Hi,

Well I've got that scared/excited feeling after agreeing terms on a 2nd hand 2009 BMW 535d M Sport. I've not technically bought it yet but have secured it with a deposit subject to my inspection when I fly to Bristol tomorrow afternoon. This will either be the best or worst car buying decision I've ever made I suspect...

Here she is:
http://www.carbase.biz/used/bmw/5-series/535d-m-sport-step-auto/for-sale-in-weston-super-mare-somerset/aetv81167975/

Anyone got any BMW, or even better, 535d specific things I should check? It's got a BMW service history and has had only one owner from new and was a company car. It's got 71k miles on the clock with the last service at 58k so will need an oil change service quite soon. No need to tell me that servicing on a 535d will be a bit more than my old Toyota Aygo, I know...

I've already asked about tyre and brake disc condition and they are both nearly new apparently. It also comes with a 3 month RAC backed warranty including parts, labour and breakdown recovery.

In other news, my wife bought a new Mazda 2 Tamura today and traded both her Altea and my Aygo against it. Picking it up on Wednesday.

Cheers,
Craig.

Looks great! Congrats.
Dunno about BMW 'reliability' though 'over here' on the wet coast of North America the Bloom is definitely OFF the BMW rose. Tacky, expensive and above all Unreliable contraptions... even when Brand New.
But then there are virtually No diesel versions sold either.

[Edited on 3/8/13 by Bare]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply, yeah I'm under no illusions about these things being perfectly reliable. I think that's where the "scared" bit comes from...

We've got a family of 5 and a dog so we need something of this shape and size to get the job done. I'm not a "status symbol" type of guy so that isn't a factor for me. From what I understand, it is the engine which makes (or breaks) this car as it is reputedly one of the best diesel engines on the market. I'm not actually a fan of diesel engines but I specifically wanted to own a BMW 5 series to see what all the fuss was about and there is so much more choice in diesels than there is in petrol cars of the same class. There also seem to be more stories of reliability issues with the petrol models which is the opposite of what I would have expected intuitively.

Anyway, there is still time for me to get cold feet...

Very nice.

I have a mate with one who loves it. His is remapped to 340bhp and enough torque to pull down a house and still gets 40mpg on a run. It really does have a surprising lazy turn of speed about it. Very comfortable too. Only issue he had was a fuel pump failure but luckily it was covered under warranty as it was well into 4 figures to fix.

Probably my worst nightmare would be the auto gearbox developing a fault as it's the steptronic "flappy paddle" gearbox on this and probably costs the earth... It's also twin-turbo and probably still has those swirl-flaps which are a known issue. These can be quite easily removed though and blanked off which is recommended. It also has a DPF particle filter.

Anyway, the 3 month warranty should cover me until I can get it serviced and checked over by an independent specialist or BMW themselves. I'll also start reading up on the various Beemer forums.

We used to have a few on our company fleet, one was a problem and threw its crank The others were spot on, lovely to drive, did well over 150,000 miles no problems.

Like all cars, you get good one's and bad ones.

Looks nice, very jealous!!!

It looks the business..... I'm sure that it will provide you with many miles of pleasure.....

Nice...I've had an F10 5 series 4 pot diesel for nearly 3 years now and no problems at all...

[Edited on 3/8/13 by stevebubs]

One things I will say, though - check round it carefully for damage and/or leaks...

...had a walk around Cargiant off the A40 the other day and pretty much all the "reduced" cars had something significant wrong with them...although they were all blooming obvious - body damage, puddle under the vehicle etc....

Fuel pump's also check to see if it has the latest software installed for the fancy gearbox.

also do these suffer the same issues with the swirl flaps as on some other BMW diesel models ?

Make sure the indicators work, as none round here do

Looks very nice. Got a mate who had one and he loved it! I'm just deciding what to order as my next work vehicle, 99% set on a 118d msport after having one on demo for a week.

Check
I drive, cracked wheels due to run flats, rear self level.

You will love it.

Just remember that the alloys can be brittle so be careful on speed ramps n pot holes

Great car though.

I have had a 520 then 525 then 530 but not played I'm the 535d

Snow tyres on the rear in winter n a bag of sand.

Yep definitly check the wheels. The mv2 alloys are very hard and crack rather than bend. You need to check the inside edge of the wheels so take a torch with you and move the car to view the whole rim. They can be welded but on a 16k car I would want them replacing if any cracks found.

the steptronic unfortunately is the main cause of them being stranded at the side of the road, have heard a few stories of them getting stranded stuck in gear in carparks, but then you cant dwell of the what if's. i have got a 10plate 3series msport with all the toys and have to say its the most sorted car i have ever owned, it handles, is fast, and its comfortable which is crazy considering its got 18inch wheels and sports suspension.


enjoy

My dad has an early one ('05 535d M Sport Touring), he really likes his. I don't know if they would have sorted it by 09 (as the engine is slightly different, and I assume a few other things will be too) but tourings appear to have a common issue with water ingress into the boot area damaging wiring. Check to see the split tailgate works, and the parking sensors are all working (and the tyre pressure sensors too come to think of it - a rear one seemed to go as well).

Other than that, enjoy it! Very comfortable, and quick. One of those cars which you can drive at what you think is a normal speed until you look at the speedo and see you're in license losing territory all too easily

James

Hi guys,

Many thanks for all the replies and suggestions, some good stuff in there which I shall collate into a checklist for tomorrow. I'm unfortunately not going to have as much time as I would like to do a major inspection as my plane only gets to Bristol at 15:05 and the place is 20 minutes away and we'll need to do a test drive and sort out paperwork before they close at 5pm. Not ideal I know but not much I can do about it really. I suppose the important thing is to check out the things that won't be covered by warranty such as wheel cracks as they will just say it happened after the sale. Not sure how easy the cracks will be to see either but will give it a go.

I need to remember also to just take a minute and consult with my instinct. I've fallen into the trap before of being "too organised" and somehow forgetting to just look and see. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Anyway, got to go and get organised for the trip. Keep the comments coming!

if your dropping 16k into their pocket they will stay past 5pm. just make sure you sort the insurance in the morning asap as most insurance companies close around 1-2pm on a sunday, nearly caught me out when i picked mine up.

oh and as for the licence losing statement.... yes very very true it will cruise at 120mph like a mondeo/vectra cruises at 60mph. i regularly find myself getting pissed off because people are driving really slow then i look at the speedo and realise its not them. i used to look at bmw's flying along and thinking nutters.. once you have owned one it makes sense..

Good point on the insurance, I'll check on that in the morning. The dealer can arrange 7 days free cover via Swinton or I can switch the insurance from my old car (Aygo) to the BMW. I intend to sort that out in the morning anyway as I've already traded the Aygo in locally and have left the car with the dealer until Wednesday when my wife picks up her new car, a Mazda 2.

Yeah I'm sure they won't chase me away at 5pm. They are also picking me up from the airport which is handy. I just hope Easyjet are on time...

Thanks,
Craig.

Take your time mate and don't let them rush you. Looks a nice car hope it all works out for you.

They're a super car. I had a 530d M Sport saloon 08 plate and it was an awesome car and a very big car too in comparison to the 320d I came out of. You'll need to be selective in where to park it due to the size and scratch factor.
I had a couple of issues with mine in the 2 years I had it;
Tyre pressure alert would give me a hoax every now and then.
Sat nav was terrible to use, and the display malfunctioned a couple of times which was fixed with a new one from BMW under warranty.
If you took a hard left hander the gearbox malfunction light would occasionally come on.

Mine had a couple of electrical glitches really.

If you want complete piece of mind, then you can always get BMW warranty on it (its expensive) but their customer service is second to none - if you get a flat tyre or lock they keys in the car, they will come and fix it within 30 mins. It's a really good service.

Only reason I swapped mine for a 120d M Sport was through health issues i was unable to drive and was also spending a lot of time in the local hospital. SWMBO just couldn't park it, it was too big for her. In fairness to her, you need a tin opener to get put of the car in some of the hospital parking spaces.

Beware - you'll not want another make of car now - they do make a superb product IMO.

quote:

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Originally posted by craig1410
Good point on the insurance, I'll check on that in the morning. The dealer can arrange 7 days free cover via Swinton or I can switch the insurance from my old car (Aygo) to the BMW. I intend to sort that out in the morning anyway as I've already traded the Aygo in locally and have left the car with the dealer until Wednesday when my wife picks up her new car, a Mazda 2.

Yeah I'm sure they won't chase me away at 5pm. They are also picking me up from the airport which is handy. I just hope Easyjet are on time...

Thanks,
Craig.

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Have you got it, are you home yet?

As I suspect most people know, I'm not a BMW fan, but that's a fine looking veeehickle

ATB

Simon

Yeah, got the car and am more than half way home now. Going well so far and returning 42MPG at 75mph average speed. That confirms the notorious thermostats should be okay... 😉

Bit of a stressful day so glad to be well on the way home. Just having a break before tackling the next leg.

Will fill you in on details tomorrow.

Thanks all,
Craig.

Good man! Bet it feels a bit different to the aygo

Ive bought a few cars now from far away and really enjoy the long journey home getting to know them. Luckily I havent been stung by a bad one yet. I have bought a 306 gti from southampton. Golf gti from elgin. St220 from east anglia but the best drive home was in an st170 from Stornoway! The seller even paid my ferry tickets and a tank of fuel. My last purchase felt a bit hollow buying it from glasgow 15 miles away

My wife owns a 2008 CDTI Astra and really wanted to change it as it is not a nice drive at all. I always feel uncomfortable in the car whilst she is driving. So anyway we decided to look around and came across a 2004 525d SE model (Bangle shape)which seemed in reasonable condition bar a lack of service history and needing a little tidying up. I thought it would be too big for swmbo but to her credit after a day or so with it she stopped rubbing the inside ditch as she couldn't get her head around the shear scale of the thing. It wasn't long before I felt comfortable with her driving and would usually jump in the passenger seat when going on a run. It was such a comfortable car to sit in and also beautiful to drive as well. In the end we couldn't sell the Astra without taking a huge loss so had to sell the BMW.

In the 6 months of BMW 525d ownership I carried out a very detailed service and whilst getting genuine parts I enquired about a service history from my local BMW garage. They checked it out and it turns out the car had been clocked. It's hard to say how many genuine miles were on it when I had it as in 2008 the car was recorded as being serviced with 109K on it and when I bought it there was 101K on it in 2012. Anyway I explained the situation to all interested people and fortunately got a young lad who liked to get his hands dirty and wasn't bothered about the mileage. I had to take a decent loss on this car as well but not as much as with the Astra. I'd like to own another 5 series again as they are epic family cruising machines.

Enjoy the new motor and don't worry about costs 'till they arise. If you like to do your own servicing, getting the genuine (rip-off) BMW diagnostic software off the internet is essential and easily got on Ebay etc. Servicing the big motor is actually very easy, I had the inlet manifold off mine to replace the inlet seals which truned out to be a piece of cake. Parts aren't extortionate either. Personally I own an Alfa 159 and the costs for standard service items for this is loads worse.

I wouldn't mind one of these. Shame they don't do a manual box to take the torque. Would want a remap and a Quaife diff regardless

Glad you got it... Above are some examples of what can go wrong but they are great cars and I hope and expect yours will be fine for many many miles.

My 525d stayed with me until 220,000 miles then sold for £3800 great car. Only needed a few bushes n dpf filter.

If I could go back in time I would. Get the dpf filter removed... More power n less carbon build up etc.... It will still pass an mot.

If you pop a set of roof bars on and a fluorescent jacket then I suspect you will clear the route down the fast lane quite nicely.

quote:

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Originally posted by matt_gsxr
If you pop a set of roof bars on and a fluorescent jacket then I suspect you will clear the route down the fast lane quite nicely.

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My Astra had a similar effect, park up on the junction to a shop at night and all the hooligans would drive by really slowly

Not heard from Craig, so I'm guessing he's still pushing it home

ATB

Simon

quote:

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Originally posted by Simon
Not heard from Craig, so I'm guessing he's still pushing it home

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