Advantages: Great Drive on Motorway, Great comfort.
Disadvantages: High fuel consumption.

...I have recently discovered that the BMW 5 series has been voted 'executive car of the year 2006' by 'what car?' magazine, and having owned a BMW 525i for the past two years this does not come as any surprise. I opted for the metallic grey and overall have found this to be a great choice. The exterior of the car looks classy and dignified. I also feel that the car manages to fulfill the role of being a great family car, whilst also feeling a bit more 'sporty' when you want it to. As I have owned a 3 series in the past, when I opted for the BMW 5 series I was fully aware of the many 'extras' and 'additional' costs that seem to occur. I was also too familiar with the high service costs charged by BMW in comparison to some other garages. I feel these are two points worth pointing out to anyone who is considering purchasing a BMW... Read review

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Advantages: Quiet, spacious, large boot, nice look with the front 'ring' lamps, meaty sounding engine, handling
Disadvantages: thirsty, unweildy around town,

...After a 5 month spell in a 316i SE (2000) the 525i SE was a major change for me and came supplied with a vast amount of pleasant surprises and disappointments. As I work for a company linked to BMW, I change cars every 9 months or under 10k miles -whichever comes first so I decided to try a 5 and ordered a plain 525i with no options but as the cars are sold on afterwards, we get various options added to help the resale value.So I got a metallic black (Cosmos black) SE with Gray leather, the standard SE alloys and the steptronic auto box. This model also came with the electric sunroof but with it being winter during my 3 months in the car and me not really being big on sunroofs, I never used it. The car does look nice when clean although i find the 5-series styling a bit dated now compared to the new 3s - the 'ring' lights are hard... Read review

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Advantages: Practical, Comfortable, spacious, easy to drive and very reliable
Disadvantages: Expensive servicing with main dealer, average MPGs, little legroom in the back if tall

...I have owned a few BMWs in my time but the 525i SE, E34 model I feel has been the best so far. I always said to myself, I would not have a 5 series as they were too big and clumsy but age has matured this opinion as I now own one and love it to bits. I bought this 1993 K registered Model for a mere £1800 in October last year and it has a hidden extra which I will talk about shortly. I cant believe how much car you can get for so little money. I seem to remember that 11 years ago when this model was launched it cost in excess of £24000.00. The car had 125000 miles on the clock and had a full service history. It is equiped with electric everything, airconditioning, Cd sound system and the onboard computer. The interior was immaculate with the wood trim and unmarked grey Velour seats(although I paid £250.00 and bought a grey leather... Read review

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Advantages: Classy executive look, goes fast and is extremely comfortable
Disadvantages: High fuel consumption / running costs

...I have recently had the pleasure of receiving a brand new dark metallic blue BMW 525i. The car that I got had a number of extras including: sat-nav, bluetooth phone and leather seats. The gear selection is precise and the travel not too extreme. From 1st gear through to 6th it is exceptionally smooth, with the biting point of the clutch very intuitive. Whilst 6th gear is, as you might expect, not that responsive, it is a great motorway gear The dashboard is uncluttered with most of the additional information (beyond speed…etc) being displayed in a clear manner in the iDrive monitor - an LCD screen in the central console. This monitor is used when controlling the entertainment source, sat-nav and telephone. It also shows all the additional, extra information, including tire puncture warning should the unfortunate occur... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent design, cool camera, Easy to use
Disadvantages: Hard to find, Expensive, Arrival of the V600 :(

...After a good two years of use I decided it was time to part with my lovely Nokia 8850, and with all the hyp over these latest colour camera phones I decided I should up date my technology a litte and have my own little show piece; all my freinds did! ----------------- AVAILIBILITY ----------------- I got the V525 on the Vodafone pay as you go network, after spending ages trying to find it! Firstly I looked on the internet at various websites including comet, currys, dixons etc all of which didn't stock the phones or did stock them but had simple sold out! I then visited my town centre, including the carphone warehouse which had also sold out and whenever I went in the vodafone shop that had sold out too! By this time I was in the orange shop looking at V500s (very similiar to the v525 but without the fancy blue strip down... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Great phone - Stylish, Robust and a great Battery Life !
Disadvantages: Not a vast improvement on the V525.

...It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed since I last upgraded my mobile phone, but indeed it's true! March marks the date when I start looking around at the latest mobile phone deals on the market, then contact my existing provider Singlepoint (recently acquired by Vodafone) to see what they can offer. I had been very impressed with my old phone - a Motorola V525. It had a great range of features, excellent WAP facility and it was very sturdy. Despite being dropped on numerous occasions, apart from a few cosmetic scratches it still looked and worked as good as new. The "clamshell" design (meaning it folds on itself) meant that the screen was still clear and free from marks. When I contacted Singlepoint, I had in my mind the Motorola V3 Razor as my "ideal" phone. This is one of the latest from Motorola, and looks... Read review

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Advantages: Grease free, quick to absorb, light on skin, great underneath make-up, cost
Disadvantages: None

...I think my quest for the perfect day moisturiser has stopped at Olay active hydrogel, and the funny thing is I stumbled upon it quite by accident. After a recent trip to Boots I was pleased to receive a free voucher for the value of certain skincare products including Olay. After trying to find my normal daily moisturiser and having no luck, I picked up the 'Active Hydrogel', wow I thought a day moisturiser in a gel. As I'd never tried a facial gel before I thought I'd give it a whirl. I currently use a hydrating night cream so thought it would work along the same lines i.e. hydrating my skin hence less dryness. Also, as it cost £5.25, I thought I couldn't lose at paying 25p for a well-known brand of moisturiser. To my disappointment, when I got to the till, the lady told me that the voucher didn't cover that particular product... Read review

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Advantages: Full bodied, strong tasting coffee
Disadvantages: Small sized jars

...at the label. Each of the coffees carries a motif or icon of something that represents the country it comes from. From memory the Kenyan coffee has a springbok on it; Alta Rica has a motif that is either Mayan or Incan. (Please forgive me for not knowing which people were dominant in Costa Rica). It is a golden bird’s head relief motif on a graded purple background. ************************ AMENDMENT So, after a visit to Tesco I now find that the design of the bottle has altered slightly. The glass is now opaque - although it still has a black tint to it, the label design has also changed. The colour scheme is the same but the picture is now of a couple of ancient jars in a window frame. As well as this Nestle have added a strength indication to the label - it says '3 INTENSE' I also noticed that there is now a larger jar costing £5.25... Read review

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Advantages: See op
Disadvantages: See op

...to have my belly button pierced when I was younger, but I have a phobia against needles If you were stuck on an island who would you want there with you: Either Paul and Buffy or Buffy & Robbie Williams What three things would you bring with you to an island: Alcohol, sun lotion, food What is your life motto: What goes around comes around! "BONUS QUESTION!!! If you were in love with someone but if you told them it would hurt someone would you tell them: It would depend who I was going to hurt are you a loner or the centre of attention: I can be both - depends what kind of mood I am in What are your nicknames? Baggers - oh yeah and Fluff-Buff now (but I made that up for E-bay and Ciao!!!) TIME FINISHED? 5.25 I think you now know everything there is to know about the fluffiest buff!!! Thanks for reading.... Read review

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Advantages: Great looking, fast, easy to expand, easy to use
Disadvantages: Windows operating system can hang

...quarter of the screen. The character recognition is pretty good, though does require yoy to write in its own particular style, though this soon becomes second nature. The unit is quite heavy, and after 40 minutes of continual use, your wrist starts to hurt. Also although it is physically small enough to fit into most jacket pockets, it does tend to weigh down the one side, which soon relegates it to your bag. On the outside of the unit are several buttons that can be assigned to various functions. On the side is an up-down flick switch for scrolling, and a button for recording voice memos, even while the unit is switched off. I've disabled the button, as it could easily be pressed when in your bag, which would eat up all the available memory. The Jornada 525 that I have is a very attractive silver metal casing, and comes with a lined... Read review

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