BMW 530D estate

Probably because it's ghastly?
5 GTs look great in the right colour and wheels IMHO.
However, 5 Touring has more practical carrying space as it doesn't have a sloping roofline like the GT. GT does have more rear passenger space, though. But that's not what the OP is looking for.

Not even an estate!

This also struck me.

Andi.
I'd get an E instead. Huge. More space than the 5 Touring.
 
What about an F07 (bear in mind I don't know that much about 5 series, and the wheels are a bit nasty)

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201402061596751

Hmmm, this seems suspiciously cheap, any idea why?

Forgive my ignorance here, but why do people not go for these by default? Surely this is better than an F10 in every possible way? Larger than a 5-series, with a hatchback making the car actually useful, but with the excellent F01/F10 style interior? :confused:
 
Forgive my ignorance here, but why do people not go for these by default? Surely this is better than an F10 in every possible way? :confused:
They are considerably bigger than an F10, making them less wieldy in town and in car parks.
Also the sloping rear makes them less practical than the F11.
And perhaps the price (when new) puts people off?

My dad's had a 535i GT for 3 years now and it's bloody brilliant.
It is bloody massive though and the boot space isn't great considering the size.
 
My 2p worth...

I have an E91 (previous shape 3 series touring) which has decent boot space, but I wouldn't want to use it for moving house. While it's perfectly practical for getting large boxes and the like in, you'll struggle badly with any large'ish furniture.

It looks like you probably have the budget to get into an F11 (current shape 5 series touring) and this is where I'd put my money, especially for your particular requirements. They are very large (substantially bigger than 3 series and C class size), very well made, and very comfortable.

If you want performance then the 530d is the right choice. If you're not too fussed about performance then I'd opt for the 520d. It offers much better fuel economy and you'll likely have a greater choice of cars to pick from.

The 520d is no slouch and the 530d really is very brisk, but neither engine will offer you performance comparable to your Z4.

Also, the 525d is now a 2 litre 4-pot diesel, but I'm not sure when that happened...it may be that in earlier F10/F11 the 525d was still the 3 litre 6-pot.

/edit: Seems that the F10/F11 525d was 6-pot in 2010/2011 and changed over to the 4-pot in 2011. Therefore, models in your budget will have the 6-pot engine.
 
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If you want performance then the 530d is the right choice. If you're not too fussed about performance then I'd opt for the 520d. It offers much better fuel economy

It probably doesn't. When driving the 520d I get about 29mpg around town and mid 40's on a run. Trying hard on the Motorway it'll just about hit 50. It is not the super-wonder-ultra-mpg-machine of victory the quoted figures would have you beleive.

and you'll likely have a greater choice of cars to pick from.

This, however, is very true. You will get a newer, nicer 520d for your money for sure. But then... it's a 520d.
 
Thanks Havana, I'm looking closely at the 5 series, I don't expect it to be as quick as the Z but the more the merrier so a 535 would be nice eh!. It isn't going to be used to move house only to assist, so boxes maybe up to fridge size, certainly not a whole house. For the major stuff the kids are hiring a van and when we get round to the move it will be mainly a removals firm, I'm way too old for stuff like that!

Andi.

PS, are there any alternatives that I may have missed? I'm going to exclude anything that doesn't have an engine bigger than 2l at the moment.
 
[TW]Fox;25826520 said:
It probably doesn't. When driving the 520d I get about 29mpg around town and mid 40's on a run. Trying hard on the Motorway it'll just about hit 50. It is not the super-wonder-ultra-mpg-machine of victory the quoted figures would have you beleive..

Personal experience with both, which I've had as loaners from the garage while mine was in for servicing, was that the 520d returned an average of 43mpg and the 530d returned an average of 36mpg.

I only had both for a day, and they weren't driven an awful lot (about 50 miles for both) but that took in a decent mix of road types. I only took note of the averages.

That ~15% is a fairly sizable difference in economy, especially when taken over a longer period, however...

...given the choice of either I'd take the 530d over the 520d every time, but my experience is that the F10/11 520d is still an excellent car/engine combination.

/edit I should add that I agree wholeheartedly with your statement that the 520d is not the super-MPG machine that the official figures suggest, and neither is my 320d. Official 320d figures suggest average fuel economy of around 65mpg, but my personal experience is that the real-world average is more like 51mpg. That said I still think that the 520d is an excellent combination of relative performance/economy.
 
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PS, are there any alternatives that I may have missed? I'm going to exclude anything that doesn't have an engine bigger than 2l at the moment.
The only others I can think of are Audi and Volvo.
A6 Avant and V70 D5.
New A6 is worth a look perhaps and the Volvo will cost you half as much, which leaves room for a toy ;)
 
Oh well all done now, well it will be on Friday and as long as I can get to Mansfield in this weather.

Thanks to mjt for the tip, I will be swapping the Z4MC for an A6 Avant 3.0 TDI S-Line Special edition.

Andi.
 
Err I hope it's the current one and not a very expensive runout version of the old one!

The current model is good, the old model is absolutely nothing like an f10, being 10 years old, and is very much a car for a sub 10k budget not a 25k one.
 
It's 2010 model, we decided to drastically cut the budget but got a good offer on the Z4MC so we've only spent another £7K.

At the end of the day we needed the space but decided not to spend too much.

Andi
 
Fair enough. Previous-shape 5 Series would've been my choice, but I mean if you're going from a Z4MC then I don't think the driving dynamics of either will be much to write home about.

You going to spend the rest on a toy then? ;)
 
It does seem like an awful lot of money to change into that shape of a6, are you sure you aren't being done on the z4m trade in (,ignoring what you're changing to)?
 
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