BMW and M Power Owners

wingman said:
Seems to be riding well. Smooth changes in the auto box, comfortable ride, no strange noises, everything appears to be working as it should. Someone has fitted angel eyes to it in a previous life, is it easy/worth it to revert back to it's standard xenons?
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The E39 facelift had Angel Eyes as standard - the first BMW to have them. It did not have standard Xenons. You have a facelift car so I'd imagine they are the factory lights. One of the best bits of the car!

Regarding your 2p comment, was that including insurance costs? I'm paying £350.00 per year for my fully comp policy and I only paid £1,700.00 for the car itself. I fundamentally know bills are going to be coming my way but it's difficult for me to conceive that an F10 530d is - like for like - only 2p more expensive to run than an E39 530i. I imagine our circumstances with the ownership of this car are vastly different (FWIW I'm not doubting your figures in the slightest, only that there's basically no dep'n left in this car and my insurance is dirt cheap).
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The E39 contained an element of depreciation - I bought it years ago remember - and an ever increasing amount of repair costs plus higher fuel costs. By contrast the F10 contained only depreciation, I bought it with 2 years AUC warranty included and traded it in soon after it expired so incurred only depreciation costs in owning it. The depreciation was much higher on a per mile basis but offset by the lower fuel and zero running costs (Well, one service @ £150).

The rough breakdown:

F10 530d: Depreciation 32p, fuel 14p, other (tax, servicing, repairs etc) 7p total 53p a mile
E39 530i: Depreciation 10p, fuel 20p, other (tax, servicing, repairs etc) 20p, total 50p a mile

The older the E39 got the lower the depreciation element went and the higher the other element went.
 
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Will said:
I get that the software will improve the car :) but can't see how it does anything to the suspension at all, if it's just upgrading to GTS software as you alluded to originally.

You suggested that GTS software has improved the suspension, I'm just wondering how given that the GTS suspension doesn't even have any software, it's a fixed rate mechanically adjustable coilover (as in, turn knobs or wield c spanners at it) on that car.

A pedantic point perhaps but worth considering further - who did your software coding, as they may well have tweaked the suspension settings (albeit, they simply cannot have updated the suspension to the GTS settings, for the reasons I explained earlier :)).
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Invertigo said:
I'm assuming he means it changes the electronically adjustable suspension settings in the standard car to be more similar to the GTS, as far as is possible with the adjustable setup. Obviously won't be the same thing as a race derived coilover set, but if owners find it an improvement then surely it's a good thing.
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I get what you mean Will, the chassis does have various electronically tweakable (is that a word haha!?) options so the 'suspension part' of the GTS pack improvement must come from this and any dampening control it can offer too - of course I am well aware it doesn't somehow make my springs better :P I have a track day car, that is very much not a software driven toy, so I get how it all hangs together. The guy that coded it is called 'Henwee' on instagram, he has a good write up of what the various mods do, and he's on M3cutters etc too.
 
Gents, do any of you know how long the paintwork warranty is on AUC? Mine is 4.5 years old now and on both wing mirrors there is 'crazing' in the black part of the trim. Looks horrendous.

Hoping I'm wrong when I recall 3 years from new.
 
Dis86 said:
Gents, do any of you know how long the paintwork warranty is on AUC? Mine is 4.5 years old now and on both wing mirrors there is 'crazing' in the black part of the trim. Looks horrendous.

Hoping I'm wrong when I recall 3 years from new.
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Paintwork warranty is 12 years and won't cover trim.

If you have a relationship with your dealer, I would see if they would make a good will contribution. If not, get a local paint shop to spray them for £50.

Edit - I think I may have misunderstood. You got a picture?
 
@Gaygle I'll take one later today. The part that's affected though actually forms the main body of the mirror. It's what the motor and mirror itself connect to but from the front it just looks like edge trim as everything else clips on to it.

https://imgur.com/a/pchgH
 
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Hi - a quick question for those in the know. I am looking to buy an m235i and BMW approved used have some that I like. I called and spoke to my local dealer (Sytner) and during our chat he said that there is zero room for negotiation on used car prices with them. Does that ring true with you?

If not then what sort of £ or % should I aim for on a £24k car? Thanks!
 
RobG said:
Hi - a quick question for those in the know. I am looking to buy an m235i and BMW approved used have some that I like. I called and spoke to my local dealer (Sytner) and during our chat he said that there is zero room for negotiation on used car prices with them. Does that ring true with you?

If not then what sort of £ or % should I aim for on a £24k car? Thanks!
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No idea about BMW but Sytner Audi here usually give you £500 off straight away once you ask and will sometimes give more if you keep pestering
 
RobG said:
Hi - a quick question for those in the know. I am looking to buy an m235i and BMW approved used have some that I like. I called and spoke to my local dealer (Sytner) and during our chat he said that there is zero room for negotiation on used car prices with them. Does that ring true with you?

If not then what sort of £ or % should I aim for on a £24k car? Thanks!
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Move on, you'll find a dealer that will negotiate on price if you look harder.

Having said that, if the car value is par for the course and it's what you want, then try to negotiate a two year AUC warranty. They'll probably say they can't offer it, but if you darken their desk and try to leave they'll make it happen.

The problem with negotiating on the phone...you don't look all that serious.
 
RobG said:
Hi - a quick question for those in the know. I am looking to buy an m235i and BMW approved used have some that I like. I called and spoke to my local dealer (Sytner) and during our chat he said that there is zero room for negotiation on used car prices with them. Does that ring true with you?

If not then what sort of £ or % should I aim for on a £24k car? Thanks!
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It really depends on how keenly the car is priced to begin with. If it's well priced and a decent spec then don't expect anything. If it's expensive, or missing some desirable spec, or it's been hanging around a while then you'll likely get something off.
 
You could try calling another Sytner dealer near to you and tell them you're interested in that car and do your negotiating through them, as Sytner will transfer them between their dealerships if you are willing to put a refundable deposit down. Flexibility on price depends entirely on the scarcity of the model/options I would say - I got close to £1k off my X3 but nothing off my 330i E93 (both from different Sytner garages). I did get a full set of new tyres for the 330i, so know that there are other things other than the price that can be negotiated (24 months warranty as opposed to the standard 12 months on AUC, tyres, full tank of fuel (amazed this isn't standard)). When I was looking I did find that dealers in Scotland, Wales and NI were willing to knock more off the price than UK dealers in the South of England, and they will all deliver to anywhere in the UK (just might be a pain for you driving 200 miles to view it if they don't have a closer dealership).
 
RobG said:
Hi - a quick question for those in the know. I am looking to buy an m235i and BMW approved used have some that I like. I called and spoke to my local dealer (Sytner) and during our chat he said that there is zero room for negotiation on used car prices with them. Does that ring true with you?!
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Some dealers really wont shift on price at all. Depends on how long its been on their forecourt and their monthly targets. You really will get better results if you go into the dealership and talk face to face rather than chatting on the phone. (Just bought my third BMW over the weekend, spent 3 hours in the dealership negotiating).
 
Thanks. Just to add that I didn't actually try to negotiate - the salesman I called when I enquired about a vehicle volunteered this information to me.

The car I like is 70 miles away and my local Sytner is 10 miles away. Am I best to go to the dealer with the car in hand and negotiate with them? That feels most sensible but is also more of a ballache.
 
Try both over the phone and see if either is flexible on the price, then go through that one. However, if you turned up in person ready to buy on the spot then they may be more amendable to offers. What I did find is the salesmen generally tend to know nothing about the car, give inaccurate info and don't actually try to sell them to you.
 
MoRTs right, the salesman wont know much about the car you want and not only that, they will have to scuttle off in the background to keep asking the Retail Manager's permission during negotiations.
BMW approved used have generally had all their discounts taken out of the car already, so the price you see is close to what you will end up paying unless they are feeling really generous that day.
If its part of a network, just go to your closest dealer.
 
Thanks again for the input gents. Rather unexpectedly I have just secured myself a M235i (not from a main dealer). I've gone for this one on eBay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2015-64-B...%3A75457da215e0a888f442e36cfffe90fe%7Ciid%3A1

Whilst it doesn't have the adaptive suspension that I wanted to try, it does have a lot of additional spec and BMW Performance parts that I did want. I'm not a fan of the wheels but other than that I think it looks great - should be picking it up early next week.
 
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