So, after much deliberation at the end of last year I ended up replacing my company BMW 530d with?another BMW 530d. I?d actually inherited the first car when I changed jobs from someone who used the opportunity to ?upgrade? to an Audi Q7, though quite why he considered a change from the finest handling mid size saloon on the planet to a boat on wheels to be an upgrade is something I can only speculate on. Anyway, the BMW had 120,000 km on the clock when I collected it and, when it went back 6 months later, had covered a total 150,000km in its 3 years, apparently without any problems and the interior still looked virtually new.
After looking at options including C6, Audi A4/A6, Jaguar XF, Merc C/E-Class, Lexus IS/GS, VW Passat CC, Skoda Superb and BMW?s own 3-Series I eventually went for another 530d on the basis of highly competitive leasing rates (I get a monthly budget to spend) and the fact that even after 6 years it is just much better to drive than any of its competitors. I ordered an automatic estate version with a long list of options including the ?Exclusive? edition which gives you loads of nice goodies like metallic paint, heated comfort seats, nappa leather, park distance control and xenon much cheaper than if you ordered them separately. It rather spoils the effect by also including chromed windscreen washer jets which look like they just escaped from a Cadillac Escalade and which cannot be deleted when ordering.
The only option I regret not specifying for the sake of a few Euros is the automatic opening/closing tailgate as the handle got really dirty during the winter. I?m also having second thoughts about the light wood trim, which I specified guessing (correctly) that the cabin would otherwise be very dark with the black ambience interrupted only by the seats whose shade is described rather unfashionably as ?tobacco?. The overall effect with the various metal knobs is more late baroque than 21st century sports saloon.
When I picked up the car 5 months ago I noticed a few things had changed since the previous one left the Munich factory. When you unlock the car, the rear LED lights and front day running lights as well as LEDs under the door mirrors illuminate slowly and elegantly. The resulting light show is very impressive. Less impressively, BMW has replaced the traditional key with a heavy piece of plastic which you have to put into a slot in the steering column before pressing an engine start button on the dash. I asked the sales guy who showed me round the car what the advantage of this system was compared to, well a key. He couldn?t think of one, but my 13 year old nephew is impressed by the imparted feeling of superior thunderbird style gadgetry. He is also impressed by the similarly useless but technologically nice one touch gear selector.
So, ?Start? button pressed, engine roars into life - literally. Wow, big difference to the old one - no empty diesel rattle here, this one sounds loud and powerful and reminds me of my old E46 M3 at idle. Into Drive, accelerator foot to the floor and then brake suddenly, slightly alarmed. Where is the turbo-lag? This engine revs and offers torque instantly, a big and unexpected improvement over the old one.
Onto the i-Drive. I liked the old i-Drive, the simple top level menu hiding bewildering complexity underneath had an element of the old GEM graphical user interface from the 80s Atari home computers about it. The new one just has a boring list of selectable options like everyone else. Brilliant graphics though, and instantaneous response which you could never accuse the old of. In place of the big simplistic selector wheel there is now a selector wheel surrounded by buttons like on a 3-Series which makes navigation through the menus much easier but spoils the minimalist appearance of the old one.
Connecting my iPod necessitated a trip to the dealer along with much cursing to buy an additional cable, but if I?d RTFM to begin with I would have discovered that you can actually upload music from a memory stick directly onto the i-Drive hard drive. Also loads of new functions, including internet access via a Google application which allows you to while away the time in traffic jams by reading news bulletins and checking the weather. There is also voice control but, sadly, this is a german spec car and it doesn?t understand my English german accent. ?Navigation? I barked at it and it responded by phoning my wife!
As I said before, the E60 is just simply the best handling midsized car on the planet. The agility, neutral handling and steering response are amazing and make me wonder what its successor due in autumn will be like. The ride quality on the runflats is not as good as the air suspension equipped Mercedes E320 a colleague has, but better than an Audi A6 or Lexus IS250 for example. At speed though, like the old one, it manages to be very quiet and relaxed and I drove 2,000km in 2 days last week without any adverse affects on my notoriously weak back. The comfort seats are spectacularly comfortable. Having also had to transport both the parents and the outlaws around the scenic parts of southern Germany I can testify that 4 passengers plus luggage can travel in comfort and, apart from the aforementioned taste aberrations, style.
Fuel economy is less of an issue these days than it was in August last year when I ordered the car, when a litre of diesel cost 1,50 Euros. Now it?s less than 1 Euro. I?m getting between 6.3l/100km and 7.0l/100km according to the computer which equals 37 ? 46mpg. More importantly I get around 1,000km between fill ups which justifies my decision for the diesel version over the petrol. I actually think this level of fuel efficiency is amazing for a 1 1/2 ton six cylinder 240bhp car with an automatic gearbox.
The first service is looming in a few thousand kms. Up to now the engine has consumed around 1 litre of mega-expensive long life oil. I am always a bit uneasy about these long life service intervals offered by BMW, but as long as they are happy meeting any potential warranty obligations then that?s fine by me.
So, overall I?m very happy with my choice. We?ll be spending a lot of time together the 530d and I as I cover around 50,000 ? 60,000km a year. I don?t anticipate any problems, but if I experience anything I?ll report it. I?ve owned cars in my life that cost several hundred pounds and turned out to be completely reliable, I don?t accept anything less from a new car, especially one this expensive.
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