Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
That seems like a pretty flat torque curve to me and a torque curve comparable to the projected GM 3.6L V6.
Overall, in a little over 32k miles, I have averaged 20.7 mpg with the M5. I do a fair amount of highway driving and average about 24-25 mpg with the M5 at a constant 70-80 mph (compared to 26 mpg with the 540i). Short hop, in-town driving goes as low as 14-15 mpg with the M5 (16-17 with the 540i). My assistant has a 530i 5-speed and she has averaged 25 mpg over about 12,000 miles. She boasted getting 32 mpg on one pure highway tankful.
Can't help you with the wife - I married lucky. My wife was dissapointed our SUV doesn't have a stick and we even considered trading it for the BMW X5 3.0 5-speed. Unfortunately, that's a little too small and not much of a real SUV for our needs. I feel for you regarding the manual. I can't even accept an SMG as a reasonable compromise, let alone a steptronic. I may be keeping my M5 for a long, long time.
P.S. For what it's worth, I paid a $2,200 gas guzzler tax on the M5 and it averages at least 5-6 mpg higher overall than our Range Rover. As a matter of fact, it get's 3+/- mpg better mileage than my nephew's new Honda Pilot, which is supposedly one of the more fuel efficient SUV's. Throw a $3,000 gas guzzler tax on SUV's and the manufacturers will respond. Soccer moms will be just as happy with a 25 mpg turbo-diesel as a 13 mpg V-8 hog.
My wife drives a stick nicely, but she just wasn't interested anymore when she recently bought a Lexus with a slushbox. I do think enjoying a stick may be something of a "guy thing", and presuming you want to keep the little woman happy, you might want to consider relenting (as I say, when my wife's happy, I'm estatic! I think you know that can pay dividends!)
I've driven an M3 with the SMG (I think you called it steptronic manual), and after a few minutes, the novelty sort of wears off, and it's really just easier to stick it in "auto". Was sort of the same for me as a Steptronic auto trans., and really a very far cry from stirring the box and feeding out power with the clutch. Maybe it's the hot set-up for F-1, but I'd be inclined to just get an auto if I wasn't going to get a real stick.
And while beauty is in the eye (and I really like my '02 530i/stick), I'd reserve judgment on the new '04 5-series, I think they'll look just great, and you certainly wouldn't have to feel embarrassed with a >6-spd.< auto, which your wife might like, too.
ps--re a Cayenne, think 5700 lb. p-i-g. But supposedly this truck is contributing mightily to Porsche's bottom line, so I guess you can't buy good taste (or engineering discernment).
johnnyboy4... What specific Conti's did you have: Touring A/S, Extreme A/S, SportContact, or SportContact2?
Mark
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
FWIW, I think typing "break" when meaning "brake" - and vice versa - is THE most common syntactical (hah!) error I see hosting these discussions.
It's no biggie, we all know what was meant, right?
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
make or marque?
hood or bonnet?
trunk or boot?
LHD or RHD?
Who was it who said Americans and Britishers were common people separated by language?
Wouldn't it be fun if English was more like German and we ran nouns together to form another noun?
If I could just use affect and effect I'd be happy.
From dictionary:
Homonym--"One of two or more words that have the same sound and often the same spelling but differ in meaning."
Synonym: "A word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or other words in a language."
Antonym: "A word having a meaning opposite to that of another word."
Edit: Okay riez - you posted the definitions while I was typing. I guess I knew someone would do it.
Let's move on now - really.
I can't believe that I would ever be this passionate about a car but the 530 has provided my with an unbelievable amount of fun over the last couple of months (almost 4K mi already). For what it offers--smooth & balanced inline 6 engine, superb handling, elegant styling--I think the BMW 530i is a fantastic deal. I really didn't realize how great BMWs were until after I bought mine and really drove it for awhile.
Thanks to all those (shipo, reiz & others)for your posts on this forum--I think that I have read them all.
If you keep possession of your car past either 50K or 48 months, the original bumper-to-bumper warranty will expire. Your original 3/36 maintenance agreement also expired. You could pay to extend this maintenance agreement for 1/12 (the '03s come with 4/50 free maintenance) but there is no additional warranty you can buy from BMW on your car.
You could sell your car and buy another BMW from the BMW dealer. If you bought a CPO unit, that would come with a 2/50 CPO warranty that starts once the original b-to-b warranty expires. I've seen CPO units with as few as 3-9K miles. But you CANNOT automatically CPO the car you bought new (unless you sell it to dealer and buy it back from him as a CPO car).
I posted this extract from The Times newspaper on the "re-design" thread but it discusses the 530i far more eloquently than I can (excuse the English phraseology):
"The 3-series is still a standard setter and the normal M3 is extraordinarily good. But the best of the lot is the 5-series.
I drove a 530i last week and, even though it's been with us for seven years, I still think it's the best executive car of them all. Audi, Mercedes and Jaguar can all offer us more modern alternatives but none can quite match the absolute rightness of the Five.
It looks good whether it's parked on the block paving outside a Barratt executive home or on the gravel drive of a Georgian vicarage. It suits the underground car park of a Docklands development in London and blends perfectly with the rustic charm of a rural barn.
This ability to adapt like a chameleon is seen on the road, too. Whether it's on a motorway, a sweeping Welsh A-road or on the way to the pub in Worth Matravers it doesn't just cope, it shines."
So in first 25K miles I've spent the above plus $160.40 for a maintenance total of only $1,210.93. Plus another $900.58 for new set of ContiSportContract 2 tires (incl. 4-wheel align, mount & balance). And CPO co-pays/non-warranty repairs for another $151.17. Grand total only $2,262.68. Tires account for nearly 40 percent. And this total should last me for another 10K+ miles. That seems reasonable for about 35,000 miles of extremely pleasureable driving!
I actually saw your post from the "Times" in the "re-design" forum. Really struck a chord. Thank you for sharing it. I feel a bit strange writing about an "inanimate" object such as a "car" but so few things these days seem to even approach "absoulute rightness". I am one who believes that BMW reached a truly classic design with the E39 (nothing good to say regarding E60) No worries on the English phraseology--my wife's a Brit from Marlborough (near Swindon)walking distance to Avebury. That part of the UK is wonderful.
I haven't seen many 3rd party warranties from reputable companies that have been around a long time that are worth the price. Lots of companies have folded. Lots of policyholders have been burned.
dabimmer: Heading your way August 17. Can't wait to sample the roads along the coast!
A couple of million US visitors a year drive over the border with no problem. Don't worry and enjoy your trip.
No bad personal experiences with the small guys but I play safe and stick with the name brands.
To add four years or 100,000 miles to the warranty costs over $2,000 and it does not include standard maintenance or the waterpump or computers, but does include just about everything else.
How many people have had something exotic go wrong in the first 100,000 miles? I have asked this question before, but did not get too many responses, so I thought I would try again.
In shopping for a future replacement of our Isuzu Trooper (5-speed), we have casually looked at the Pilot, X5 and other SUV's. The girls (including the wife) all want to know why BMW is the only one available with a stick. The Honda sales manager didn't have an answer that satisfied my 5 year old and tried to appease her with a balloon. To which she responded that we should get the BMW.
Way to GO!
I just finished teaching my daughter how to drive a manual. We bought her a used Jeep Wrangler (steel bumpers) for her to putz around town in. She still kills it occasionally on an uphill start, but other than that, she's loving it!
-Paul
still talk about rally road races and how much fun it was to drive a stick.Maybe my next one will be a stick.
Actually, no offense was taken. Just wanted to put my opinion out there. Thanks for your message.
multiplechoice--I chuckled at your post, was wondering if maybe your wife just liked driving the Boxster, stick or slush (and what's with this "stop-and-go" driving excuse--you should know better as a true entrusiast, heh?!)
to habitat and dabimmer--I've really sort of wondered if there's been a little bit of a back-lash with kids to learn how to drive stick, in response to recent marked decrease in drivers with the skill. Guess I sort of hope so, so there's somebody to buy my 530 stick come trade time! Keep up the good work stoking the resale market!