BMW 520D

hondavfr

I'm considering looking at a BMW 520D year 2108 to maybe 2020. Is there anything in particular to look out for and are they reasonably reliable cars. I see some are advertised as hybrid/diesel too. Any advice appreciated

Stallingrad

I haven't heard of any big issues, the G30 is still a young design and most are still under warranty. The previous F10 was not without its problems and hopefully the G30 addressed most of them.

Keep in mind BMW, along with most other German marques are usually little better than average in the reliability stakes.

Have a look here.

https://forum.bmw5.co.uk/forum/135-g30g31-2017/

Heres Johnny

hondavfr wrote: »

I'm considering looking at a BMW 520D year 2108 to maybe 2020. Is there anything in particular to look out for and are they reasonably reliable cars. I see some are advertised as hybrid/diesel too. Any advice appreciated

I'm going to assume you know very little about them.

520d is diesel only. As is 530d
520i and 530i are petrol
530e is a plug in hybrid and you'll find loads of info and threads on them here.

SE is entry level and msport is top spec.
Options list extensive and some cars will have lots of them, others none. The base models are nice but certain spec levels and options make them very desirable indeed.

Not any more reliable or any less than most cars on the road but can be more expensive to put right.

Performance will be strong with all engines, depending on what type of car you are coming from but they'll be more powerful than 95% of cars on the road. 520d and 530e are the big sellers. The others are rare these days.

hondavfr

Heres Johnny wrote: »

I'm going to assume you know very little about them.

520d is diesel only. As is 530d
520i and 530i are petrol
530e is a plug in hybrid and you'll find loads of info and threads on them here.

SE is entry level and msport is top spec.
Options list extensive and some cars will have lots of them, others none. The base models are nice but certain spec levels and options make them very desirable indeed.

Not any more reliable or any less than most cars on the road but can be more expensive to put right.

Performance will be strong with all engines, depending on what type of car you are coming from but they'll be more powerful than 95% of cars on the road. 520d and 530e are the big sellers. The others are rare these days.

Thank you 👠Yes I have been reading up on them and it's the 520D in msport/plus model that I would be most interested in. The reviews seem to be very good and I think they age well too. I see the latest model have a mild hybrid thing going on. If I get one it's a car I would like to keep for at least 5 years or so hence the questions.

bazz26

What are you driving at the moment OP? Do you do enough driving to warranty a diesel?

hondavfr

bazz26 wrote: »

What are you driving at the moment OP? Do you do enough driving to warranty a diesel?

I have a Passat 2.0 diesel, I'm not really doing enough mileage for a diesel but like the torque the diesel engine has and tend to use it too and they still return decent economy.

bazz26

Do you have the ability to charge a car at home? If so then look at the 530e, they will have more punch than the 520d and will be cheap enough to run if you can install a home charger and you do alot of urban driving.

hondavfr

bazz26 wrote: »

Do you have the ability to charge a car at home? If so then look at the 530e, they will have more punch than the 520d and will be cheap enough to run if you can install a home charger and you do alot of urban driving.

Charging won't be an issue and hopefully when the lockdown eases I will get to test-drive both models. I have driven a 2014 520D recently and I liked that alot but the guy that owned it hadn't it long and wasn't very knowledgeable on cars in general. Cheers!

tcawley29

hondavfr wrote: »

I have a Passat 2.0 diesel, I'm not really doing enough mileage for a diesel but like the torque the diesel engine has and tend to use it too and they still return decent economy.

If you go down the diesel route and aren't doing the mileage then you could have a blocked dpf and cost yourself a substantial sum

hondavfr

tcawley29 wrote: »

If you go down the diesel route and aren't doing the mileage then you could have a blocked dpf and cost yourself a substantial sum

It hasn't been an issue with the Passat so far in over 6 years but i do longer runs every 2 weeks or so and that seems to keep it right.

patrick39

Wondering did anyone come across this? On a 520d g30

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123012467#Comment_123012467

Had it in an X5 M50D

Dealer had to replace the rear seat bench

patrick39

When I put mind into gear she pops back into neutral when I come off the break and the same in reverse would that be a safety thing for "rear seats not locked" ?

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123024278#Comment_123024278

No, didnt have that issue. It was purely a seat belt issue that it was saying someone was sitting there when there wasn't.

Your issue sounds like the car thinks a door is open.

bazz26

Does the car have split folding rear seats and were they folded down recently? If so check them again in case they are not fixed in their locked position correctly. Sometimes the rear seat belt harness can catch on the seat when it's returned to the locked up position preventing it from locking into the fixed position.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123025039#Comment_123025039

but that wouldn’t cause the car to jump out of D or R?

I can drive mine with the seats down no problem.

bazz26

You would think so but who knows what silly sensors BMW have fitted these days and if the seat is not locked in it's correct upright position it could throw a warning. The OP may also have more than one problem if the gearbox is jumping out of gear. . At least checking the seating is correctly locked is an easy and quick thing to at least eliminate here.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123026237#Comment_123026237

Actually could all be traced back to a bad 12v 😂

patrick39

Ya exactly like that but when I open the door it comes up door opened

patrick39

No they don't fold just the bottom pops up and they weren't touched before this, it's strange because if I let off the break very slowly and the car pulls off slowly I can drive anywhere and it won't do it again till I turn the car off but the fault code stays up

patrick39

Only seems to do it at takeoff and won't do it again till turned off and on

patrick39

No they don't fold just the bottom pops up and they weren't touched before this, it's strange because if I let off the break very slowly and the car pulls off slowly I can drive anywhere and it won't do it again till I turn the car off but the fault code stays up

patrick39

Both errors came at the same time, if they are related is another question