[mojocoggo]

Hey everyone. I've had 50+ classic BMWs, literally every chassis from E12 to E39. Never had anything this new before but I got a job at a BMW dealer for a while and it was too tempting having all these nice new cars around so I picked one up.

I also learned that not all CPO cars are created equal. You would be surprised what some of them have been through, not only with their first owners, but also what goes on at dealerships...

Being completely insane about my cars being perfect, naturally I spent 6 weeks test driving about 15-20 different F10s before landing on this one. I had never driven a new diesel BMW when I first test drove this car, and at the time I was driving an E39 M5. The torque is what immediately surprised me and ultimately what sold me on the car. It really is V8 power with 4-cylinder efficiency.

Anyway, about the car:

2014 535d
Callisto Grey exterior
Ivory White interior
Luxury Line
Adaptive LED lights
Multi-Contour Seats
Heated & Ventilated Seats
Active Seats
Side & Top View Cameras
Ceramic Controls

Pretty well-optioned for a diesel, which is another reason I chose this one. I have put 14k miles on it in the 7 months I've owned it. The car has CPO warranty until December 2019 which is great, considering they just reduced CPO warranty going forward from 6 years to 5 years from original in-service date. Haven't had a single problem with the car, and have got as high as 42 MPG highway on long trips. Typical mileage is 33-36 MPG combined.

Since buying the car, I have discovered through dealership resources that this is THE 535d that was used in both the LA and SF auto shows to announce the return of the diesel 5-series to North America! So some of you may have sat in it already...

Here it is on the 2013 LA Auto Show floor:








Here are some of my own photos!

During the test drive - April 2017:









First day home!









And a couple others:

[GrabacrOne]

Congratulations! The lighting in those pictures is gorgeous. Did you put in LED interior lights or is that just camera magic?

[Ickdeep]

Congratz and Welcome!

[zugellos]

Very nice...I'm really digg'n that exterior color choice.

[M5 Monster]

Nice Looking Car . Great Pics

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by mojocoggo

I also learned that not all CPO cars are created equal. You would be surprised what some of them have been through, not only with their first owners, but also what goes on at dealerships...

CONGRATS!!! That's one fine looking F10!!!!!

And.... Do tell...

[lsturbointeg]

Congrats! love all the pictures!

[.BMW.]

Nice shots and a beautiful F10!

[mojocoggo]

Originally Posted by BMWMacht

Congratulations! The lighting in those pictures is gorgeous. Did you put in LED interior lights or is that just camera magic?

Thanks! The interior lighting is all stock, I just used a flash fired multiple times to get the blue tones.

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

CONGRATS!!! That's one fine looking F10!!!!!

And.... Do tell...

Well for example, some of the cars that came back from their 3-year leases were absolutely filthy, as if someone lived in them. However, "new car smell" is not on the CPO checklist, which means a couple things: either you're going to get some of the PO's smell when you buy the car or you're going to get a car that was "deep cleaned" meaning it's full of cleaning products that remove the car's original "new" smell.


As a rule when buying used cars, you aren't buying the car, you're buying the previous owner. To me the smell is a huge indicator of how a car was treated. And my F10 still smells brand new inside.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the dealership wants to certify as many cars as possible - it means they can sell them for more money. There isn't some white-glove team of BMW engineers examining the car making sure everything is within spec. All they really look for is that it has less than 50k miles on it and that a tree hasn't fallen on it. Even a car with accident history can be CPO'd, given that it was at least somewhat decently repaired.

My advice to anyone looking at CPO cars would be to check out a few brand new versions of the same car. Look at all the wear surfaces (steering wheel, seats, door pulls, kick panels, armrests, etc to get an idea of how careful the first owner was during their ownership.

Granted not everyone is as crazy about their cars as we are, so many people don't notice/don't care if their steering wheel is shiny and their car smells like Glade. So that's why I test drove so many cars before finally settling on mine. Hope this helps anyone considering a CPO car.