Originally Posted by northernmonkey' date='Mar 20 2005, 04:45 AM

picked car up yesterday and said goodbye to my 2003 530i SE.

silver grey with black dakota leather looks superb. love the m-sports pack, especially the sports seats and m-sports suspenion, the latter which has in my eyes transformed the way the E60 feels on the road.

my partner drove the car also yesterday and commented on how it feels very much like the Z4 she has, she also liked the servotronic steering to. i had not realised that the servotronic steering now comes as standard, makes low speed steering a doddle, definitely nice to have.

will try and get some pictures taken today and post them up.

quick summary of my observations after 24hrs of ownership.

- build quality: dont know why but whole car, especially interior feels more solidly built than my 03 model was, could be just because its new..but it just feels solid.

- N52 3.0i Engine: well with less than 100 miles on the clock, not even come close to running it in or got it above 4500rpm. feels very smooth though and certainly a lot more torque available in the lower rev range, cant wait till its bedded in and i can open it up to see what the difference is like with 258BHP under the bonnet.

- Interior Trim Changes: the ruthenium finish around the advanced air con dials is a major improvement over the previous matt grey plastic finish. the new finish is as has been said before just like the finish on the idrive controller. one thing you notice driving at night is that the back lights behind the A/C controls reflect nicely off the ruthenium A/C dials which produces a nice effect (will try and get pics of that).

the air vent levers all round also now have the ruthenium insert on them which is a nice touch and the panel around the A/C area now has the soft-paint finish which also looks good.

have not checked to see if the stowage compartment to the right of the steering wheel below light switches has been changed...forgot to look...doh! but i will.

aluminium cube trim, has grown one me a lot, looks excellent against the black dashboard and leather trim.

- new DTC traction control: difficult to comment on this as it has not really had todo anything much. the soft stop braking does seem to really make the final moments of low speed braking manouvres smoother than before. in previous car i found it sometimes jerky to move a slow speeds when dabbing on/off the brake, with soft stop it is a lot better and is more like the kind of control you have via clutch control/gear braking in a manual.

- SatNav Pro changes: perspective view, well despite the little clouds (ok i admit it i like them) at the top of the display, perspective view is excellent and certainly gives your more of a feel for "whats coming up" as your driving along. shortcut keys to the side of the map display are very useful and save a lot of time.

- idrive changes: not sure if this was there before but in the service menu you now have the ability to check the engine oil-level via idrive and a virtual dipstick is displayed show current engine oil level reading, nice feature cannot say i have seen this before so assume its "new".

as soon as i have time i will try and get some pics of the above features.

Originally Posted by Guest' date='Mar 20 2005, 08:31 AM

thanks for clarifying.? are these (the week 9 cars) the new '06's? ... northernmonkey said his has the N52 engine? are the '06s out now????

Originally Posted by igor' date='Mar 20 2005, 03:55 AM

[quote name='Merv the Derv' date='Mar 20 2005, 02:17 AM'][quote name='Guest' date='Mar 19 2005, 05:42 PM']dumb question....what are the changes in week 9?????

Originally Posted by Merv the Derv' date='Mar 20 2005, 03:30 PM

[quote name='igor' date='Mar 20 2005, 03:55 AM'][quote name='Merv the Derv' date='Mar 20 2005, 02:17 AM'][quote name='Guest' date='Mar 19 2005, 05:42 PM']dumb question....what are the changes in week 9?????

Originally Posted by Scott' date='Mar 21 2005, 03:35 AM

Can anybody confirm if these Week 9 changes apply to the 545 as well?