BMW 5-Series Saloon (2010 - 2017) 520d (190bhp) M Sport 4d Step Auto Owner Review

I already reviewed the 5 Series, I'm Chris further down the page, the guy who's had three 5 series. I actually love the car for driving pleasure, but My opinion has changed on reliability, and I wanted to edit my previous review, but parkers shows no option to edit it. And it says I’ve not reviewed before when I have on my profile. So here's my updated review... Car's AC failed at 49k miles. The Condenser had a leak. Reading forums, this appears to be a problem on the F10 5 Series. Some older pre-facelift cars had been silently recalled... in other words, there wasn't a mass recall of the cars as it wasn't a government safety issue like when the EGR value was going on fire in some people's F10's due to carbon build up, writing their cars off. By the way my 5 Series had a recall for it’s EGR due to this, it was done free of charge despite being outside of the manufacturers warranty. I had no problems with the EGR myself as I don’t allow carbon deposits to build up on it. I use Wynn’s Diesel Turbo Cleaner regularly added to the diesel fuel tank which also has good cleaning action on the EGR. I also use the injector cleaner and DPF cleaner for other components. This AC fault was a known fault, but BMW has kept it relatively quiet, replacing some cars AC Condensers, but not others. Anyway, I was prepared to pay extra for having the car fixed at BMW, as well as having the privilege of a loan car whilst my car was fixed, as well as having it fixed quickly. I have a kid with special needs, and need to drive him to and from his special needs school, so I can't be leaving the car for days in an independent mechanics. But on the AC fault... Alas mines showed no outstanding recalls. But reading the bmw forums online, I see that the same problem is repeated over and over again, in that the Condensers location and lack of adequate protection means it's liable to stone chip damage. So, my condenser needed replaced. When the car was in the local dealers, the BMW technician found that it also needed rear disks and pads, which I found odd, since the front ones had not been replaced, and most of the weight is on the front brakes. I expected the front disks to need replaced, not the back ones. I don’t see the logic in why they would fail before the front ones. Anyway, the cost of replacing the condenser, re-gassing the AC with new AC gas and replacing the rear disks and pads was £1400. With £120 of that charged just to plug a computer in and find the problem with the AC. The technician also found a small oil leak on top of the engine. Since I had not seen any oil on the ground of my drive where I park the car, I opted not to have that investigated as they wanted another £180 just to find the fault and goodness knows what else to fix it. No doubt the bill would have been well over £2,000. I have since looked at the car closely and it was the faintest level of oil, I'm not even sure it's a leak, it may have happened during the oil change, they may spilled a little bit at the last service visit. I'll keep an eye on it. But one thing that bothers me is. The cars brake wear sensors are clearly not working properly. They don't change to show the pads are worn, they have been stuck at 3,200 miles remaining for the front pads and 7,400 on the rear pads for a long time, then the dealer discovered the rear pads were worn and the disks needed replaced as a result. I now have less confidence in BMW's after the 5-year mark, especially as my car has only done 54k miles and is driven relatively lightly, since this is my car, not a company car. Another fault which I personally have not experienced (yet) is that the car can spring a leak into the front and rear passenger footwells. The front is caused by a yellow plastic cap behind the carpet going between the engine and the cars cabin, dirt and gunk makes its way in there damaging the seal. This then causes the carpet to become sodden with water. And also, the door cars, the water proof membrane fails on them, leading to water ingress into the rear footwells too. I’ve seen this fault discussed loads of times on the BMW forums. So I think I’ll be getting shot of my car soon before that happens too. Anyway, I’ve realised that reliability is more important to my family. So, my next car will be a Honda CRV, and whilst I know all cars have their own faults and it won't be as fun to drive. It's clear now that BMW's are not built for reliability in the sense that all components are not reliable. I think their engines are built to take a beating, they can handle what most eager BMW drivers throw at them, I think the cars are a pleasure to drive, in fact I think they are the best cars in their classes to drive (I’ve driven various models as loan cars too) but I don't believe they are as reliable electronically as one would expect of a Premium brand. I think its obvious Japanese cars are far more reliable both mechanically and electronically. It seems German cars no longer live up to the premium reliability reputation they once had. I’ve seen many problems with VW’s and Audi’s too. So I’m going Japanese for now on. I'll go for a more sensible Honda CRV next time, practical, spacious, comfortable and most of all reliable not just mechanically, but electronically for the most part.