[androdev]

Originally Posted by M00M

Can you please attach a picture where you have connected this in the car ? In my Lexus ES the dealership told me to connect it to the front fuse bay negative terminal and the body as positive terminal and not in the battery which is there in the boot. Still trying to wrap my head around the correct location to connect this.

You can definitely charge your battery directly by accessing it from the trunk. All cars that place battery in the trunk also offer a positive terminal under the engine hood, as these electronically operated trunks might be inaccessible when the 12v battery goes dead. Engine hood is mechanically operated and doesn't need a working 12v battery. This helps in jump starting but can also be used to recharge the battery if you find this more convenient than accessing the battery in the trunk.

As far as I know, Lexus ES battery is very easily accessible from the trunk. You can charge from the trunk or hood. Remember that what is provided under the hood is a positive terminal (not -ve like you mentioned in your post). Even when you access the battery directly from the trunk, only use the +ve terminal of the battery. It is recommended to use trunk latch bottom hook for negative terminal instead of the -ve terminal on the battery to prevent sparking, etc.

BMW provides a dedicated positive terminal under the hood with a red plastic protective cover clearly marked as "+". Lexus/Toyota provides something similar inside the fuse box to be used as a positive terminal. If you pop open the fusebox lid on the passenger side of the engine bay, you will see the positive terminal. You can use any unpainted metal on the engine block as the negative terminal.

New ES/Camry:



Old ES/Camry:

[Vedantoyota75]

Originally Posted by GTO

No media car right now, so been having a lot of fun with the 5! Took her out 4 times since the last update, almost everyday .

Rear tyres are slipping & sliding. I think it's partly my driving style and partly the 650 Nm torque going to the rear. But this happening at ~12,000 km since the tyre change is quite early. The remapped car chews through rubber. Literally.

Who cares when you're having so much fun though!! Car feels super tight. These Germans age so well, she doesn't feel like she's almost 9 years old.

Can’t believe that the car is 9!, big big hats off to you for keeping it in the immaculate shape and pristine condition, car looks factory fresh and cheers to more happy miles with ahead with the 650nm beast!

[GTO]

Originally Posted by AKSarkar1

I wouldn't have been able to guess that the car is 9!

Originally Posted by Vedantoyota75

Can’t believe that the car is 9!, big big hats off to you for keeping it in the immaculate shape and pristine condition

Thanks guys. We keep our cars for long and we keep our cars well. The ageless star is actually my '97 Jeep which is still a headturner @ the age of 25. The 530d & Jeep are driven & maintained primarily by me. 1-hand cars owned by enthusiasts usually stay in top shape. Unless another German catches my eye, I reckon the 530d is with us for another 2 - 3 years minimum.

Was looking forward to ripping her this weekend as plans are being made to go to the Pawna house. But I might have the new Lexus NX coming my way. If it arrives here in time, then I'll go in "hybrid" mode instead of turbo-diesel mode to Pawna.

Originally Posted by M00M

Can you please attach a picture where you have connected this in the car ?

See this image from a Tapatalk forum. BMWs come with a dedicated negative terminal under the hood:

[M00M]

Originally Posted by androdev

You can definitely charge your battery directly by accessing it from the trunk. All cars that place battery in the trunk also offer a positive terminal under the engine hood, as these electronically operated trunks might be inaccessible when the 12v battery goes dead. Engine hood is mechanically operated and doesn't need a working 12v battery. This helps in jump starting but can also be used to recharge the battery if you find this more convenient than accessing the battery in the trunk.

As far as I know, Lexus ES battery is very easily accessible from the trunk. You can charge from the trunk or hood.

Originally Posted by GTO

BMWs come with a dedicated negative terminal under the hood:

Thank you for the pictures and the guidance from you both. I have ordered the Bosch C7 trickle charger from Amazon India.

[sriramr9]

Originally Posted by GTO

She did scrape her underbelly 3 - 4 times this weekend, but it doesn't bother me:

Is it because you have proactively protected it, applied underbody rust and abrasion resistant coat ? Is under body up keep not equally vital as that of the exterior ?

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by sriramr9

Is it because you have proactively protected it, applied underbody rust and abrasion resistant coat ? Is under body up keep not equally vital as that of the exterior ?

Bimmers come with almost full coverage of underchassis with tough plastic. 99% of the times, they are the ones that would scrape and take a scratch or two.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by sriramr9

Is it because you have proactively protected it, applied underbody rust and abrasion resistant coat ?

Nope. Simply because I believe cars are meant to be used . I even took my Civic & C220 everywhere and small scrapes never bothered me. With very few exceptions, the minor / regular underbody scrapes don't affect 99% of cars on sale. They are built for it. Manufacturers know that in India, it will be part & parcel of the car's life.

I have gotten 1 piece of my 530d's underbody shield changed once. Cost was a negligible 3k inclusive of labour.

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by Pier39

Thanks for your detailed review on the 530d. I have just booked a 530d Msport -carbon black MY2022. Looks like there is a production lead time of 45-55 days to roll them out.

Due to semi conductor shortage - the following features will not be a part of the package.

a) LED handhelds for the rear passengers
b) 360 degree camera for parking
c) Touch remote key parking via the handheld

That is quite a bummer considering BMW has increased the prices by around 15-20% compared to a couple of years ago. And that's just comparing official ex-showroom prices, not even the discounts that used to be offered on them. I couldn't really bring myself to spend more to get less car than what others got a couple years ago. Did BMW say anything about these features becoming available to retrofit/upgrade to at a later date like Skoda is doing?

[Pier39]

BMW ruled out the option of a later retro fit to 360 degree cameras or the LED screens for rear passengers. To be specific, those internal wirings wouldn't be provisioned in the first place due to the parts shortage and hence a retrofit can't be expected nowhere in the future.

[advaydh]

Bidding Adieu to my 2014 BMW F10 520d

The F10 has taught me so much and my involvement in taking care of the car has only grown each passing year. In this post, I’ve tried my best to summarise what the ownership experience over 2,500 days has been like.
After 7.5 years of ownership of the F10, it is a hard moment to let it go, I’ll always have an emotional connect with the F10 chassis and might even end up laterally upgrading to a similar yet more powerful F10.

Listed it on OLX earlier today


Starting with the necessary (insurance and service)

Insurance

Up until the 6th year or so, stuck to zero depreciation insurance regardless of the costs after which I decided to go down the route of comprehensive + engine cover (you never know with Delhi/Gurgaon floods! )
Insurance premiums for the first couple of years were either in six figures or almost kissing that mark and then naturally came down with falling IDV and increasing age. The last time I took zero dep cover, I remember paying somewhere close to 65k for the same. However, this time around, I ended up paying just around 30k for a comprehensive cover.
Thankfully, I’ve never had to claim insurance and I hope nobody ever has to.

Service, Repairs and Replacements
I’ve always taken the car to BMW except for one time when the air-con compressor failed and the cost difference between a reputed FNG and the BMW ASS was simply extreme and didn’t make much feasible sense.

5,000 kilometers - General Checkup

10,000 kilometres - Oil + Oil Filter Change, Alignment and Balancing

19,000 kilometres - Replaced runflat tyres plus alignment and balancing

20,000 kilometres - Oil + Oil Filter, Air Filter, Micro-filter (Cabin Filter), Brake Fluid Service

30,000 kilometres - Oil + Oil Filter, Microfilter, Aircon Service, Fuel Filter, Air Filter, Front Brake Pads, Wheel A+B

40,000 kilometres - Oil + Oil Filter, Microfilter, Air Filter, Engine Mounts, Replaced run-flat tyres
At this point, one of the two boot springs had also failed and I got a new one from BMW Infinity for around 6k INR.

45,000 Kilometres - A/C Compressor Change (done from an FNG, costed around 50k)

49,000 kilometres - Oil + Oil Filter, Brake Fluid Service

Over these years, I’ve been extremely impressed with BMW’s after-sales. Joy Reward Savings are real and although I don’t have the exact numbers for each service, I was mighty impressed when the total invoice for my most recent service was just 12.5k INR.
The 18” run-flat tyres though are around 20k/piece and wear out extremely quickly at around the 20-25k km mark.

Realibility
Most Fxx chassis BMW’s have top notch reliability and it’s been the same experience for me. The only two failures I’ve had have been the Aircon compressor (which might even have something to do with the extremely irregular usage during COVID lockdowns) and the boot spring which was an easy fix.


Cosmetic Maintenance
I started developing an interest in automative detailing a couple of years back and the Imperial Blue (best paint shade for the F10 in my opinion) paintwork has been receiving some extra pampering since then.

Ending the post with a few pictures post a detailing session at 5C Car Care (the only detailer I can blindly trust ) and when I recently washed the car at home!

[GTO]

Originally Posted by advaydh

might even end up laterally upgrading to a similar yet more powerful F10.

Haha! A 530d...or an F10 M5?

Most Fxx chassis BMW’s have top notch reliability and it’s been the same experience for me. The only two failures I’ve had have been the Aircon compressor (which might even have something to do with the extremely irregular usage during COVID lockdowns) and the boot spring which was an easy fix.

True. These cars are very dependable.

Due to the Covid lockdowns, I also had two failures, both due to low voltage (Low voltage situations & weak batteries | The bane of German cars). One was my ABS board, the other was the AC compressor. Now, while the ABS board is understandable, what connection of low voltage with the compressor? Well, someone at BMW told me that, when the system voltage is low, the compressor won't kick in initially. I remember this as well = if I started the car after long periods of non-usage and the battery level was low, the compressor wouldn't start for the initial 3 - 5 minutes of driving time. It would just be on "fan" mode.

Unnecessary complexity if you ask me. I don't remember exactly what, but he told me something about some clutch / controller / something going bad. Apparently, many BMWs saw compressors fail during the lockdown.

Solution = keep the battery topped up either via regular driving, or trickle charging. My car is now always on a Bosch C7 charger when parked.

[Varun_HexaGuy]

From ogling at this thread and saying to myself "one day" to the day that I actually got one home feels surreal.

There's a thin line between being gutsy and foolish and I'm afraid I'm gravitating towards the other side real quick. But you only live once. After gaining confidence with a decade old German (my Mk5 Jetta TDI DSG), having clocked a fair bit of mileage and doing a ton of things with it, the urge for a more powerful "old" car came in. Brushed it off quite a few times. In the mean time, I started off contemplating with a bigger turbo swap and Stage-3 for the car. But given the restrictions of the 1.9 PD TDI (BXE), I wasn't all that convinced with the idea of slapping in a bigger PD150 turbo on this. Out went the idea of a bigger turbo. In came the plans of shoehorning a 2.0 TDI from the Jetta Mk6 and doing a Stage-3 on it. More efficient and modern engine end of the day, said to myself. But the end costs to do it the way I wanted things to fall in place were anything but economical. It could've been a proper do-it-all lone car of the garage.

While I was thinking of going ahead with the engine swap and a few more retrofits for the Jetta and doing up my weekend project alongside, then came a wild idea of buying another car altogether. For someone coming from a Jetta Mk5, options were limited. More so with the budget that I had in hand considering no loan shenanigans for me (having three old cars in itself is a liability; loan was the last thing I wanted on top of my head).

A casual stroll in the market made me realise that I wasn't ready for it and gave up on the idea altogether. It all started off again when I saw a friend's (also a fellow BHPian) BMW 525d (F10). I've known this car for more than four years now. Was a really good example, I said to myself. Was well within my budget too. But later I wasn't too into it given the fact that it's a pre LCI and a 525d at that. This however was an inline-6 but the gearbox had its limitations. Chucked it off with a heavy heart.

Then my heart was set off on a Volkswagen Touareg facelift. Long story short, sealed the deal on it. But then came a major lapse in the paperwork. So the deal was called off on D-day. Back to square one, gave up on the idea of another car for better.

In the meantime, Jetta asked for some running expense. Was a fairly huge bill. Got that sorted and was happily driving around in the Jetta and started off with my plans of the engine swap yet again. All was well until last weekend. A BHPian on the local TBHP group listed out his MY11 Audi A6 C7 V6 TDI for sale. Was right next door. Went on a casual test drive to see how it was. Car was fairly clean but needed some work to make it the way I want it to be. Let it slip by. Then went onto see a MY13 BMW 530d M-Sport in white (coupled with cinnamon brown interiors; my dream spec). Done 60k kms. Well kept example. But the asking was a bit on the higher side. Negotiation attempts went in vain and the car was sold at the listed price.

I, by this time, wanted to get rid of the itch for better. Called up the BHPian who owned the 525d. He was in two minds about the sale in between. Had asked him if he'd part ways with it now. After a bit of back and forth, he caved in and I jumped in. Everything fell in place and the car should be home today. People might say the mileage is a bit high (at ~ 94k kms as on date) but I never really bothered about the mileage as long as it was well kept (and being brutally honest, beggars cannot be choosers). Most mechanical bits have been addressed and hopefully no immediate expense in the next month or two. So yeah, a man in his 20s going through quarter life crisis makes yet another brash decision. But YOLO.

Treat yourself with the images of the ride in the meantime:

[Varun_HexaGuy]

She's home! Tonight's going to be a long one. Still exploring everything that's there in the car. I still am having a tough time believing that I now own a Bimmer. Hasn't sunk in yet

The drive back home was uneventful. Navigating my way back home in the 5 in peak city traffic was nerve racking to say the least. Dad and mom really enjoyed their drive back home as passengers of the car. Parking the car back at my place was nothing short of a hiatus. The 5 just about managed to fit in my parking. More than the space, the gate fouling with the car when parked was a problem. With the car parked as optimally as possible, the gate just about managed to swing through. Me and dad heaved a sigh of relief post that. Have a highway drive planned tomorrow. Looking forward to it

Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure :

[GTO]

You got yourself a beautiful car, Varun! The F10 in 6-cylinder guise is just a phenomenal sedan. Mine is 9 years old and I have no intention to part with it for now. Great styling, fast engine, fast gearbox, luxurious cabin and comfortable ride.

How much did you pay for it in total?

Your km reading is way above my comfort level. While I would certainly drive my own car even past 150,000 km, just never been comfortable bringing someone else's 100,000 km car home. But hey, to each his own. As long as you are happy & convinced, it's all that counts.

Enjoy your upcoming highway drive. That's what the 5-Series is really built for. You'll hit silly speeds without even realising it, and you'll thoroughly enjoy flying past slower traffic in manual mode @ 5400+ rpm. Pay careful attention to the delicious engine note, the opulent cabin experience, superb NVH etc.

[anandavinash]

Congratulations varun_hexaguy. Wish you many happy miles on this one. I've had the pleasure of driving this car on a highway. An absolute joy.