B5 touring

[MikeR]

Yum

They say it’s 4 wheel drive - error?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 9282441819

[hooneybadger]

Lovely colour.

And yep they're 4WD

[D3orbust]

Is it over priced or is it just me?

[Metrics]

Is it over priced or is it just me?

Not cheap, but it’s priced about right given what other similar Touring examples have been priced at recently.

Suspect the Tourings are a bit more “niche”. The B5 saloons will inevitably get compared to a M5 - even though they are v different cars in reality, and so priced against that benchmark. The Touring option being more stand alone, so in that sense get priced differently I think.

This is the car that was up for sale privately in London a few weeks back. Was up for £72k IIRC. Quite a unique car given it was Styner’s first B5 G31 demo. Interesting spec too with the clear glass, rhombs on the headrests and no roof rails - this last spec is v unusual, gives the car a very clean roofline.

[hooneybadger]

The Touring tax is definitely a hard one to stomach. £20-30k more than a saloon at Sytner Nottingham at the moment.

[Grumpyjohn1957]

Is it over priced or is it just me?

I'd say so, despite the Bowers, Performance Brakes and LSD.
Ok low mileage for it's age, the exterior/interior will reflect the lack of miles but even so.

[Frosty]

Having neither a tow bar or roof rails is a major detractor for me. Need somewhere for the bikes to get carried!

[JCC]

That is pretty much my perfect B5 touring specification (if someone else has already paid for the B&W and LSD). Elan was after a green touring?
They’re certainly not depreciating much as it’s the same price as my old one was when I bought it in Jan 21 which was two years younger back then and had done 26k instead of 35k.
Compared to #525 which is the stunner Peter308 recently bought it does look a bit toppy but I can’t see any others currently for sale.
With the B5 out of production and there won’t ever be a replacement model to follow, it’s starting to look like a B5 touring may be a (relatively) sensible investment - albeit in the realms of big V8 cars!

[Metrics]

I''m inclined to agree JCC, but I guess time will tell on that.

2 important options missing on this car for me - active cruise and surround cameras (needed on a big car like this IMO)

No cooled seats either, but not so essential.

[JCC]

Good spot on the surround view, I use mine a lot for parking, to the point where I am fairly rubbish at parking now in cars even with reverse cameras which is a bit embarrassing!
I’ve had three G series with ventilated seats and they have all been completely useless - does anyone rate them? I like these seats because they are Merino but not perforated which I would think is a hard to find option, they look much better to me and are easier to keep clean.
Round dials too!

[D3orbust]

I have the ventilated seats on my B5 and they are useless but my kids seem to like the massage seats with seat ventilation turned on?

I’ve just stated using the surround view for parking and it is amazing.

Luckily mine is a development car so I have the full lcd display from the newer models as I think those dials can date the car quickly.

[Metrics]

Luckily mine is a development car so I have the full lcd display from the newer models as I think those dials can date the car quickly.

Could you explain what you mean about your B5 being a development car?

[D3orbust]

From what Alex told me, it was the factory car at buchloe so If any new tech came out it was tested on the factory car and left on, suspect that it is also fully loaded as every option I would tick is there.

For example I have the full lcd display from the newer model and not the dial set up as it was tested out on my car.

The exhaust system also sounds a little different from other B5 G30’s

[Metrics]

From what Alex told me, it was the factory car at buchloe so If any new tech came out it was tested on the factory car and left on, suspect that it is also fully loaded as every option I would tick is there.

For example I have the full lcd display from the newer model and not the dial set up as it was tested out on my car.

The exhaust system also sounds a little different from other B5 G30’s

That's v cool!

I guess the factory pick a car to test out the tweaks and changes as the base car evolves from BMW. I think the dash and iDrive update happened in June 2019 from my research (as I was after a car with the early round dials). From memory the switch to later dials in production cars happened circa #270 for saloon and #470 for Touring. Do you know the production date for your car, as that might give you a clue on its time as a development/test car?

Any idea what's different on your car's exhaust system?

And do get some pics up, would be fab to see it

[D3orbust]

Looks like it’s sold.