BRAD

Dealer gave me a 520d for the day yesterday. Havanna/Oyster-Black/sport auto/328 18''/park assist (forgot to try it) -

Overall impression was that this is a massive step forward in terms of interior quality. The the e60 (especially MSport)was a fantastic car to look at from the outside but not great inside, the F10 ticks both boxes. It's a really special place to be. While the 2.0TD doesn't give you a massive shove in the back on full throttle it is deceptively fast and speed builds without any fuss. Gear changes are almost imperceptible and there's never more than a split second delay before transmission responds to throttle input. This car earned glances from all angles and I spotted many passers by in the car park lingering as they passed it by. Paddles were a neat conversation point but with the responsiveness of the auto box will largely be redundant. They were usefull when I took the car up to the winding roads at the foot of the dublin mountains for a blast and the car really showed it's sporty side here. Brakes were powerful and confidence inspiring.

I was however concerned about a few things- The doors (especially rear) and bootlid feel like they weight about 8oz. The doors have a satisfying thump engineered into them on closing and I'm sure they comply with safety regulations but they feel too light- no big deal. More worrying from a reliability point of view is the malfunctioning of the anti-trap feature on the nearside front door, the window had to be nursed closed. Also the Auto hold feature worked only intermittently .

I love(d) the e60 and apologies in advance to current owners but the F10 is way ahead in terms of refinement, interior finish/design, technology and exterior looks. I think it makes the e60 look dated. BMW marketing at it's best.

Petes550i

+1 agree

Jambers

I haven't tested one yet, as I know I'll want one if I do, and I ain't got the cash at the mo....

The press appears to criticise the F10 for one thing above everything else...

So.....


What did you think about the ride of the standard SE suspension (assuming it didn't have the VDC)?

I have an M Sport E60 (LCI) and I actually think that whilst the car handles the twisty stuff very well indeed for a big car, the ride, especially on pot-holed A roads is quite simply appalling!! It fidgits and you can feel every pimple.

Grip in the wet is worrying at times on RFT's on my E60 and it's started to tramline under braking...and the DTC light is coming on far too often, though the tyres have 50% left at the front and 40% at the rears.

It's a serious trade off, and I am about to shove some Non-RFT's on it before winter to see if it helps...

Scandic24

+1 BRAD

I've had no issues...so far.
The Auto hold feature works flawless so does everything else
I must say, after 1600 km's, that the 18" ContisSportContact3 RFT's that came with my car feels great! Far more better than the 17" Dunlop SP's on my previous E61.

uktivo

I've had the F10 SE 530D, Adaptive drive and 20 inch RFT for about 2 and a bit months now. Here are my findings.. good and bad. BTW. I came from an E60, M sport with 19 inch rims and standard NON RFT tyres.

First the bad:
1. Within 3 days of ownership, the USB module needed replacing which took the car off the road for 1 week
2. The auto hold function sometimes releases without any touch of the accelerator peddle
3. There is sometimes a horrible noise coming from under the front passenger side floor when the auto hold dis-engadges
4. Constant squeaks and cracking noises coming from both front seats. I believe it's the plastic tray around the bottom of the seat
5. Running on the 20 inch rims and RFT is not giving a good quality ride. Any raised part of the road you can feel, sometimes with a thud.. any pothole I find myself wandering over the road to avoid.
6. I'm suffering with what i call "ice drift" when cornering on anything other than smooth surfaces. The car literally loses grip and the whole car drifts sideways for a fraction of a second.. very scary.

Annoying things:
1. Each and every time I plug in my iphone into the USB adaptor, the car plays the same song.. It's like groundhog day.. why on earth the system can not remember my choice of "RANDOM" play is beyond me. Surely, if they can make a car with so much high quality electronics.. it's not beyond them to make sure your preferred settings are stored in the music section, is it?
2. My Wife and two children need pads on the seat belts to stop the belt cutting into their chest plate.. Seems to be no or little adjustment on height of the belt location.

The Good:
1. The car design is in my opinion a massive leap forward, both internal and externally from the E60. Yes the E60 was indeed pretty, in a sort of aggressive way. The F10, just feels more mature and elegant.
2. The idrive is a marked improvement over the E60. It's quick and responsive and very easy to navigate around
3. Ipod connectivity is fantastic to have. I paid over 400 pounds in my E60 to integrate a Denision Gateway500.
4. Apart from numbers 6&7 on the list of bad points.. the car drives very well. I think points 6&7 are maybe down to RFT and 20 inch rims.. I will look to change these once I get chance to test drive another F10.
5. The engine / gearbox combination seems to work well. The car is no slouch off the start and on the motorway, easily eats up the miles. I covered 3.5k miles in just 2 months of ownership.
6. I feel there is more space in the car from the E60. My children have more leg room and more importantly, so do i when they are in the car.


Am I glad I changed from the E60 to the F10.. Largely, Yes. If I could just sort out the issue with "ice drift" I would be one very happy F10 owner.

BRAD

I think there are generally issues with early versions of new vehicles and this is the trade off when you want to be one of the first to have a very desirable new model. The problems I encountered with AutoHold may have been down to user error as I didn't read the manual, just jumped straight in.

Uktivo, very honest review of your car, warts and all. Hopefully you'll resolve the issues and enjoy the car for many yrs to it max. potential. I will wait until January to take delivery of my car for two reasons. First, I guess any glitches that have arisen this year will be ironed out by Nov build and second, in Ireland the vehicle registration/licensing system clearly identifies year of car purchase and I'm afriad there is a sort of snobbery linked to this to which I've been sucked in.

Scandic24

That means that you'll be driving around in a brand new car (in the eye of everyone else) for a whole year!?
You, lucky you...

[Edit] ...on the other hand. Here you can never tell which year it is from the numbers on the license plate anymore..So I guess mine will be new until the first facelift?

Ricracing

My comments to Bad:
2. to 4. Have not experienced any of these.
5. Running on 20" non-RF's is giving a good ride quality.
6. Yes, the car seems to have a tendency to do that even with the standard suspension.

My comments to Good:
1. and 2. Yes, +1.
4. Nr. 7 in bad points??
5. Now after 2,000 km's the gearbox works better. At first the shifts from 1st to 3rd gear where a bit harsh,
but is now better. Also the engine runs a bit rough under 1,400 rpm on stress with the cruise.