I had the Accord Estate for 2 years before the beemer. It's a great car for its class but it sure isn't an E60. The front styling I really liked but the rear looks really wrong from most angles.

 

My parents also considered Lexus GS350, Lexus ES350, and BMW 550i before they bought their 530i.

 

Well, originally, my car was to have been used for a daily commute between Oxfordshire and London (110 miles per day of fast motorway, city and a few country lanes). I looked at a 120d, 320td (E46 Compact - good little car, that - better than the 120d, if you don't need the rear doors), thought momentarily about a Volvo S80 (only because the LPG dual-fuel option would have been exempt from London's congestion charge), then ordered a 535d Touring Individual (one of the very first ones) - on the grounds that it would fulfil a second role as weekend transport for the family (only 1 child back then, mind) - and leased a 530i for what was supposed to be a few months, to keep the miles off my 840Ci.

Two months later, I decided to cancel my order for the 535d and switched to the B5 order. Apparently it's impossible to cancel an Individual order at that stage, but they managed it somehow. Apparently it was also impossible to have an Alpina that's also an Individual, but they figured that one out too...

Anyway, I finally picked up my car from the factory in November 2005, by which point I had moved back into London, so no more daily commute. Needless to say, the car's not quite getting the miles that had been originally envisaged...

Now, if I'd known all this in advance, I might have been more tempted by a "toy" car, like a Porsche, or another Lotus.

 

My first choice / dream was the E63. If the 6er wouldn't be there I probabely would have chosen the E60 535d sedan or maybe Range Rover. Also thought about the Infinity 45.