The time has finally come that I have decided to take a hit and part ex my IS220d Sport. I do 90% town driving and the gearbox is becoming a nightmare. I do occasional motorway journeys and cruise at 75mph and still don't see better then 33mpg. I love the toys and the looks just the mpg and gearbox let me down. Was planning to keep it for a while but dont think the gear box will last that long with the town driving I do. I am going to pick up my BMW 535d M sport tomorrow . Cant wait to get it and its an auto. Have always liked them so thought might as well get one. So farewell to all you lexus owners and hope one day Lexus can make a good car that will want me to go back to them.

what is your expectation of mpg for the bmw.

sorry to hear your leaving lexus.hope you enjoy your m.sport

My mates got one and he does combined motorway and town and gets over 40mpg all the time. So lets see.

have you costed the hit.

+you have the auto you wanted

Spooky As I just read the counter post on the BMWLand forum by you

Good luck mate, as far as diesels go (and I hate them) I think the BMW *35ds are the best option - ridiculously powerful for what they are and also surprisingly frugal........

Picked it up and its amazing. power and consumption is not bad at all. was getting 31mpg in town the same as my IS220D Sport. Am very happy with the BMW.

Congrats, TRD1979! I'm sure it's a brilliant car. A bit over my budget, though. It would be interesting to hear about the mileage you're getting from time to time, if it's not too much trouble. Always good to know what's going on with other players on the field.

glad your happy with it mate

It's an awesome car - you will get 40mpg on a run driven reasonably. We've poven that. People don't like it on here when I mention it...but the 535d is pobably the most perfect cruiser available...the power is astonishing from the twin turbo's, and unless you cain it, you will hit reasonable MPG - 30-42 actual is available, though it can drop to 18-20mpg when you throttle it in town....

As far as the financial hit is concerned - I would say that it is a completely different car to the 220d - and the financial hit is really worth it if you can afford one. It's not all about MPG...sheer driveability of the 535d is awesome...and as an Auto it is superb! That makes up for any hit....

Well done matey - now I'm really jealous!

Why buy a BMW 535 DIESEL when you could have a 450h sport for the same money?
At least you can over here.

i think it was an 06 plate not a new car.

hmmm, it is still a diesel with all negatives.

If I could afford the 535d, I'd sure buy 540i, or, as mentioned 450h

CONGRATULATIONS Superb choice!!




I don't think you would be saying that if you drove a 535d remapped!

Looking at over 340bhp and 500ft/lb of torque from a monster of a car. On the road in real life not much is gonna keep up with it! If you read up on the car and engine it is a masterpeice In a few years I would love to get a a 335d Coupe (since the saloon I just think looks ugly) because its the same engine in a ligher car.

I've driven both - 450h and a standard 535d. 535d all the way...

You're right about the 335d coupe...

well I can't say too much about both, because haven't driven them but my thinking is: why to buy diesel car?

To save money.

It is the only one reason, because diesels are heavy, have the turbo lag, the width of usable rpm is low, terrible sound, peak power, vibrations, loud when cold, takes ages to warm up, they are too complicated and therefor less reliable etc etc etc. Simply there is no advantage of any diesel engine today, except the consumption (which starts to be doubtfull too)

Diesel should not be in luxury car. Owners of IS250 can confirm this.
Diesel must not be in sportscar!

If I could afford car for 50grand, I wouldn't care about 10mpg at all. Why the hell should I choose 535d then? 540i is much much better option - sweet V8 sound, no vibrations, silence, spread of usable rpm (and the consumpton will be almost identical with 535d)

Regarding the 335d - already 330d is way too nose heavy...

Gosh you sound like Jeremy Clarkson

When I was choosing my 330D, I could have saved about £2-3K and bought a 330i but I knew in the real world that the diesel would be the better choice. These antiquiated views of diesel cars no longer apply in my opinion when looking at the performance diesel engines from BMW, Audi etc.

Firstly if your Lexus IS220D is as poor as you say "because diesels are heavy, have the turbo lag, the width of usable rpm is low, terrible sound, peak power, vibrations, loud when cold, takes ages to warm up, they are too complicated and therefor less reliable etc etc etc." then I would seriously recommend getting another car!

Maybe in the past your arguements would hold water but not anymore with performance diesel engines. Speaking from my experience of my car; Turbo lag is almost none existant, turbo starts spooling from about 1600RPM pulls all the way to 5000RPM and additional torque generated by the engine allows for a lower revving engine with torque levels equivalent to a much bigger petrol engine. I had both the Aristo 3.0L Petrol (totally standard at the moment) and the BMW 330D Diesel (modified I admit) but the diesel because of all the torque does FEEL quicker, but once the second turbo kicks in on the Aristo its all over!

Because diesels have all that low down grunt they give you more power where you want it rather then some petrol cars where you have to rev the nuts off them! With my airfilter and exhaust combo I kinda think my engine sounds abit like a V8 so I like the sound

Also you do know that the Audi R10 in 2006 won the Le mans 24 Hour Race in a Diesel?

http://www.channel4.com/4car/news/news-sto...p?news_id=14716
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/5085664.stm

Audi are even making a diesel version of their R8:
http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_...icle3681828.ece

I agree that diesel engines are heavier and that does affect handling slightly but its not so bad and first thing in the morning they can be a bit noisy but the car soon settles down. Now a 335/535d would be even better!

Also on top gear they compared the BMW 535D and the 545i and the 535d was acutally quieter then the petrol car crusing at 70mph. On the track the petrol was better (as you would expect) but as an every day car the 535D would be my choice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83kfDOucjK0

The beauty with turbo diesels is like I have said earlier the fact they you can cheaply get them remapped for substantial power gains where they really do show their advanatage over the petrol version.

Just a few things to think about.......

Having owned the 535d M Sport now for 3 days and comparing it over my IS220d sport its hell a lot quieter and smoother. Even the mpg is better. All this nonsense about diesel engines being noisy are old now. For those of you who have not say in a 535d i suggest you do and then talk about it. Dont slack a car until you have driven or been in one. I smoke most cars on the road and at the same time is an amazing town cruiser with great mpg and a dream to drive on the motorway as well. Took my mates for a spin and they had not seen the back of the car and one of them thought it wasnt even a diesel, he like was no way its well quiet. Diesel engines will take over the marker eventually as road tax on petrol cars is crazy especially big engines, hence i stuck to the 535d which is the same road tax as my IS220d Sport. Overall a great car and it looks amazing too with the 19s. Will post pics soon for you guys to drool over.

@TRD1979 - a friend of mine owns a garage where he deals with all sorts of high performance cars like Evos, Scoobies, 911's, RS4 etc and he described the 535D his cousin bought last year which looked like an M5 and had the DMS remap as"lethal" - I have never heard a diesel described as lethal before! He was amazed not just with the power but how effortless it felt and how nice the steering felt.

Hope to see pics of your new car soon!

These are pics of my friends cousins car:

http://www.auto-serve.co.uk/gallery/bmw535...h03/bmw535.html

If you are into modding your 535d I recommed you join the Evotechnik forum

Once I got used to the 220d, my comments way back were that it needed 2 turbo's...

Diesels are notorious for narrow power banding and it gets much worse as you increase the BHP (and torque). The reason is the Turbo.

There are two very good solutions:

TDV - Variable Vane Turbo's (like VAG) - the spread of power and torque is very flat
Twin Turbo's (like BMW) - smaller turbo to take you over the lag and hand over to a bigger turbo to really get you going

Drive these newer generations of Diesels and as TRD1979 says - they are good...coupled to clever engine management systems and the fuel economy is OK if driven reasonably.

You really have to try them. The comments about a £50k car and 10mpg - quite valid...but a 535d with 50k on the clock can be had for £25k or much less, and it will be superb...and if oly I could turn back time (Cher)

People buy diesels with economy and Co"/car tax in mind. The added benefit is muscle car torque and performance...no 540i will give you that

Remember - a 535d is almost as quick as an M5 round the TG track...now I sound like JC

twin turbo's on a bmw is just twice the amount of parts for the engine to eat when they fall apart,the ultimate driving machine,laugh ,i nearly bought a round.

Each to their own, but we've had BMW's and Merc's in the family (mum, Dad and siblings) since 1962 (constantly) and only 2 engine failures, which was down to neglect on ageing cars!!

As Anees implies from the friend, BMW's feel better largely due to the steering, which makes the car feel alive. Lexus and Audi seem to have forgotten that the 3 most direct points of contact are your Bum on the seat, feet on the pedals and the hands on the steering...together give you that "drive by the seat of your pants" feel. Whether you like it or not, BMW outsell some Fords here largely because of that...so yes - LOL or not, they do drive great...

Many others are grinning every time they take a sweeping bend whilst Lexus drivers just merely waft around...even though allegedly Lexus are more reliable than BMW's...horses for courses

Its all about what you want , I myself got a Lexus because they're not too common , Ok you see em here and there but BMW's are everywhere they're like dog poo and they do nothing for me , I had a 325i sport E30 1990 model back in 1994 and to be honest I thought it was great until I saw them everywhere I went . I'm not about to knock anyone for having one but its all about personal preference , what I will say is .. if your gonna have a Beemer you gotta have a petrol one and an M-tec one's even better but it must be petrol , it'll make your head spin . Me ......well I just love my IS 200 , its turning heads wherever I go , that'll do for me .
I hope your new BM is all what you want , ant chance of ant pics so we can see it ?
Regards
Paul.

I agree with all you say, but.. - I'm hanging fire on diesel though as it looks like the price premium over leaded petrol looks likely to increase further, possibly negating any fuel economy gains.

Well, with the double price tag and higher class car it doesn't surprise me at all. ;-)

I am not saying that 535d is a bad car!
I just think it is a bad choice - sorry
How to explain it simply...the power doesn't surprise me today. I have driven the M5 and I have 143hp motorbike.... so pulling engine is not enough for me... For me, the engine also needs character - revs, instant response, full-deep sound.

535d is not the biggest nonsense - the biggenst nonsense in my eyes is 635d. Only real driver (or car) antitalent would buy this. I really don't understand how can even bmw build such a combination. It is total degression of image and character of bmw - as marque.
The second biggest nonsense is the V10 in Tuareg and V12 in Q7. The third biggest nonsense (with certain chance to get first) is diesel in porsche cayenne.

Don't understand me as an enemy to diesel (I still own one ) but - think what you want, but every diesel is still a compromise. I have diesel, because I can not afford better car. It is the best compromise available on the market for me. Have you tried 540i?

Each to their own. The 5 series does feel a hell of alot better to drive then the IS220d Sport. I have not tried the 540i but I know for a fact that it would not return 30mpg around town. I have a 280bhp car which does 0-60 in 6.5 and gives me 30npg. Previous to my Lexus I had a Subaru Impreza Turbo running 335bhp. It was fast and did 0-60 in 5 secs but use to give me 18mpg and it was no where near luxurious and full of toys like the BMW. Once I jumped into the Lexus I thought it cant be too bad, but was crap, sluggish and slow and no fun to drive at all. I use to hate driving it. My cousins 320d M Sport is more fun to drive then the IS220d Sport. So the BMW is great for me, has power which im use to having owned the Subaru and also has all the toys that I want and on top of that returns great mpg, giving me 38-40 on the motorway. Cant really complain and cant see another car doing the same as this. A petrol car will be fast but the mpg no good at all. So again all you guys who are anti diesel don't be. There are some great ones around and the 535d is one of the best in its league.

Some pics of my car off the company's website who I bought the car off.

what's great about 38-40 on motorway,the petrol 250 owners on this site get that.and as to the is being crap,you all had the test drive and clearly you had the full knowledge of what the competition had to offer and the huge price difference.i don't understand your angle at all.

Pleased to hear that you're happy with the 5 but can't understand how you can compare it to the IS? Surely the closest comparison to your 535d M Sport is the GS450h. Both cars are around 43k new, similar performance/economy but the GS would arguably give more refinement (And many more toys!). I know which choice I'd make if I had the cash...

The 535d is a superb machine but the interior is pants. Lots of ugly cheap plastic everywhere.

The leather is also very cheap and cracks easily.

Those are the only things that put me off that car.

The diesel isn't the quietest either - the most refined diesel I have driven is the Audi A6.

It doesn't even sound like a diesel.

Apparently the Jaguar XF 2.7 diesel is supposed to be even more refined - I'll find that out for myself on Sunday.

That is very nice, the 5 series M Sport with the 19" wheels is a fantastic looking package, gotta agree with GaryC though, the interiors are awful (actually most BMW interiors now are awful).

Can't believe the price of diesel nowadays though, is it really still cheaper to run? I saw a difference of 10p/litre today between diesel and unleaded.......

TRD - for what it's worth - I'm with you. I have driven that same type of car a few times and cannot recommend it highly enough! As for comparing it to the GS450h - well I've driven both - just look in the boot (!) and what people actually get in terms of MPG driven normally around town and more importantly on a motoray where the all that the motors and battries do is probably give you more torque, but add much more weight unless you coast...End of...

The steering in the 5 series is magical, but the ride is knobbly - especially with those mixed wheels. The interior of the 5 is masses of Black plastic, but just look at the quality...it is put together very well...though the plastic needs to be kept "matt clean" and can scuff.

It's not a bad choice - you're getting negative comments from fanatical people on a Lexus site. They'll gt over it one day

PS - dgman - you're right - some of us should have tested the IS longer and known better than to listen to a salesman going on about tight engines....I certainly was a fool (and still am many believe)

PPS - Parthiban - you are right - you don't buy a diesel for economy any more - just the torque!

Diesels have the edge at the moment, but soon hybrid and smaller petrol engines with 2 or so turbos will take over in refinement and mpg. Mercedes are already testing a petrol 1.8 turbo engine which delivers around 300bhp with a broad power range and returns the economy of a standard modern 1.8 petrol engine.

My main point was the 5 shouldn't be compared to the IS...end of...

You seem to have done a 180 - no one can say a good thing about a lexus these days... Surprised you haven't got rid yourself yet!