[lamborghini]

@M00M: Mercedes service is actually better than BMW. However, Mercedes seems to be more unreliable as well.
The Mercedes is more comfortable than the BMW, and in comparison to the E60 BMW, many owners/drivers have felt that the W211 E Class is more stable and sturdier, even though the BMW handles better. The Mercedes feels more planted on straight lines, though on the twisties the BMW is more fun. Guess its a personal choice at the end of the day. My father would prefer a Mercedes to drive, whereas I would prefer the BMW.

[Dieselite]

Originally Posted by S350L-E240

Amey, Yeah it is a great car to drive but I guess you are only missing a little bit of fun not much to really lose out on as the 525d itself is a great car!

Dieselite, Thanks for the wishes and if you were to blindly as me I would choose the 530d over the Jag XF, it's a little unique on our roads but for me that is not really a deal breaker.

Coming to your points,

1. Nope 530d does not have Night Vision nor is it planned for, future upgrades being looked at are Navigation system and Rear A/C for now.

2. Nope the HUD is not offered not even as an option.

3. Yes the rear screens are standard and I think they are the best in terms of how they are integrated compared to how the E-Class has clumsy looking add on screens.

4. What was your OTR with or without the BSI ?

Let me know if you have any other questions,

Regards,

dude ! Thank you for the very prompt response ! My mind tells me the 530d but my heart sinks when i see a certain white Jaguar XF float by !

Its very very surprising that the Nightvision and the HUD are not a part of the standard inclusions and even more that they are not offered as even options ! its quite "aaargh" if you ask me! The rear AC control looks very classy on the website and so do the above two features and not so good when they are stripped off the india car, especially the rear ac controls which leave a gaping hole on the rear face of that console !

Another round of questions , thanks again for your time and attention !

1. Are these screens detachable ? For the purpose of safety from theft say, to keep them inside the house at night ?

2. Did you have the option of the ALL BEIGE interiors as they are shown on the website car ?

3. Can the suspension setup be tuned as per the modes of driving ? Hopefully this feature should be left untouched from the international car !

thanks again !

[S350L-E240]

Dieselite,
Sorry for a late reply, did not see this for a while and coming to your questions,

1. Nope they are not detachable. But I do not think they can be stolen either.
2. No option for All beige as far as I know, but can check the specification sheet on BMW India
3. Yes the Normal / Sport and Sport + modes exist for the 530d.

Coming back to the car,

I have not been able to drive it much due to travel and work and a lot other issues related to a particular section of road near my work which has been torn apart and due to which other cars take most of the beating, but the 5 too sometimes helps in that patch and it sure does a great job in providing comfort considering it comes with run flats.

I truly cannot believe I am saying this but this time around not only is the BMW a great car to drive, but it gets very close to the Mercedes-Benz comfort levels, infact a close friend was thinking of getting the E250 and day before when he sat in my car without a second thought ordered the 520d, and this is something I observed long ago when the E was launched that for some reason the seats in the Indian E feel hard.

The engine itself is worthy enough to have an entire page written about, absolutely no lag at any engine speed, and believe me it can push you back into your seats in a lot better manner then a lot of other sports cars, ofcourse in no ways do I mean that this would be a good replacement for a sports car but trust me if you need a decent straight line grin, this can give it to you with a lot of practicality attached.

With each passing day I love the car more and more and am seriously glad I got this over the E, which on a recent usage made me feel like the car was a generation behind.

Coming to negatives,

Yes some simple and some complicated ones, one of the annoying points is for some reason there is no mute button on the Steering wheel, and I never ever really have seen that with a car, and sometimes it is fustrating to reach the centre console and press the mute button there, and ofocurse you use the same to unmute, Seat controls are ofcourse better placed in the Mercedes but isn't much of a pain in this. Ignoring the simple aspects, the main negative point is, due to the car being very low slung and the A pillar is very curvey, it really effects your visibility when you are at an intersection and have to take a free turn while crossing it is seriously hard to see on coming traffic, and this is something anyone and everyone who drives the car says.

And lastly, The seat belts rattle a lot on rough roads, I know the car is not meant for rough roads but well the city I live in has quite a few so I'll give it 50% of the blame but still it is annoying when no one is on the passenger seat, would have helped if BMW had some fabric on the door panel to avoid the belt going on rattle against the hard plastic frame.

But keeping all things aside, this is the best car I ever have come across in this country and I really think there is no better alternative in it's segment.

Few things I wish BMW India will include,

1. ventilated seats
2. Better Alloys
3. GPS Built in.
4. Rear A/C Controls.

Regards,

[h@r$h@l]

Hey,

Good write up dude. I have driven both E250 and ur 530d. I found the 530d a more comfortable ride when compared to the E. The driving position and visibility is also very good in the 5er.

1 thing that I enjoyed the most in ur 5er was the push I got every time I hit the pedal.

Now, coming to the mute button on the steering wheel, well, my punto has it

Just kidding bro. cheers and thanks for letting me drive the white monster.

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by S350L-E240

Yes some simple and some complicated ones, one of the annoying points is for some reason there is no mute button on the Steering wheel,

I'm not sure about the F10(I will check in my friends car, 3 F10s have entered my close friend circle already!) but my E60 has two programable buttons via the iDrive. You can assign different functions to each of the two -MUTE,AC on/off,next audio input,etc are some of the options.

[fre2bpowerless]

Congo on the 530,

I too wish they had given better alloys at least on the 530d, would have differentiated it from 525, 520. Not to mention the 3-series like alloys on the 523i :(

I don't think theres a programmable button on the steering. There's also no mute button on the media controller.

[Speeding@160mph]

S350 - Congratulations! You are obviously in love with the car and that is how it should be.

Dieselite - I would think you could order the 535i with all the bells and whistles. Its a CBU so you could totally load it up and the options you ask for shouldn't require additional Homologation procedures.

Cheers!

[h@r$h@l]

Pics of the 530d in discussion.

I got to drive this and click tons of pics.

Beautiful car to drive and excellent handling.

[S350L-E240]

Harshal,

Thanks a lot for posting them and of course clicking them, they sure have turned out so beautiful that I need to ensure it's in a cleaner state of tune the next time you take pictures of it, but the off roading patch will keep that from not happening for a while now

[PlatzdaTurbo]

@ S350-E240

Did you get a chance to rip her down the Baroda - Ahmedabad highway & get a taste of her abilities ? Have heard good stuff about this particular stretch of the highway time & again and driving a 530d on that patch would be pure bliss ! Besides, its 120~ kms ???

[S350L-E240]

@PlatzaTurbo,

Deep apologies never saw this thread or the post, but well read on, looks like you were a lucky charm for saying what you did,

Coming to the car, it crossed it's 4000 kms mark (Slow going yeah but due to work and travel have not been able to cover miles on it) well I have started liking the car a lot more and a few issues I had in the first few weeks I slowly have started overcoming those, but few ergonomic issues are still annoying me (The no mute option) and esp. considering the cruise control side of the wheel has 2 dummy spaces where they could have had 2 programmable buttons depending on what one needs to set it for?

Coming to what PlatzdaTurbo asked about the AMD-Baroda Expressway, well due to a wedding in Baroda on sunday was able to drive there and below is the report of it :

We set out at 5 PM, and due to someone else having a last minute travel issue she piled onto us and sadly due to that we had 4 people on the rear seat which sure was not the best place to be in, and ofcourse dad was in the car which meant I could not travel as fast as I otherwise could have or the car would have expected me to drive her at, the drive was gorgeous, and you rarely come across something this silent at speeds of about 140 Km/ph its almost eerie inside with faint wind noise and the engine pretty much below 1800 rpm and the suspension is so perfect that it sometimes takes you a while to figure the fact that you are on Run Flats, BMW really got it perfect with the F10 on how to configure it with the RFT's. I would go on to say the car is as comfortable as a Mercedes E class and still a beautiful driving car even with the new Electric Steering wheel which yes some of us would prefer the hydraulic one but well I suppose it's best we adapt to what is given to us?

Some data which I recorded towards the end of the expressway on our way back to Ahmedabad.

Average speed : 121.6 Km/ph
Distance Driven : 202 Kms

And the best part fuel consumption? 5.6 / 100 (not sure how accurate the on board computer is but still brings a huge smile of satisfaction)

Keeping this trip aside the general fuel consumption at every tank fill has been about 10.5 Kms per Litre and I use normal Diesel only. And AC is on at all times, and the ration between Urban and Semi Urban areas and Rough Roads is 30 : 50 : 20 (Believe me my car really goes offroading daily for about 1.2 Mile, and H@rshal can vouch for it)

With time I / the family is starting to really like BMW India and the dealer, same cannot be said for Mercedes which is our preferred brand, and there are times I wish while I drive I had the 3 pointed star due to emotions but then the propeller is making a lot more sense and when I started this topic I was left with a question, Wise or Blunder? Only time shall tell!! well slowly the answers point towards "Wise" and I would really continue with BMW if they are the way they have been.

9.9/10 for the car, .1 deducted due to emotions for Mercedes
10/10 on the Dealer and the Service
10/10 on BMW India's prompt responses on certain changes

Will update more in due time,

Regards,

[androdev]

Hey 5.6/100 is awesome! Fuel consumption is at its best when dad is in the passenger seat! Glad you are liking the car. I was just imagining 140kmph @ 1800 rpm and no noise. that is in the Bentley league :-)

Today I had a grueling 2hr (20kms) Bangalore traffic crawl in the 520D. it was raining, crazy traffic, mud/slush and all the works. car looked total mess when i was home!

i am finding the backrest a bit lumpy due to all those lumbar support bits inside. no amount of lumbar support tweaking made it better. how do you find the backrest?

my current toy is voice commands :-) playing with it to voice-dial from phone/address book!

btw.. does the car indicate which tyre is flat in case of pressure loss, or does it simply inform there is a pressure loss and we have to figure out the through manual inspection?

[psbali]

I read your review long ago and it is good to read the update.. particulalry the part where you mention about the eerie silence inside the cabin.. dunno when will I get to afford one but I am sure I wont be atleast denied a test drive by the showroom people

and in case you are still confused about your xbox/ps3 problem then I can help.. being a hard core gamer I can really help you.. just that xbox wont be suitable in case there are a lot of shocks as xbox got a disc tray.. but i am not sure if both can handle a lot of shocks.. ps3 is more rugged of the two for that matter.

wish you endless miles of happiness in your beamer.

[S350L-E240]

androdev, When do you buy your next car so I get your calls again? Yes, the car seats are a little harsh with the lumbar and I have it at a minimal setting myself, and another thing thats annoying for me is the rough road part which I am subjected to daily and thats when the car rattles like crazy, not that it's made for roads like that but S-Class / E-Class / Jag XF Etc. on the same patch do not rattle and that has to do with a lot of plastics on the door trims where the seat belts keep banging etc.

I don't use the voice commands, and am unsure of the Tyre pressure but I assume it will tell you if the tyre is flat I guess?

psbali,

Thanks for your comments, and forget the showroom if you are in this part of the country you can try your hands at it, and since you are into gaming I would love the help will PM you,

Thanks a lot.

Coming back to the car just noticed when I put the car in "R" (Reverse) it lags when I press the pedal, is this normal?

Regards,

[androdev]

Originally Posted by S350L-E240

androdev, When do you buy your next car so I get your calls again?

Next car, eh?

Coming back to the car just noticed when I put the car in "R" (Reverse) it lags when I press the pedal, is this normal?

No, it is not normal. Read this thread (not an exact match but seems related) - especially post#35. Today dad was saying car was too jerky in stop and go traffic (with driver) - need to check myself.