel display. Notice the lock unlock button on the door for operating central locks.


The turn signal stalk houses the button to activate high beam assist positioned just below the BC or board computer button. These stalks are no more the "indicate by wire" kind, they physically stay in the flicked position and return back when the steering is centred.


The wiper stalk has a nice light that comes on when you put them in auto mode. The slider is used to adjust the rain sensitivity.


Steering wheel can be adjusted for rake and reach electronically using this little toggle switch.


Gloss black Engine start-stop and Auto start-stop buttons though fingerprint magnets, look really cool.


Just below the AC controls are the cup holders, 12v socket, the wireless charging pad and one of the two USB A ports that connect to the iDrive system.


The wireless charger though is too slow and heats up the phone or even the Display Key when charging. I have had my iPhone actually shutoff due to high internal temperatures when I was charging it on this while using wireless Apple Car Play for navigation and streaming music over 4g.


The driver side door has controls for adjusting and folding ORVMs, one-touch up and down for all 4 windows, electronic rear sun shade and child lock for windows.

Just above that are the 2 person memory buttons for the seat, steering and ORVM. The passenger side also gets the same two person memory buttons for the seat only.


This central overhead panel houses the cabin lights, ambient lights which shine on the center console below (blue in this case), sunroof controls and the gloss black patch between the ambient lights which has the sensors for gesture control. Notice the dash cam in the background.


Rear passengers can adjust the temperature, blower speed and where the air comes out from to their liking. There is also a DVD slot below which you will find headphone out ports along with USB-in, AV-in and HDMI-In ports for streaming media to the rear entertainment displays. At the very bottom are two 12v power sockets.


The rear entertainment display is not a touch screen and has to be operated by a shared remote between the two rear screens. I think this is only useful if you have little kids who can benefit from a gaming console attached to the system for spending time on long trips. Otherwise, they just eat into the already limited space at the back and end up making the rear occupants feel a bit claustrophobic and not to mention, they are exactly where elderly people would put their hand for support while getting into the car. I wish I could remove them.


Remote for controlling rear displays which mimics the iDrive controller is backlit. You have to select left / right using the bottom most slider and the remote will then control the selected display. Its powered by 2 AAA batteries.


The 20-way adjustable Nappa leather comfort seats for the driver and front passenger are unbelievably good and are only available on the 530d, the 520d and 530i get different seats and upholstery even. Unsurprisingly, finding a comfortable and well supported driving position is a breeze. The side bolsters for the driver tighten when sports mode is selected and then can be adjusted as per your liking and the car will remember that the next time you engage sports mode, pretty cool!


Seat controls are located on the side of the seats...


... and are touch sensitive so that when you just touch either of the buttons, the iDrive screen will show in what ways that particular button will adjust the seat even before you press it. Neat touch, BMW.
Note that for this to work, you have to have the "show seat setting" option enabled under seat settings in iDrive.


The rear seats don't get any adjustments and though a touch too upright for my liking, I have been told are otherwise very comfortable for long drives as well. We do get a center armrest which is folded up in the picture.


Gets aluminium ///M door sills on all 4 doors which are also illuminated and look very cool especially at night.


Last but not the least, the ambient lights. You can choose between 6 different colours and 11 options in total.

Bronze


Orange


White


Blue


Lilac


Green


Also, you can select to have the upper light strip to be white and the lower lights to be either of the 6 colours for example, orange with white...


...or lilac with white and so on


There is also an option to "dim for night driving" where the system basically dims the upper light strips significantly so that the lights don't disturb you at night. They come back to normal brightness once you put the car in park. One useful feature that the iDrive 7 cars get which mine misses out on is that the ambient lights on the particular door that is opened flash red to alert traffic behind.

One of my favourite interior shots ever!

[NerdyMillennial]

The drive:

Powering the car is a 3-litre inline 6-cylinder turbo diesel engine that churns out 265HP at 4000rpm and 620Nm of torque between 2000-2500rpm. While the torque band may seem very narrow on paper, the car has torque for days while accelerating and no turbo lag is felt. The engine does remind you very subtly that it is a diesel when at crawling speeds or when idling, though the refinement, once you cross 5-10km/h, is excellent, very petrol-like even, this coming from a guy whose daily drive for the past 5 years has been a petrol Honda City CVT says a lot about just how refined this diesel mill is.


Unlike my Honda CVT, the ZF gearbox brings out the best from that peach of an engine and takes the experience to an entirely different level. The car is always in the right gear no matter where you are and what you are doing and is very smooth with shifts for the most part, I say for the most part because also unlike my Honda City CVT, the ZF gearbox when you are driving between 5-20km/h is noticeable jerky.

The real character of the drivetrain starts showing once you cross the speed of 20kmph, everything becomes perfect and as if the car can read your mind, it gives you just the right amount of power when you need it, the shifts happen exactly when they need to and are very smooth.

The car can reach silly speeds very quickly and effortlessly, and when in comfort mode, it does that without any drama whatsoever. As GTO has said in the review of his 530d, it is an effortless car to drive fast. You need to be extremely mindful of the surroundings and the space ahead when putting your foot down since the car will accelerate like crazy and even before you know it, the traffic that appeared to be way on the horizon will suddenly be in front of you within a few seconds, things happen VERY fast.

But that's not all that this car is about. In a lot of ways, it's like having 3 very differently driving cars all rolled into one.

In Eco Pro mode, while the suspension remains in comfort mode, the drivetrain and steering completely numb down and the car is 100% focused on saving as much fuel as it can. The AC becomes less effective, the car starts coasting in neutral at every opportunity it gets, the throttle response is dialled down significantly and by default, the top speed (which you can change) is limited to 80km/h. The car will only cross that speed if you smash the throttle pedal hard and further enough to press the kick-down button at the end of its travel. Then the car forgets about eco mode and shoots ahead. I still recommend setting the max speed limit in the eco mode settings to 120km/h since the 80km/h limit has put me in an uncomfortable spot while overtaking and the car just stopped accelerating at 80km/h and I was stuck right next to a slow-moving vehicle heading towards an even slower truck in front of me! Therefore I now use this mode only on open roads or in a lot of traffic just for gags.
There is also an Eco Pro Individual mode where you can alter a few parameters to your liking and the car will remember those every time you engage this mode. For example, I have set the AC to remain in comfort mode while keeping everything else in Eco. You can adjust things like AC, coasting, suspension and steering.


In Comfort mode, all the parameters change to exactly that and the car drives in a balanced manner. The drivetrain is responsive (though not urgent) and so the shifts are quick and smooth, the suspension in comfort mode is very well balanced in the sense that while it is very composed at low speeds and on bumps as well, you can show it a few corners rather enthusiastically and the car won't feel like a boat and take them with grace. I cannot say the same about the steering feel in comfort mode though, as it's quite dead in the centre and does not feel direct and a little too "loose" for my liking especially when you are pushing the car into the above mentioned corner or the likes. This mode is best suited for day-to-day driving as it still allows you to have some fun with a heavier foot when you feel like it.


In Sport mode, the car typically shifts down a gear and the whole drivetrain responds with urgency. The steering weighs up well, the throttle response is very urgent so a gentle press on the pedal is all it takes to get her going fast. The suspension also firms up substantially which helps keep the car stable while going fast around corners or changing lanes. However, even in sports mode, the transmission mostly behaves as it does in comfort but with slightly faster shifts. It isn't until you are in sports mode and you push the gear selector to the left that the transmission properly goes into sport mode and starts giving you all its got and this is when the fun begins. The car turns into a complete animal, insane acceleration with a highly responsive throttle pedal, firm suspension and steering help the car dart around with precision and poise that only gives you the confidence to further push the car, the shifts are aggressive with nice kickback on upshift that adds drama while getting up to silly speeds. You will be constantly grinning like an idiot when in this mode which I believe is best enjoyed when alone or only with enthusiast company otherwise it will scare the living daylights out of your passengers, which is a different kind of fun in itself especially if you can record their expressions.
There is also a Sport Individual mode in which you can adjust the steering, suspension and engine modes individually. I have set my suspension to be in comfort mode while leaving everything else in sport. This gives me the best of both worlds on bad / city roads.


Everything said and done, it's the Comfort mode I spend most of my time in while travelling as it makes for a very comfortable, well-balanced ride which all of us value because it keeps us fresh for when we reach the destination. After all, the main reason we buy a car like this is to have a great time on the road while behind the wheel, be it alone around town, or with family and friends going on long drives. It is this multifaceted nature of the BMW 530d that makes it such an enjoyable car to own and live with on a daily basis for it still gives us enthusiasts the ability to go nuts and disappear into the horizon grinning like an idiot whenever we feel like at the press of a button.

For when you need to brake hard or come to a sudden stop, the brakes on the 530d are superb and very confidence inspiring. In fact, when I need to step hard on the brakes for whatever reason, I am faced with the dilemma of whether it's the engine + gearbox or the brakes that I am more impressed with. The only downside is the amount of brake dust they generate. However, while the brakes are amazing, it is the tyres that are the bottleneck when it comes to outright braking performance. I strongly believe that the 530d, at least for those of us who drive it like it's meant to be, needs stickier tyres.


Electronics tidbits:

The 360-degree parking camera system is great and helps a lot in manoeuvring such a large car. There is also a "car wash" mode within the camera system which shows a top-down view of the front of the car with adaptive tyre tracks to show in real-time exactly where the tyres will go when the steering is turned, this feature is highly useful when you have to tackle deep potholes (especially during the rains when the depth is unknown) as it enables you to place the tyres precisely where you deem safe.


Also nestled within the parking assistance systems, is an option for braking intervention when parking. What this does is that it applies brakes when the system thinks you have gone dangerously close to some obstacle when parking. While this system does work wonderfully, in a country like india if you have to park on a crowded street or societies where people come too close to you, the system suddenly slams on the brakes and keeps them held! You either have to rev the crap out of the car to overcome the brake pressure to move or go into the menu systems and disable this for the car to move. It really does make you look like an idiot who cannot handle a car like this as others just think you are slamming on the brakes by yourself under panic for no reason when there is actually enough space to manoeuver the car.

The car also comes equipped with a head-up display (HUD) for the driver.
By default, it shows the current speed at all times


You can also use the HUD to select between the various media sources like Apple Car Play...


... or radio stations, USB etc.


While you have the radio selected as the media source, you can scroll between the various radio stations using the scroll wheel on the steering and press it to play the selected station.


If Apple Car Play is selected, no matter which app you are playing the music from, all that the HUD shows is the currently playing song and buttons for next or previous tracks. It does not give a list of songs to select from like it does in radio or even when you are playing music using just bluetooth.


Navigation prompts from Apple Car play do not show up on the HUD irrespective of the navigation app being used. It however does show prompts when in built navigation is being used like so...


... and when you get close to the turn or intersection, it shows a detailed map with the lane / exact turn you are expected to take highlighted while also showing the exact distance till the turn. Pretty neat!


The HUD position can be moved up, down, left right and even rotated slightly from the iDrive menu so that you can see it if you are wearing polarised glasses.

The Curve ball
Life, they say, will throw you a curve ball every so often to test you in different ways. And sure enough, this time, it was to see how I'd handle the situation when one of my most prized possessions suffered damage.

I parked the car in an underground parking of a big hospital here in Pune at 5:30am, came back at 10:30am to notice that the Wangon R I had parked next to had left a nice gift for me in the form of a fairly deep gash on the front left fender of the car just centimetres away from the headlight (thank god), and a scratch on the alloy wheel. The car does have a dash cam but I have plugged it into one of the 12v sockets which power down a couple minutes after turning the car off and so while I had the number of the said Wangon R, I did not have footage of the actual incident. I asked the security of the hospital for CCTV footage to which they said and showed me that there are no CCTVs installed inside the underground parking .


Anyhow, after reading about fellow BHPian's bad experiences at Baveria Motors, Pune, we decided to get the damage repaired at Mechanix Automotive here in Pune. They had to paint the fender and left side of the bumper for this to be fixed and they did a wonderful job. It has been over 3 months since the repair as I write this review and this time has given me the opportunity to see the paint in various different lighting conditions and I can say with confidence that it matches perfectly with the rest of the car. That followed by a detailing session, she looked better than the day I got her.
Note that the bonnet was popped for detailing when this picture was clicked


This incident made me realise that no matter how much I baby the car and try to keep her as the queen she deserves to be, some other idiot somewhere will always have the power to cause damage to her in the least expected ways, and as in my case even while being parked in a dedicated, large enough parking space. These cars are meant to be driven around and quite frankly that is what you have paid so much money for so keeping them parked or not taking the comfier ride just to avoid such out-of-our-control situations makes no sense. That being said, don't be dumb and rash and take her to places you know will most likely cause damage, like the Peth areas of Pune. These temporary heart aches are a part of owning and driving any car in India, especially for us enthusiast but that alone should not stop you from getting and enjoying such marvellous machines.

Miscellaneous observations, mods and conclusion:
- While the BMW 360 degree check is very thorough for the overall health of the car, they can miss some cosmetic bits. For example, the windshield on my car has deep scratches near the lower driver and passenger sides which could not be seen when I test drove and very thoroughly checked the car under bright sunlight and even the 360 degree check failed to notice this. They only show up at night when there is oncoming traffic or when the sunlight hits the glass in a very particular way but it is annoying when that happens. I asked car detailers if they can be buffed or polished out but after trying on a spot, they said these are deeper than usual cannot be polished out and that the glass will have to be changed. It would be a great anyone can point me to a windshield polishing expert to see if this can be solved since I do not want to mess with the factory fit of the windshield as these are scratches and not cracks affecting the integrity of the windshield. I would urge all potential pre-owned car buyers to also test drive the car at night after ensuring the windshield is squeaky clean so that such issues can be spotted, if not this, then make it a point to clean the windshield yourself and check every inch with a sharp light.

- The headlights have a tendency to fog up from the inside when the car is parked after driving in heavy rain for extended periods of time. I was told that this is fairly common and considered normal unless the moisture does not clear up within a day or two. And sure enough, the headlight was all clear the next morning.


- The boot space is actually massive once you remove the space saver storage concoction. You can easily fit very large things in the boot.


- The driver and passenger side AC vents have weaker airflow than those on the center console even with the airflow sliders all the way open.

- Not only does the car keep the engine cooling fan on for a while after we have exited and locked the car for it to cool down every now and then, it will also sometimes open the grill and turn the fan on after a few minutes of it being parked. I noticed this very recently when we stopped for a coffee break during a road trip and locked the car, the fan was off and grill closed. A few minutes later as we were standing next to the car sipping coffee, the fan suddenly came on and the grill opened up for a span of 2-3 minutes before turning off.

- I am already running with 2 slightly bent alloys but they are not so severe to warrant a replacement. Ever so slight wobble can be felt exactly at 85km/h only on super smooth tar road but then it smoothes out when you reduce or increase the speed further.

- The only physical mod that I have done to the car is swapping the chrome kidney grill for a gloss black one. It was an easy DIY which I did in our parking itself. All you have to do is pop the hood, release the upper plastic tabs holding the grill in place and snap in a new one!

- I have done several changes via BimmerCode on my phone. They include:

- Auto start-stop set to remember the last setting so that I don't have to manually turn it off every time I start the car.
- All the windows of the car stop rolling up if you open the door midway by default. I have disabled this feature on the driver door so that now my window continues rolling up even if I open the door as its moving.
- The tilt of the passenger side ORVM when in reverse was too shallow for my liking, increased it a bit via the app and now its perfect
- Enabled Comfort Plus mode. This further softens up the suspension, makes the throttle linear and less sensitive, shifts are lazy and even smoother. This can be called a boat mode, I only use this on bad quality roads and very slow speeds. Its however still better to stick to sport suspension mode when going over large speed bumps or on roads with deep potholes since that is when it will sag the least. Though I might disable this soon since there must be a reason why the car did not come with this from the factory.

Sharing some random photos I have clicked over the course of my ownership thus far.

Out for a photoshoot with friends.


Friend's F10 520d with my G30 530d in the back.


Out for a drive at midnight.


Someday, I hope we get a track to drive our car on instead of having to park and hopping into a kart. Someday!


Highest mileage I ever got.


Reaching 20000kms on the ODO, 4200kms into my ownership.


Parked at one my favourite sunset spots in town. Oxford hill.


Pawna backwaters.



That's all for now.
Cheers!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Cresterk]

Wonderful car and a great review. I have always wanted a 530d ever since I first saw GTO's ownership review. Sadly, the recent price hikes have placed it out of my budget. Can I ask which year model your 530d is? I thought keyless entry isn't available on it anymore.

[autobahnjpr]

Congratulations on your new ride. The blue color is so drooling.

The only contact any car has with the ground are the wheels which include the alloy and the tires. It is always better to be proactive and risk averse in these. If you can feel the wobble, the dent in the alloy is serious enough to warrant attention. With a heavy, long, low slung, powerful car, tires and alloys have to be in tip top condition. Suggest you get the dents removed from your alloys.

Wish you many miles of driving pleasure !

[NerdyMillennial]

Originally Posted by Cresterk

Wonderful car and a great review. I have always wanted a 530d ever since I first saw GTO's ownership review. Sadly, the recent price hikes have placed it out of my budget. Can I ask which year model your 530d is? I thought keyless entry isn't available on it anymore.

It is a 2018 manufactured car. Silly of me to miss including such an important detail in the post.

I am not aware of newer models not getting keyless entry. I am aware though that they don't get the 360 degree camera, rear entertainment display and the HUD anymore.

Originally Posted by autobahnjpr

Congratulations on your new ride. The blue color is so drooling.

The only contact any car has with the ground are the wheels which include the alloy and the tires. It is always better to be proactive and risk averse in these. If you can feel the wobble, the dent in the alloy is serious enough to warrant attention. With a heavy, long, low slung, powerful car, tires and alloys have to be in tip top condition. Suggest you get the dents removed from your alloys.

Wish you many miles of driving pleasure !

Thank you so much and you make a lot of sense about getting the alloys repaired. I will get that done at the earliest.

Are there any good shops in Pune that BHPians would recommend for this?

[msdivy]

Excellent review and enjoy your new procession! Would you mind sharing the cost of the periodic service and denting job?

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by NerdyMillennial

Notice how different the Mediterranean Blue colour looks when the angle of light hitting it changes.

Congratulations! Thank you for picking up this Mediterranean Blue 530D shared with my MY20 330i Sport. It's a rare colour indeed.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post5442615

Originally Posted by NerdyMillennial

It is a 2018 manufactured car. Silly of me to miss including such an important detail in the post.

Report your own post (triangle at bottom left) to the Mods, and share the exact language + where you want it inserted.

[GTO]

Big congrats on getting this beast of a sedan home . Best part about the 530d is that it combines passion with practicality (think 15 kmpl on the highway). Enjoy the 6-cylinder creaminess and that deadly gearbox, these big engines are a dying breed. My thread went on to become a ready reckoner for F10 owners and I hope your thread does so for the G30. Thanks for sharing this review with us and wishing you many joyous road-trips with your 530d.

[Philomath55]

Congratulations on your latest acquisition. The 530d is a brilliant car and you will definitely enjoy your time with it. The Mediterranean blue looks amazing, I have seen so many of them here in the UK, the pictures don't do any justice to it. Please do keep updating us regularly on this thread. Drive safe!

[MDH75]

Congratulations on your newly acquired beast man. Bimmers usually look the best in any shade of blue. And those gunmetal alloys look awesome.

Also, I have been waiting for a G30 530d thread since a very long time, even before I registered on Team-BHP. Wishing you a long and happy journey with your beautiful beast.

[manishk123]

Congratulations on your purchase! Even though I own an identical beast (med blue with ivory seats), your thread made for some really interesting reading and reminded me again of so many features I had forgotten about.

The car parking sensor that jams the brakes automatically is the most annoying thing on this car. Ive noticed sometimes it will just react when the steering is turned full right or left, even though there's nothing near the car. Im sure you must have experienced this too, especially while parking.

I was wondering if its possible to retrofit a motor for the rear boot to close automatically like it does on the 7 series. The fact that BMW actually gave a button on the boot for this feature is such a major goof up by them.

Anyway, welcome to the club my friend and wish you many many years of enjoyable motoring!