BMW and M Power Owners

Caporegime
Joined
23 Dec 2011
Posts
32,917
Location
Northern England
Does anyone know where the jack points are on a new 530e? Nothing wrong, just want to lift the car to clean the wheels.

Believe they're in similar positions. Should be 2 each side in the mid section about 6 inches from the wheels. Then there's normally a front and rear mount about 24 inches from the front and back of the car.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,588
Do you still hate xDrive as much as you did?

Yes - it offers nothing I want and comes at a cost. Why isn't there a choice offered?

Impressive, isn’t it?

Yes, it is.

The engine is smooth and refined - the low speed refinement is especially nice. The 530d is fantastic and is the most refined diesel I've ever driven but it will never be a petrol six and the 540i very much is. It's a pleasure to waft about in traffic. It actually drives very much like the 530d in terms of its power delivery - not much point revving it and the throttle is a bit all or nothing off boost in much the same was the diesel is. It is however considerably more thirsty - I averaged just 19mpg and this included some dual carriageway driving and I'm hardly Gibbo :D On average it was about 30% less efficient than the 530d. Which I guess is to be expected.

I love the many subtle improvements to the way everything works. Auto Hold now defaults to on - no pressing the button every single time you set off as per the F10. Little touches like configurable heated seats which automatically switch on below a preset ambient temperature are wonderful and the new iDrive interface is slick, fast and attractive. The screen resolution is excellent but I still hate the stick up screen.

The climate panel is a styling and ergonomic disaster though - it looks tacky with the glossy plastic and crap casio LCD display and for some bizarre reason the function buttons are grouped at either end of the panel so you have to reach right over to the passenger side for the window demist button :confused: 4 zone climate fixes this I'd imagine but few used cars will ever have that specced.

The seats look absolutely fantastic, the bits of trim and styling really lift the interior and I love the way the entire door and dash is now trimmed in 'leather' as standard.

In summary then I have no burning desire to immediately rush out and buy one but I see no real reason why my F10's eventual replacement when the time comes won't be a G30.
 
Associate
Joined
18 Apr 2004
Posts
995
Location
North West
Yeh oil is normal - sits around 85c or so.

Water never seems to get above 65c though unless sitting and then it barely scrapes low 70s. Monitoring with the OBD computer (pressing and holding mileage reset and going through the "secret menu" to "KTEMPMOM"

I've watched 3 videos of that secret menu on YouTube and still can't get it to display on mine,
Just chucks me back to the beginning.
Was going to test it to see what it gets to for a comparison for you.
I have a carly plug-in thing so I wonder if that will show it.....
 
Associate
Joined
9 Oct 2005
Posts
2,324
Location
Berkshire
So, you may recall a few pages ago I got a nice E46 325i sport auto thing in silver. It's been a couple of months now and I still love it.

There is however a bit of rusting bubbling away at the front of the rear arches. The pub talk is that a garage would cut it out, weld something in, bosh. Is that the case do you think? I'm wondering how much of my log/pellet burner budget I need to dig into!
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Sep 2008
Posts
14,127
Location
Britain
Yes - it offers nothing I want and comes at a cost. Why isn't there a choice offered?



I averaged just 19mpg and this included some dual carriageway driving and I'm hardly Gibbo :D On average it was about 30% less efficient than the 530d. Which I guess is to be expected.

Eh? I get barely less than that driving driving (18 or so with a mixture of hooning and normal driving) and 30odd at 77ish on the motorways. Is this an xDrive related intrusion?
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
21,055
Yes - it offers nothing I want and comes at a cost. Why isn't there a choice offered?



Yes, it is.

The engine is smooth and refined - the low speed refinement is especially nice. The 530d is fantastic and is the most refined diesel I've ever driven but it will never be a petrol six and the 540i very much is. It's a pleasure to waft about in traffic. It actually drives very much like the 530d in terms of its power delivery - not much point revving it and the throttle is a bit all or nothing off boost in much the same was the diesel is. It is however considerably more thirsty - I averaged just 19mpg and this included some dual carriageway driving and I'm hardly Gibbo :D On average it was about 30% less efficient than the 530d. Which I guess is to be expected.

I love the many subtle improvements to the way everything works. Auto Hold now defaults to on - no pressing the button every single time you set off as per the F10. Little touches like configurable heated seats which automatically switch on below a preset ambient temperature are wonderful and the new iDrive interface is slick, fast and attractive. The screen resolution is excellent but I still hate the stick up screen.

The climate panel is a styling and ergonomic disaster though - it looks tacky with the glossy plastic and crap casio LCD display and for some bizarre reason the function buttons are grouped at either end of the panel so you have to reach right over to the passenger side for the window demist button :confused: 4 zone climate fixes this I'd imagine but few used cars will ever have that specced.

The seats look absolutely fantastic, the bits of trim and styling really lift the interior and I love the way the entire door and dash is now trimmed in 'leather' as standard.

In summary then I have no burning desire to immediately rush out and buy one but I see no real reason why my F10's eventual replacement when the time comes won't be a G30.
Pretty much the same as my view too.

- The separate auto heated seat setting for the driver and passenger is amazing - I have it set to come on setting 2 when below 5c and my partner goes all out at 3 below 12c on her side. :p.
- The fan speed button needs to be bigger or moved from a button to a turn dial - It’s too small and fiddly to press.
- Auto lights remember the setting when you restart so no need to keep pressing the on button.
- Voice control - I still find this function the best thing ever :)
- The stop/start function always works, even when the outside temp is 0c. With auto hold on, once you have stopped you can take your foot off the brake, the car remains stopped and off until the car ahead starts moving, then it auto starts and moves forward.

- The boot in the Touring is wider than the Golf R Estate so my bike with wheels attached slides in more easily.
- The auto moving boot cover is nice and it even works when you just open the rear glass panel.
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,588
It was pretty much all around town with the odd short trip up the dual carriageway and back. My commute is particularly bad traffic wise, too.

On a run I get almost 50mpg from the 530d and have averaged 40mpg since I bought it but most of my driving is out of town which I didn't get the opportunity to do with the 540i.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,588
- Voice control - I still find this function the best thing ever :)

Voice control in my 2010 F10 was absolutely useless and as a result I never bothered with it in my 2015 F10. Since your post the other day I've put more of an effort in and read the manual and wow, its actually really very good indeed isn't it! I'm ashamed to admit I had no idea I could even do things like change into and out of split screen mode entirely with voice control.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
21,055
I’m currently averaging 52-54mpg from my 520d with 440 miles on the clock.
I’m interested what I can get once it’s run in and the temp gets warmer, vs the 1 Series with the same engine, which was around 75mpg.
 
Permabanned
Joined
9 Jun 2009
Posts
11,904
Location
London, McLaren or Radical
I struggle to get 40 out of my 520d sometimes...

The 535d / 640d engine is the best for fuel economy... I was regularly able to hit 40-45mpg in my 640d rental cars.

A colleague has the 520d and his fuel economy is worse than mine... the engine is too small for the car.

The 320d/420d on the other hand can hit and exceed 50mpg quite easily.

Heck... my wifes high mileage and old 320d still hits 50mpg easily. She regularly gets 600 miles from a 12 gallon tank.

I often break 500 miles before fillup with a 14 gallon tank.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,588
The 535d / 640d engine is the best for fuel economy...

No it isn't.

A colleague has the 520d and his fuel economy is worse than mine... the engine is too small for the car.

No it isn't :p

Comparing fuel economy is largely pointless as no two people have exactly the same driving style and exactly the same driving route. Unless you live next door to your colleague and you commute the same way at the same time the different fuel economy figures are meaningless.
 

mjt

mjt

Soldato
Joined
31 Aug 2007
Posts
20,011
Mine were beeping for no reason today in a car park. Wonder if it's salt/grime or something more serious.
I suspect my warranty only covers drivetrain, but will investigate..
 
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