Opinions/Experiences of these motors

TheBazman

Hi

I'm beginning to have a look around at changing my current motor (06 520d M-Sport) and have a few options in mind. I do around 40k kms per year, need rear seats, but would like something with a bit of grunt and decent soundtrack! Also an auto option is essential.

These are some of the options in my head - I'd appreciate your thoughts

BMW 535d - pros: twin turbo, plenty grunt, reasonably economical, 5 doors
cons: wont sound hugely different to the 520d I'd imagine, prob too expensive

BMW335i - test drove one today and reasonably impressed
pros: twin turbo, very fast, nice soundtrack
cons: economy, no rear doors, high mileage will hit resale

Audi S5 - pros: V8, fantastic interior, look great, rare
cons: prob too expensive, not auto option for a good while, rear leg room is a joke

Audi A5 3.0 TDI - pros: looks good, economy, fast, interior
cons: again rear leg room, sound

Golf R32 - prob a strange option to have here but its a lot lot cheaper than the others
Pros: cost relative to other options, soundtrack, 5 door option, DSG, 4 wheel drive
Cons: Doesnt really standout enough, expensive for a golf

I'm not really sure what else to consider. I have thought about an e46 M3, but I used to drive an e46 and I have just gotten used to the e60/e90/e92 type interior. Plus in reality I dont think I could live with the poor fuel economy.

trellheim

lex GS430 why not...

TheBazman

Must admit I hadnt thought of that - not a huge fan of the exterior look though

trellheim

give it a go can't hurt or a 450H

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=781493

cantdecide

trellheim wrote: »

give it a go can't hurt or a 450H

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=781493

That's just what I was thinking. Looks are defintitel very understated. Petrol rules for refinement- there's a reason the yanks are obsessed with it.

535D will be a lot better than your 520 as an experience. It won't feel dramatic to move up but to go back down to the noisy, strained (by comparison) 2.0 would be the eye opener.

TheBazman

The more I look at the Lexus the more I think its not for me. Undoubtedly a fine car but I dont think I could warm to it

On the 535d - I have yet to drive one - I have my name with a couple of BMW garages to contact me if they get one in but its taking a bit of time

Matt Simis

In all fairness, are you really going to spend the €€ to get a S5 from a 520D? Or really considering an R32 in a line up with a 535d. Not knocking the list or the cars, but they dont look like someones real world shopping list.

unkel

Matt Simis wrote: »

In all fairness, are you really going to spend the €€ to get a S5 from a 520D? Or really considering an R32 in a line up with a 535d. Not knocking the list or the cars, but they dont look like someones real world shopping list.

Fair play to you Matt to question the choice of cars. I'll offer my head next to yours on the chopping board. Bazman, what do you want in your next car? Your list is all over the place

Doing 40k kms a year would limit you to diesel, would it not? If not, you're so rich you should consider buying something exotic

And make your mind up about who and what you need to carry - as in how many doors do you really need. Make your mind up and get back to us here

TheBazman

Thanks so far guys

I know my list is all over the place. I presume I am like a lot of people in that when they are looking to change their car they have several they are interested in. Admittedly mine are well mixed up with differing degrees of practicality and economy, but these are the cars that I like.

I suppose first of all what I am looking for are other suggestions that maybe I havent thought of given my situation (like the Lexus that has been mentioned).

Also based on the list I have gathered I wouldnt mind finding out if anyone has experience of any of them and maybe they could give me their thoughts. I know MarkN drives a 335i so he might be able to give me some fuel economy figures.

Also I dont want to go down the route of arguing whether I am rich enough to buy something exotic. The list I have above is the absolute limit of what I can stretch to, and even some of them are pushing it (lets just say if a 535d or S5 were picked there wouldnt be too many option boxes ticked)

Cheers

Traumadoc

Have you thought about 530d especialy after July- when it should benefit from lower VRT/tax, plenty of power, fuel economy of <10lit/100km.

TheBazman

I hadnt really considered the 530d. The only 5 series I have driven (outside of an M5) is the 520d, and while its a fine car, the turbo lag is bugging me. I just figured that the 530d would still have that delay before the extra power kicks in. Maybe someone can tell me how noticeable the turbo lag is on the 530d? I agree that if I was choosing a 530d I would wait until after July. As for the 535d, the BMW website has its emissions at 211g/km which would have it in the second highest band. In that sense there wouldnt be much point waiting. (as an aside the BMW website only has one emission level for each spec, I would have thought it should separate between auto and manual given afaik there is a difference in emissions)

As for economy - the official figures for combined are 530d 6.7l/100km and the 535d 8l/100km. Obviously it will be higher in the real world but I could live with either I think

S.I.R

best car there is the R32 golf.... mainly because of that 3.189 jetta engine , all other cars ( besides fr om a pre e36 bmw ) are unable to match that car... just dont turn that car at speed or you will find the true meaning of understeer.

MarkN

S.I.R wrote: »

best car there is the R32 golf.... mainly because of that 3.189 jetta engine , all other cars ( besides fr om a pre e36 bmw ) are unable to match that car... just dont turn that car at speed or you will find the true meaning of understeer.

??

Unkel etc are right, your list is all over the place

Taking 40,000kms a year into account, I would rule all your petrol options out straight away if I were you.

A one year old S5 with 40,000kms on the clock? It would be less painful to saw off your right leg with a carving knife !

Same goes for the 335 too being honest. Stupidly quick car in the real world, looks great in M sport with 19s, sounds sweet and handles superbly but I would be getting 400kms out of a tank/250 old miles so a very rough maths guess would be the 335 would cost you about €7,000 a year to put fuel in alone. Add 400 quid a corner for rubber and the fact that you'll get about 16,000kms out of a set of rear ones, nearly €1,200 to tax and you'll see that that type of car is not the type of car you want to be doing 40,000kms a year in.

The rear legroom in an S5/A5 is a joke. I'm just under 6 foot so I'm not even tall and when I had passengers in the rear of one, they were seriously squashed behind me.

I think you need to decided on what type of car you want first - saloon, coupe or hatchback and then come back to us again.

Cyrus

the 535d is a 6cyl twin turbo the 520d is a 4 pot single turbo (my dad has the same car)

believe me the 535 sounds a lot better.

So thats a runner (is the 335d out yet?)

the audi 3.0 tdi engine is supposed to be great, what about an a6 sline or second hand a8 with that engine?

TheBazman

I wish people would stop telling me to decide on what type car I want and come back. I'm not 100% sure on what I want - thats why I am asking you guys. I appreciate all your thoughts. Someone (besides the wife) telling me that I would be mad picking x,y or z because of whatever reasons is helpful as when I start looking at cars its hard to remain sensible. MarkN - your info is exactly what I want. The 335i would work out v expensive. I used to drive a 350Z and it seems the running costs would be around the same

I also agree the leg room in the back of the A5/S5 is crap even compared to the 335i.

Yeah the 535d is definitely a runner. I'm trying to get a test drive in the 535d/335d but they are hard to come by. I suppose the only thing with the 535d is that the depreciation will be greater given it is more expensive than the 335i in the first place. This may offset some of the costs with the 335i. Of course when I buy a car I always say that I will run this one into the ground - It never quite works out that way

TheBazman

Cyrus wrote: »

the audi 3.0 tdi engine is supposed to be great, what about an a6 sline or second hand a8 with that engine?

I think the a6 looks a little dated already and while I like the look of the a8 its prob too big and not sport enough

Victor_M

Would you consider a slightly older 6 or 7 series? A 730d would make your 40Km a year failry comfortable, you are going to take a huge depreciation hit in any car with that amount of mileage, you may as well be comfortable!
S class diesel couple of years old? or even an E class Diesel if you want a car in the same class as the 5 but you seem to want something different.

If I had that nice dilema it would be a 530d or a 535d no question! The 535d has the same amount of torque as an M5!

TheBazman

Victor - not a 7 series fan though a low mileage 6 series is a possibility. The mileage I am doing is a real bugger - if only there was a decent public transport option to get me to work Grrrr!

ArphaRima

Personally I think the S5 is one of my favourite cars out there at the moment. I saw one parked in the BT carpark last week and it looked simply stunning. Mean, refined and imposing. The interior is one of the best Ive ever seen by any manufacturer.

I can only assume it has the performance to back it up. It aint no RS4 I'm sure, but by god it looks the business!
V8 4.2L FSI should give you most of that soundtrack (the bang and olufson should do the rest), "only" 298 g/100km, quatro, and a not-too-unreasonable 85,500 Euro basic.

MarkN

fluffer wrote: »

The interior is one of the best Ive ever seen by any manufacturer.

I know it's a personal thing but I just don't see this at all.

Unless you spec the loading changer, you get two clusters, both with this single twisting knob stuck on that looks hideous. It works well when you are flicking through the menus on the screen and it's easier to use than idrive however.

Then you have two American fat bastid sized cup holders which can't be covered up.

This was a moderately specced A5 I had a loan of.



And this was a very well specced one but I still found little things I didn't like.

ArphaRima

with all of the leather options ticked, the audi interiors look and feel class. The TT being my fave (simple is better) but the Q7 and S5 come close. I agree the photos of the 1st one look awful.

MarkN

Here's a few more of the S5 that I took to help the OP. Notice the climate control unit at the bottom of the centre dash in this S5, there seems to be so many mix and matches of trim it is pretty confusing.

Don't get me wrong, I like the S5, thought long and hard about the one in Grange that they have on as a demo but just thought the 335 was much better value.

This one was retailing at €104,000 IIRC.

ArphaRima

Now thats what Im talking about!

ninty9er

Saab 9-3 Convertible auto *bells & whistles* Bio-Power 2.0 200bhp
call it €74k on the road. With the right colour it'd definitely stand out.

The cousin's husband has one and they have a baby so it seems pretty practical in that way.

Volvo S80 D5 with auto around €67k

Skoda Superb L&K 1.8t 150bhp Auto touching €46k (most car for the money even the spec below has bi-xenon and leather as standard)

Alfa 159 2.4 JTD Qtronic with most of the optios list ticked for a smidge under €60k

TheBazman

I actually like the both the interior and exterior of the S5, but I think I would have to tick a lot of options. The more I think of it the more I realise it would be out of my price range. I would also need an auto option

Ninty9er - some decent alternatives. I agree the Saab is a lot of car but I couldnt live with that interior. There is also a decent looking new Volvo out there at the moment but I think it might be the S60 not the S80

38psi

As another 335i owner I wolud agree with MarkN,economy not great but the driving is fantastic. I would look at the 535d as the best allrounder with fantastic performance and diesel economy. The 335d is also a great car to consider and I believe will hold its resale value better than the 335i. Only one thing to consider is that the 5 series is due for replacement 2009. Would you consider the X5 ? it too is a great allrounder and will prob be my next choice.

ninty9er

TheBazman wrote: »

I actually like the both the interior and exterior of the S5, but I think I would have to tick a lot of options. The more I think of it the more I realise it would be out of my price range. I would also need an auto option

Ninty9er - some decent alternatives. I agree the Saab is a lot of car but I couldnt live with that interior. There is also a decent looking new Volvo out there at the moment but I think it might be the S60 not the S80

I think the S60 is due replacement, the original was a better looking car than the facelift currently availabe imo though.

On the Saab, at least the SatNav makes the dash look a little less plane like, but it's still a massive improvement on what they used to be.

TheBazman

38psi wrote: »

As another 335i owner I wolud agree with MarkN,economy not great but the driving is fantastic. I would look at the 535d as the best allrounder with fantastic performance and diesel economy. The 335d is also a great car to consider and I believe will hold its resale value better than the 335i. Only one thing to consider is that the 5 series is due for replacement 2009. Would you consider the X5 ? it too is a great allrounder and will prob be my next choice.

Wouldnt be interested in going downt the X5 avenue. I have my name with one of the dealers to give me a call when they have either a 535d or a 335d in stock to have a spin. I'm not holding my breath.

The only thing about the economy is that I do a good chunk of motorway driving so wouldnt be as bad as just city driving

bazz26

Merc CLS 320 CDi Auto perhaps?

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=861208

TheBazman

Yep fine motor - hadnt even considered it. However I would prefer the look of the 5 or 3 series