G30 5 series buying advice

Soldato
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14 Apr 2014
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Sunny Sussex
Just sums up the market for me - a few grand cheaper than mine was, but mine was 11 months old with 5k on it and that one is basically 4 years old with 50k on it :eek:

I don't know how I'm going to get past this irritation as it currently stops me wanting to buy anything. It just all seems such poor value. Things have very much moved on in 5 years.

100%

If the market hasn’t calmed down my early next year, I’ll just keep my car for another year - seems mad to spend 24k on a car which will probably plummet at some point :/
 
Man of Honour
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2 Jan 2009
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60,169
Same here, my car won't really lose much even when prices get back to normal, so it doesn't make sense to change it now...
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Oct 2002
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10,267
Location
Stoke
for the antenna and activation? £150 possibly another £100 for teh full screen activation for carplay if required.

£150 for activation and antenna is stupidly expensive. I paid $50 (£37ish) for activation and given it's an ID6 unit, it's highly likely you won't need the antenna. Even if you do, they're a tenner off the bay. This includes fullscreen Carplay if the NBTEvo unit is up to date enough.

Be careful with the update to full screen if the NBT Evo isn't up to date enough if you're doing it yourself - there's plenty of people who sell the service online and will Teamviewer in but put a condition on that you must have your own battery conditioner/charger. When updating I-Step levels, the car can suck up a constant 70A so it's always recommended to keep a charger than can provide at least 70A at 13.8v - these are excruciatingly expensive (around £400). If you don't have one, there's a chance you could brick your NBT Evo unit as it's one of the longest units time wise when it comes to updating if your battery isn't tiptop and you cannot run the engine whilst the car is updating. Other method is to run a 2nd car (with engine running) with a set of jump leads to your BMW.

I'd just get them to do this part as I guess they'll connect a charger up and then get an online activation instead as the specialist isn't doing it the OEM way either as it's too cheap and with you not doing it yourself, you won't have any access to the patching software. Beware if you take it to a dealership then as if they update anything on the car, you'll lose all the patched FSC codes and your navigation and Carplay will stop working at which point the specialist may charge you again.

The method I used backs up your FSC codes and has the option to restore before you go to the dealer and then re-patch afterwards FOC.

Just sums up the market for me - a few grand cheaper than mine was, but mine was 11 months old with 5k on it and that one is basically 4 years old with 50k on it :eek:

I don't know how I'm going to get past this irritation as it currently stops me wanting to buy anything. It just all seems such poor value. Things have very much moved on in 5 years.

Agree 100% with this although we changed the other half's Golf to an F54 JCW Clubman recently and were really surprised on the trade in - although the Mini itself was probably more to buy, we got way more on the trade in that we probably ever would so guess it balances out. The dealer who have taken the Golf are selling it for £10.4K - thats a 62 plate GTD with 63K on the clock - scary! It's barely any less than we paid for it originally 4 years ago with 15K less on the clock!
 
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Soldato
Joined
6 Jan 2012
Posts
5,502
ok the 30e turned out to be a badly prepped dog, dealer didnt see the problem with having 3 different brands of tyre on the one car along with alignment problems so knocked that on the head pretty sharpish.

deposit down on a 520d

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107084778600?minimum-badge-engine-size=2.0&make=BMW&model=5 SERIES&advertising-location=at_cars&body-type=Estate&year-from=2018&sort=price-asc&price-to=22500&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=Used&seller-type=trade&radius=200&postcode=g334uf&include-delivery-option=on&page=1


only real positives is that its a touring and has HK.

spec from BMW
Ordered Options
01CA Selection of CoP-relevant vehicles
01CB ACEA/CO2 Coding
02PA Security Wheel Bolts
02TE Automatic transmission with gearshift paddles
02VB Tyre pressure monitoring
021R 19" black 664M light M Double-spoke style with Run-flat tyres
0230 EU specific equipment
0258 Run-flat tyres
03MC Roof rails, High-gloss Shadowline
0302 Alarm system (Thatcham 1)
0337 M Sport Package
04AW Instrument panel in Sensatec
04K7 Aluminium Rhombicle interior trim with Pearl Chrome trim finisher
04T8 Exterior Mirrors - folding with anti-dazzle
04UR Ambient lighting
0420 Sun protection glass
0423 Floor mats, velour
0428 First Aid Kit & Triangle
0459 Elec Fr Seats + Driver Memory
0481 Sport seats, front
0494 Seat heating, front
05AV Active Guard
05A1 LED foglights, front
0502 Headlight wash
0508 Park Distance Control (PDC), front and rear
0534 Automatic Air Conditioning
0575 12V power sockets
06AC BMW Emergency call
06AE BMW TeleServices
06AK BMW Online Services
06AM Real Time Traffic Information
06AP Remote Services
06WB Digital Cockpit
0609 Navigation system Professional
0650 Single-disc CD Player
0654 DAB digital radio
0688 Loudspeaker system - harman/kardon surround sound
0704 M Sport suspension
0710 M Steering Wheel
0715 M aerodynamic bodystyling
0760 Exterior trim, High-gloss Shadowline
0775 Headlining, Anthracite
08KB Oil service interval - 24 months/25,000 km
08R9 Refrigerant
08SM External Visible VIN
08S2 Coding of alarm siren (time limit)
08S3 Auto drive away locking
08TF Active Pedestrian Safety
08TG Dead-Locking Function
0812 GB Specification
0850 Add Fuel for Export Cars
0880 English Handbook
09AA Bodyshell protection

Standard Options
0853 Instrument Panel Letter
That's nice :)
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,534
Those wheels, I know I know I'm like a broken record but how does anyone think thats a good look versus the standard ones? :(
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
18,299
In fairness the wheels would be diamond cut from factory and the grille would have come chrome. It would have looked classy when new.
 

233

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Soldato
OP
Joined
21 Nov 2004
Posts
13,500
Location
Wishaw
o9bhpnrw.jpg


picked it up yesterday, lovely sedate run up from Harrogate to Scotland average of 57mpg, had it out this morning for a quick run into Glasgow and its certainly pokey enough.

honestly glad i didnt buy a 530d now, once the warranty has expired i think a remap might possibly be on the cards (should take it up to about 230-235bhp) but to quote one of the reviews on the G30 i watched its 95% of the car you could ever need.

wheels are still god awful though.....
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2008
Posts
7,080
wheels are still god awful though.....

I think the biggest problem with black wheels is that you lose all the detail. I know 0 about G30 alloys but from your photo I couldn't tell you anything about the alloys - number of spokes, design, size, pattern etc.... It just looks like a large black circle that someone has coloured in.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,534
I think the biggest problem with black wheels is that you lose all the detail. I know 0 about G30 alloys but from your photo I couldn't tell you anything about the alloys - number of spokes, design, size, pattern etc.... It just looks like a large black circle that someone has coloured in.

I just can't understand how they became so popular that even diesel estate cars come with them.
 

mjt

mjt

Soldato
Joined
31 Aug 2007
Posts
19,994
I just can't understand how they became so popular that even diesel estate cars come with them.
Do silver alloys even exist anymore?
Such a shame :(

-edit obviously I’m joking, but if you look at the wheel choices, but I’m pretty sure the bigger rim sizes and M Sport wheels can only be had in black, grey, diamond cut or a mixture.
 

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Soldato
OP
Joined
21 Nov 2004
Posts
13,500
Location
Wishaw
Anyone explain the benefit of bmw connected drive @[tw]fox

it’s seems like a nonesense subscription tbh

many actual benefits to having it?


Am I right in saying I can preheat or cool the car with connected drive?
 
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Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,534
There are a wide range of different services - for me, the Connected Package Plus is best value.

For £99 a year, I get:

Satnav map updates
Realtime traffic information
BMW Online (A minorly useful gimmick, puts weather on the map etc)
Remote Services (unlock/lock car, ventilate car remotely (this is just the blower motor not the AC) and locate car via GPS).

Personally, I like it. Unlike most people here I value RTTI as I like the way it overlays all the roads on the nav with colour coded traffic flow and I prefer the way it does delay attribution and handles road closures to the more predictive way Google works - as most of my usage is motorway not town, where IMHO Google isn't so useful.
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
21,946
It is a shame BMW weren't as flagrant with the rules as Jaguar and enabled remote engine start with AC/proper Heat. Missing this on my Merc.
 
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