Caporegime
Hard to tell when people actually think these things, or are just pushing your buttons.
3L diesel, Saloon or 4 door coupe
- Thread starter inflames
- Start date
Soldato
Oddly enough I sold my XJ for a 640d and regretted it, the XJ is such a comfortable cruiser I could drive 400miles and get out feeling fresh. The iDrive for sure was leaps and bounds ahead of the ancient junk in the XJ but otherwise I wasn’t sold on BMWs and I sold it after a year.
Soldato
Hard to tell when people actually think these things, or are just pushing your buttons.
I know he's a BMW fan but I was genuinely being honest. From the ones I looked at on auto trader, they looked totally uninspiring. 90s volvo steering wheel, flat boring dash and the interior looked bland. Maybe it's just me, but my mates 14 a5 looks a lot nicer IMO.
I'm happy to be proven wrong if you can find a decent example but from all the BMWs I've looked at, the interior isn't their strong point.
Caporegime
The horrid steering wheel is a pre-facelift (pre LCI) thing.
Caporegime
Photos, particularly dealer photos on a phone camera with the exposure set slightly too high, dont do any car justice on the inside.
You need to be sat in it. It helps if the interior is actually a nice specification with contrasting leather and nice wood grain etc.
Personally I really like oyster leather with black contrasting carpet/dash top/etc and a dark wood grain trim. The browns look good too with the right trim.
The trouble is it seems 99% of them are just black on black with silver trim.
You need to be sat in it. It helps if the interior is actually a nice specification with contrasting leather and nice wood grain etc.
Personally I really like oyster leather with black contrasting carpet/dash top/etc and a dark wood grain trim. The browns look good too with the right trim.
The trouble is it seems 99% of them are just black on black with silver trim.
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Soldato
Yeah I did wonder if actually being in it is more of a sale point. Bad pics also don't help.
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The F10 interior is excellent, it is one of my favourite parts of the car. It's a nice place to be, it's pleasant to look at, its well made. By contrast the interior in the A5 is a pretty horrid looking thing - not helped by the fact it dates from 2007. Probably the worst thing is the ridiculous screen.
This one for example:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011085920067?sort=relevance&price-from=17000&model=5 SERIES&include-delivery-option=on&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=Used&advertising-location=at_cars&radius=1500&aggregatedTrim=530d&make=BMW&postcode=pl11aa&page=2
Than this similarly aged A5:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202009294365378?sort=relevance&advertising-location=at_cars&model=A5&include-delivery-option=on&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=Used&price-from=17000&radius=1500&make=AUDI&postcode=pl11aa&page=1
It's not a bad reflection on the A5, when the A5 came out its interior was at least as good as the E90 3 Series, but the F10 is both newer and a class above, so it would be somewhat unusual if it genuinely had a poorer interior.
I think the F10 has the best interior of any its competition for sure.
Slightly random but while the thread is on interiors I really really like the leather(ish) dash on my old man's 640d series, assume the F10 can be specced with it (I've seen what looks like a a cut down version on the occasional F30)?
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Caporegime
Leather dashes have been an option on most BMW's since the mid (maybe early? Not sure) 80's but have always been very rare.
My E30 could have been specced with leather dash, centre console, and door cards if the original buyer was feeling flush!
My E30 could have been specced with leather dash, centre console, and door cards if the original buyer was feeling flush!
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Soldato
I have to agree, they are functional and reasonably well put together although they do creak but they are boring as hell. Apart from the change in infotainment screen the dashboards have looked virtually the same for 10 years or more
Caporegime
My F33 was specced with leather dash, it makes the whole cabin feel far more upmarket than it has any right to feel IMO.
The average model life of a car is about 7 years so an interior will remain virtually identical over this time save for tweaks at a facelift. Different models in the range are updated at different times so it's perfectly conceivable that two different models from one manufacturer may look similar inside despite being 10 years apart if you're looking at the first of one model and the last of another. The F Series platform for example appeared in 2008 with the 7 Series and began to be replaced in 2015 with the new 7 Series but the 2 Series Coupe remains on sale for a few more months.
A car must be judged in context. A 5 Series is an executive saloon car, it is not a fun lifestyle SUV nor is it an exotic and exciting sports car. It therefore has an interior to reflect this as does every other car in its class. There is nothing exciting about the interior of the W212 E Class either nor the C7 Audi A6. They are all well made, well appointed and well laid out but none are exciting as this isn't what most buyers want.
Of course the ironic thing is the worst car in this class with the worst interior is the Jaguar XF. I have no experience of the XJ so won't comment only to point out it's a clear class above anyway.
Soldato
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What the BMW dash needs is large, kidney shaped air vents in the middle of it
With an ipad stuck on the top.
Soldato
Whats ironic about that?
Soldato
Its not true anymore either
Soldato
Because they discontinued the only Jag with a decent interior when they stopped making the XJ?
I havent seen the new interior on the latest XF but prior to that I have to agree the interior was poor when compared to the competition, so much so it put me off getting another one which was why I bought an E class instead which I loved so much I replaced it with another one