Another What Car thread

[dergside]

F10 528 boss. Turbo goodness!

The 528i is a 3.0 n53 - 258bhp of silky sixness

[dergside]

What's the budget Diarmuid?

Not a fixed budget but a 520d would go to about €18k landed with all paid, the other 3 range from about €11.5k to €14k. The idea would be to spend more on a newer car in the expectation of lower standing and running costs (and notably lower TCO) or less on an older one to partially offset higher standing and running costs on the assumption that there's a little more to tickle your interest, like the sound of a straight 6, compared to a 520d.

[dergside]

The 535i has crossed my mind, but they're fairly highly prized, and priced, in the UK and VRT is stiff enough. A 2016 M-Sport is a fairly rare beast and will top €30k on the road. Even a 2012 will stand you more than a 2016 520d, so you have the higher cost upfront, and the higher running costs. The spreadsheet says TCO would run to about €5k a year more than a 520d. Captain Sensible is troubled by that

[JohnH]

I think a late 520d would be hard to ignore. It’ll be the newest, probably highly specced and will still be less that 10 years old when you’re done with it so should be easier to rehome than something ~15 yrs old

[James Bond Junior]

How about a 4 Gran Coupe? Very spacious and with the rear seats down it will swallow a huge amount. We found our one great last year for clearing out the house and trips to the dump.

[dergside]

I think a late 520d would be hard to ignore. It’ll be the newest, probably highly specced and will still be less that 10 years old when you’re done with it so should be easier to rehome than something ~15 yrs old

Captain Sensible appreciates your support John, he was beginning to feel a tad alone

[dergside]

How about a 4 Gran Coupe? Very spacious and with the rear seats down it will swallow a huge amount. We found our one great last year for clearing out the house and trips to the dump.

Ex UK, a 2016 420d M-Sport would land for about €3-4k more than a same age and miles 520d M-Sport. While I like the look of the GC, even at the same money I'd choose the 5 every time. As I said in the first post, late F10's are astonishing value from the UK at the moment.

[Big H]

Do you not already have an E63 630i - why consider another one ?

The pre-lci's are serious value at the moment and the price difference between one of them and an LCI is quite substantial - certainly more than enough to make up for the immoral motor tax rate. Relatively low mile/well maintained E63's seem to be selling fast - I've been keeping an eye on 3 different ones and they have all been marked as sold within a week....

[dergside]

Absolutely true Big H, yes I have one and yes they're an awful lot of car for the money here if you find a nice one, a not too difficult task yet, I've been trying to tell you all that for the past couple of years! If I went the 520d route I'd be happy to hold on to the current 630i as the weekend car.

The current e63 is in fine fettle and has been mostly a seasonable use car. Its at about 125k km's so no real concerns for the future there. The 630i I mentioned is an LCI - so a little more power (N53 vs. N52 - yep, I know the risks of an N53), a manual - rare, only 35 2008 manuals sold in the UK, making it quite desirable to me, and a secondary consideration is that the LCI CO2 figure would drop roadtax from €1494 for mine to €750 - taking a little pain out of turning it from a seasonal car to a year round one.

[ian-909]

Would another option be a manual swap on your existing E63?