528i or 728i

[crankedup]

Time for us to change our daily driver, we used to run a 523i and we were impressed with it. Thinking now 528i or enjoy the bigger 728i, altho it has to be a oldish car, say 1997 - 1999.

Any thoughts and help as to what we should be on guard of please.

[pentoman]

I guess it depends on if you want the apparent great handling of the 528i. The 7 has very low geared (recirc ball?) steering and has no particular fun in the driving, apart from flooring the throttle in a V8 or V12 one . The dot-matrix displays on a 7 always fail and are very expensive to fix. Not really a problem worth worrying about really.

Sorry that's all I can offer...

[Church]

Only experience I've had is my father's car.......a 1998 'S' 728i Steptronic and he's done 151k miles in it, and drives it quite hard! Its on original engine/box and seems indestructable and other than routine servicing and consumable parts (including a radiator at 100k ish and 2 windscreens!) nothing else has been replaced. The tyres (Pirelli P6000's) seem to last around 30,000 miles which is excellent. Main dealer servicing until 70,000 then independent, so seems to cost very little to keep going for such a big car. One problem has recently surfaced is occasionally the gearbox seems to hold a gear until the red line but not upshift and you have to upshift manually otherwise it'll just sit at red line, not investigated this further yet. The pixels went funny at around 100,000 and have not bothered to fix them. The drivers seat has not split but the base cusion is a little flat, bodywork has few stone chips but polishes up as good as new.

I've driven many BMW's (including 1,3,5 series, currently got a 2002 745i) and can honestly say that when I drive the 728i it still feels good and has decent performance/handling and economy average according to OBC is 26.9mpg. The 7's seem to be even cheaper than the 5's used and offer tremendous value.

Hope this has helped.

[crankedup]

Many thanks for your very useful info, just one thing tho, what are pixels?? is it dash lights.

I have looked at the ad's for the budget area I can afford and it looks like 100,000 miler cars but I will only look at cars with FBMWSH. Seems that this milage is no worry for a well maintained car.

[pentoman]

Yes the dash lights - there's a display that tells you what gear you're in, MPG you're doing, that sort of thing and it fails (or partly fails).

[Church]

Some of the pixels on the centre dash display (i.e. display under the stereo) have also failed as well as the instrument panel.

[crankedup]

One thing I did notice on my 523i previously was that it seemed to suffer a fair amount of low speed transmission shunt around town. This spoilt the car but I wonder if it was a one off in that particular car??

[Church]

Must have been a one off as I've never noticed any.

[ngr]

I used to work for bmw. I would go for the 5 over the 7 any day. The 7 owners allways walked away with the bigger bill and worn out parts!

[gazzab]

why a car with bmw history only? Doesnt give you tangible benefit? FSH on an older car is fine so long as well done etc?

[GriffOz]

crankedup said:

Thinking now 528i or enjoy the bigger 728i

So is it the 2.8 engine you want or is it the 5 or 7 platform? We don't get the 2.8 in a 7 in Oz but I would have thought it was a bit under-powered for such a heavy car.
My E38 740 is just a wonderful car, it's so smooth, the 4.6l V8 has sufficient grunt for really enjoyable point and squirt when the situation arises. Our E39 530 is so different, sharper turn in, mostly because it's lighter. I find the seat cushions on the 5 too short for long distance comfort, but the engine is a different joy. My wife finds the 5 an ideal size whereas I feel cramped. The 7 fits me better.
I think you need to define what you expect from the car and under what circumstances you will use it most to clarify which platform would suit you best.
Happy cogitations

[crankedup]

Really useful and interesting points made, thanks. I feel that its a value for money thing with the 5/7 toss up to buy. With the 7 it seems such a lot of car for the money, bearing in mind my budget. I have read that the 728i is a superb car but just needs a little more oomph in some overtake situations. As I am not a press on type of driver nowdays I am not after sheer grunt but of course do not want to be frustrated with a car under powered.

In truth the 528i would most likely suit me fine and the sound of those lower repairs is a big bonus, I live on a pension. But I look at the ad's and the temptation of the 7 with all the extras is a powerful purely as VFM.

I feel it will be a 528i, just need to determine wether a steptronic or manual. Any thoughts on that choice guys?

[Pickled Piper]

crankedup said:

just need to determine wether a steptronic or manual. Any thoughts on that choice guys?

Now you've opened a can of worms!

I would recommend the Steptronic Auto. (I have one) it suits the car very well and makes it effortless to drive without zapping the performance. If you like drag race like starts then go for a (rarer) manual. I found with a manual it was a lot of stick stirring for very little or no gain in real world performance.

pp

[ngr]

The Steptroic auto is the one to have. There are more of them about as well.

[GriffOz]

Steptronic. The fly-by-wire throttle and the auto are a more complete package. Sports mode gives a quicker throttle attack as well as holding gears for longer. And if the mood takes you to stir things along you can opt to flick the lever to give the gearbox full instructions. But with a manual, you have no choice. Even when you can't be bothered changing gear you have to.

>> Edited by GriffOz on Thursday 5th January 19:08