Nice write up, Fox. Haven't been in the 530d yet..by noticeably better engine and tolerable as a diesel do you mean it's more refined and less...tractor-like?
Basicallly, yes. I have a rather love/hate relationship with the engine - when it's cold and you are sat in traffic it's irritatingly diesely and I continually wish it was a petrol. But when you take it on a cross country trip it's absolutely fantastic and I find myself wondering why you'd have any other engine in a car like this - once it's up to temperature it's wonderfully smooth, refined and the performance is simply excellent.
I test drove a 528i today with the 4 cyinder turbo engine as I feel this engine might offer me exactly what I want. I was surprised in several ways - firstly that from outside the car it sounded almost exactly as diesely as my 530d, which is worrying for a car that has a petrol engine, but also once on the road it was much more refined than other manufacturers 4 cylinder turbos are. I enjoyed it - I think.
Are we talking eye-wateringly expensive repair bills for the 530? Does the comprehensive BMW warranty stack up against any short comings in reliability?
I've no idea what the repair bills are like and frankly I'm just not interested in finding out. Part of the case I made myself for buying an F10 was that I could stop caring about that and simply have it all sorted in the event of an issue.
I didn't quite experience any of the symptoms you've described with the cheap plastics and squeaky handles with the facelift, either which is a concern as I was aiming for a pre-LCI M sport as I prefer the interior... more 'masculine' for lack of a better way to put it.
It's me being me, there is absolutely no need to favour an LCI because of those two criticisms, the LCI's have the same door handles anyway. I do not beleive the LCI offers any credible benefits over the pre LCI, it is the weakest LCI BMW have done (Probably because the original was so right). Effectively the headline changes and my criticisms therefore are..
a) Indicators moved from wing to wing mirror. Great, in theory. But the retention of a pointless chrome blank on the wing mirror where the indicator used to be looks stupid and might as well just be an indicator still.
b) Xenon's became standard. Great, in theory. In practice it means that every good spec car now has the base spec lights with no adaptive and halogen indicator bulbs not the better looking upgraded lights. Most high spec pre LCI cars have the visibility pack adding Adaptive Xenon, LED indicators and High beam Assist. Another step backwards then. Even most of the M5's now have the stupid halogen indicator bulbs.
c) Business Nav became standard. See above - now there are loads of cars with business navigation whereas in the past if people were paying for Nav they invariably picked Pro.
d) New rear lights. Not better, not fresher, just changed for what looks like the sake of it
e) New steering wheel on M Sport. xs2man loves his, I think it looks like it was designed for a different car and then just randomly slapped in the F10. Which it was - it's from the 3 Series.
Great.
Oh, the standard fit 18's on the M Sport are nicer with the LCI.
The big upgrades over the life of the F10 were the addition of the rare but stunning multifunction display and the upgraded NBT iDrive - but both of these features appeared before the LCI so you do not need an LCI car to get them.
This colour combination is..brilliant, inside and out.
Colour code/name for the exterior paint?
Mine is Space Grey Metallic with Black Dakota Leather and Fineline Anthracite Wood.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Longer than most SUVs...
