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I have fancied a 5 series touring for a long time and my aging Passat is starting to have a few problems, so it might be time to change. Budget up to about £12k, which gets me a ~2016 model with ~90k. Does anyone know a) if there's a big difference between the older F10 and newer G30 models, and b) what sort of service items I need to look for at that sort of milage? Timing chain etc? Budget and preference for lower miles will probably push me to the older variant. I'll probably be going for the 2.0l deisel, as much as the 3.0 would be nice, it's hard to justify for the amount and type of driving I do (i.e. not a lot). I'm guessing for cars <100k the big service items may not have been done, so I'd need to budget for them if necessary.
I'm sure this has been disucssed before, but the older threads are all giving a 404 error for some reason.
Cheers!
increased blood pressure, reduced stopping distances
Check the indicators: if they work, it's not a genuine BMW.
Not driven the G30 model, but did have an F11 which was a brilliant car, i would still have it if it wasnt for being written off by a Bulgarian lorry driver. Timing chain is one thing, i never had mine done which was at 130K miles, but you can hear if they are starting to go. The air suspension bags can be an issue, but they are realtively cheap to replace and can be a DIY job - they don't need coding. Other than suspension bags (old types failed), nothing went wrong with my car - just serviced by an Indy and that was it. I'd go F11 with the midcycle life upgrade as that will have sorted through any older varient issues. Very good car!
I've been looking at F11s to replace my aging E91.
The "they all do that sir"s seem to be:-
Misty headlights (if left unsorted ****s the ballasts and new units are ££££). There seem to be DIY guides to removing splitting and resealing them, or sticking silica gel bags inside them is a short term fix.
Leaky airbags for the self-leveling rear suspension (this seems to be an "when, not if" thing), but an easyish fix - but also failing compressors if not attended to.
Talking to my local indy, he said the older the car is the better built and more reliable it is, and there was a definite statement of "don't buy too new", which suggests F rather than G. The 2.0 are less reliable than the 3.0, but a lot of problems can be put off by more regular oil changes (like annual/10k miles max). Timing chains (esp on the 2.0?) seem to be a weakness; change at 100k, only use official BMW parts, but its an engine out job (chain at the back <facepalm>) so ££££.
I've had a sit in one, its much bigger inside than my 3er, and it felt like a nice place to be (although the materials maybe not as nice as the previous generation??), but as someone who'll want to get 10 years out of it, there's an awful lot of unnecessary STUFF to go wrong.
The police had problems with the N57 engine, which led to a change in servicing schedule and a subsequent change of fleet in police forces
A North Yorkshire police car was left a burnt-out wreck after a "catastrophic engine failure" while responding to a 999 call.
Two Kent Police officers had a lucky escape, external when their car ended up "burnt beyond recognition".
The same thing happened to a Metropolitan Police car, external, also on a 999 call.
A BBC camera crew captured the moment a Devon and Cornwall police car, external, already on fire, exploded.
An investigation is launched after a Lancashire police car, external ignites on the M6.
All these fires happened after BMW had told NAPFM about the N57 engine's vulnerability.
They carried on after PC Dumphreys' death - both Wiltshire Police, external and Norfolk Police put fires in 2021 down to engine failure and malfunction.
I much preferred Volvo and Skoda as a place to spend a shift, but that's my personal opinion.
Wikipedia says that BMW began to move onto the B57 engine at around the MY you're interested in and in 2023 stopped supplying UK police
I've had a E61 520d and am now in a G31 530d.
The E61 was pretty faultless in over 90k miles I had it with just regular servicing (my local guy also advised doing every 10k rather than following the onboard computer) . Swapped it over to smaller wheels and winter tyres and it was great.
The G31 has had rear air suspension failure (under warranty), then an Adblue issue (small pipe had worn through) and also had wheel issues. It's an Msport and in 20" wheels and I've had to have the rear passenger welded twice then finally replaced. Wheel guy says the 19" seem to much less of an issue.
The 6 cylinder feels smoother and it's got lots of go but not sure I would bother next time.
I'd avoid the Msport suspension, look for 19" at biggest then check the air suspension. Look for evidence regular servicing and then enjoy.
I've got a 66 plate F11, I like it.
There have been a lot of recalls on them, so check they were all done on the DVLA site. I've had mine since late '18 and it's been in 6 times across 2 issues (though sometimes alongside regular services).
- EGR valve, software updates and more recently they replaced them all. To prevent the fire issues above. They started replacing them, then did the software, then replaced again with a new design.
- Airbag, part of a wider recall across a few brands using the same supplier.
I have a 520d, very economical, very large fuel tank, goes a loooooong way on a tank. Might just be mine, but it's also very good/even on tyre wear and they last very well on it. I have the smaller wheels, larger tyres, more comfort, more kerb resistant etc.
Even base spec ones have very nice kit in them. They're all very comfy, all have parking sensors both ends, all have leather, heated seats etc etc.
I use a tow bar rack on occasion and the auto levelling air rear is amazing, keeps the car nice and stable/level/good handling even with a rack on.
Happy to answer any specific questions.
I'd avoid the Msport suspension
Plus one on this, mine's not an MSport, I had an msport as a loaner and it just feels like they made it worse and crashier/less comfy whilst making no meaningful handling difference. It was the lesser comfort of our Z4 without the performance/handling benefits.
I really wouldn't buy a modern diesel if you aren't doing a lot of miles. The extra economy and small fuel saving will be eaten up by problems with all the emissions regulating crap that will likely go wrong and in general diesels love to do long trips rather than short infrequent trips where they don't warm up properly.
Compressors/airbags for the rear are a source of woe. There are refurb kits available cheaply online and it's reasonably accessible just in front of the rear bumper.
The airbag recall was an absolute mess with letters arriving before parts were available and as a result any main dealer facilities were denied on pain of having the car impounded by the over-zealous. Local shysters weren't certain how they were going to supply me with a car if they did that! At that age of car the dealer network appears to be not interested in helping, which is odd as the cars need more repairing and dealerships aren't cheap to run!
I've got a G31 530D touring which replaced an F11 touring with oil pump failure. It drives much better with less float and better turn in to corners but is expensive to maintain as tyres and brakes are pricey and I've had to replace the DPF at a cost of £3k! I should have bought a petrol Passat or Skoda estate instead. Good luck with whatever you do
That's a fair point. The vast majority of the miles will be long trips, but it'll do a lot of sitting on the drive between them. Still, at about 6-8k per year it's probably worth looking at petrols as well.
A pal bought an old BMW, quite a nice thing it was.
He had issues with the vacuum lines, they had become brittle due to age. It was a bit of a pain to sort all that out, but once it was done it went on for plenty more miles with just the usual wear and tear, servicing etc
Happy with my 2013 F11 at 230,000 - service from Indy garage every 10k, get one with decent headlights as the basic halogens are like luke warm candles, check for leaking headlight clutsers, leaking rear air bags as others have said - mine is an M badge and the ride is harsher and tyres more expensive so look for non M suspension and bigger tyres if you are planning on taking it to be a high miler. Check that all the recalls have been done as said - local harrogate BMW were great on that as they came up. Nice place to do miles and with rear seats down bike slides in with wheel on. Family know ours as fun bus!
The original sale price, because if it is above £40k the tax will be huge
I had a 520d new on something like a 66 plate. It wasn't great. The drivers seat came loose and took a week to fix, the exhaust gas return valve jammed multiple times and it went into limp mode and had to be replaced. And it was just so bloody long. Chopped it in for an X3 which was great.
So you bought a large estate car and one of the negatives is that it was large? Maybe you could have predicted that.
Thanks for the sarcasm. I've had numerous large cars and this one felt particularly long. Have a great day
I've had numerous large cars and this one felt particularly long.
To provide a counter to that, my wife was vetoing longer estates including the 5 until she drove one. It is long, but she (and I) find it very easy to park and generally manoeuvre.
It is in absolute terms quite a long car though (an X3 is 16cm shorter).
The original sale price, because if it is above £40k the tax will be huge
If the newest OP is looking at is 2016, the extra tax for being over 40k new will no longer apply.