TL;DR - want a new car, needs to fit 2 car seats and a 3rd person, £15k max, narrowed it down to a few, opinions wanted.
Another one of my what car threads....
Current Car:
A 2005 E61 530i M Sport. Bought it in July 2017 and done roughly 20k miles in it. 102k total. I was working in London at the time and doing very few miles so wanted something cheap, petrol and spacious. It needs some work doing to it that will probably cost ~£600-800 (new radiator, new passenger airbag sensor, new tailgate switch, VANOS solenoid, respray the front bumper). I estimate with the work done it's probably worth £4000. I can get around £2.5k trade in without haggling but would rather not do this.
Current commute is 11 miles each way mostly B roads with one 2 mile section of NSL. I do around 12k miles per year and am the only driver in the house (trying to force my wife to pass her test!!!). I want a newer, more reliable, spacious car to do the daily commute, ferry the family about on weekends, to Europe for short trips and the occasional trip to Devon. I've got a 2 year old and another one due in June. I need to consider getting 5 people in the car as a few of my family members don't drive. I occasionally drive into London for work and on weekends so wanted something Euro 6 but since decided I'd rather pay than narrow my options down as we'd be talking ~£100-150 a year in charges.
I sold my E46 M3 CS to fund some home renovations so down to a single car. As I still enjoy driving I originally budgeted £25k to buy a car that can do everything but decided that it was completely pointless as no such car exists in my budget; RS4 (too small), F10 M5 (boot not big enough), C63 AMG (too small).
So figured to drop the budget to £15k and then use the extra £10k for something like another M3, or 370Z etc. Not too fussed for now. I can't afford a C7 RS6 unfortunately.
I've narrowed the selection down but am interested to hear opinions and if I've missed any obvious choices. I'm a bit of a BMW fanboy, the last 5 cars I've had were BMW.
F11 530/535d M Sport - just a newer version of my car. Finding a 535i M Sport with options such as pro nav, sports auto, M Sport Plus etc is near impossible so decided to consider the diesel.
Pros - spacious, everything I want as a driver i.e. good nav, USB/wireless streaming, reasonably quick, look good, dynamically sound.
Cons - not sure if the middle passenger seat is big enough, diesel may be the wrong choice for my commute as it will be barely warm by the time I arrive, I've already had a 5 Series and not sure I want another.
E70 X5 30d/40d.
Pro's - massive, 7 seat option, comfortable, familiar layout, look good
Con's - expensive to run, based on the same platform as my current car, potential for big bills, diesel isn't suited to my annual mileage or commute.
Lexus RX450h facelift model 2012 onwards - I have a soft spot for Lexus and really like the RX450h.
Pro's - petrol, economical for the size of the car, sounds nice, reasonably quick, very reliable compared to the BMW's, spacious, middle passenger would be more comfortable as there's no transmission tunnel
Con's - tech is not as good as BMW, dull to drive, CVT gearbox, interior not as nice as BMW, boot is shallow due to the batteries.
Also considered:
MB GLE - I prefer the X5
Volvo XC90 - I prefer the X5
Touareg - as above
340i - too small
If you got this far thanks for reading! Any opinions would be welcome.
Another one of my what car threads....
Current Car:
A 2005 E61 530i M Sport. Bought it in July 2017 and done roughly 20k miles in it. 102k total. I was working in London at the time and doing very few miles so wanted something cheap, petrol and spacious. It needs some work doing to it that will probably cost ~£600-800 (new radiator, new passenger airbag sensor, new tailgate switch, VANOS solenoid, respray the front bumper). I estimate with the work done it's probably worth £4000. I can get around £2.5k trade in without haggling but would rather not do this.
Current commute is 11 miles each way mostly B roads with one 2 mile section of NSL. I do around 12k miles per year and am the only driver in the house (trying to force my wife to pass her test!!!). I want a newer, more reliable, spacious car to do the daily commute, ferry the family about on weekends, to Europe for short trips and the occasional trip to Devon. I've got a 2 year old and another one due in June. I need to consider getting 5 people in the car as a few of my family members don't drive. I occasionally drive into London for work and on weekends so wanted something Euro 6 but since decided I'd rather pay than narrow my options down as we'd be talking ~£100-150 a year in charges.
I sold my E46 M3 CS to fund some home renovations so down to a single car. As I still enjoy driving I originally budgeted £25k to buy a car that can do everything but decided that it was completely pointless as no such car exists in my budget; RS4 (too small), F10 M5 (boot not big enough), C63 AMG (too small).
So figured to drop the budget to £15k and then use the extra £10k for something like another M3, or 370Z etc. Not too fussed for now. I can't afford a C7 RS6 unfortunately.
I've narrowed the selection down but am interested to hear opinions and if I've missed any obvious choices. I'm a bit of a BMW fanboy, the last 5 cars I've had were BMW.
F11 530/535d M Sport - just a newer version of my car. Finding a 535i M Sport with options such as pro nav, sports auto, M Sport Plus etc is near impossible so decided to consider the diesel.
Pros - spacious, everything I want as a driver i.e. good nav, USB/wireless streaming, reasonably quick, look good, dynamically sound.
Cons - not sure if the middle passenger seat is big enough, diesel may be the wrong choice for my commute as it will be barely warm by the time I arrive, I've already had a 5 Series and not sure I want another.
E70 X5 30d/40d.
Pro's - massive, 7 seat option, comfortable, familiar layout, look good
Con's - expensive to run, based on the same platform as my current car, potential for big bills, diesel isn't suited to my annual mileage or commute.
Lexus RX450h facelift model 2012 onwards - I have a soft spot for Lexus and really like the RX450h.
Pro's - petrol, economical for the size of the car, sounds nice, reasonably quick, very reliable compared to the BMW's, spacious, middle passenger would be more comfortable as there's no transmission tunnel
Con's - tech is not as good as BMW, dull to drive, CVT gearbox, interior not as nice as BMW, boot is shallow due to the batteries.
Also considered:
MB GLE - I prefer the X5
Volvo XC90 - I prefer the X5
Touareg - as above
340i - too small
If you got this far thanks for reading! Any opinions would be welcome.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
), I didnt try the X5.