My BMW 535d - a personal review
- Thread starter PMKeates
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Soldato
Can't say I understand why anyone who isn't a motoring journo would spend however long typing so much about a car?
It is however a cracking car, I have a thing for the 3/535i/d models. Nice buy.
It is however a cracking car, I have a thing for the 3/535i/d models. Nice buy.
Soldato
I can't even remember the last time that I read a motoring journalist's copy that was that long, haha!
Associate
An enjoyable read if a tad verbose 
This is the model I thought I would buy next before I fell for the charms of the B5.
Better update your sig now.
This is the model I thought I would buy next before I fell for the charms of the B5.
Better update your sig now.
Soldato
Decent review to distract me from work for 5 mins 
Didnt realise the Jaguar XF S has slightly more torque than this unit at 600Nm but with less power (273bhp - for now anyway) . Same gearbox aswell.
Didnt realise the Jaguar XF S has slightly more torque than this unit at 600Nm but with less power (273bhp - for now anyway
) . Same gearbox aswell.I started writing it about two weeks ago. Since then, when I've had a moment, I've added a few paragraphs and then put it aside again. Today I finished it off and tidied up the arrangement a little. Not as much work as you think!
I'd love a B5, but it would cost an extra £7,000 in fuel alone over 3 years. I just couldn't justify spending out that much, and I only really got the 535d because it's a £0-1,000 per year upgrade over the 530i, and at that money the value proposition was too good to ignore.
The transmission is rated to 700 Nm, which is where a lot of the maps take the x35d engine, so there's plenty of headroom.Decent review to distract me from work for 5 mins
Didnt realise the Jaguar XF S has slightly more torque than this unit at 600Nm but with less power (273bhp - for now anyway
Btw, the current version of this engine in the F10 5 Series is 299 PS and 600 Nm
Permabanned
So what is yours doing now with the remap?
Soldato
I read all of it, great write up 
.
Surprised your car doesn't have DAB or USB - heck even my Dad chose them on his E61 (4pot dag-dag though
). Dealership were swines though and after ordering a however many thousand pound car charged us a few quid for the iPod cable!
Sunroof, Adaptive Xenons and Lane Departure are good options to have (not cheap either compared with DAB & USB!). Wish he chose a sunroof, the black headlining makes it pretty dark inside without.
Agree about the Postcode input being naff - caught me out on Sunday when mid-journey I went to set the nav and I didn't know the road name. Used the iPhone App & googlemaps send location to-car thing in the end.
Actually I'm surprised you didn't mention that - the google maps send to car is the single best feature I'd say!
Agree about the front spoiler/lip, had it crunched ontop of a curb in Exeter services at the weekend!
.Surprised your car doesn't have DAB or USB - heck even my Dad chose them on his E61 (4pot dag-dag though
). Dealership were swines though and after ordering a however many thousand pound car charged us a few quid for the iPod cable!Sunroof, Adaptive Xenons and Lane Departure are good options to have (not cheap either compared with DAB & USB!). Wish he chose a sunroof, the black headlining makes it pretty dark inside without
.Agree about the Postcode input being naff - caught me out on Sunday when mid-journey I went to set the nav and I didn't know the road name. Used the iPhone App & googlemaps send location to-car thing in the end.
Actually I'm surprised you didn't mention that - the google maps send to car is the single best feature I'd say!
Agree about the front spoiler/lip, had it crunched ontop of a curb in Exeter services at the weekend!
Measuring the actual power of one of these isn't particularly easy. You can 'lock' it to a specific gear for dyno purposes, but you still have the problem of using a torque converter on a diesel (which impacts the measurements during initial acceleration as the torque converter acts a torque multiplier) and the difficulty in performing a coast down to measure drivetrain losses to produce an 'at the fly' figure. You can measure drag on coast down in a manual quite easily, but with an automatic the resistances in the drivetrain change significantly when not under load, and so they read artificially low drivetrain losses.
The dyno used for the pre- and post-map measurements was a Dyno Dynamics dyno, as recently featured at the OcUK Surrey RR day, and those there will remember this does not measure coast down, but instead has a database of standard drivetrain loss correction factors that are applied. Therefore, the absolute numbers are affected by the accuracy and relevance of the correction factor.
Mine showed a 22.5% power and a 21% torque improvement over standard. Apply that to the standard figures and you have 350 HP and 700 Nm. Mine dyno'd at over 340 HP and 750 Nm, but that's subject to everything I've said above.
That only works if you have BMW ConnectedDrive enabled. This is a chargeable annual subscription service that, in reality, I don't want to pay for. OllyM says you can get a free 6-month trial if you call them up and sound interested, so I may do that for the lulz.
Glad I'm not the only one
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Soldato
I did think "ffffffffffffffff tl;dr" at first, but it was a good read. Cool car
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Good write up.
I noticed with my 530d the fuel used makes a huge difference to how the gearbox behaves. I found that with BP ultimate it changed gear a lot more but wasn't hesitant between choices whereas with Shell fuelsave sometimes it wouldn't make up its mind. Using V Power derv though the gearbox seems to stay in gear and get on with it rather than deciding to change down. To me it drives a lot nicer and seems to have more torque so doesn't want to change. I Under no illusion theres anymore power but it definitely changes the way the gearbox drives though.
DAB on the E60 is useless IMO anywhere but the motorway, mine switches to fm as soon as I'm in town or in my work multi-story. I don't think mine is bad either as it was the same before I had a new diversity antenna installed.
I noticed with my 530d the fuel used makes a huge difference to how the gearbox behaves. I found that with BP ultimate it changed gear a lot more but wasn't hesitant between choices whereas with Shell fuelsave sometimes it wouldn't make up its mind. Using V Power derv though the gearbox seems to stay in gear and get on with it rather than deciding to change down. To me it drives a lot nicer and seems to have more torque so doesn't want to change. I Under no illusion theres anymore power but it definitely changes the way the gearbox drives though.
DAB on the E60 is useless IMO anywhere but the motorway, mine switches to fm as soon as I'm in town or in my work multi-story. I don't think mine is bad either as it was the same before I had a new diversity antenna installed.
This is relevant to my interests. I have tried a few fuels so far (though just because rather than intentionally) - Sainsbury's regular diesel, Esso regular diesel and BP Ultimate diesel. I am not driving a steady enough regime yet to know whether the Ultimate made any economy difference, and I haven't had the car long enough to notice any power change. It's new enough and quicker enough than the 530i that it always feels like it's pulling my face off. It feels happier on Esso than Sainsbury's, and that works for me as it's normally the same price. I may play around with different fuels a bit more and see if I can draw any conclusions, subjective or not.
I spend the vast majority of my time on the motorway, hence why DAB would be useful for me. Fancy letting me have all the bits for a tenner?
The F10 definitely feels like an upgrade on the E60 in all areas (with perhaps the exception of handling and suppleness unless you have the trick damper option). It's a thoroughly excellent car and, once again, the very definition of the class itself. Ever since I drove the 535i back in.. January 2010?.. I've thought it was brilliant. It'd be interesting to drive the 535d and see how it compares to the 535i and the E60 535d. I may use the E60 to blag a test drive in one somewhere.
Nice write up, thanks. Didn't like the looks of the E60 when first launched, but it really grew on me and I now rate it as a genuinely ground breaking design. The sport model reminds me of a stealth bomber, ace!
Permabanned
Great looking car, shame about the engine.