From a Rapid to the BMW 5-series: My experience owning a 520D

The car's been trouble free till now and I intend to keep it so with some preventive maintenance.

BHPian PradoGdr88 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Prelog:

One of my long-term goals was to own a Beamer. Not any beamer but a black M sport 3 Series. Well life had its own plans and roadblocks (read EMIs). Like millions of fellow brothers and sisters I was also fooled into the notion of ‘Study well land a job, and life is settled no looking back’ not that I regret it well I do regret it. Ok! Let’s snap out of it. Once I matured enough & understood that owning a Beamer in India would be a money burning affair, I let it simmer in the back burner.

My circle of financial advisers had long ago instilled in me below principles which I follow till date:

• Never buy a depreciating asset on loan.
• Always buy a car with complete history.
• Compromise on cosmetic health of the car but never the mechanical health of the car.
• High mileage cars of newer make are always better than a lower mileage car of older make (applicable more for Europe).
• Buy a car for future need and not current need (reduces the itch for upgrade).
• Always buy a used car let someone else take the pie of depreciation.

So, when it was time to pick my first car in 2016 it had to be all cash deal. This meant I had to hunt for something within my means. The hunt took its own time, and fate was such that I picked up my uncle’s WagonR. I was there as an excited young kid during its PDI in 2008 enough said about history. Ironically I dont have picture of the car in my collection. But I will make it a point to add it to this thread.

It served me well for 2 years for office commute, long drives and what not but was not a bolt. My work was such that I visit the European offices every year. So, my love affair with these cars had a refresher every now and then in the form of rentals. During such a trip to Germany in 2019 I visited the BMW museum in Berlin, and this rekindled my need for speed. One picture which is imprinted in my heart is the one below with the green 1600. And the museum had the timelapse of the entire 3 series to the current day. I could see a lot of grown-up kids floored there at this exhibit.

Below is the evolution of BMW 3 series as presented in the museum:

Work of Art - badging

Once back home I start a feasibility analysis on owning a Beamer and it’s all red. It’s obvious I didn’t need one it was just I wanted one. And I rightly picked a ride for my need rather than my want (life had its own plans and roadblocks). But truth be told I was more than content with my new ride. I dare say I was happy with it. This was my first car after marriage, so I had to accommodate home ministry needs as well. I was prudent enough to let home ministry choose the colour and trim while I sticked to the make and model. The ride was named ‘Kuttapan’ blame it on a Malayalam movie with a tata nano as hero.

The day I brought Kuttapan home

Kuttapan was my ride subtle mods just before COVID hit. Kuttapan was my go-to companion while working from heaven (read home something only folks from Nilgiris will understand). It was my stead ferrying me to Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Palakkad. All during the time of e-pass and lockdowns. Kuttapan was Bengaluru registered so once I was caught up at Kotagiri on my way back from Coimbatore. The police constable at the checkpost said ‘You speak hindi on phone, drive a Karnataka registered car, aadhar card from Tamilnadu and your driving license is from Kerala where are you from’ I honestly replied as ‘India’.

One of those drives where state highways were empty

Ah the Nilgiris picture!

Well around 2022 I decided to move to Ireland and one of Kuttapan or Wagonr had to go. Dad and Mom preferred Wagonr for the ease of ingress and egress and lack of service center for Skoda cars in Nilgiris meant I had to let Kuttapan go. A day before I was to leave for Ireland Cars24 picked up the car. The driver who came to pick it up the car knew my emotions and asked me to drive the car for one last time and recorded a video for me. The memories bring back memories’ movement is safely saved in my hard drive.

Once in Ireland I had to swiftly move from IDP to Irish driving license and that deserves its own thread so let’s park that for now. Once I successfully passed my driving test on my first test on a manual stick car, I was ready to get a new set of vehicles. My new set of wheels was a dirt-cheap Nissan Qashqai in petrol disguise. The car has clean history single owner and regular service logs and a clean cartel check.

I was online shopping for a used car when the market was crazy and the last few attempts were such that by the time I decide to make a move the car is already sold. Folks pay deposit even without seeing the car. Crazy times it was or is! Well for the Qashqai it was an accidently visit decided to check it out as it was near my place and I wanted to feel the car to see if I should hunt for Qashqai’s. I decided to drop by the place and check the car out. I was that casual that I rode my bicycle to the location to view the car with no intention of buying it. The goal was to see if the car is worth hunting for to be honest. I am not a SUV person so a compact SUV was a big no.

Well as the saying goes life has its own plans and roadblocks. The car was clean inside out, proper service logs and NCT reports (These are reports given post checks which deem whether the car is road worthy or not more like MOT in UK). The car had run 240K kilometres now one thing which I realize and appreciate is that cars over here are objects supposed to ferry people. Garage queens are very rare and Ireland being relatively a small country is very much car dependent. The owner was honest about details and I took the plunge. Back burner activated again. This was April 2023 and I was glad to have a set of wheels finally.

Come April 2024 exactly a year after buying the Qashqai the itch to upgrade was activated. This time it had to be an automatic so both of us could drive. This is when I started searching for 3 series finally! This time life had its own plans but not roadblocks. I drove a colleague’s M sport manual 3 series and I was all grin but soon realized that I needed a bigger car. I needed something in which I could seat two additional adults with a child seat and a boot which could have space for a stroller and two large suitcases.
The 3 series could do it but not on a regular basis. I had this in my mind but kept hunting for 3 series and during a visit to a dealer to test drive a 3 series over a casual chat he gave me a vital input which changed the game. For my requirement he said I could try 5 series as it’s a bigger car and can still give me the wide grin. Also, it’s easier to find a good 5 series rather than 3 series which sell as hot cakes. Remember the point about paying deposit without seeing the car this was still active.

The dealer had a 5 series which was waiting for delivery, but he gave me a walk thru and let me drive the car to sell his point. And he did make sense, and I was sold. Now the hunt for the elusive 5 series began. He also suggested me to pick a mile muncher company car. This stands for a car which has done ridiculous motorway miles, but it maintained to the T as its serviced by an institution and not by an individual. Researched a bit on his suggestions and it was sound advice.

2 months into the hunt I see an ad by a BMW dealer for a 520d. It’s a diesel automatic and has clocked 238k kilometres. Now that’s a lot of numbers for me to digest and that to for my first beamer. I take a day to think about the prospects of owning a beamer which is on its way to the moon. But decide to check the car out the least. One of my main criteria was that it had to be dark interiors. My toddler and beige color can never go in the same sentence. And this particular 520d had and all black interior which was a brownie point.
I visit the dealer and understood that it’s a 2015 model company owned car which is been traded in for a brand new one. All BMW history with proper service documentation means it’s a clean car. I was also given all the NCT reports till date, and it was all clean. I took the car for a drive, and it was powerful but for my first couple of minutes car felt huge and parking was a tad difficult. But once on the motorway it was different beast and once in sports mode it was pure joy. I was sold.

If you are still with me thank you for your patience and I leave you with a few parting shots of the old and the new.

The next part will be the buying experience and the validation of whether it was a peach or a lemon.

Buying Experience:

The buying experience is straight forward once. The car was advertised for an amount and I had a car to trade in. So we looked at an amount which was decent enough for me to accept for the Qashqai. And once we fixed on that amount the dealer was kind enough to give me a small discount and a free service as part of the deal. I transferred the entire amount for the car. The dealer dropped off the car at my place and gave me a quick tour and a reminded me about the free service.

Let’s get over the Specs shall we:

• Model: 520 D SE
• Engine manufacturer: BMW B47D20
• Engine type: Diesel
• Transmission: Automatic - 8 Gears
• Fuel system: Common rail
• Charge system: Turbocharger
• Valves per cylinder: 4
• Emission control: DPF, oxidation catalyst, de-NOx catalyst
• Emission standard: Euro 6
• Cylinders alignment: Line 4
• Displacement: 1995 cm3 / 121.8 cui
• Horsepower net: 140 kW / 190 PS / 188 hp (ECE)/ 4000
• Torque net: 400 Nm / 295 ft-lb/ 1750 - 2500
• Fuel capacity: 70 liter / 18.5 U.S. gal
• Engine lubricant oil capacity: 5 liter / 5.3 U.S. qt
• Engine coolant capacity: 7 liter / 7.4 U.S. qt
• Battery capacity (Ah): 90

Likes:

• Belongs to the era of BMW's where they age well and has a clean design.
• It is a wide car, amazing interiors and great seats.
• The 8 speed automatic gear box is amazing take it from a stick loyalist.
• Build quality is amazing the car is still tight as a bolt no squeaks or squeals from an 8+ year old car.
• 188 hp does its duty on the motorways picking speed like no bother.
• BMW has matched the braking ability with its great engine pick up. The end product is a car you can put to task. Each drive on the motorway is a bliss.
• Car's traction to the road is something worth mentioning be it rain, snow or wind (Yes winds here can rock your car as you drive in the motorway) it behaves the same.
• 520 litres of boot space means trips to the airport is no hassle.
• It sips fuel and returns me 41.5 mpg that's roughly 17.6 kmpl with 60% of the driving in city traffic.
• Does not sound like a tractor either from the inside or outside. Noise insulation and refinement is top notch.
• More than the air conditioning the ventilated seats are a bliss.
• Overall it begs to be driven and this gentle giant can pack a punch when needed.

Dislikes:

• No spare wheel really come on! I am currently on RFT's and will go tubeless.
• Infamous transmission tunnels makes it more of a four person car.
• The turning radius is crazy that I don't drive into the city centre anymore not worth the pain.
• No keyless entry.
• No ventilated seats or air conditioning control for rear vents.
• Thick A pillar will need a bit of getting used.
• Auto start/stop this kicks in by default with no option to turn it off as default. Each time I will have to manually turn this off. When the weather is cold can be a bit annoying as the car will auto stop right after you pull out of the garage. I will need to change this waiting for my OBD scanner to arrive.

First snap after getting my hands on Sliver McQueen:

A low slung sedan with a big boot.

Boot space:

One major reason to go for a 5 series and not a 3 series was the boot space. And should I say am spoilt with the 520 liters on offer. And a utility space hole means things do not roll in the boot.

Quite a bit of storage space including one under the luggage compartment.This is where i keep the cleaning kit.

Relative reference for the boot space on offer thats a full length cricket kig bag sitting comfortable.

Build quality & Interiors:

Mind you am reviewing a 9 year old car and the fact that the car still looks and feels new is a testament of the quality. Its tight and not a squeak or squeal once on the tarmac. I will let a few pictures do the talking.

Cockpit:

BMW has given a lot of thought into the usability of the cockpit. You don't have to reach for anything be it the seat adjustment, boot opener or the infotainment. Everything is easily accessible and that adds to the joy of driving the machine. Once you get into the seats the amount of distraction or extra effort needed to get things within the boundary of the cockpit is amazing.

Access to the automatic transmission and infotainment

Central console tilted to the driver for easier reach. You can see the notorious stop/start button i need to sort out.

The arm rest is big enough for two and has a storage compartment once open

Two cup holders and an lighter with illumination. Notice the keyfob compartment which is apt for the fob but normally its in my pocket.

Mileage & Driving Experience:

I normally opt for comfort mode in the city and sports on the motorway. The 8 speed auto transmission with sports mode is all the fun a normal joe needs. Sports mode spoils you to an extend that you stop appreciating the comfort and eco mode available. I normally get 41.5 mpg which roughly translates to 17.6 kmpl.

Current Odo Reading

Parting words:

I intend to use the car to its best and currently have covered close to 5k kilometers in an quarter. Its pure joy and sometime I take it on a long drive to gather my thoughts. Slowly but surely it turning into my meditation room. I am also planning to get a bit hands on with the car. I might try the routine maintainence stuff. I will have to upskill myself on this with the right equipment. That's the current mini project in progress. The car's been trouble free till now and I intend to keep it so with some preventive maintenance.

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