[Taheemr]

Folks just had a test drive of the g30 / 530d X drive m sport ahead of the launch on the 11th, 1st thoughts

- Much more refined over the f10, the light weight construction is evident, the cars is far more agile then the f10 even though the demo had no active drive, given the way it drove i dont think its worth it, though i suppose you have to drive old and new back to back
- 530d engine felt far more pokey than current f10, on part with my previous 640d id say, perhaps not surprising given that its has more torque, though BHP is as per F10 530d
- Interior in my view looks far nicer in the pics than in the flesh, I felt the quality of plastics was lacking when compared to the f10.
- Controls felt bait tacky, some of you may recall the the buttons in the last 7 series with that fake chrome, thats not to my taste.
- Also very quiet outside.
- rear seats and space far larger then F10.
- Nice comfy seats, though again leather seemed a grade lower.
- Dash has leather line as standard that a nice touch.
- I drive is superb.

In conclusion the few interior niggles aside its probably the only car you will ever need, oh and by the way heavy discounts already in place and 3% apr on BMW PCP, I had an £54k car on the road for ££450p/m with £5k in.

Thanks

[AP]

What was the steering like compared to a F10?
What was the weighting like , lighter ,the same or heavier?

[AP]

so can you clarify what the discount was that you got please if you don't mind.

[remmib]

Do you know if it had M sport suspension or standard? But good to hear it's feels lighter.

[Taheemr]

The steering had a far better feel than the F10, i think the g30 is also electric. The rim was also felt far more Chunky than the outgoing.


Discount wise, I'm not sure what the actual reduction was however before negotiating the monthly payment was about £550 which was then reduced to the above. The other issue we have is the road tax levy on post April cars listed at over £40k (£500 road tax) so really If you want to avoid this an order needs to be placed now, Sytner have a few slots for pre tax increase delivery.

[Taheemr]

Originally Posted by remmib

Do you know if it had M sport suspension or standard? But good to hear it's feels lighter.

Yes it had the m sport + pack and ran on 19s rather than 20s, the 19s looked very small though.

I'd happily buy on of these but it's too big as a second car for the wife to drive as her daily drive .

I'd suggest a drive you'll be well amazed !

[SpencerP]

Originally Posted by Taheemr

Folks just had a test drive of the g30 / 530d X drive m sport ahead of the launch on the 11th, 1st thoughts

- Much more refined over the f10, the light weight construction is evident, the cars is far more agile then the f10 even though the demo had no active drive, given the way it drove i dont think its worth it, though i suppose you have to drive old and new back to back
- 530d engine felt far more pokey than current f10, on part with my previous 640d id say, perhaps not surprising given that its has more torque, though BHP is as per F10 530d
- Interior in my view looks far nicer in the pics than in the flesh, I felt the quality of plastics was lacking when compared to the f10.
- Controls felt bait tacky, some of you may recall the the buttons in the last 7 series with that fake chrome, thats not to my taste.
- Also very quiet outside.
- rear seats and space far larger then F10.
- Nice comfy seats, though again leather seemed a grade lower.
- Dash has leather line as standard that a nice touch.
- I drive is superb.

In conclusion the few interior niggles aside its probably the only car you will ever need, oh and by the way heavy discounts already in place and 3% apr on BMW PCP, I had an £54k car on the road for ££450p/m with £5k in.

Thanks

Wow! £450 a month for a £5k deposit on a car like that sounds like an amazing deal! Can you share any further details?

[Taheemr]

Yes any of the Bham Sytner dealerships

[SDRX]

Originally Posted by SpencerP

Wow! £450 a month for a £5k deposit on a car like that sounds like an amazing deal! Can you share any further details?

Are you thinking of placing an order ?

[SpencerP]

I am at those numbers!

[Taheemr]

Originally Posted by SDRX

Are you thinking of placing an order ?

Well, my current (wifes) F10/530ds PCP is up in April so yes possibly on the look out, still sat on the fence to be honest, i have a very low balloon on the f10 and I'm loathed to let it go for the allowances i have been offered. I also cant stomach this £500 p/year road tax on the new one, so with this in mind plan B is a late regd 430/5d, of i may just keep the f10.

Its in A1 condition with a full SH and BMW warranty, purchased in 2013 with only a handful of miles, final payment is only £10k, so I'm thinking just to keep it or my fathers got he's eye on it and he can have it for £15k

[babaikram]

Originally Posted by Taheemr

Well, my current (wifes) F10/530ds PCP is up in April so yes possibly on the look out, still sat on the fence to be honest, i have a very low balloon on the f10 and I'm loathed to let it go for the allowances i have been offered. I also cant stomach this £500 p/year road tax on the new one, so with this in mind plan B is a late regd 430/5d, of i may just keep the f10.

Its in A1 condition with a full SH and BMW warranty, purchased in 2013 with only a handful of miles, final payment is only £10k, so I'm thinking just to keep it or my fathers got he's eye on it and he can have it for £15k

Hmm you are going to make 5K on your dad?

[Taheemr]

Perhaps £3k

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by Taheemr

Well, my current (wifes) F10/530ds PCP is up in April so yes possibly on the look out, still sat on the fence to be honest, i have a very low balloon on the f10 and I'm loathed to let it go for the allowances i have been offered. I also cant stomach this £500 p/year road tax on the new one, so with this in mind plan B is a late regd 430/5d, of i may just keep the f10.

Its in A1 condition with a full SH and BMW warranty, purchased in 2013 with only a handful of miles, final payment is only £10k, so I'm thinking just to keep it or my fathers got he's eye on it and he can have it for £15k

Tight bar-steward.......

[dgmc]

Hi Taheemr,

I'm looking at a G30 530d myself and was wondering what your spec was? Was your PCP over 4 years 10k miles and what GFV did you achieve? I'm certaintly stuggling to get deposit down to 5k at 450pm

Best APR I can get is the 3.9%, I know 2.9% was offered for people that were trading in F10.

Thanks,

David

[Taheemr]

it was spec'd with M Sport + and the larger 20" alloys and that was about it, they also offered that 2.9% deal too, the payment was just over £40 with £5k in, the car was also heavily discounted, they wanted a deposit there and then.

[morellomax]

I test drove a G30 530d xdrive on MSport suspension and 20s yesterday, while my 2015 535d (on non-RFT 18s and adaptive drive) was being serviced.

I was mostly interested in ride, handling and steering feel. Initial impressions:
- ride was much better than I expected, if I think back to all the F10 versions I've tried it was probably most similar to non-RFT 19s on an adaptive drive F10 in Sport mode. Felt nicely tied down, damping well judged, firm over larger bumps but the strike from a pot hole edge or a cat's eye seems to be just absorbed much better than it would be with the same wheels on an F10;
- handling was great,eg heading downhill into a tightening bend and braking late and hard, the front end felt more eager to tuck in and there was less sense of weight shifting around. You felt like you could take each corner about 5-10mph faster. The car is slightly bigger but feels smaller when thrown around;
- steering was slightly disappointing for different reasons to the F10. The F10 steering weight is a little unpredictable, sometimes a bit heavy when you don't expect it, particularly in the transition between real-low-speed-round-town-stuff and fast-open-road-stuff, whereas the G30 steering is always pleasantly light and predictable but..... perhaps even more numb than the F10. If you jerk the wheel hard, there is no sense of the connection between tyres and tarmac, it's like a computer is working out very quickly how to translate your input into physical movement of the rack. It wouldn't bother me at all on fast sweeping A roads or motorways or round town indeed it would be very easy relaxed motoring, and that's 99% of my driving, but I wouldn't find it that much fun to drift it out of a roundabout at 1 in the morning or try to kiss the apex of a bend on a twisty back road over Dartmoor.

Other impressions:
- exterior looks good to me, neither better nor worse than the F10;
- interior was slightly tackier than F10. I don't like the new climate control buttons nor the white illumination/graphics, the new idrive screen seems no better in clarity, the steering wheel buttons seem a bit cheaper, the all digital dash is too gaudy. I love the understated, function over form approach of the F10. It's a car, not a flipping arcade game !
- it was nearly as quick on the move as my 535d and the xdrive makes it neck snappingly quick out of junctions and roundabouts, but it doesn't sound quite as good, hasn't got that hint of petrol V8 woofliness you get with the 535d;
- rear legroom is slightly better;
- auto hold stays on between ignition cycles - yes !;
- road noise was well suppressed considering the wheels/tyres, it was about as quiet on those 245/275 20s as my car was on a fresh set of 245 18s

[Mariuss]

Originally Posted by morellomax

I test drove a G30 530d xdrive on MSport suspension and 20s yesterday, while my 2015 535d (on non-RFT 18s and adaptive drive) was being serviced...

Very nice write up, thanks! Quite surprised by your comment about the ride on that suspension and wheels combo, dissapointed about the steering and totally agree with the interior. So far I've only sat in the G30 but I will have it for a weekend in two weeks (but have no idea about the configuration ). I'm curious how it compares to my F30 320d on standard suspension.

[AP]

this suggest to me that the msport suspension (assuming it had not been deleted on this model and had the se version?) is softer than that of the F10?
I was hoping the steering would be heavier if anything which is what I prefer. (give me steering back from the e39 please!!!)

obviously I will need to drive one to form my own opinion.

[Bandiano]

All opinions are clearly subjective as you say drive one on roads relevant to you and let us know what you think
I had a G30 Msport drive on terrible narrow country roads and open sweeping A roads and came away very very impressed with the chassis and steering. Interior lovely place to be and big step from f10/11

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by morellomax

I was mostly interested in ride, handling and steering feel. Initial impressions:
- ride was much better than I expected, if I think back to all the F10 versions I've tried it was probably most similar to non-RFT 19s on an adaptive drive F10 in Sport mode. Felt nicely tied down, damping well judged, firm over larger bumps but the strike from a pot hole edge or a cat's eye seems to be just absorbed much better than it would be with the same wheels on an F10;
- handling was great,eg heading downhill into a tightening bend and braking late and hard, the front end felt more eager to tuck in and there was less sense of weight shifting around. You felt like you could take each corner about 5-10mph faster. The car is slightly bigger but feels smaller when thrown around;

Your comments bode well for the G30/31, with the improved Adaptive Drive. Should be a very good setup.

Originally Posted by morellomax

..steering was slightly disappointing for different reasons to the F10. The F10 steering weight is a little unpredictable, sometimes a bit heavy when you don't expect it, particularly in the transition between real-low-speed-round-town-stuff and fast-open-road-stuff, whereas the G30 steering is always pleasantly light and predictable but..... perhaps even more numb than the F10. If you jerk the wheel hard, there is no sense of the connection between tyres and tarmac, it's like a computer is working out very quickly how to translate your input into physical movement of the rack. It wouldn't bother me at all on fast sweeping A roads or motorways or round town indeed it would be very easy relaxed motoring, and that's 99% of my driving, but I wouldn't find it that much fun to drift it out of a roundabout at 1 in the morning or try to kiss the apex of a bend on a twisty back road over Dartmoor.

I don't relate to your comments about the F10/11 steering at all. Never had any inconsistency or odd weighting.

I'm looking forward to testing the G30 steering, to see if it has really improved on my F11. Comments I've read so far are mixed, same as they have been for the F10/11. Looks to me as suspension and wheel choice still have a big part in how the cars ride and steer.

[nickyhaan]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

Your comments bode well for the G30/31, with the improved Adaptive Drive. Should be a very good setup.



I don't relate to your comments about the F10/11 steering at all. Never had any inconsistency or odd weighting.

I'm looking forward to testing the G30 steering, to see if it has really improved on my F11. Comments I've read so far are mixed, same as they have been for the F10/11. Looks to me as suspension and wheel choice still have a big part in how the cars ride and steer.

i just played around a bit this morning, when in comfort and driving slowly the steering is extremely light, actually when i got my car last week and driving out of the garage my first though was that the steering wheel was completely loose .. when driving on the motorway it stiffens up a bit but still very light. When putting it to sport driving slowly it feels almost like my old F10. I do find the steeringwheel itself a bit "lighter" then it was in the F10, not sure if that is due to changed material..