[Carmageddon]

Hey everyone - I took delivery of a carbon black 530Li last week. Thanks to everyone here for inputs on GC, which was my main concern. Really enjoying the car!

Originally Posted by aajohn

Have any of you have taken the extended warranty? I’m thinking of going for the 5 year option - it comes to about 2.89 after taxes - Insight from any of the current owners are welcome ! I’ve already taken the BSI 3 year 40k kms pack

Did you finally take the extended warranty? While my previous 3 Series was super reliable, the G68 is a tech-fest so I am considering this. Please do share your eventual decision

Originally Posted by KshitijT

Yeah, I have taken both. Extended warranty and and the BSI package for 5 years. Though I now think, I will end up driving more than the kms I opted for.

Would love to know if you had any specific considerations to take extended warranty (beyond piece of mind). How is the reliability of newer BMW's?

Thanks

[MadAbtCars]

Originally Posted by Carmageddon

Hey everyone - I took delivery of a carbon black 530Li last week. Thanks to everyone here for inputs on GC, which was my main concern. Really enjoying the car!


Thanks

Congratulations on the purchase. Wishing you many many miles of sheer Driving Pleasure. I am on the fence and intend to close on the 5 Series. Could you let me know at what price did you close the deal? and what all was included in the final Price?

[Carmageddon]

Originally Posted by MadAbtCars

Congratulations on the purchase. Wishing you many many miles of sheer Driving Pleasure. I am on the fence and intend to close on the 5 Series. Could you let me know at what price did you close the deal? and what all was included in the final Price?

Sure, I’ve sent you a DM. All the best

[KshitijT]

Originally Posted by Carmageddon

Would love to know if you had any specific considerations to take extended warranty (beyond piece of mind). How is the reliability of newer BMW's?

Thanks

Hey, two main reasons 1) As you said this is a tech fest and a major generation / model change and mine was one of the first ones delivered. So I thought it is best to take in case some unknown issues come up later, which BMW will fix for later models. No reliability issues at all so far. 2) Also, thinking long term, if i do decide to change my car after 4 years or so, my assumption is that it will help get slightly better value if the car is still under warranty.

[Abhi_Automobile]

Originally Posted by Carmageddon

Sure, I’ve sent you a DM. All the best

Hey - Please feel free to share the price etc. publicly so the entire forum can be benefitted, not just specific individuals.

If you think some info is personal (names of people/dealer etc.), you can always hide that part.

[ICEMind82]

Originally Posted by Carmageddon

Hey everyone - I took delivery of a carbon black 530Li last week. Thanks to everyone here for inputs on GC, which was my main concern. Really enjoying the car!

Congratulations on the purchase. I am planning to book mine tomorrow. Could you please share the price breakup for reference so that I can negotiate?

[Carmageddon]

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

Hey - Please feel free to share the price etc. publicly so the entire forum can be benefitted, not just specific individuals.

If you think some info is personal (names of people/dealer etc.), you can always hide that part.

Originally Posted by ICEMind82

Congratulations on the purchase. I am planning to book mine tomorrow. Could you please share the price breakup for reference so that i can negotiate?

Sure. I am traveling so do not have the invoice handy. However, I got 8L+ discount on ex-showroom price, inclusive of corporate discount (employer) and loyalty discount (I own a BMW). Beyond that I negotiated down the initial inflated insurance quote. Hope this helps!

[ICEMind82]

Originally Posted by Carmageddon

Sure. I am traveling so do not have the invoice handy. However, I got 8L+ discount on ex-showroom price, inclusive of corporate discount (employer) and loyalty discount (I own a BMW). Beyond that I negotiated down the initial inflated insurance quote. Hope this helps!

Thanks for your reply. Please share the invoice at your convenience. Hope it is 2025 manufactured car. Chennai dealer KUN BMW is not going beyond 3L discount on Ex-Showroom. Will use your invoice to further negotiate.

[Carmageddon]

Originally Posted by ICEMind82

Thanks for your reply. Please share the invoice at your convenience. Hope it is 2025 manufactured car. Chennai dealer KUN BMW is not going beyond 3L discount on Ex-Showroom. Will use your invoice to further negotiate.

Confirming the pricing is on a 2025 manufactured car. I suspect that BMW directly extends corporate and loyalty discounts, not the dealer. I had to submit proof of employment, RC copy of my other BMW etc. before the price was offered.

[ICEMind82]

Originally Posted by Carmageddon

Confirming the pricing is on a 2025 manufactured car. I suspect that BMW directly extends corporate and loyalty discounts, not the dealer. I had to submit proof of employment, RC copy of my other BMW etc. before the price was offered.

Thanks for the confirmation. Do you mind sharing the invoice in DM ? BMW chennai is asking for proof so that they can match the price.

[armblaster]

I was planning to buy a luxury sedan from last few months. After reading the review on TeamBHP, I took the test drive for BMW 530Li recently, and decided to go with it.
I am planning to close the deal in next few days.

Sure. I am traveling so do not have the invoice handy. However, I got 8L+ discount on ex-showroom price, inclusive of corporate discount (employer) and loyalty discount (I own a BMW). Beyond that I negotiated down the initial inflated insurance quote. Hope this helps!

Thank You for the details. I would appreciate if you could provide the breakup for the discount or share the invoice if possible.

[MavrikinaD]

Originally Posted by Carmageddon

Sure. I am traveling so do not have the invoice handy. However, I got 8L+ discount on ex-showroom price, inclusive of corporate discount (employer) and loyalty discount (I own a BMW). Beyond that I negotiated down the initial inflated insurance quote. Hope this helps!

Hi, can you please DM this information to me as well, looking at this car quite seriously.

[skyfall09]

Hi,

I'm looking at buying 5 series. Any one kindly share the invoice here, so that I can negotiate better. The local dealer is a pain to deal with. Also, any downsides on upgrading to 19 inch wheels. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Regards

[zee_bat]

The Process
After having owned an Audi A6 C7 since 2013, my dad needed a new car due to the diesel ban in NCR. Given the traffic situation worsening, and pothole ridden city and suburban roads, I was personally in favour of a luxury SUV for him, having owned 2 4x4 Mahindras (Thar and Scorpio N) and realising that nothing beats the peace of mind that comes with having a higher car that isn’t just sitting pretty in the drive way during rains or due to bad road conditions.

However, being a purist, and a lover of sedans, my dad was adamant that this new car has to be a sedan/saloon. The only SUV he was sort of open to, was the Range Rover Sport, which was out of our budget!

The search began around October 2024, when the revered E class was launched and made the headlines. The 5 had been on sale since a couple of months, but I had not seen one on the roads up until then. With winter approaching, and the pollution likely to spike soon, we knew that the diesel/bs iii curbs will soon be put in place and dad’s audi will again be relegated to the garage. It had already crossed 10 years and so it had to be sold soon.

Having owned an AUDI for 10 years, and bearing the costs that come with it (approx. 1.5L a year) and maintaining it only with the dealership as a personal preference, we knew that we wanted something different this time. We also own a 2 Series GC 2021 in Missano Blue and so had experience owning a bimmer for 3 years which frankly have thankfully been trouble free. So we were very interested in the new Benz that was launched and my mom and I went on day 1 to Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi at the Silver Arrows showroom to check out the new E.

The E
As soon as we saw it in the flesh, a gleaming white curvy boatlike silhouette stood shining like a star, and I immediately fell in love with it. What a beautiful car the new E is. We sat at the back first, even though dad sits at the front with the driver for better and more open views and I was totally in awe of how much the E had to offer in terms of comfort, gizmos and tech. I loved the feel of the car but immediately noticed a few oddities – the seat adjusting buttons were not smooth, and the hard surfacing touch on them to give it a tactile feel actually made my fingers pain due to the effort required to set it right. The thigh support extension at the back really did not add to the comfort, but seemed like a useful feature. The seats themselves were very plus, but felt narrow to my frame as my shoulders were corseted in an unpleasing discomforting way. The arm rest on the doors were not where one’s arms would naturally fall and there was a difference in where the other arm rested on the centre arm rest. I realised that the seats seemed narrow because they needed to be reclinable. Despite this, I still loved the car and so did my mom. I moved to the driver’s seat and felt that the seating position was perfect, everything seemed to be visible in front and the seats did not feel narrow compared to the back. The MBUX was laggy, and the showroom guys blamed it on it being a test car needing a software update.

While looking at the car from afar after having spent considerable time inside and getting a feel of it, another intending buyer came and we started chatting about the new 5. I hadn’t seen it until then but he had test driven and seen it just a couple of days before. He told me that the 5 was surprisingly bigger, and actually quite good looking in person and that I must see it before I make a decision. He also had a 10 year old A6 and was not looking at the A6 currently on sale, given that it was due for an overhaul in a couple of years with the new A6/7 lines merging.

We tested the E class the next day. The car was brought over to our place by the sales exec. And seemed to be the same car we saw in the showroom. It was a short 5 km drive around where I stay and the drive was exceptional on speed breakers, potholes and the driving position seemed very well sorted and put together. The engine was smooth in the city but on an empty stretch, my 2er surely felt faster and peppier and better to drive with a similar power figure. My dad sat and saw the car too, and complained of the same problems as noted by me regarding the rear seats being narrow. He also did not like the design and instead compared it to our neighbour’s old E to say that the older one looked better. Given the kit on offer in the outgoing E, I would not disagree!

The 5
Right after this test drive, my parents and I went to our nearest BMW showroom in Rajouri Garden – Infinity BMW to see the new 5. As we arrived, I was taken aback by how huge the new 5 looked standing at the entrance in the new grey shade. The golden accents looked gawdy though and did not match with the grey in my opinion. We went inside the showroom to find a Phytonic Blue with alumunium finish on display. What a huge car! And truly what a looker! I hated it when I saw spy pics on instagram a year ago, and hated it more when I saw pictures online of the LWB version. But truly, the pictures deceive you and the 5 deserves to be seen and appreciated in person. It’s a very muscular, bold and aggressive design. The side profile does not look “extended” like the old E and looks better proportioned than the new E. There are a few china centric design decisions which may be questionable like the brushed accents on the lower side of the rear bumper, but overall, the car looked very handsome in flesh.

We sat in the car and immediately noticed how much roomier it felt than the E. The front and rear seats felt much more cushioned, and the fat steering surely had a better feel to it than the E’s. The 2 screen setup looked fantastic, more high definition than the E and the crystal elements really gave it a touch of luxury and opulence which was missing in the E. The back seat experience was plain, but more comfortable than E. It lacks reclining, privacy window blinds, door pockets behind the front seats and the centre arm rest is also very plain. But it was very comfortable in the standard recline angle that it came with, and had so much thigh support, knee room, head room and shoulder support extending all the way to the door pads which corseted you like a comfy leather sofa, albeit with vegan leather. The brown interior theme looked very classy, but the benz’s white looked better. Overall, we liked the comfort of the 5 by atleast 2 points more than the E on a scale of 10.

My father instantly fell in love with the full glass roof. With 2 cars already coming with openable sun roofs, we knew that we anyway never opened the roof much, given delhi’s air quality and overall weather throughout the year. The full glass roof gave a roominess which cannot be matched by a panoramic sunroof which is divided in the middle like in the E.

The Driving experience between the E and 5
My father already made up his mind, but my mom and I wanted to give both one more shot after a proper TD. We called for both cars to our farm near gurgaon which has a cumbersome access to it. Given Delhi’s pollution, my parents mostly stay at the farm to avoid it as much as possible. Both cars reached with ease through the uneven roads and off we went for our comparison TDs.

• The 5 handles potholes better
• The 5 drives way better on highways and in spirited sprints
• The 5 had less body roll
• The 5 felt more comfortable than the E overall to both my parents in the real world gurgaon to mumbai expressway run.

And so we chose the 5! Now the colour!

The booking and delivery
We went back to the showroom to see the different colours on offer. We loved the phytonic blue and carbon black but were all drifting towards the white. The showroom had a white with the marina blue/black interior combo. As we saw this interior in person, it was instant love. This interior came only with the white and so the choice was made for the white. We decided to purchase the car and take delivery on the 1st of January, 2025 to avoid the price hike already announced by car sellers, which happened only in April! The delivery on the 1st was smooth, we were picked up in a 3er, even though the dealer offered to pick us up in an i7, I declined because I didn’t want the experience of my new car to fall flat in comparison!

First Drive
It drives and floats like a boat on wheels! What a behemoth on the road. The lit up kidney grills sure do attract a lot of attention and flair. Driving in India meant that the ADAS kept kicking in and the parking 360 cameras kept turning on with how close the traffic kept coming to our shining new white knight, but I drove it with composure and the first drive was comfortable.

Review
So here’s my review after having taken delivery on the 1st, which was an awesome way to start the new year

• The seat bolstering is so good that one almost feels corseted in a nice old leather couch, though the upholstery is now faux leather.
• The lack of extendable thigh support isn’t much of a miss because there is ample of it in the seat itself.
• The seat adjustment is pretty direct and setting it to your liking is easy since the controls are just on the door handle.
• The quality of the interior feels aeons ahead of the A6 C7 2013 that we had, despite the car having pure leather material. 12 years truly does make a marked difference in perception!
• The centre console is easy to navigate and there are dedicated buttons for the apple car play/media, the Home Screen and “my modes” where one can customize and choose driving modes.
• The lack of buttons for the AC is only an initial problem which one can quickly learn with more drives. Auto mode in the new idrive 8.5 works flawlessly and is very effective.
• The car is an absolute pleasure to drive on the highways. We took it from Delhi to Jaipur on the new Mumbai expressway and oh what a smooth car it is. None of us even noticed that we were driving at high speeds and the noise insulation is one of the best ive ever experienced in terms of road noise, possibly due to the beefy tire profile.
• The 18” wheels grow on you, and frankly look quite old skool once you remove the idea of run flat, low profile wheels that the mind seems to now expect out of luxury vehicles. BMW has done an astute job keeping these on the new 5 and the gun metal colour really goes well with most exterior colours of the new 5.
• The engine is butter smooth. Its no 6 cyl but surely the refinement is a class above the usual 4 cyl pots being given by other luxury cars. In fact, the same engine (in a different state of tune) in the 2er feels very different and almost crude in comparison to the refinement offered by the 5er’s.

Concluding on this review, we feel extremely satisfied with the purchase and now 5 months on, when we see a new E on the road, it looks beautiful but surely does not have the road presence of the 5. The understated classic interior of the 5 will age better than E’s and so, happy with the purchase. If you like the looks, can get over the fat tyre look and understand that its actually beneficial over the 19” rims, and like the modern minimalist interior feel, I say get off the fence and go for it!

[after]

Amazing mean-looking machine. Wish your dad a lot of happy miles with it.

Originally Posted by zee_bat

However, being a purist, and a lover of sedans, my dad was adamant that this new car has to be a sedan/saloon.

Dad has class