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I got a NAV in my '05 530, and while it is not as easy to use as the Acura's NAV, it is surprisingly accurate.
I like using the "Route List" function, as it mimics "MapQuest", but as I said it's amazingly accurate.
I always wondered how James Bond traveled the world and never gets lost or asks for directions, now I know, he had a NAV.
I travel the city and other states now without fear of getting lost, as when you do make a wrong turn, the NAV adjusts to give you directions to get you back on track.
I like it alot, sure I wish that it was nice as the Acura, but what can you do.
Having the NAV saves alot of arguing with the Misses who I was relying on to read me the Mapquest directions, and she almost always got it wrong, or gave me the info after we missed the turn.
I wouldn't worry so much about what all you have and don't have. Worry more about what results are produced. You really should check out the various crash test result sites: IIHS, NHTSA, Euro NCAP, Aus NCAP, Nippon NCAP.
Think you'll find that the E39 5 Series has wonderful crash test results, not to mention lots of testimonials from people who have survived terrible crashes in them.
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Consider this my official request for warm weather..
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UC's quarterback (who didn't play) comes from our local high school... But, I'm more of a UK fan.. Thank goodness basketball season is finally here!!
Staying in the Executive Inn out by the airport Friday night.. our game is at 11:30 on Saturday.. I hear that a few Budweisers may sacrifice their life for the cause...
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This is my first time here; I detect quite a bit of testosterone static. I told my wife her next car will be a Lexus GS series, but it doesn't have vinyl seats like her 525 for easy cleanup of my 3-year old daughter's organic food and waste (yeah vinyl). In the end, protecting my wife and daughter in an accident is worth the overpriced kidney bean grill.
The window sticker shows what standard and optional equipment came on your car, including safety equipment like airbags, ABS, TC, etc.
-Paul
For anyone considering a 5 Series who lives north of the George Washington Bridge and doesn't work in the public sector, this is an important issue. Can we get a straght answer?
Best Regards,
Shipo
Best Regards,
Shipo
The car has 36K on the original Michelin Pilot Primacy Tires. Other than being very noisy, that have been great. What would be a reasonable upgrade (better handling)? This is a southern California car that will never see snow and very little rain. How about the Michelin Pilot Sport or Sport A/S? Same price. The tires have to meet BMW CPO requirements. Any suggestions? 235/45YR17
Also, no matter how hard I try to treat the car well, mistakes happen. I must get them off my chest: (1) one time on hard acceleration, I did not shift in time and as the RPMs headed into redline, the engine cut back. I assume the fuel cut-off stopped the engine RPM from going any higher. (2) I was late to a business meeting and opted to fill up on the way home, the miles-to-empty meter went to zero and when I filled up, 19.2 gallons went in. Are these mistakes so terrible?
Hitting the rev-limiter shouldn't hurt your car..
Unless your car was sputtering badly by the time you filled it up, that one time shouldn't make any difference either..
Down-shifting resulting in over-revving is another matter... if you do that, you are basically mechanically overriding the rev-limiter... that is what is known as the "money shift".
regards,
kyfdx
Edit: I see you have the sport package.. If you want summer only tires, there are a lot more choices.. If they have Michelin Pilot PS2 in your size, I'd go that way, but last time I checked they didn't have your size yet...
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No "money shifts" for me. However, one time on an unfamiliar mountain backroad I encountered a tight switchback turn with a steep incline at the end of the turn, which I underestimated. I was in 3rd, the car started to lug, down shifted to 2nd and the car still began to lug. Only 1st would get the car up the hill. Also, I did miss a shift once and crunched the gears. Hate that! (note, my daily driver has been a stick for last 25 years, and sometimes mistakes happen)
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Go get your order in.
The E90 is out in Spring of '05, and you couldn't find a real picture of it until this past August.. If they are coming out with an AWD 5-series, then it will be at least Spring of '06.. otherwise, everyone would know about it, by now.
(He says, with nothing to back it up)
regards,
kyfdx
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Not enough time to tell, but excellent so far. Running 32 pounds of nitrogen gas in all 4 235/45 ZR17's. Minimal pressure fluctuation with heating/cooling during driving that will hopefully lead to better wear characteristics.
Tire Rack gave the new P Zero Nero SUmmer tires a good review.
Not to argue because obviously it works for you, but do you live in flat spot in the Granite State, tend to stay home once you get home after work, and/or have a great guy to who plows the driveway? Living in New England, I don't know how our father's generation did it with RWD sedams with no heated back windows or mirrors back in the 50's and early '60s.
It was a different time though. There weren't any malls or health clubs open until 9 PM every night, people would put chains on if they had to, the one driver in the family had a shorter commute and they respected the weather Carl DeSuse on WBZ ("From Eastport Maine To Block Island") was describing.
As for my driveway, it is only 160' long, and yes, I clear it myself. :-/ (again) Regarding your "father's" generation, well, I may be closer to that than you think. I learned to drive in the snow in cars built in the 1960s, and yes, they had RWD, no heated back windows or mirrors and to make matters worse, the wheels were shod with slippy sliddey bias-ply tires, which were usually good for only about 15,000 miles.
Having said all of that, all it takes is one snowy ride in a BMW shod with modern snow tires to be made a believer. Prior to springing for my first set (after 4 winters in a 328i with All-Season rubber) I was very much in the "Winter tires are a waste of money" camp. However, once I made the change, I was totally flabbergasted at the complete transformation the Arctic-Alpins made in my 530i. With the OEM tires, I was barely able to make it up my driveway, much less up my street, after the switch, the car felt like it was riding on rails, over hill, over dale, and around every curve. ;-)
Now, does that mean that a RWD optioned BMW with snow tires is the do all/end all in winter driving? Nope! I'll leave that to the folks that shell out for BOTH AWD AND winter tires. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
without going for sports package (my wife feels
sport package option makes the trip kind of
bumpy). Anyone has any opinion if active steering
is a worthy option suppose we are not going
for sports package?
Thanks
FWIW, I have a 2002 (no Active Steering available back then) 530i with the SP, and since I did the ED thing, I have quite a number of hours at speeds well over 120 as well as many hours maneuvering through and parking in NYC. Since I've driven my car at both ends of the speed/traffic congestion spectrum I've asked myself, "Does Active Steering make any sense?" The only answer that I can come up with so far is another question, "Why did BMW develop the variable ratio system for the E60 in the first place?" So far at least, "It's a mystery." ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
Now that I've driven it a bit (since 1 Nov) I have come to really appreciate it. At first you have to be carefully and anticipate the steering change and I did bang a few curbs in the process. But it soon became second nature. After a few weeks, you no longer have to think about it, you just automatically adjust for it and it really does make maneuvering around parking lots much easier.
The only downside I can think of is this: when AS engages below 40MPH, a small turn on the steering wheel translates to a large turn of the wheels. But, also, the opposite is true. If you hit a rut it'll knock your tire around. With regular steering a small bump equals a small twist in the steering wheel. But with AS, a small bump is translated into a larger twist in the steering wheel. I've only experienced this a couple of times since the roads around here (Metro DC) are pretty good. But, were you to be driving in areas where you could often hit ruts, you might want to reconsider AS.
Make sense?
Best Regards,
Shipo
Below 40 mph it's about one turn lock-to-lock which is very handy in my condo garage, my work garage and the endless malls that blanket metro DC. Unlike New Hampshire which is mostly empty roads, lovely forests, seemingly endless open spaces and actual competent drivers, Northern Virginia is just a big parking lot, encircled by the hated Beltway which is usually packed with amazingly incompetent drivers. Tell me somewhere else where coming to a dead stop at a freeway entrance, slowly cruising the fast lane or not turning right on red when it's perfectly safe to do so is considered stylish.
Oooops, sorry, got started on the bad driver syndrom and off the subject. Anyway, I've driven AS for about a month and have come to really like it. My advice to anyone contemplating a new 5er is to test drive it (active Steering) as much as posssible and draw their own conclusions but give it a fair look especially if you live in an urban area where, inexplicably, they don't just take bad drivers out and shoot them. Go figure.
too much about the parking as me and my
wife have got used to all kinds of parkings
here in SF. I am interesting to hear if this
option will make your driving experience
better or worse on highway speed.
Seems like I should also go and test drive
a car with this option equipped.
I had an A4 Avant and quickly discovered that it'd be a good idea to equip it with good snows to keep the rear behind the front when the plow guys were late.
I'll keep you posted how I do this winter with Blizzaks on my "new" 2000 MY 528iA.
My previous rwd winter rides were sports cars and they were a lot of fun to drive in the snow because of the inherent balance of the cars. At 52/48 my E39 comes close to the weight distribution of my Fiat 124, I never even put snows on it, tho I lived in NY at the time.
Needless to say I never even attempted to drive my old 5.0 Mustang on snow-covered roads but even those work if equipped with snow tires.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Best Regards,
Shipo
Best Regards,
Shipo
Apart from banging a few curbs right after I started driving the car, I've not had any problems turning the steering wheel too much or too little.
The next time I find myself shopping for a car I will take a test drive of the AS system, however, living in New Hamster, I'll probably take a pass. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
I average around 22 mph on the trip computer and I only get that much because I drive my 25 mile commute in the morning at 5:00 AM. Sigh, if only they'd let us run over the lawyers.
Couple of question, I have a similarly equipped 2002 525. Did you lease through BMW FS and if so were you able to negotiate the buy out? Mine is $27.8K.
Why did you decide to keep your 2002 rather than lease a new one? I'm trying to decide what to do with my car when the lease is up. I love the car, but need alittle more room and maybe HP.
With regard to tires, how did you get 36K out of those horrible Michelin tires? I've got 22K of near all highway driving and they are about worn out. Around 12K they began to sound like off road mud tires and vibrated like crazy when you came to a stop. I always monitored the tire pressure and had the dealer rebalance and rotate, but no help.
If I do buy the car I plan to put P Nero M&S on it. They appear to have the best rating/cost ratio.
Thanks for your's(or other's) insite.
Tires. The Primacy's are at 35,900 and counting. I just measured the tread left on them and they are at 3mm of tread all around. Legal limit is 2mm of tread. How did I get this tread life? Luck, plus I always watched the air pressure, and against what BMW suggests, had the tires rotated. To put new Primacy's on the car will cost $785 (which includes mounting, balancing, CA tire fees and 8.25% tax). The cost of the Sport PS2 is about $905. No doubt the PS2 is the better handling tire, but it is more expensive and has a shorter wear life. The question becomes will I really feel the difference if most of my driving is in bumper to bumper freeway and city traffic? Also, I must make sure that any tire I pick is BMW approved for CPO purposes. I am currently leaning towards the Primacy's (but still thinking about the PS2, especially after reading the tirerack comparison articles).
Why did I decide to buy the car? Many reasons. A big factor is that I can buy this car at thousands less than current market value. Plus, I love the looks of the car and how it drives. The 530 has ample power for me (although I always lust for a V8). I test drove the 545 and loved how it drove. It is so fast and its handling is outstanding. However, I did not like its design, some of its features and ultimately the price. I also test drove the E60 530 and felt for the additional price, that it did not significantly improve on my 530i. I also test drove the E60 525 and felt it was underpowered compared to what I am used to. Also test drove the following cars and dismissed them for various reasons: E500, E320, A6 4.2, G35 Coupe and Sedan, Chrysler 300 with Hemi and Acura TL. I also considered waiting for the new 330, but judging from the recent 7-series and 5-series track records, first year reliability might be a gamble. In sum, at $28.6 plus CPO cost, my car just seems to me to be the best choice.
You and Andys120 might be right. The late '50s and early '60s RWD cars I drove in all had stick shifts and you could rock those suckers out of anything. Now with the better tires (I too am a fan of the Artic Alpins) anything is possible. We do live differently though than in l960. We work longer hours and not every family member is in for the night at 6PM as was the case in l960 in New England.
I had an appointment today at noon with the BMW dealer in Nashua, NH (name rhymes with Sully). I was expecting to close on a CPO. Neither the guy I was to meet, nor his manager were there (they had gone home sick), and the car I had left a deposit on over the phone couldn't be found even after someone pointed toward a distant lot and said that all the cars "in transition" were over there in the "transition lane". Later when I got back to Block Island (yeh, it was a long day) I checked my office email and I saw a email sent to me last night saying that the car I had discussed with them was a lease buy back (and so presumably wasn't for sale?) but that they had a better one at the same price. While in Nashua I looked around and saw a dirty mens room (hey, you're buying the whole dealership, right?) and their other franchises in the same complex actually had elevated podiums set up in each showroom so that the overly-groomed "managers" could look down on the sales guys as they worked over the prospects!
In contrast the Nashua Porche dealer a mile or two away was spotless with a great inventory, free loaners, spotless service facility and nice people. There were no podiums at their other franchise next door. The mens room was clean also. (Yeh, I had had a lot of coffee all day). But absolutely no one in the showroom. No one. Which raises the question: For 47K what's so bad about a Cayenne V6 vs. an X5?
Did I catch the BMW dealership on a bad day or is this their reputation in the Granite State?
I wouldn't buy a car there if I could avoid it. I walked out on a deal there some years back.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Due to a number of factors I'm probably going to be BMWless for a year or so starting at lease end this coming spring. After that time, my current plan is to lease a new E90 330i (three pedal version of course), and Tulley will get the first opportunity to do a deal (probably ED again), and if they don't want to play nice, then I'll look further afield. ;-)
Good luck in your search.
Best Regards,
Shipo