Boba

I suppose so but you don’t really have a choice anyway, the download manager gives you the one for the car VIN you select and that’s that for a standard vehicle.

In the grand scheme of things I’d say that few BMW customers do much in the way of diy car maintenance beyond fluids and only a few really do much of that even. You get a bit of a false impression looking at this site as it’s populated quite a bit by diyers but you just don’t see the home mechanics routinely under their cars at weekends like you once did. It helps of course that cars generally are so much more reliable (though again this site gives a bit of a false impression).

I’m not sure about that - I think that the OTA map updates are a cost option and a bit haphazard, and TBH I’m not aware of ever receiving one though - I just use the downloadable updates (also a cost option). It’s not uncommon for people to just never bother updating the map, and in fact unless you hunt through the Connected Drive stuff you’d not know they were available. I’d be inclined to ask the selling dealer to throw in a years worth of updates as a favour. Shy bairns get nowt. It’s not a crippling cost if you have to do it yourself though.

Should be covered. It’s not the sort of thing you could easily damage accidentally, well hidden away.

Cost saving more like. I’d think there’d be quite a few older BMW buyers (like me) who’ve never streamed music or had much on their phones in their lives.

Yes, mine does that too and I think it’s intended so that if (for instance) you nip out to fill with fuel any passenger can continue to listen to the audio? Seems sensible to me.

I’ve mine set to open the tailgate window and it works whether the car is unlocked or not. Shame there isn’t an actuator to close it as well though, lost count of the number of times I’ve had to hike up the garden to shut it after accidentally pressing the button.

I doubt if you’ve anything to worry about meantime. It’s almost certainly the standard fault requiring oil drain and refill and software update which takes IIRC around 4-5 hours mostly the update. The software seems to be too sensitive to short-term surges in the oil level seen by the sensor. i think that most dealers tend to prioritise their own customers over others even when it comes to warranty work. It doesn’t help that warranty work doesn’t pay so well, but IME you’re better going back to the original seller.

I think that's a pretty amazing average for a 530d My 'long' (only about 3000 miles) term average is 36mpg measured at the pump though as a rule I'm never near a motorway. Today for the first time I did about 400 miles mainly motorway at the (ahem ) national limit and got 48mpg. I think the xdrive is reportedly worth about a 10% penalty in that. As @sjak92 suggests though fuel costs aren't a biggie for me at 4-5000/annum, just the irritation of other drivers getting so much more mpg .

True to an extent but of course can also cool very substantially otherwise the best you’d ever get the cabin down to would be ambient.

IMHO people worry far too much about engines. Certainly there are one or two weak spots thar have come to light - timing chains, EGR ... but if you ask around I think you’ll find that most people’s outgoings aren’t to do with the engine or bodywork, it’s running gear, brakes and electrics that burn money after a bit.

More engine braking from a larger engine if anything. As I said earlier, the extra weight of a 530 is roughly the same as 1 extra passenger. Are the brakes inadequate if we have a fully laden car then? No, didn’t think so.

Couldn’t agree more, looks as though it’s been designed for effect rather than practicality. OTOH it might just be my old age and aversion to change kicking in.

The engine’s important of course but it’s not always the part of the car that gives most problems. I’d have thought that £6k for a 9 year old 5er knocking on quarter of a million miles was quite a gamble and a potential money pit unless the OP is a decent home mechanic. I’d be thinking about a good check over by an experienced BMW mechanic at the least, but I wouldn’t buy it whatever.

a 530d is about equivalent to a 520d with 1 extra passenger (approx 100kg) so nothing in it really (approximately 5%). the reason I mentioned high speed braking is that the 530d will probably stand it better but they’re insignificantly more powerful.