[Jocky Wilson]

Hi all,

The day is finally here and I should be collecting my new car shortly.

The full spec is as follows :-

520D SE Touring
Xirallic Imperial Blue with Beige Interior
Automatic Transmission
Pro SatNav
Heads Up Display
Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go Function
Multi-Functional Dashboard (6WB)
Panoramic Sunroof
Comfort Access
Ambient Lighting
Enhanced Bluetooth Connectivity

I will get some photo's and thoughts up once I've had a bit of a run in it.

P.S. Ode to my outgoing car -

I know it's weird but despite the fact that I'm going to step in to a prestige car for the first time in my life, I'm going to miss my old Mark II Renault Laguna Hatchback. It was the first car I bought myself from new. I've owned it longer than any other car (7 years) and done more miles in it than I've done in any other car.

I know that it has the desirability of syphilis, and that I showed the naivety normally associated with student union politics by choosing it, but it did have a full (albeit quite small by today's standards) screen colour satnav with very usable voice control. It did have an electric sunroof. It did have comfort access that even locked itself without any user activity whatsoever other than walking away from the car. It did have aircon and heated seats. It never really let me down in a major way (except when the ESP broke and produced a £1500 bill - but that was under manufacturers warranty so didn't cost me a penny). I will miss it.............

.........for the next 45 minutes probably

[SomeRandomer123]

Nice, you'll love it!

Get some pics up

[Balster]

Ace, pics please.

[Jocky Wilson]

I got it and it's beautiful!

Work is crazy busy that I've hardly had chance to look at the manuals or drive it anywhere. Will give it a bit of a run tonight and report back properly in the next few days....

[Piers]

Drums fingers....

[hajmuntz]

Photos!

[Jocky Wilson]

Hi all,

It's taken me a couple of days but here are some photos of my new ride. I'll follow it up with some thoughts / a review of the options I chose...













Cheers,

Jocky

[Balster]

Active cruise

[Piers]

Lovely, loving that roof especially!

[mroll320]

Like to hear your thoughts on the multi function display please. Maybe a few pic or video? Thinking about adding this to my order. Cheers..

[Piers]

Originally Posted by mroll320

Like to hear your thoughts on the multi function display please. Maybe a few pic or video? Thinking about adding this to my order. Cheers..

A brilliant piece of kit

Quality not great but you get the idea

Different modes, song list, nav, trip computer, all available, giving you twice as much screen size to the normal pro nav. A bit like a computer game at night, very K.I.T.T

[poolie]

28.5 .c fooking hell were do you live...

[Piers]

Originally Posted by poolie

28.5 .c fooking hell were do you live...

not mine!

[mroll320]

Originally Posted by Piers

A brilliant piece of kit

Quality not great but you get the idea

Different modes, song list, nav, trip computer, all available, giving you twice as much screen size to the normal pro nav. A bit like a computer game at night, very K.I.T.T

Does it include Speed limit display...?
Where does the audio information show on the screen?
Thanks.. Martyn

[Piers]

All you need to know...music/radio stations, scroll in the rev counter side.

[hajmuntz]

Love the colour and the sunroof.

[Jocky Wilson]

Thanks for your comments guys!

I still haven't taken the car on a long trip but I can now share some thoughts on it after driving it for about 100 miles.

When you read this, bear in mind that this is the first BMW that I've ever owned so I'm probably different to the majority on this forum who will have much previous experience with BMW already....


HUD, Active Cruise Control, and Multi-functional Dash are my 3 favourite options that I've chose (probably in that order).

The HUD is so useful. Not just for keeping an eye on speed but also from an Sat Nav and radio station selection perspective. I love the way that information from ACC also appears on the HUD. So well put together.

When playing with the ACC, it works incredibly well, and doesn't "floor it" as aggressively as I expected it to (a good thing) when trying to regain speed after someone has got out of my way. It's so good at what it does that I start to expect it to slow down for corners and round-a-bouts as well as for cars in front. Of course it isn't designed to do that and I keep having to remind myself to brake! - such is the sense of intelligence from the car. Long term I will probably only use it on motorways, dual carriage ways and when I'm stuck in crawling traffic. (Using it in crawling traffic is fantastic!)

Comfort access is nice (though I'd put it below HUD, ACC, and MFD). Where it could be better is that it could automatically lock the vehicle without any user action whatsoever other than to walk away from the car. Renault's can do that so I'm sure BMW could. That would make it impossible for you to leave your car unlocked by accident.

Ambient lighting creates a great atmosphere, however it's brightness is controlled by the same switch that controls the brightness of the dashboard. Unfortunately it seems you have to turn this right up to get a decent output from the ambient lighting - which means that the dash levels are glaring at you far more brightly than you'd want. I wonder if it might be possible to get around that problem with a bit of coding?

Panoramic Sunroof - looks great, works great and I'm glad I have. However at nearly £1300 I wonder if it really was worth that much. My main justification for me going slightly OTT on options was that I intend to drive the car for at least 10 years so I wanted it to be "just so".

Extended Bluetooth - It's hard to say how much value this really adds as I haven't owned a BMW without it. But my hunch is that as I tend to plug my phone in via USB anyway it doesn't really make much difference other than the ability to also have my wife's phone paired at the same time (which I very rarely need).

iDrive - I have to say that I'm not finding this quite as intuitive as I expected. That may be largely down to me not owning a BMW before, but I am a techie by trade and so thought I'd get it a bit more quickly than I have. That said, I have been able to do everything I've tried to do, it's just sometimes been a tad less obvious than I expected.

Also, I'm still to fully grasp the semantics of the the voice control system. I think because I'm so good with the old Renault voice control I'm having to unlearn it so that I can take the new BMW approach to speaking to a car. Also, the BMW system has way more functionality that the Renault so it's inevitably going to require more learning.

The ride (17inch RFT) - My wife is always quick to complain if the ride is not soft enough and I was a bit concerned that she'd not like RFT. But so far no complaints from her on that front so that is a relief.

I've got some serious motorway driving coming up next week so will get more of a feel for the new motor then.

Cheers,

Jocky

[HighlandPete]

^^^^

Pleased to read you are enjoying the 5-series, good first review.

I love the panoramic roof, had it on my last 3-series and sunroof in my previous 5-series, makes for such an airy interior. Was essential option in my current 5-series M-sport, otherwise it would be too dark with anthracite trim and headliner. Your touring is lighter inside, so the pano' roof may not feel so essential.

Regarding the ambience lighting, again this shows more in some interiors. Mine's cinnamon and the light levels are superb on a dark open road, just right within the setting range. But do feel it is more for really dark conditions anyway, great driving through the glen on a moonlight night, a really special place to be.

I think you'll get used to the iDrive interface, becomes second nature in a short while.

How are you getting on with the engine/transmission? I'm spoiled in this department with the 535i, almost equals my E39 540i V8 for driving pleasure. Not sure I'd cope too well with a 520d (however practical) after years with bigger BMW engine capacities.

HighlandPete

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Jocky Wilson

I've got some serious motorway driving coming up next week so will get more of a feel for the new motor then.

You'll find the 5-series is really at home on the motorway, you get the true sense of what they are built for... high speed cruising.

Enjoy!

HighlandPete

[Jocky Wilson]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

How are you getting on with the engine/transmission? I'm spoiled in this department with the 535i, almost equals my E39 540i V8 for driving pleasure. Not sure I'd cope too well with a 520d (however practical) after years with bigger BMW engine capacities.

HighlandPete

Well I'm very impressed with the transmission. You have to make a conscious effort of listening closely to stand any chance of even noticing the gear changes. That said, I've driven manual cars all my life, so switching to an auto where you do that much less will take some getting used to, and I can't pretend that I don't miss a manual box from time to time (never when I'm in traffic though!).

As far as the engine itself goes, it's fine for me. My previous car was also a 2.0 litre Diesel and it had 150bhp, so the 520D with it's 184bhp feels slightly more nimble and responsive than what I'm used to so it exceeds my expectations. On the other hand, if I'd been used to a 2.5 or 3.0 (or more) engine, I'd probably feel it was under powered. I do like to remind myself of the extra mpg and road tax savings I'm getting vs the 530D that I was originally covetting (before I got carried away on options).

[accordRE]

Very very nice car Jocky!

I thought I had enough options on mine, but you're making me want more toys!

[accordRE]

Originally Posted by accordRE

Very very nice car Jocky!

I thought I had enough options on mine, but you're making me want more toys!

That sunroof is AWESOME too! Very very airy feel inside