[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

And look at it this way, the 330i is about as spacious as the previous generation F10 5-Series. It's really not that bad, unless your requirement is to ferry 6-footers around on a regular basis. It's certainly better than the XE, that's for sure!

Couldn't agree more. The older 530d (if you buy pre- owned) has only 5 mm or something extra rear legroom over 3 series
Also the 330i has the better 0-100 time (91ron will negate that I guess).
Jag service, reliability and practicality much lesser than 330i

[graaja]

Originally Posted by swami69

Good sequence of "how to go about it". All the very best for you to get a 530D i.e., #1. Hope you need not look beyond that. till then enjoy JETTA.

Hi, thank you for the wishes. I have been checking the pre-owned market for the past few days. There are a few problems that are proving to be show-stoppers. The first main problem is that all the used cars (5 of 6 so far) are available in Chennai. With my tight work schedule, and Chennai being 400km away from Coimbatore where I live, it is going to be impossible for me to go and check these cars. I am guessing I will have to keep looking at cars to find the right one. The second issue is finding a good car. All the cars I checked so far either are out of warranty and already 3 to 4 years old, or there was this one car which had run 15,000 km in 2.5 years, has 6 months more of warranty, but which does not have insurance (expired 6 months back and never renewed). It is quite possible that some of these cars are perfectly good to buy, but I will have to visit Chennai to check out these cars in person, have background checks done etc., which again is a problem due to the distance and my work. So, I am trying to find someone who is good with cars for checking out the cars and choose the right cars.

Originally Posted by zulfi hansi

Man, you need a third car. Keep the Jetta for practicality and later replace it with a non-performance family car.
...
To start with look at any of the small AMGs, if you are lucky a 3-5 years old C63 or S4. If you are very lucky a M3 or S5. If you have done some very very good deeds, may be a classic 911. And if God is kind may be a year old Mushtang for 50 lakhs!

Ha ha. Though your suggestion sounds really tempting, at least for the present, I cannot dream of that. As my parking is limited to 2 cars, I need a car that is fun to drive and at the same time be practical for those trips with the family. Also, if I go the C63, M3, S5 or the 911 way, I will have to be ready for huge costs in maintaining them, which I am not prepared at the moment. Maybe for the next round

[androdev]

What can I add to this thread to convince you to buy a brand new BMW 5 series with the engine and colour combo you love?

Q: We live in an age of consumerism where the quest is to buy more and more. Do you have a view on whether this consumption can be done differently?

A: I would spend more less often on some things that I truly love and that would last a lifetime. I think it is better to buy less than to buy more. It’s better to buy something better that has a lot more thought put into creating it than just buy anything.

It's taken from a random and irrelevant news article
Source:
http://www.livemint.com/Companies/P6...ys-France.html

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by androdev

What can I add to this thread to convince you to buy a brand new BMW 5 series with the engine and colour combo you love?

Let me try

@graaja, I think you are carrying an impression in your head that the 5 series is not much of a driver's car and that it is more luxury oriented. You also seem to be concerned about the 2 secs slower 0-100 times.

The luxury orientation isn't a bad thing. We are all enthusiasts at heart and have always gone after the best driving cars and really did not care much about things like ride quality, luxury etc.. But as time passes you value these things more and more. You are taking a big leap into the luxury segment. The line between the Jetta / Octavia class of cars and the A4/3/C segment is not that big in terms of what the cars actually have to offer. Badge value is one of the biggest things the big Germans have to offer over the small Germans. Jetta has great build quality and engineering depth if you ask me. For someone coming from a Honda City or a Corolla Altis even, the 3 series will be a good upgrade. But from a Jetta you are much better off stretching for a 5/E/XF etc... . I went though a similar conundrum and the 3 series segment was never in contention. I picked the X3 over the 5 series since I wanted more space for my family (kids + parents. The F10 530d has very poor rear legroom) plus I wanted some touring ability to visit interior areas. I never thought I'd buy an SUV, but two years down the line, I couldn't be happier. I am set for the next 5 or 6 years.

The 530i is no slouch performance wise. It may be a fraction slower in 0-100 but in the real world you will hardly feel the difference. It is a modern new generation car and the interior quality, ride quality, sound deadening, space and general feeling of luxury and occasion will never leave you wanting in the "driving pleasure" stakes. Also it is a BMW after all and the 5 is a very important car for them. It may look very similar to the previous gen, but the new 5 is one heck of a car. With a car like the 530i/530d, you won't feel the itch to upgrade for another 7-8 years.

People who haven't experienced either the Vento or the Jetta may think both cars are very similar and may wonder why the Jetta costs almost double? You know why. Similarly the 5 series is not just a blown up 3 series. Do give it a serious thought. We can vote on another poll if you like

[androdev]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Let me try

That is an excellent try. I have decided to give up my share and let you keep the 100% of the sales commission.

[octane1002]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

Honestly, our 328i is definitely pinching when it comes to fuel costs, but the pleasure of driving a high revving petrol engine after spending years with diesels is something else.

Couldn't agree more with lamborghini. I was drivng a Superb 3.6 FSI the other day enroute to Bangalore. The 6 speed DSG on manual was ballistic n the high rpm shifts just reminded me why a high revving petrol in today's day n age is special.Just makes me wonder what an 8 speed zf would be in the 330i.

Yes, they may not have the convenience and availability of a diesel, but that's the thing, the throaty rasp along with power delivery is reminiscent of a dying breed. The feel is as important an experience apart from the actual speeds.My two cents.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by androdev

What can I add to this thread to convince you to buy a brand new BMW 5 series with the engine and colour combo you love?

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Let me try

You guys win! Santosh, that was one convincing sales pitch!

I was not worried much about the 0-100 time between the 330i and the 530i. The 330i has a 0-100 of 5.8 seconds whereas the 530i is 6.2 seconds. Coming from a Jetta with a 0-100 time of 10+ seconds, I would not feel much difference between 330i and 530i in terms of straight line acceleration. Both would be beasts. My concern was how the 530i with its longer body and higher weight would perform in the corners.

I see your point about 330i not feeling that much of an upgrade over the Jetta except for the power and RWD, and the risk of me feeling the upgrade itch again in 3 to 4 years. Also, G30 530i which was released only last year should definitely feel fresher than the F30 330i which is coming to its end of life.

I will go and take a test drive of the new 5 series. Hope the 5 series with it's adaptive dampers compensates for it's length and weight in the corners.

When it comes to cars, I have been ending up with cars way over my initial budget - Honday City -> Jetta, Nano -> Polo GT TSi. Is the trend going to continue this time as well?

[GT3]

Originally Posted by graaja

I was not worried much about the 0-100 time between the 330i and the 530i. The 330i has a 0-100 of 5.8 seconds whereas the 530i is 6.2 seconds. Coming from a Jetta with a 0-100 time of 10+ seconds, I would not feel much difference between 330i and 530i in terms of straight line acceleration. Both would be beasts. My concern was how the 530i with its longer body and higher weight would perform in the corners.

If you do consider going for the new 5 series I urge your to push your budget up get the 530d. The European diesel's are generally more robust and you need not worry about the fuel quality. One test drive of the 530d on open roads, you will not consider any other car be it the 530i or 520d.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by GT3

If you do consider going for the new 5 series I urge your to push your budget up get the 530d. The European diesel's are generally more robust and you need not worry about the fuel quality. One test drive of the 530d on open roads, you will not consider any other car be it the 530i or 520d.

If I were to go for the 530i (I still have to do a TD), I would have already pushed the budget way beyond my limit. Pushing it up by another 15 Lakhs is totally ruled out.

[graaja]

The G30 5 Series

There were many suggestions to go for a new 530i. However, I had two issues. The first was that I had to stretch my budget by another 10 Lacs to get a 530i. The second concern was how the 530i would perform in the ride and handling department due to its longer wheelbase and higher weight. Because of this I had totally ruled out this option in the beginning.

However, @androdev was very persistent and was urging me to consider 530i as it was more practical, and finally SantoshBhat came up with that brilliant sales pitch that tilted me over.

The most important point the proponents of 530i had to say was that though the F30 330i would be a fantastic fun to drive car, it would actually be a downgrade in terms of space and practicality compared to the Jetta. Once the initial euphoria with the performace wears out, I could start missing out on the practical aspects on those long journeys with the family. Also, the G30 5 series is a completely fresh platform released only in 2017, whereas the F30 is going to be replaced by the G20 in early 2019. Because of this the G30 5 series will feel fresh for a long time to come.

I checked out many road test reviews over the weekend and almost all the reviewers had the same opinion – in spite of it being a luxury executive sedan, the 530i was a fantastic handler and did not feel its size at all. Many attributed this to its adaptive suspension and also the weight reduction due to the extensive use of aluminium.

Went to the showroom to check out the car. I must say, I was just bowled out by the looks. The car just looks FANTASTIC in black.


Checked out the rear legroom. With the driver seat set to my height, the rear legroom was quite adequate.


The boot also was adequate even with the space saver tire inside. They have created a nice compartment for the space saver. The space saver and this compartment can be removed for even more boot space.


Test Drive:

In the evening, the SA brought the 5 series (a 520D sport line) for a test drive. As it was late in the evening, had to limit the test drive to a short one of about 20km through some winding country side roads, and some stretches of rough patches.

The goods first:

Ride and Handling: One of my biggest concerns about the 5 series was its size and how it would behave in the corners. Surprisingly, as many reviewers have already said, the 5 series shrinks in the corners. It took the corners almost like a smaller sedan. So, I could write off that concern. Though it would still not be as agile as a 3 in corners, it was enough for my expectation (I need a car that has some balance between fun to drive factor and and practicality). Also, in the comfort mode, the suspensions were absorbing all but a few of the pot holes and rough patches in the road.

Rear bench comfort: More than enough leg room and rear bench comfort. Once I set the the drivers seat to my (I am 5’ 11”) comfort, I could comfortably sit in the rear seat without feeling cramped. As my children would be occupying the rear seat, this is more than enough.

Loaded with gizmos: The car is loaded with lots of gadgets - The large iDrive screen which is also a touch screen, fully digital instrument cluster that changes character based on the drive mode, electrically adjustable steering wheel. The car should feel totally fresh for the coming 7 years.

Now to the bads:

In fact, there is only one bad which almost irritatingly dominated the whole drive – the ground clearance. With such a long wheelbase, I was totally prepared for the car to hit speed breakers if taken at higher speeds. So, I babied the car on speed breakers (just I baby my Polo GT TSi with the coilovers and lowering). However, even when I almost stopped the car and crawled over speed breakers, the car was scraping even regular speed breakers. Both the front overhang and under-body were taking a hit.

What was most annoying was the SA who was riding pillion literrally stiffened up whenever I approached speed breakers (the same way I react when my wife approaches speed breakers on the Polo GT ), and was always telling me to slow down though I had already slowed down to a crawl. I could feel his discomfort. And he was repeating again and again that this car is meant for highways. Now this is a deal breaker. I always baby my cars when I approach rough patches of roads or speed breakers. But if the car is going to scrape in spite of this babying, then I am thinking this could take out the fun in driving the car. Though the car will be used primarily for long distance drives, I sure will have to pass through villages and towns filled with speed breakers!

But for this problem, I could have just booked the car! It was that good in all other departments. Maybe this is one of the teething troubles of bringing a new platform to India. Maybe BMW will do something about this in the upcoming batches like increase the ground clearance by a few millimeters or stiffen the suspension.

My question to others with experience with such cars:
Is this always the case with long wheel base cars? Should I expect it to scrape no matter how carefully I take speed breakers? How is the F10 5 series? Could this be because they have made the G30 longer than the F10?

So, for now, I am going to reserve my judgement till I TD a 3 series, hopefully next week.

Another thing to note: The SA is asking me to go for the 3 GT. However, I had done a TD of the 3GT and found it to have too much rolling, which should kill all the fun in the handling department. Other than that the GT is quite a good car.

[androdev]

You are spoilt by Jetta which has SUV like clearance And 5 series is about the worst when it comes to GC.

I drive the first batch of F10 and even had a transmission damage due to GC. I also have a Honda city which literally touches the ground when carrying four adults. The S class too has lower GC (when not raised). So you can say I am the king of speed breaker scraping.

The good news is that the scraping causes no damage except for the irritating noise and some minor scraping marks on the underbody. I have driven over some horrible basement parking ramps that are far worse than speed breakers and if you learn to ignore the noise, it's all good. But yeah it is an irritant and you need to take a call depending on the type of roads you deal with and if that harmless noise kicks up your BP You can visit the workshop to see the underbody of low GC cars - you will be convinced it's all just noise.

And that sales guy should be fired ASAP. A prospective BMW owner should be taken on an open winding roads.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

I don't think the pressure will make any change as it must be running on RFT. I will usually put my older 7 on sports mode while crossing through speed breakers, so it's not just the GC but also suspension behaviour.

If you are holding your purchase just because of not enough GC, take another ride.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

As Turbanator has mentioned pressure won't make any difference to the GC as RFTs have extremely hard sidewalls that don't deform much. They are after all designed to run even under zero pressure.

Thank you Turbanator and Santhosh for the clarification. Yes. this definitely makes sense. Also, when I took the test drive, the car was almost fully loaded with two adults in the back seat. Maybe that caused the scraping.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

BMW's in particular don't take kindly to underbody hits. Oops didn't want to scare you!

You did not scare me at all. It is very good to know all the details before hand. Don't want to get into a hindsight situation after getting the car.

Originally Posted by androdev

You are spoilt by Jetta which has SUV like clearance And 5 series is about the worst when it comes to GC...

I think I am indeed spoilt by the Jetta. The balance the Jetta offers between comfort and sportiness is just unbelievable. That is why I think I am getting underwhelmed with all the cars I am testing! This one is going to be a tough one to decide indeed.

On the 3GT:

Another development on this car selection process. There may be some good deals available on the 3GT.

Last week I did a short TD of the 3GT on the highways. Loved everything about the 3GT like the practical space, up-to-date technology like digital cluster, iDrive, adaptive headlights etc., except for the handling. When changing lanes, I felt there was lot of body roll. This should be mainly due to the higher ground clearance. I have asked the SA to arrange for another test drive in curvy roads to see how much body roll is present in the curves.

The M Sport comes with staggered wheel setup. That may provide some improvement in handling, but I guess the body roll will still be there. I have seen many comments about the 3GT looking ugly, but to me it does not look that ugly!

[hema4saran]

Originally Posted by graaja

The M Sport comes with staggered wheel setup. That may provide some improvement in handling, but I guess the body roll will still be there. I have seen many comments about the 3GT looking ugly, but to me it does not look that ugly!

With the kind of dilemma you are in, I would suggest you to retain your Jetta for atleast 1 more year and wait for the new 3 series. In this thread itself, there are lot of people lined up to take your Jetta . So you know the value of your car. Try to do some mods (Race chip kind of) and enjoy it for some more time (But don't know exactly how the DSG will behave with power increase). With the new 3 launch, the existing 3 will go for higher discount later this year. Also the 5 may come in with more discounts as the year progresses. Good luck with your search and please keep us posted .

[AirWind]

Originally Posted by graaja

I was not worried much about the 0-100 time between the 330i and the 530i. The 330i has a 0-100 of 5.8 seconds whereas the 530i is 6.2 seconds. Coming from a Jetta with a 0-100 time of 10+ seconds

The Jetta should take sub 10 seconds to the ton (well, KMPH not MPH) - or is it your butt dyno feeling after the Diesel Gate S/w fix? Well, 1st thing you should do is get a proper remap until you find a replacement - the remap will make the right replacement that much more hard to find... LOL

[lamborghini]

Originally Posted by AirWind

The Jetta should take sub 10 seconds to the ton (well, KMPH not MPH) - or is it your butt dyno feeling after the Diesel Gate S/w fix? Well, 1st thing you should do is get a proper remap until you find a replacement - the remap will make the right replacement that much more hard to find... LOL

Coming from a remapped Skoda Laura, the 330i still feels that much quicker! Maybe you won't feel it as much in the bigger 530i.
I'd peg the remapped Jetta doing 0-100 in the reign of 8.xx seconds, which is a full 2 seconds slower than the 530i - and the best part is that this difference just keeps on widening as the speeds build up!

However, Graaja - if you're settled on the 530i, I'd take the recommendations of keeping the Jetta a little longer and maybe tuning it.
No - there will be no changes in the GC (you'll have to learn how to tackle speed breakers properly, especially with a full load - I had the same issue on the E60 5 series) but hopefully BMW will re-jig their variant line up (as they do ever so often) and give a better kitted 530i.

As an other option since you're increasing your budget - how about the old S5 / S6? I think a couple of Audi dealers do have them in stock (I think Audi Mumbai has a demo car done some 500-600kms). The models won't be factory fresh / latest model - but in terms of performance, it should keep you very happy!
Suggesting this just because you are a happy VW owner.
Similarly BHPian Sahil's RS5 is up for sale, and that too would be an incredible upgrade!