My first 6 weeks with a 520d

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Fri 13 Jul 2012 18:18
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - a900ss
I’ve had a BMW 520d touring auto from 29th May and here are my first thoughts after 6 weeks and 4,500 miles of driving.

My car is SE specification with no options other than an 8 speed automatic gearbox. It has standard 17 inch wheels and run flat tyres (no spare). Exterior colour of blue and a beige leather interior. I do circa 30,000 miles a year so comfort is my priority but I do drive ‘swiftly’ so do expect a car to handle on the B roads as well as the motorways. I do very little town driving as I live in rural Gloucestershire but I do a fair bit of motorway driving.

First things first, the headlights are dire. This is a company car and at the top end of my budget which left no room for options unless I paid the full value of the options myself. With hindsight, I would have specced Xenon’s. I had them on my last car and were amazing. Going back to halogen, and the BMW halogens in particular, is a very retrograde step. I have checked other forums in case it is me expecting more than I should but it does seem to be a very regular complaint – the 5 series needs to have Xenons if you want to drive at night!!!!! OK, Rant over.

In every other respect the car is fantastic. It is super comfortable for a family of four and dog, quiet, refined, quick, handles well (especially for such a large car) and reasonably economical.

The car is very large, the bonnet exceptionally so. Interior space up front is excellent and you sit quite low in the car, you feel very coc***ed. Quality of the trim is the best I have ever experienced and I have driven plenty of Audi/Mercs/BM’s before. The car has quite a long wheelbase which combined with an ‘average at best’ steering lock and thick pillars makes car parks sometime challenging. I am more than competent at driving (ex HGV1) but it is a large car with restricted vision in smaller spaces. Drive slowly and it’s fine. The upside of this is that on the road, it is supremely relaxing and just eats up the miles. It is ultra quiet and everybody I have given a lift to has remarked how quiet the car is when travelling. This can cause an issue on motorways as unless you are on cruise control you can very easily be travelling at a higher speed than thought/sensible.

The car does have a ‘Sport/Comfort/Eco Pro’ button by the side of the gearbox and it does make a real difference. I don’t bother with Eco Pro. It works up to 75MPH and is supposed to dial down the air con and electrical systems to save fuel. In real life if saves hardly any fuel but the car is as responsive as me when I am asleep.
Comfort is where I spend most of my time, car behaves like a lazy auto should changes up between 1700 and 2000 RPM in normal driving and is very smooth. Car will accelerate quickly when you kickdown.

Sport is the B road blast option. It holds gears longer, turns traction control down a bit and won’t engage 8th gear. Nice for when the mood grabs.

As I don’t have the adaptive suspension option, the sport/comfort button doesn’t alter the ride but it rides just about right for me on the standard 17’s. I would be the first to admit that I would prefer bigger rims for aesthetics but as a day to day car, 17’s are the sweet spot for ride/handling. I would not consider M Sport suspension at all. The SE is firm enough for a back road blast and comfortable enough on the motorway.

The engine is certainly big enough for propelling the car up the road even if it does weigh in at 1.8 tonnes. Overtaking is no problem whatsoever and I expect this to get better as it loosens up over the next 20,000 miles or so. At 80MPH the car is turning over at just over 2,000 RPM.

Even though the car is ‘bog standard’, the included kit is still impressive and some highlights are:
Bluetooth integration to phone is fantastic. Some people are surprised when I tell them that I am driving as they just can’t tell.
Ipod Integration with the I-Drive displays album artwork and you can control the ipod directly with the I-Drive – very good.
E-mails, SMS and my calendar can be displayed on the I-Drive screen from my BlackBerry (iPhone will work from ios6 release). When stationary you can view the complete e-mail, when moving you can just read the headers.
Can program the ventilation to come on 30 minutes before you get in the car to cool it down with ambient air. Handy for these hot days we are currently experiencing!!!!

MPG – I guess a lot of people are interested in this and I am happy with what it is delivering. I have done a lot of driving with a roofbox on and with 4 bikes on the roof which is all sub 40MPG but in normal driving I am getting just over 45MPG. This is measured brim to brim, the actual computer reckons I get an additional 2MPG. If I were to drive on the motorway at 70MPH, the car would be delivering well in excess of 50MPG. I don’t so it doesn’t.

Other notes:
Engine oil warms up very quickly, within 3 miles. I guess this will be different in the winter (note I wrote oil not water – it doesn’t have a water gauge, just an oil temp gauge and oil takes longer to warm than oil)
In the sun you do get an annoying reflection in the windscreen. I wear polarised sunglasses so it isn’t an issue for me.
Also in the sun, you can get an annoying reflection from the shiny black trim in the central reservation. Why can’t trim be matt to avoid this?
Car spins its rear wheel very easily – might be the energy tyres but could be an issue in the snow…
Brakes stop very well but do need a firm shove, much firmer than most cars I have driven recently
Rain water collects on top of bumper below tailgate making it dirty.

Very accurate speedometer, reads 100MPH when doing a true 98MPH judged by TomTom sat nav

Car rolls and rolls and rolls when you lift the throttle. Takes a bit of getting used to, you need to lift much earlier than expected or else you are straight onto the brakes!!!!

In summary – best car I’ve ever had; quick, economical, handles well, comfortable just don’t drive at night!!!!
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Fri 13 Jul 2012 18:21
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - a900ss
The word that the auto filter put coc***ed should be
C O C O O N E D

It's not a naughty word really.
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Fri 13 Jul 2012 20:16
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - gordonbennet

I enjoyed that write up, thankyou.

Seems odd that you are provoking wheelspin, why isn't the traction control dealing with it....indeed it doesn't bode well for winter, now is this your car or a company car?...obviously if its yours you can see about some more suitable tyres for winter maybe on a set of used alloys from ebay, if its a company or lease car will they honour any requests for all season replacements in due course as the tyres wear out?

Headlights can be improved a lot simply by fitting Osram or Philips extra bright bulbs, still legal wattage etc but much brighter, i run the Philips Extremes and they are a big improvement on standard candle power jobbies....i'll avoid Xenons for as long as possible simply due to the cost of replacement bulbs/ballasts at the age of car i am likely to own.

Disappointed no water temp gauge if i've read that right, to be expected on a shopping trolley but part of essential equipment on a proper car IMO.

Hope you continue to enjoy the car, nice choice.

Edited by gordonbennet on 13/07/2012 at 20:18

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Fri 13 Jul 2012 20:33
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - a900ss
The traction control does kick in but you spin the wheels a little before it fully kicks in.

The car is a company car so no chance of winter tyres but I have bought some snow socks fr emergency use. If it's too bad to et out of my cul de sac without them, I'll work from home but if I get caught out away from home, that's when I'll put them on.

I've bought some Philips Xtreme but yet to fit them....

I don't actually miss the water guage as it has an oil temp guage which does give a very good indication if the engine is running hot or cold.

Thanks.
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Fri 13 Jul 2012 22:50
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - likerocks

Agree with previous poster - if you go for +50 / 80 / 100% bulbs, you'll get much better light from the headlamps. Provided they're accessible of course!

I actually think that the oil temp gauge is more useful than a water temp gauge. It's the oil that's protecting your engine from wear.....

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Fri 13 Jul 2012 22:42
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - Rochdale Pioneers

Ive had my 520d saloon for a year now. A 2011 model means no sport mode and I'm on a manual box. I love the big car presence the car has but not the fact that its preposterously long without having that much space inside. Yes I can drivw it all day and still be comfortable but I can't help feeling its just too big for me.

I have a new job to go to in 2 months, swapping my 520d and my 55k a year life for a car allowance in the bank, my wife's Hyundai i30 1.4 and 15k miles a year. Frankly I can't wait

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Sat 14 Jul 2012 01:26
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - unthrottled

Engine oil warms up very quickly, within 3 miles.

This must be coolant temperature. You'll never oil hot in three miles!

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Sat 14 Jul 2012 08:55
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - a900ss

Engine oil warms up very quickly, within 3 miles.

This must be coolant temperature. You'll never oil hot in three miles!

It's oil for sure and that's why I posted it. I have never known oil warm up so quickly. I know that the engine bay has active flaps that open and close helping the engine warm up quicker and allow the car be more aerodynamic but three miles is crazy fast. After 3 miles the oil is at about 100 degrees according to the gauge.
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Sat 14 Jul 2012 09:08
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - balleballe

Nice review.

I know plenty of people with 320d's but not many with 520d's.

On a run of 75-80 they get 55mpg, so I can only assume that the 520 would struggle to hit 50?

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Sat 14 Jul 2012 21:30
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - unthrottled

If there's a dipstick, you can find out-100C oil burns! It is impossible to heat 300+lb of iron and aluminium in 3 miles.

Edit. If the oil temperature sensor is located in the oil return from the turbo, then it will read 100C in 3 mintes!

Edited by unthrottled on 14/07/2012 at 21:33

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Sat 14 Jul 2012 22:15
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - a900ss

If there's a dipstick, you can find out-100C oil burns! It is impossible to heat 300+lb of iron and aluminium in 3 miles.

Edit. If the oil temperature sensor is located in the oil return from the turbo, then it will read 100C in 3 mintes!

No idea where the sensor is located, just relaying what I see in the instrument binnacle. However I have never known a car supposedly heat its oil so quickly.
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Sat 14 Jul 2012 12:54
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - craig-pd130

Nice review, keep us posted. That's a LOT of miles in a year!

45mpg is excellent for a big autobox barge. How responsive is the car to part-throttle acceleration? I last drove an auto about 10 years ago (a Jag 3.0 V6 with 5-speed auto in sport mode) and really didn't get on with it - even when mashing the throttle, the box couldn't decide whether to change gear or not.

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Sun 15 Jul 2012 11:44
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - Wukl

No man-child messing about in this thread a900ss, unlike your similar one on Autocar! I gave up posting on that forum quite sometime ago. Anyway, nice review.

Edited by Wukl on 15/07/2012 at 11:45

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Sun 15 Jul 2012 12:44
My first 6 weeks with a 520d - a900ss

No man-child messing about in this thread a900ss, unlike your similar one on Autocar! I gave up posting on that forum quite sometime ago. Anyway, nice review.

It was a bit tedious and I think even more have joined in the insults now. Bizarre.
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