At £29,485, the retail price for the BMW 518d is just under £30,000, and the main reason for that is to appeal to bottom-end purchasers who might be enticed by a price tag that starts with a ‘2’. The actual P11D value nudges the entry-level SE model over the threshold to £30,210 though, and you will only get the most basic of cars at that price point.
There is a horsepower penalty for this model, which at 143hp compares with the mainstream 520d (which uses a more powerful version of the same engine) at 184hp. Unusually, emissions of 119g/km and 62.8mpg are identical for both variants.
In every other respect, the BMW 518d is as well built, comfortable and good to drive as other versions of the 5-series, and a 40.6% residual value is impressive, too. It’s unlikely to usurp the 520d as the dominant seller, though.
