G30 5 series buying advice

[233]

Looking to buy a g30 touring


Max budget 25k


Looking at a 520d 2018 msport as budget doesn’t quite stretch to a 30d and it’s for work so the 6 pot is in the nice to have category but not essential


What are the must have options

I assume pro nav and HK are two must haves but anything else?

 

[turbot1984]

Looking to buy a g30 touring


Max budget 25k


Looking at a 520d 2018 msport as budget doesn’t quite stretch to a 30d and it’s for work so the 6 pot is in the nice to have category but not essential


What are the must have options

I assume pro nav and HK are two must haves but anything else?

G30 530d Touring here, wish I had:
Lumbar seats
Panaramic sunroof
Electric door mirrors
19in wheels not 20in
Adaptive dampers
Go for lower spec and 3 litre, engine is the best part of it

 

[[TW]Fox]

Everything must have except the icon led lights is standard across the range. So it's fairly easy to get a nice one.

 

[Clarkey]

Everything must have except the icon led lights is standard across the range. So it's fairly easy to get a nice one.

You're joking aren't you. They don't even have folding seats or power fold mirrors as standard.
Nav is the same across the range don't worry about that. Correct HK audio is a must the base audio is utterly pants. I would want active cruise, 360 cam and keyless entry but I guess others priorities are different, you won't find many 20d's with those options.
Lumbar support isn't standard, be sure to get that! Base leather is quite poor quality and lots of owners have seen the coating fail at a surprisingly low age, and the seat bolsters cracking. Doesn't affect better grade leather.

 

[[TW]Fox]

You're joking aren't you.

Nope.

They don't even have folding seats or power fold mirrors as standard.

Oh no. I'm not saying these are not useful options to have but it's a far cry from the days when the wrong 520d had a manual gearbox, halogen headlights, a tiny nav screen and climate control that lacked a sun load sensor.

The reality is that few G30 have no options at all - so any car you find will have everything you need and a couple of nice to have items on top, too.

The base specification contains everything that's a must have - making it far easier to find a nice example.

Correct HK audio is a must the base audio is utterly pants.

I have HK Audio. It's excellent and I really like it. I've also had base audio and it was fine. In an ideal world, I'd not want a car without HK audio but my point is that the base specification has everything 'must have'. HK is not a 'must have' its a preference.

Fortunately because what matters most to people is huge wheels and bright blue brake callipers many cars have M Sport Plus optioned which does include the HK.

I would want active cruise, 360 cam and keyless entry but I guess others priorities are different, you won't find many 20d's with those options.

You won't find many G30 full stop with those options particularly active cruise. You've been spoiled by the hilariously amazing specification of your 530e - even now active cruise is probably the rarest 5 Series option around - it's madness given its been standard on a Golf for about 8 years now but it's the way things are. If you decide you want active cruise, HK and 360 parking cameras with a 25k budget then give up now because it's not going to happen very easily.

Lumbar support isn't standard, be sure to get that! Base leather is quite poor quality and lots of owners have seen the coating fail at a surprisingly low age, and the seat bolsters cracking. Doesn't affect better grade leather.

A 520d with Driver Assistance Plus, Nappa comfort seats, 360 cameras, HK sound. It would be amazing if it were this easy!

There isn't anything wrong with the standard leather either which again is fortunate as people in this country just don't spec much on these cars so used you really do end up having to stop being so picky unless you want to spend 9 months looking for the car and then have to have it with beige paint or something when it does finally appear.

The lowest spec G30 I've ever driven had no optional equipment at all and the highest spec had Driver Assistance Plus, nappa leather, cameras and even night vision. It was a wonderful thing so I under the difference between cars with and without these things. But a car without those things isn't exactly terrible, is it. Which like I said is fortunate because in the UK market it's all about 20 inch black wheels and M Performance stickers not generous interior specifications.

Every purchase like this is a compromise. Even your huge mega spec example (the specification of which I am very jealous!) has a massive compromise with its missing cylinders which to me would be a bigger must have than anything else you've mentioned

 

[Clarkey]

Not exactly terrible, no. However I was buying a current generation exec car, I hardly want to get something with less tech than the cheap 15 year old Toyota it's replacing. For me, having radar cruise and 360 cam was a must. If I couldn't have it then I would have just bought another lesser brand car that did. End of the day there's nothing particularly special about how a 5 series drives above any other brands saloons.

 

[[TW]Fox]

However I was buying a current generation exec car, I hardly want to get something with less tech than the cheap 15 year old Toyota it's replacing

That's a wonderful soundbite and makes us think the G30 is less well specified than a 15 year old Corolla. However the reality is you didn't have a standard Toyota did you, you had a Lexus and nothing competes on standard spec with Lexus. I can't quite remember which model it was but something makes me think it was a GS450h? Which was pretty ahead of its time anyway when it came out and there hasn't exactly been that many more fresh new innovations in vehicle tech since 2006..

It's interesting you put so much weight on the 360 degree camera system. I found it nothing more than a gimmick - there was simply not enough definition of clarity on the side view cameras to make it genuinely useful for, say, negotiating a narrow entrance to a carpark by ensuring you don't curb the wheels.

The only properly useful part of it was the rear view camera - which actually I do agree is a must have. But it's available separately and far more common than the 360 degree camera system. 360 degrees are a fun gimmick thats nice to have but it's very hard to make a case for them being essential. In theory they could be so much better than they are in practice.

 

[Clarkey]

I actually had a Toyota not a Lexus but that's by the by.
I spent for me what was a significant sum on a nice car to keep for the foreseeable. It's not unreasonable to want a car with isn't going to get left behind in terms of features compared with lower segment cars.

 

[[TW]Fox]

It's not unreasonable to want a car with isn't going to get left behind in terms of features compared with lower segment cars.

I can't imagine how what features may or may not end up being on Hyundai in the future impacts on a decision what to buy now.

It's also academic, I think your view is skewed by the luck you had getting yours. The reality is that you just can't easily get a car like that. If you could I'd be more sympathetic to your view.

When buying a used car, especially from the lower end of the market (which sub 25k is for the G30) you need to be pragmatic and insisting on a car that drives itself on the motorway isn't that.

 

[Clarkey]

I can't imagine how what features may or may not end up being on Hyundai in the future impacts on a decision what to buy now.

It's also academic, I think your view is skewed by the luck you had getting yours. The reality is that you just can't easily get a car like that. If you could I'd be more sympathetic to your view.

When buying a used car, especially from the lower end of the market (which sub 25k is for the G30) you need to be pragmatic and insisting on a car that drives itself on the motorway isn't that.

It wasn't that difficult to find a well optioned car, I was only looking for about a month. I don't think my view is skewed, in 2020 I would expect a premium car to come with radar cruise as standard. Certainly the other car I was looking at from a previous generation did have it as standard. If the BMW didn't have the kit I wanted then I wouldn't have bought one just because it was a BMW, I would have got the Toyota, and had plenty of change.

 

[[TW]Fox]

in 2020 I would expect a premium car to come with radar cruise as standard

Except they don't. The Audi A6 doesn't, the BMW 5 Series doesn't and the E Class doesn't. It doesn't matter whether you expect it to be standard, it isn't.

It's often been the case that 'lesser' brand cars come with more kit as standard - the Golf has had adaptive cruise as standard for years.


I don't disagree with you necessarily, it should be fitted and it's very good, but we can't change reality and reality is that it's one of the rarest options and very hard to find.

 

[Clarkey]

Well if you want a cheat code for that then bring one in from Japan, they all seem to have radar, and almost all have 360 cam.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Well if you want a cheat code for that then bring one in from Japan, they all seem to have radar, and almost all have 360 cam.

It's a very UK thing, the same cars in Germany are often really massive spec too.

Here in the UK the priority is monthly payments and massive wheels.

 

[paradigm]

It wasn't that difficult to find a well optioned car, I was only looking for about a month. I don't think my view is skewed

I think you might have missed the massive step-change in used car values in the last 12 months.

I’ve been helping a friend to find a 530e that is well specced and under £25k/60k miles and they just don’t exist. My search is up to £27.5k and still nothing. One came up in the last month, ONE, and it was washing machine white with all the M performance tat so looked terrible. The rest are all pretty much boggo basic spec, not one currently for sale has icon headlights for example.

 

[233]

Had a major stop and look at 530e rather than a 530d

unfortunately it’s for work purposes so airport taxi. Might be great for local town work and has a unique eco selling point buwhats the real world range and running costs when you have to say do home to Glasgow to Aberdeen and back Does the 530e charge whilst running

80% of the miles will be trundling down a motorway at 70-75mph


what’s the thoughts on mpg in those sort of use cases?

obviusly a 520d wins hands down but that’s boring as anything so 250bhp petrol hybrid or 260bhp 3.0d

 

[dante6491]

I think you might have missed the massive step-change in used car values in the last 12 months.

I’ve been helping a friend to find a 530e that is well specced and under £25k/60k miles and they just don’t exist. My search is up to £27.5k and still nothing. One came up in the last month, ONE, and it was washing machine white with all the M performance tat so looked terrible. The rest are all pretty much boggo basic spec, not one currently for sale has icon headlights for example.

Oddly enough I have just bought a 67 plate 530e M Sport, 50k miles, for £20.5k. Reading through this thread has given me a bit of buyers regret but in all honesty I suspect I will be pleased coming from my 05 plate Fiat Panda run around Anything, really, is a step up form that so I guess it is a matter of perspective.

I do not believe it is an issue on the estate but I was on the lookout for folding rear seats which for reasons unknown were optional. Flappy paddles also may have been optional.

 

[Clarkey]

I've been doing quite a bit of longer distance driving lately and my mpg is 52. Honestly though if it's a taxi just get the 20d, it's the hands down winner for motorway mpg and range.

 

[Clarkey]

Oddly enough I have just bought a 67 plate 530e M Sport for £20.5k. Reading through this thread has given me a bit of buyers regret but in all honesty I suspect I will be pleased coming from my 05 plate Fiat Panda run around Anything, really, is a step up form that so I guess it is a matter of perspective.

I do not believe it is an issue on the estate but I was on the lookout for folding rear seats which for reasons unknown were optional. Flappy paddles also may have been optional.

Paddle shift is standard on G30, it's really not something you ever use though, honestly it's a bit pointless.

 

[dante6491]

Paddle shift is standard on G30, it's really not something you ever use though, honestly it's a bit pointless.

Is that a UK thing? It does make sense it is standard given all the ones I looked at had it, but bimmerpost suggested otherwise.

 

[Clarkey]

Oh yeah I think it's still optional is the US