2003 BMW 5 Series 530i SE review from Australia and New Zealand

Before buying the dealer had to fixed a couple of things:

1. Broken right cup holder. Cost about NZD300.

2. Auxiliary water pump (for heater) had a slow leak. I have read (on e60.net?) that if it wasn't fixed, then the heater will take a while to heat up.

Some of my settings in the car got set to the default setting one day. The car wasn't used for three days, and on day 4 the settings changed???

I wanted this car because of all the technologies that been put in it. And since the technologies have been on the 7 Series since 2001-2002, it'll be safe enough to assume that we've worked the problems out.

It's much better to drive than my 528 E39, due to the Dynamic Drive and Active Steering. I have Xenon, Adaptive Headlight as well, so driving at night is a joy. It has more room than the E39.

IDrive is quite annoying until you get the hang of it.

The run flats are very hard, and I'm not quite sure whether I have to keep the tyre pressure as recommended by the manual. It requires 35 and 36 psi for the front and rear respectively.

The boot opens with such enthusiasm; you might want to get your jaw out of the way though. One thing that the boot needs is a button to close it. It's very hard to do it with your hands.

Fuel consumption is good if you drive sensibly, but with a sweet sounding 3 liter under the bonnet, who will? I got 9l/100km on motorway and 13l/100km in town (with hilly sections).