Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
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
I predict the next Fiver will look more like an E39 than an E60.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
The E60 faces resistance because not only is it further along the mainstream path, the emphasis on design over performance is greater.
I do believe the E60 will out sell the E39, hence, more mainstream. The design appeals to post baby boomers.
It is not that I dislike the E60, I appreciate the E39 more.
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
BMWs in the past were marketed and perceived as "form follows Function". I do not see that as a definitive principle with the E60. I agree the performance bar is raised, but there also is a push towards contemporary styling, maybe even trendiness, that I do not see in preE65 models.
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
I did this by first getting European Delivery (ED), which knocked off $5K, then having the Edmunds invoice price at hand when I negotiated.
True, I got the salesman to shave off another grand by giving him my car (86 325) for a buck.
With ED, you have to fly to Munich to get the car but, if you time it right, you can get low fares and inexpensive accommodations. We went during Octoberfest but still got half fare on Lufthansa. Plus Munich is a blast even in the dead of winter. You can drive your new 5er all over Europe and ship it from most any country or ship it directly from Munich the day you get it.
I have since realized that I hated the new look not because of how it actually looked, but that it was a radical change in appearance from a car that I LOVED looking at.
I have come to really like the new 5. In fact, instead of learning to deal with the looks like I originally thought I'd have to do I find myself looking at the E39 and thinking it looks old and out of date to an extent. Still beautiful, but it looks to me like an older model.
Anyway.....two dealers in NJ told me the X version will be out in late spring. Both dealers were selling me the current 530i.
"I took delivery yesterday of a new 2005 TL - Green Pearl - Parchment Interior - No NAV. The engine in this car is awesome and the interior has a rich look. I traded my 2003 Cadillac CTS in on the TL. My CTS had over 50,000 miles on it and I had many reliability problems, I just lacked confidence in the CTS. I am amazed at how much more refined the TL is compared to the CTS. The TL's engine is so much smoother and more powerful than the CTS. I only have about 50 miles on my TL so my impressions are limited, but I am impressed thus far. I believe if the TL was rear wheel drive it would be recognized as the best sports sedan in it's class."
And, switching off the guidance voice is not as simple as it should be. Also, the system gets itself confused occasionally and will ask you to make u-turns when your destination is right in front of you.
Now, having said all that, I still love the system. I've got NAV in a 2005 but don't believe there's much difference. You get an easy to read map that you can quickly change the scale on.
And, although the system does sometimes get confused, most of the time it gets you to where you're going a lot easier than driving with a map in one hand. In fact, you'll find yourself getting very dependant on the thing.
I've lived in the DC metro area since 1970 and still sometimes have to drive somewhere unfamiliar and NAV is a big help. For example, we went to a restaurant in a town 80 miles north of here a few weeks ago. Without NAV, it would have been difficult finding the way. But with NAV, we drove right to the front door like we'd been there a dozen times. And, here's a feature I like: as soon as you enter the destination and the system calculates the route, an estimated time of arrival (ETA) appears at the bottom of the screen. That time changes based on your speeds and the nature of the route in front of you (freeway vs city roads). Very helpful when you're tight on time.
BTW, $1800 is not an especially good price. That's the standard option price for NAV.
Can anyone help?
Thanks
I believe they've sent it back to "back out" the crazy blocks, and that it should be compatible fairly soon- if not already.
2021 Toyota Venza Limited Hybrid, 2022 Ram 2500 Laramie 6.4 Hemi, 2007 Mazda MX-5 Miata PRHT
http://www.autospies.com/article/index.asp?articleId=2968&cat- egoryId=1
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
(Don't know ix the reversed letters are a typo on AW's part). In another departure from it's traditional nomenclature the 525 motor will be a 3 liter rated @ 185 hp while the top version in the 530 will have 255hp/200 lb feet.
The new xi(?) models will be seen at the NAIS in January and offered for sale "next spring"
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
My impressions of the E60 are mostly from inside - I love my E39's look, but will admit that the E60 545 in certain colors, from certain angles, is growing on me. I'll also try to add the comments of the 530's owner, who moved to this from an eclectic collection that has included a VW squareback (and she is vehement about it), an early Miata that she drove to Texas, and the Avalon (her first auto tranny)that directly preceded her first Bimmer.
Please understand that I am only sharing my impressions - I did not skidpad the thing, put a stopwatch to it, or anything like that. Also, I recognize that I am not comparing an E39 530 to an E60 530; I can only compare the cars that I have, and I have done 49K miles in my '03 540, all up and down the east coast.
Ride: Compared to my 540I, the suspension on the E60 530 is way more forgiving, much more compliant. There were a couple of sections on the PCH where I wished for the Sport package, however for 95% of the driving this car will do the standard (I hate to say "base") setup is much more than adequate. In a few months I'd look at swapping to some higher performing rubber if I drove it more. The owner enjoyed both seats, and we both agreed that for her use the seats were better than the sport seats in my 540 - not necessarily more comfortable, but easier to get in and out of.
Interior features: The standard stereo rocks - pretty simple. It compares well to the DSP setup in my car. I like both. I'd like to thank the person on this forum who had suggested not springing for the stereo upgrade. It lacks little DSP tricks like adding echo and audio profiles, however for clean sound, good volume, well rounded performance, it can't be beat.
I Drive: I gotta admit that there were two main reasons why I bought my E39, and one of them was that I did not want I Drive. After spending a few days with it I have mixed feelings - I like being able to customize things without a trip to the dealer - little things like setting the door lock pattern, or turning the alarm to silent. I don't like things like how difficult it is to change some of the climate settings.
Cupholders: BMW found a way to compromise. They are there, but don't intrude in the driver's space. All I can say is that Queen Starbucks liked them. I'm used to doing all my drinking in the parking lot, then driving like heck to catch up with the group! lolol.
The Drive: The six really wants to rev. You feel it when you clutch for a shift, and while you are lifting your right foot the engine is spooling up a few hundred more RPM on the tach. It definitely feels lighter than the eight. The engine/tranny/suspension in the 530 made it easy to drive fast, but in a different way than the combo in the 540. Because there is less torque, and (I guess) the ratios are different, the 530 requires more shifting, and is not "point and shoot" fast like the 540. I'm not saying that it is a slug, just that you need to be involved. I think that for most people the 530 would not be intimidating. Sometimes the 540 can let you know that the limits are so high that crossing the line would probably be mighty ugly.
One difference was the steering and steering wheel - The 540 has a thicker, fatter wheel, which I prefer, and also seems to have a slower steering at high speeds, such as in high speed sweeper type corners. For me it feels more composed... so that in the 530 I felt the car reacting more precisely to the inputs that I inadvertently gave - ironically, more precise, resulting in more mid-corner corrections.
And one tiny thing - when I got back to my car, I found myself missing that neat little turn signal trick on the new ones - signalling lane changes the way they do.
And of course the gas mileage is way better than in my 540.
Finally, those "see around corners" headlights are excellent, and don't seem to blind people coming the other way.
All in all I think the E60 530 is a pretty neat car; I am not ready to give up an E39 for one, but that is based more on my subjective assessment of which I feel looks better, rather than on anything that looks at which is the "better car". I just spoke to Ms. Left Coast and asked what's her favorite thing about the car, and she says simply, that everything is where she would want it to be - that she has never found herself saying "why'd they put that there?"
Just my 4.4 cents.
Maybe you added 3.0 cents
http://www.germancarfans.com/news.cfm/NewsID/2041221.002/bmw/1.ht- ml
I am big fan of Navigation and consider it a 'must-have'. I just wish BWM would catch up and get a decent one. (The Acura's is awesome, and what I've seen of the Audi, it's a huge improvement over BMWs, though not up to the Japanese standards.)
I also have an 03 E39 540i6. Would love to chat offline. Please contact at jfinn1965@yahoo.com. Thanks.
Thanks for the link!
Best Regards,
Shipo
I am considering trading in my 2004 Acura TL for a 530. I live in Chicago, and while we don't have nearly as much snow as people think, I had some really bad experiences with a MB CLK 320 several years ago.
So, are all contemprary RWD cars created equal when it comes to handling in the snow?
I realize snow tires are a "solution"...it just seems like a pain...
Thanks for those who can shed some real-world light on this...
I used to believe that All-Season rubber was "Good Enough", the operative words here is "used to". Then I moved to New Hampshire and bought a set of winter tires, and I instantly became a "believer". That first winter here we had 114 inches of snow and my 530i didn’t fail to get me to work for a single day. Errr, well, I should say, "...my 530i didn't fail to get my wife and I...", as she took over the 530i after I broke my right leg half way through the winter snow season, relegating me to driving our Caravan, left footed no less. :-/ That was probably the first and only time I regretted not buying an automatic transmission. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
Now having said that, I think front-drivers are no doubt better under the worst conditions, but as you say, we really don't get THAT much snow here, and since it's cleared reasonably efficiently, how many days are you out there when it's really tough sledding--maybe half a dozen or so?
In any event, I've been out on some of the worst of them, and as long as you don't expect miracles, I think you'll be just fine. Personally, I've never been interested in going through twice-annual tire/wheel changes (which practically guarantees you'll have the wrong tires on at one time or another, given our highly variable weather--it's going to be 50+ tomorrow), and have found the OEM performance/all-season tires to be perfectly adequate for year-round use.
Sure, snow tires are better in the snow (and high-performance tires are better when it's dry), but modern all season radials are really pretty versatile, and a well-balanced chassis like a 5-series equipped with them seems to cope just fine with our flat-lander winters.
Might I add that I've never thought that it makes much sense to buy a car/truck for the 6 or 8 days when it's really lousy, and then schlepping around the weight of 4-wheel drive for the other 350+ days. But, I'm obviously in the minority, given the ubiquitous nature of SUV's around here.
I guess I just had one REALLY bad experience with a MB 320CLK about six years ago during the really bad snow storm of 2000 which scared me away from RWD. But after driving my FWD Acura TL, I absolutely cant stand the torque steer. (I originally thought that was just something car geeks talked about...but it's REAL!)
Not to beat the point too much to death, however, I had always thought that the difference between All-Season and Winter tires was "just something car geeks talked about...but it's REAL!"
Okay, I'll crawl back into my hole and stop spouting off about winter tires now. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
Re your problems with your CLK, any idea what kind of tires it had? Anything too sporty will be just about useless in the snow.
Let us know how you make out.
BTW, the tires I speak about are on the Outback not the 530, but FYI a colleague of mine has 60K on the his 530's all-seasons and has had no complaints with winter driving. He does an 80-mile daily commute.
So, BMW 5-series it is. My next issue is whether or not to wait for the xi version (which I was told will begin production in May). I was also told that beginning with March builds, the 530 will have 30 more horsepower, which seems like it would be worth waiting for.
Unfortunately, I am very bad with the delayed gratification thing...