BMW 530d SE Touring (2011) First service for our BMW 5-series
First service for our BMW 5-series
It's a mark of our 530d Touring's popularity that we've racked up nudging 17,000 miles now. It's rare that we get to see a main dealer in our long-term tests that usually range from six months to a full year. But the Five's onboard computer accurately counted me down to its first service and so I looked around for a nearby garage.
Regular readers may remember that I've had ample cause to visit Peterborough's Sycamore BMW dealer in my time at CAR; both the 5-series GT and our Mini Cooper S had major transmission faults. So I reckoned it was time to branch out and try another franchised outlet.
Cue Cambridge's Elms BMW, the newest BMW garage in the UK. The old dealer in Great Shelford was too small and old-fashioned for this prosperous city, so they moved 10 miles west to an out-of-town site in the new village of Cambourne (think Milton Keynes with Cambridge pretensions). Eight and a half million quid later and it opened with a fanfare of being the most modern and eco of any BMW dealership anywhere.
We visited in its first week of business and can report it's a very posh affair. There's loads of space - it's a 3.5-acre site - and parking is ample. The building itself is more like a modern art museum than a car showroom: all white concrete and perpendicular edges. There's room for 26 models, nearly the whole BMW portfolio, and numerous break-out areas.
While our 530d had its first service, I enjoyed the complimentary teas, coffees and pastries, rejuiced my Blackberry on the provided chargers and kept CAR Online ticking over with the wi-fi. They promised a 90-minute while-you-wait service, and it was finished within two minutes of their target.
We always shop anonymously and I had no reason to suspect they knew I worked for CAR. Everyone was very polite and the whole experience was very satisfying. Glitches? They forgot to vacuum the boot (the rest of the car was valeted to a showroom sheen), they didn't have a pollen filter in stock (does it really need changing after nine months? They said so), and they neglected to reset the service indicator which now tells me I need to go back in 4800 miles.
That's not quite good enough for £247.69 and took the sheen off a wonderful, state-of-the-art BMW dealership.
By Tim Pollard
It's a mark of our 530d Touring's popularity that we've racked up nudging 17,000 miles now. It's rare that we get to see a main dealer in our long-term tests that usually range from six months to a full year. But the Five's onboard computer accurately counted me down to its first service and so I looked around for a nearby garage.
Regular readers may remember that I've had ample cause to visit Peterborough's Sycamore BMW dealer in my time at CAR; both the 5-series GT and our Mini Cooper S had major transmission faults. So I reckoned it was time to branch out and try another franchised outlet.Cue Cambridge's Elms BMW, the newest BMW garage in the UK. The old dealer in Great Shelford was too small and old-fashioned for this prosperous city, so they moved 10 miles west to an out-of-town site in the new village of Cambourne (think Milton Keynes with Cambridge pretensions). Eight and a half million quid later and it opened with a fanfare of being the most modern and eco of any BMW dealership anywhere.
We visited in its first week of business and can report it's a very posh affair. There's loads of space - it's a 3.5-acre site - and parking is ample. The building itself is more like a modern art museum than a car showroom: all white concrete and perpendicular edges. There's room for 26 models, nearly the whole BMW portfolio, and numerous break-out areas.
While our 530d had its first service, I enjoyed the complimentary teas, coffees and pastries, rejuiced my Blackberry on the provided chargers and kept CAR Online ticking over with the wi-fi. They promised a 90-minute while-you-wait service, and it was finished within two minutes of their target.
We always shop anonymously and I had no reason to suspect they knew I worked for CAR. Everyone was very polite and the whole experience was very satisfying. Glitches? They forgot to vacuum the boot (the rest of the car was valeted to a showroom sheen), they didn't have a pollen filter in stock (does it really need changing after nine months? They said so), and they neglected to reset the service indicator which now tells me I need to go back in 4800 miles.
That's not quite good enough for £247.69 and took the sheen off a wonderful, state-of-the-art BMW dealership.
By Tim Pollard
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