Interesting post; my honest view after 15 months of m5 ownership: -
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Originally Posted by BMWSKI
I guess my biggest disappointment in the 335d is the lack of refinement in a car touching £50k.
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M5 may not be the right option if your greatest concern with F30/1 is lack of refinement. The M5 rear subframe is bolted direct to the body without bushes, unlike non-M F10s. Changes such as these result in a significant increase in road noise in comparison to non-M F10. There is, however, inherently greater comfort from the larger wheelbase, platform shared with RR Ghost, etc. It depends on your definition of refinement.
I drove a few F30 M Sports (320i, 320i xdrive, 320 ED, 320d, 330d xdrive) when I was looking to get out of my old E70, and agree the lack of refinement is shocking (our VW Golf is more refined). In fact, I would go as far as saying that a non-thrashed pre-LCI F10 520d had greater engine refinement than a F30 330d due to the F10's superior sound insulation. As to overall road noise/quality of interior, there's no contest. And since then the newer, more refined 2.0d has been added to the F10 LCI alongside other improvements to refinement in the F10 LCI.
The reason I mention the 520d above is that I asked my Sales Manager which F10 he would recommend for general UK road driving; the answer was 520d or 530d. This was from someone who was on their 3rd consecutive F10 M5 demo at the time. He said the M5 was still the halo car, if that's what you wanted, i.e. no regrets that you didn't buy the top of the F10 range.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMWSKI
It's also more than powerful enough for our roads and I do really like the traction of x-drive.
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A 335d xdrive will definitely be able to deploy more of its performance for more of the time; you can but use a mere fraction of the M5 full potential on UK roads:
On dry summer roads when the PSS tyres are sticky, the acceleration is so brutal that you can only do 1-2 sec acceleration burst if you want to avoid drawing 'unwanted attention' to yourself. This is not always a bad thing, if you want a car that is effortless and has a lot in reserve. On the twisty stuff, this car (mine has CP) excels - it's barely trying yet leaving most other cars in it's dust. I still find it remarkable what a car of this size and weight can achieve. The size can be an issue on very narrow roads. A non-M F10 would fall off the road trying to keep up (I had a adaptive drive equipped 535d for 6 months before the M5). At legal speeds a well-driven & more nimble/compact F30 would keep up though, handling-wise if not performance-wise, just to put this into context.
On wet or cold roads, when the PSS tyre temp drops, you have to rein in performance to the extent that driving a M5 becomes somewhat pointless. Winter tyres can resolve this to some extent, but you still can't deploy much of the performance on offer. It's during these conditions that I find the M5 somewhat frustrating. The RWD 535d cold actually put down more of it's power in these conditions. I've actually considered running a 2nd, more useable car for winter use as an alternative, however, as I can go without driving for several weeks, so this would be too wasteful IMO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMWSKI
I would be keen to take out an X5 but I don't think deals come up very often for them?
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I would definitely consider an F15 over the M5 as an all rounder, especially if your current car is xdrive; it wasn't launched when I ordered the M5 + I didn't want to be an earlier adopter. There is a UK member on this forum who went M6GC to F15 M50d & I don't recall any posts of regret. There are limited deals on F15s for a reason; demand is high & residuals are good. You may have to pay upfront with a lack of discount, but longer term you win overall. My old E70 depreciated by £20K from new in just under 4 years/30K miles. I'll predict that my M5 has already lost significantly more than that in 15 months/9K miles...
Please note that I'm not saying that the M5 isn't a great car for use in the UK, only that you have to accept some compromises. Undoubtedly a subjective statement, however, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another M5 over a 535d, although, over an F15 40d or M50d... not so sure...