fantomas

I think that the E60 is not exactly conservative with its look.

I'm an IT manager but only 32 years old. Business suit and tie is not exactly what I wear every day at the office

MarkE60

ISUK, the figures suggest that there isn't a great deal of difference in weight between the e60 & e90 hence the question I posed originally i.e. are BMW usually honest about performance claims prior to releasing the car?

I'm not really hung up on speed therefore I don't think the e60 with same 2.0d engine is a major factor for me. As I said earlier my other car entertains me when I want a grin. It's no speed demon by todays standards but it's quick and nimble enough for me.

I'll mostly be trawling up and down the UK motorways, primarily M1 & A1 (I live in Bedfordshire) however the nature of my job takes me the length and breadth of the country as I am a IT Network consultant/ engineer.

I have read many of your posts ISUK (notably your 320d review) and respect your opinions, in fact I was making reference to you earlier with regard to ex e60 owners who've moved over to the e90. However I'm slightly confused as to why you would think a "lowly spec'd" e60 would look awful, after all, externally it would look like any other 5 series although with the 138 17" wheels as standard I admit I would prefer to be able to afford 18".

As for the interior, yep I've had to consider the "Fusion artificial Leather" which I'm taking a bit of a gamble on having never seen it, however from the feedback I've read from our American & Canadian freinds on these forums the standard "leatherette" isn't that bad.
I appreciate that I won't be able to get the Sat nav or Bluetooth, so I guess the idrive is slightly lacking however the whole package is still very appealing

I agree with what you say about the e90 m sport , that's quite a lot of kit, however I think it would always look like an M3 wannabe and would be an easy target for those "BMW haters", besides, I inherited a black debadged 318i E46 once from my boss and it had big spoked wheels but was gutless! I always felt embarrased at traffic lights in that car and got mocking looks.


My "low spec'd car" I'm leaning towards is as follows :-

520d SE
Mystic Blue (style 138 wheels)
Dechromed
HiFi system
Pro Radio
Sports steering wheel
Fusion artificial leather ( not sure whether black or beige)
Titanium II trim (standard)

What do you think?

Cheers

fred1976

If I may bring my stone to the edifice, just base your choice on the serie you prefer because the capacity of the car will be almost the same (the new 3 has approximatively the same interior dimensions as the former 5).
Now, taking into account the price difference, I would rather forgetting the sport package of a 320d to wait the end of september a 330d even without sport package! Now, everything is just relative : If you are used to this kind of engine power, you will be positively happy with both 320d or 520d. I personnally made the mistake to test drive the whole 3er d (only the 320d ;-) ) range and the 5er d range before buying starting with the 525d (at this time, it was the less powered) et finishing with the 535d. Of course, you feel the difference and for me, the great thing with such power is not the top speed but rather the flexibility and easy way you have of avoiding risky situations where you would say : "shit, I cannot accelerate more". Even if the 320 or 520d will bring you such confort compared to a renault laguna d, the 330 could provide you even more security.

Now this said, 520d with manual transimission will also bring enough fun if you do not try to compete with upper engines on the raod (525i+ or 525d+) but rather a VW TDI. <_<

The configuration looks nice. I would have personally prefered, with a limited budget, to avoid the sport wheel and artificial lether options to put forward options such as the the business nav (which includes pro radio anyway if the option set of your country is the same as benelux) or the advanced airco and stuffs such as the foldable external mirrors (which should not be as my opinion an option considering the width of the car).

marty530d

For my 2c worth ---

Go for the E60, for the same reasons that everyone else has given. Although the E90 might be quicker the E60 is a more exclusive look.

You also mention that you have kids - the back of the E60 is kiddie heaven as they have heaps of space. The boot is much bigger too - great for swallowing prams/kids-bikes ect.

One other comment on your spec - If I were you I would spend the money on 18in wheels over the stock 17in. It really improves the E60 look.

MarkE60

Fred1976, the sport steering wheel and artificial leather are relativley cheap at ?70 & ?150 respectivley but any type of nav system starts at ?1295! Therefore that option really isn't an option if I want it to fit into my company car budget. As for a bigger engined car, sure of course I would love to get a more powerful car, however the car taxing system in England is based on C02 emmisions and the percentage of the car is taxed the higher the emission therefore it can work out to be very expensive in personal tax.

Marty530D, I agree 18" should really be the way to go especially Style 124, but yet again increases the monthly outgoings. I haven't ruled it out entirely though. Since you mention this, does anyone think the colour of the car makes the difference when comparing wheel sizes? I saw a Mystic Blue with 138 size wheels and no sport suspension (at least it did'nt mention it on the spec) at the weekend and it didn't look too bad to me, however a silver car with the same wheel seemed distinctly jacked! Maybe it's just me

Thanks for the input though!

Mark-Yorkshire

Mark E60,
Whilst I cannot comment on the E60 520d I am now on my 2nd 520 petrol and really love the car .In the past I have owned a number of 3 series and can honestly say the 5 series has much more a feeling of exclusivity especially as the E46 was such a high volume car. I don't regard my car as being particularly underpowered and with the M sport kit and badge delete think it looks terrific. Whilst I like some elements of the new 3 series e.g. front grille, interior in lemon leather , I really hate the rear lights and the non I drive interior. The E60 looks a much more "grown up " car. I would also recommend the Tom Tom Go 300 at approx ?330.
Mark-Yorkshire

stu

Totally agree with Mark above.

ScottishBimmer

Yes thats very true, there are so many E90s around that they have no road presence, and lack interior space. the E60 is the car to have, its got the space and style. The performance looks pretty good anyway.