Any 540i owners on here?

[richatnort]

Hey folks,

I think I’m very much leaning towards a 540 for my next car and have seen a nice example I’m hoping to drive this week. I was wondering if there is anyone on here with one (touring preferable) that could share some real life experience with it? I’ve watched Jayems review a few times now and it sounds positive but just wondering how many miles folks get out of a tank, rough price to fill it up at your local supermarket and then servicing costs?

I had a f31 340i then went to a Volvo and now I’m thinking of coming back to bmw as I miss the car and the engine.

[nordboy]

I had a '20 plate 540i touring for about 20 months, but I sold it back to BMW last year during the crazy used car price period, so I probably can't help with current fill up prices etc.

But, what a lovely car, comfortable, lovely interior - BMW have really upped their interior game!, plenty quick enough. Just a really nice place to be. I was/ am gutted that I sold it, but it was a no brainer to do so.

I'd happily buy another.

[bigdom]

richatnort said:

Hey folks,

I think I’m very much leaning towards a 540 for my next car and have seen a nice example I’m hoping to drive this week. I was wondering if there is anyone on here with one (touring preferable) that could share some real life experience with it? I’ve watched Jayems review a few times now and it sounds positive but just wondering how many miles folks get out of a tank, rough price to fill it up at your local supermarket and then servicing costs?

I had a f31 340i then went to a Volvo and now I’m thinking of coming back to bmw as I miss the car and the engine.

Really depends how you drive and mixture of roads. I had MPG range from 20 to 40 depending on whether in town, giving it a workout or sitting on the motorway on cruise.

Tank is 70L, I seem to remember low 300's to 500 on a run across Europe

[toon10]

I had 2018 a 540i xDrive and recently sold it for a campervan now I'm working from home. I was getting about 26mpg on average with a heavy right foot and mainly a mix of town driving and dual carriageways. It was much better on a long run obviously. Certainly not great but good for the performance on offer. Servicing was pretty normal for a fast car and I used a main dealer. I paid £516.61 for a major service although I had the 20" wheels so spent £950 on tyres.

In total for the whole of 2021, I paid:

Petrol: £1880.55
Insurance: £360.00
Maintenance, tyres & servicing: £1771.46
Tax £530.75

[Pistonheader101]

nice cars

[richatnort]

Thanks all so far, really interesting to hear your reviews.

I went to try and test drive one that came up locally but it sold over the weekend so I’m keeping my eyes open for others can come up local.

[2 GKC]

They still seem very strong money to me, particularly the Tourings. Surely a lot of depreciation to do in the next 12 months

[richatnort]

I thought they might too but I just can’t see it myself really the engine is pretty popular

[530dTPhil]

I had three 530d touring as company cars over a few years. The first two were M Sports and the third was an SE.
When I was about to retire (March 2021) I bought a three year old 540i SE saloon with 21000 miles, two owners, from Sytner Oldbury, sight unseen in the pandemic.
If you want comfort, avoid the M Sport suspension and run flat tyres.

Service cost is around £500 per year at BMW, give or take. Fuel consumption is generally mid 30s on mixed use, dropping to low 30s around town. Bristol to the Lake District showed 43mpg.
Current mileage is around 32,000.

I have had some nice cars over the last 40 plus years and still have a small collection but the BMW is the choice for comfortable effortless travel. No regrets and no plans to change it.

Edited by 530dTPhil on Monday 3rd October 21:46

[matt21]

richatnort said:

Hey folks,

I think I’m very much leaning towards a 540 for my next car and have seen a nice example I’m hoping to drive this week. I was wondering if there is anyone on here with one (touring preferable) that could share some real life experience with it? I’ve watched Jayems review a few times now and it sounds positive but just wondering how many miles folks get out of a tank, rough price to fill it up at your local supermarket and then servicing costs?

I had a f31 340i then went to a Volvo and now I’m thinking of coming back to bmw as I miss the car and the engine.

Which example have you seen? There are only a handful of used on the BMW website, and one was owned by a close friend. If thats the one I can share more insights

[rassi]

I had a 2017 540i Touring, with the M Professional adaptive suspension (with adaptive roll bars) and even on 20" RFT it was a very comfortable cruiser.

Mine also had the rare Bowers & Wilkins audio, which was excellent.

Impression was a very smooth, deceptively fast and relatively economical car, with a very high build quality.

What I found lacking somewhat was engine sound (the G30/G31 is extremely well-insulated) and an engine that thrived on revs to the extent that it would have benefitted from more torque, in the full 500 nm that the B58 engine has in the 140/240 version, rather than 450 nm that the heavier G30 strangely is limited to.

Recommended!

[richatnort]

matt21 said:

Which example have you seen? There are only a handful of used on the BMW website, and one was owned by a close friend. If thats the one I can share more insights

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209059463614

[toon10]

richatnort said:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209059...

Wow that's steep. I sold mine in the summer (2018 M Sport xDrive with a few options ticked) and I had a saved search on Autotrader to see what values were doing. They were going for between £29,000 - £35,000 a few months back. OK that's slightly newer but seems a lot.

[richatnort]

toon10 said:

Wow that's steep. I sold mine in the summer (2018 M Sport xDrive with a few options ticked) and I had a saved search on Autotrader to see what values were doing. They were going for between £29,000 - £35,000 a few months back. OK that's slightly newer but seems a lot.

Yeh I think unless you go new I don’t see things dropping down any time soon.

I too sold a 340i in lockdown for a pretty penny and I miss it a lot so I want to get back into something similar now I have two kids

The only way to really get away from that is to spend 60k+ and miss the depreciation curve

[sly fox]

i had a 2017 540i xdrive saloon.

Good bits ? Pretty much everything, but towards the end of my ownership E10 fuel kicked in and it started to drink petrol about 5-10% more than previously.

Bad Bits ? It had Msport suspension - not adaptive. Firm. Too firm for my liking really. Handled ok and ride on motorways was absolutely fine.

Incredibly well rounded package. Very quiet engine, smooth, and loved to rev.

You can find some very highly specced ones out there too - i'd be looking for all the feature packs applied to a car.

[edthefed]

richatnort said:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209059...

Might be worth putting a sporting bid in if you are seriously interested and yes i know the state of the market

But i think they have had that car a few months and it keeps swapping between the 2 branches

99% sure that is the car i had as a demonstrator a few months back.

It was a 69 plate 10,000 mile white 540 x drive touring from Wakefield -i specifically wanted to try a 540 I and they took it off the used car lot for me to try

[richatnort]

edthefed said:

Might be worth putting a sporting bid in if you are seriously interested and yes i know the state of the market

But i think they have had that car a few months and it keeps swapping between the 2 branches

99% sure that is the car i had as a demonstrator a few months back.

It was a 69 plate 10,000 mile white 540 x drive touring from Wakefield -i specifically wanted to try a 540 I and they took it off the used car lot for me to try

They told me the deposit is down on it and collecting it this week so if that changes I’ll go get it.

I saw it for a few weeks too and the spec looked good but seemed over priced a little.

[matt21]

richatnort said:

matt21 said:

Which example have you seen? There are only a handful of used on the BMW website, and one was owned by a close friend. If thats the one I can share more insights

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209059463614

Have a look at this one. My friend owned it from new. It’s been very well looked after.

https://usedcars.bmw.co.uk/vehicle/202210030346795...

[Pete540]

Hi I bought 69 plate 540i xdrive m sport last year Had a stage 1 remap which boosted hp to 455
The fuel economy when driven sensibly is 27-28mpg around town and on the motorway at 70 can acheive 42 to 45
When driven hard is staggeringly quick and is faster than a lot of quick cars out there
The interior is very well built and exceptionally comfortable with heated leather seats with massage function
I have driven across France a couple of times and is a very capable comfortable car
Penty of space for 4 adults
If your thinking of buying go for it
You wont be disappointed

[Billy_Whizzzz]

For those that have g30/1 530d and also 540i how do you find the torque in the 540? I have a 530d and thinking about the 540. Had an M140i and the b58 suited that application but not sure about the additional weight in the 5