Background
By June 2018, after 3 years of ownership, we had taken our well-loved 2009 35d M-sport to 93k miles, and would break 100k with the year. As we had cautiously maintained the BMW extended warranty after the original AUC cover ran out (with good cause – new glowplugs/control unit/panoramic roof/small turbo etc etc all replaced at some point under our ownership) we were worried that the 100k cut-off on the warranty may cost us dear in the future.
The M-sport was highly specc’d – heated rear seats, reversing camera etc, so we went looking for an AUC car that was younger, had fewer miles and a similar high spec (and within our £20k budget). Surprisingly, one appeared at the Park Lane dealership – quite old for an AUC car (2011 40d) but with less than 30k miles. We were reticent at first - it is an SE, not an M-Sport; it’s in a standard silver (the M-Sport was in Individual Pearl Silver – a fantastic colour), but it was low miles and had lots of toys. A deal was done, selling the M-Sport locally for £2k more than the PX value.
Driving home a new car on a Friday at 5pm from Park Lane is quite an adventure! A thorough check at pickup had revealed a number of missing items (handbook, adaptive luggage rack, sunroof key etc) but Park Lane were brilliant, sourcing and sending the new parts to us.
So – what do we think?
M-sport v SE
I hate the SE steering wheel – thinner than the chunky M-Sport and without the finger rests at 10 and 2 o’clock. However, the steering is lighter but with a similar level of feedback. The M-Sport was always slightly too heavily weighted for us.
Comparing steering and suspension is difficult. Both cars have 7-seats, so have the automatic ride height system at the back. The M-sport was originally on 20” RFTs, but we moved to 19” non-RFTs quite soon as the ride was crashy, hard and the steering wandered at the first sniff of a damp white line (probably due to tyre wear rather than an inherent fault). The SE is on new 18” RFTs, but the 19” ones will be going on soon (we sold the 20” wheels with the M-Sport). We have found that the new car is slightly softer than the M-Sport, but still well-damped and with good body roll control.
The SE has the marmite (love/hate) side steps. Great for standing on to load a roofbox, awful to keep clean and not a great help in entering the car – they have the effect of making the sill wider unless you do a double ‘step up/step in’ move.
Both cars are twin-turbo, so no shortage of power. If anything the 35d felt smoother at lower revs, with quicker pickup. However, that may be due to the gearbox (see below).
Verdict: The kids prefer the SE ride as it jars less and I’ll change the steering wheel soon. Call it a draw.
Pre vs Post LCI
As you all know, the two major changes between pre- and post-LCI E70s (apart from brighter angel eyes, LED lights etc) were the gearbox (6-spd to 8-spd) and the upgrading of the CCC to CIC (DVD to hard disk nav system).
All articles I’ve read have been complimentary about both changes. It may be me needing to adapt, but I disagree. The 8-spd unit is smooth, and certainly contributes to an improved MPG (from circa 31 to over 35 on long runs and from 19 to 24 in town) but to my mind is a little too frenetic for its own good. The engines are powerful with loads of torque and doesn’t need lots of gear changes. In the M-sport (6-spd), an application of throttle resulted in a rising tide of power without needing to kickdown (except when pushed). The 8-spd seems to delight in changing down at the earliest opportunity and then holding a gear too long before changing back up. It may require a resetting of the transmission learning system to sort it out, but it doesn’t contribute to relaxed motoring.
The CIC is rubbish. Yes it does everything vey cleverly, and the higher-definition screen is brilliant (we did upgrade the M-Sport to one of the 10.8” android screens, which is on a par with the CIC one), but it is overly complicated and not intuitive. The old CIC controller was simple – four directions, rotation push, and a single menu button. It did bluetooth, sat nav, radio and integrated with our ipod. The CIC does pretty much the same but in a counter-intuitive way that tries to be too clever. Spending 10 minutes on google to find out why the ETA display has disappeared (it isn’t documented in the handbook) doesn’t strike me as customer-friendly (and I have a Masters in IT that should help but doesn’t…)
Verdict: Post-LCI is too clever by half. Pre-LCI is simpler and more relaxing. Maybe I’m just too old.
Options
Both cars are highly specified, so it has been fun playing with different things and picking favourites. Some of the highlights are:
Seats: M-Sport had heated sports seats with electric adjustment that we loved. SE has comfort seats that are heated and cooled (S453A/S456A) that we love even more. If you buy an X5 you must get comfort seats.
Rear Hatch: M-sport was a manual lift, the SE is electric (S316A). A great toy, but difficult to open ‘just a bit’ to catch things that are going to fall out of a jam-packed boot before everything comes tumbling out.
Rear cabin: Both cars have rear heated seats, but the SE has 4-way aircon (S4NBA) which is brilliant, and goes a long way toward compensating for the lack of rear blinds that were on the M-Sport (and were great at keeping the heat out).
HUD (S610A): missing from the M-Sport, a toy on the SE, apart from the route directions for complicated French junctions (can anyone tell me how to get the main map display on the CIC screen to auto-zoom to show close-up detail when approaching 7-way roundabouts (not the RH direction screen)?).
Adaptive Cruise Control (S5DFA): new to us on the SE. Incredibly clever and effective on long motorway stretches but a bit too sensitive and harsh. Set it to say 70 mph (and no faster, obviously) on a clear road and it is fine. Approach a slower vehicle in your lane and it decelerates much harder than a human driver would – passengers slide forwards on seats and loose items move around. Move out to overtake and it accelerates just as hard back up to speed, inevitably kicking down a gear (see gearbox notes, above). This happens regardless of the car distance you set. The most dangerous bit is when you approach a slower vehicle with a line of faster traffic in the outside lane. As a human, you judge the distances, signal, and blend into the faster moving traffic. With ACC running, you can signal and move as the deceleration start to happen but as you move lanes to fit behind a car in the outside lane, the ACC sees the gap between the faster and slower cars and starts to accelerate hard again before decelerating as you slide in behind the car in front. This surge of speed can be disconcerting when you are negotiating your way into a line of faster French traffic. On balance, it’s a great tool (and surprisingly effective in stop/start conditions), but you need to be alert when changing lanes.
Panoramic Roof (S402A): On both cars. Great when they work. Expensive when they don’t. If you have one, get a warranty.
Individual Audio (S752A): The 35d had Professional HiFI, the SE has Individual Audio (silver speaker surrounds, speakers everywhere). The Pro HiFi was fine, the Individual Audio is a pain to setup. At low volumes, the treble all but disappears and all you can hear is bass. I’ve fiddled with the equaliser (very 1970’s!) but it still only clears up at higher volumes (and it can go loud!).
Rear camera: The SE didn't have a camera (but which we had on the M-sport). OEM retrofit is ridiculously expensive, so I contacted an Ebay seller who offered to fit a rear camera for around £275 fitted, but it only has static lines. An upgraded version with dynamic lines is available, but is nearly £400 fitted. The guy sounded knowledgeable, but you do have to go to Birmingham for installation. After much research, I went for the Emtronica kit with dynamic lines (also on Ebay) to self-install. Purchase was £220, and installation took about an hour - the hardest part is routing the wire to the rear camera. It works perfectly, with a clear, bright image.
There’s other gadgets on the SE (e.g. comfort access, adaptive luggage system etc) but they are not major additions that make it stand out from the 35d.
Verdict: Always go for lots of toys, but some are more effective (and useful) than others. Comfort seats / rear camera / heated seats are (now) top of our list.
Overall
We are very pleased with the SE, effortlessly crossing France last week. We still miss the M-Sport (for its colour and presence especially), but the new car is equally as quick comfortable and has better economy. We will learn to love the gearbox and the CIC. Finding such a car with less than 30k miles and being absolutely spotless (even the suspension is clean!) with an AUC makes us happy. They are both great cars...
