marty530d

My car is now over two years old and I'm starting to plan for its replacement. Currenly there are two practical options (plus a bunch of impractical ones that I can only dream of ) ; a 535d and an E92 M3.

So today i have a testdirve of the 535d. Any thoughts or comments on how I should approach the testdrive to get the best out of it. Current plan is to :

a) Drive the balls off-of it to see how it improves over my 530d

b) repeat a) until done

My big concern will actually be build quality. My current car had/has lots of niggles and I would only consider another E60 if it was fully debugged (as it bloody-well should be by end of this year)

marty530d

I thought that I'd update you on my testdrive. I drove a mixture of fast A-Roads and winding country back roads in the 535d which gave me several different driving perspectives of the car. After my testdrive I drove my 530d around the very same route for comparison.

- Very, very nice. Certainly quicker than my 530d but not spectacularly so.

- What I really noticed was the smooth progression at lower revs and lack of "turbo-kick". So while I felt the car did not feel stupidly fast - it was actually very deceptive. Getting back into the 530d after the 535d I certainly missed the 2nd turbo.

- What spoilt it for me was the engine noise. My 530d has is approaching 29k and is very well run in. The 535d had only done 6k and still sounded very "diesely". I really had not appreciated how much difference 20K miles makes to the engine. When I got back into my car it was like getting into a petrol car in comparison.

- The ride seemed less harsh than my 530d which suprised me since the 535 had sports suspension and run-flats (Bridgestones i believe).

- No rattles - when I got back into my 530d I immediately noticed the window creaks/rattles. I really must get te seals changed

All in all, if I decide to get another E60 then the 535d is certainly tempting. But probably not tempting enough to make the change right away - will probably wait a wee while and see how things pan-out with the E92

BetterMakeWay

2 different cars: 535d and e92 m3.
?!?

marty530d

Unfortunatly not. Its one or the other I'm afraid.

AlanM

Well, needless to say I lurrrve my 535D

Had it on the Autobahn last week and went through 140mph without any snags at all - and it kept accelerating (I had to stop at 143ish as a lorry doing 50mph pulled out!! )

The thing that my wife was impressed about was how quiet and smooth it was. She guessed our speed as 110mph (and she always goes over the top with speed estimations!!!!)

Easy choice. A fully loaded 535d. A wolf in sheeps clothing mate.

BetterMakeWay

If your pockets can take it and if a coupe would suit you better than the M3 without a thought!

I for one need a bigger car and the gas here really started to raise. Don't know where this is going...anyway the haul of an M3 made me rethink and maybe it's worth the extra $$ on maintainance and so on for that sweet L6 or future v8!

Hell the best mix is the M5. V10 lot's of space, and smoke almost anything that muvs DDD

stu

Marty
I'm in a similar position to you .
( except that I've had very few problems with the 530D )
My budget probably won't stretch to the 535D - But ...
Thanks for posting your thoughts.

ISUK

Interesting comments about the noise Marty. I thought the 535d made a more unpleasant noise than my 530d as well. It was certainly quicker but I only really noticed the difference at speeds that would incur a hefty haul of points on the licence or even an outright ban It's a great car but I would have found it hard to justify spending the extra ?'s for that second turbo for everyday driving.

Having seen some more spyshots of the E92 M3 today I'm not sure I'll be going ahead with my order. If it turns out anything like these latest shots then it looks truly awful IMHO. The more I see the E90 3 series the less I like it (which is strange as I really liked the styling when I had mine initially). I think I'll stick with Porsche.

Merv the Derv

I went from a 530 to 535 and yes the engine noise is more apparent in the 535, however what I did notice which more than made up for the noise was the smoother power delivery in the 535. The 535 doesn't feel that much faster lower down the rev range however get out on fast roads and thats where it shines. I always felt in my 530d that after 3,500rpm the magic was gone. The 530d is still a fantastic car but the 535d is more so! All IMHO and experience.

Futhermore my 530d was a sept 03 model and I can confirm the 05 models are better built and better riding!