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2014 BMW 520d F10: Saying goodbye after 7.5 years of ownership

I’ll always have an emotional connect with the F10 chassis and might even end up laterally upgrading to a similar yet more powerful F10.

BHPian advaydh recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Bidding adieu to my 2014 BMW 520d F10:

The F10 has taught me so much and my involvement in taking care of the car has only grown each passing year. In this post, I’ve tried my best to summarize what the ownership experience over 2,500 days has been like.

After 7.5 years of ownership of the F10, it is a hard moment to let it go, I’ll always have an emotional connect with the F10 chassis and might even end up laterally upgrading to a similar yet more powerful F10.

Listed it on OLX earlier today.

Starting with the necessary (insurance and service):

Insurance:

Up until the 6th year or so, stuck to zero depreciation insurance regardless of the costs after which I decided to go down the route of comprehensive + engine cover (you never know with Delhi/Gurgaon floods! )
Insurance premiums for the first couple of years were either in six figures or almost kissing that mark, and then naturally came down with falling IDV and increasing age. The last time I took zero dep cover, I remember paying somewhere close to 65k for the same. However, this time around, I ended up paying just around 30k for a comprehensive cover. Thankfully, I’ve never had to claim insurance and I hope nobody ever has to.

Service, repairs and replacements:

I’ve always taken the car to BMW except for one time when the air-con compressor failed and the cost difference between a reputed FNG and the BMW ASS was simply extreme and didn’t make much feasible sense.

  • 5,000 kilometers - General Checkup.
  • 10,000 kilometres - Oil + Oil Filter Change, Alignment and Balancing.
  • 19,000 kilometres - Replaced runflat tyres plus alignment and balancing.
  • 20,000 kilometres - Oil + Oil Filter, Air Filter, Micro-filter (Cabin Filter), Brake Fluid Service.
  • 30,000 kilometres - Oil + Oil Filter, Microfilter, Aircon Service, Fuel Filter, Air Filter, Front Brake Pads, Wheel A+B.
  • 40,000 kilometres - Oil + Oil Filter, Microfilter, Air Filter, Engine Mounts, Replaced run-flat tyres

At this point, one of the two boot springs had also failed and I got a new one from BMW Infinity for around 6k INR.

  • 45,000 Kilometres - A/C Compressor Change (done from an FNG, costed around 50k)
  • 49,000 kilometres - Oil + Oil Filter, Brake Fluid Service

Over these years, I’ve been extremely impressed with BMW’s after-sales. Joy Reward Savings are real and although I don’t have the exact numbers for each service, I was mighty impressed when the total invoice for my most recent service was just 12.5k INR.

The 18” run-flat tyres though are around 20k/piece and wear out extremely quickly at around the 20-25k km mark.

Reliability:

Most Fxx chassis BMW’s have top notch reliability and it’s been the same experience for me. The only two failures I’ve had have been the Aircon compressor (which might even have something to do with the extremely irregular usage during COVID lockdowns) and the boot spring which was an easy fix.

Cosmetic Maintenance:

I started developing an interest in automative detailing a couple of years back and the Imperial Blue (best paint shade for the F10 in my opinion) paintwork has been receiving some extra pampering since then.

Ending the post with a few pictures post a detailing session at 5C Car Care (the only detailer I can blindly trust ) and when I recently washed the car at home:

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