What I've Learned
08-14-2006, 09:02 AM
#12
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Everyone - thanks for your replies. I'm looking forward to my first N. California meet/greet!
Thanks for the recomending that I spend more time on the EQ/DSP settings for L7. I haven't played around with that too much.
low_ball_88: I bought my Rejex at www.skygeek.com. It's a site for airplane products - a 16 oz. bottle costs $12.50 (b/f shipping). Skygeek has a surprisingly good reputation and they did a good job with my order.
I think Rejex gives the car a really deep shine. It's a little less noticeable on a silver gray car (like yours also), but still nice. Also, unlike most waxes, Rejex works great on Windows and doesn't leave a white residue on the black-out trim, which is a plus. Finally, the Rejex seems to protect better than most waxes, especially if you park near trees/birds - I use Meguiar's Quik Detailer to do quick cleaning jobs when needed.
Thanks for the recomending that I spend more time on the EQ/DSP settings for L7. I haven't played around with that too much.
low_ball_88: I bought my Rejex at www.skygeek.com. It's a site for airplane products - a 16 oz. bottle costs $12.50 (b/f shipping). Skygeek has a surprisingly good reputation and they did a good job with my order.
I think Rejex gives the car a really deep shine. It's a little less noticeable on a silver gray car (like yours also), but still nice. Also, unlike most waxes, Rejex works great on Windows and doesn't leave a white residue on the black-out trim, which is a plus. Finally, the Rejex seems to protect better than most waxes, especially if you park near trees/birds - I use Meguiar's Quik Detailer to do quick cleaning jobs when needed.
08-14-2006, 12:47 PM
#13
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My Ride: 07 530i|Silver Gray/Black| Premium|Sport|NAV|Auto|PDC|Sunshade|
Originally Posted by chris.y' post='322487' date='Aug 14 2006, 12:02 PM
Everyone - thanks for your replies. I'm looking forward to my first N. California meet/greet!
Thanks for the recomending that I spend more time on the EQ/DSP settings for L7. I haven't played around with that too much.
low_ball_88: I bought my Rejex at www.skygeek.com. It's a site for airplane products - a 16 oz. bottle costs $12.50 (b/f shipping). Skygeek has a surprisingly good reputation and they did a good job with my order.
I think Rejex gives the car a really deep shine. It's a little less noticeable on a silver gray car (like yours also), but still nice. Also, unlike most waxes, Rejex works great on Windows and doesn't leave a white residue on the black-out trim, which is a plus. Finally, the Rejex seems to protect better than most waxes, especially if you park near trees/birds - I use Meguiar's Quik Detailer to do quick cleaning jobs when needed.
Thanks for the recomending that I spend more time on the EQ/DSP settings for L7. I haven't played around with that too much.
low_ball_88: I bought my Rejex at www.skygeek.com. It's a site for airplane products - a 16 oz. bottle costs $12.50 (b/f shipping). Skygeek has a surprisingly good reputation and they did a good job with my order.
I think Rejex gives the car a really deep shine. It's a little less noticeable on a silver gray car (like yours also), but still nice. Also, unlike most waxes, Rejex works great on Windows and doesn't leave a white residue on the black-out trim, which is a plus. Finally, the Rejex seems to protect better than most waxes, especially if you park near trees/birds - I use Meguiar's Quik Detailer to do quick cleaning jobs when needed.
I will have to buy a couple of bottles for myself. I didn't know you could use it on the windows.
08-14-2006, 01:43 PM
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Originally Posted by chris.y' post='322351' date='Aug 14 2006, 12:23 AM
Hi -
This forum is one of the most active and most informative I've seen on any subject on the web - it's really unbelievable. There are very few topics that haven't been touched before, but I still wanted to contribute a summary of my experience as a first time e60 owner - maybe it'll be helpful to someone out there.
Buying process (Northern CA):
- No dealer anywhere carried a 6-speed 530i in any form, so I needed to order one
- Submitted quote requests via Edmunds, received a bunch of email quotes
- Picked the lowest one, called and negotiated down to roughly $980 over invoice
- Ordered the car - the dealer took my Amex for a $500 deposit and it turns out that they don't accept Amex so I was never charged (I'm still amazed that the commitment on my part was essentially zero)
- The way you can track a car via the BMW website is pretty cool
- Car came in 7 weeks later and I showed up, paid for it and drove it off the lot - no hassles, great experience
- For those of you in CA, the dealer did not install the front plate holder but I've heard you'll get ticketed at SFO (and possibly pulled over somewhere) if you don't have a front plate so I'm probably going to have it put on
Positive impressions:
- I think the car looks amazing. Thanks to this forum, I'm now familiar with M-Aero kits and the like and that's always an option for the future...
- I'm still in my break-in period, but the car handles extremely well and is very quiet; I don't have many squeaks/noises to report
- I'm not a speed demon, but I can appreciate power and the 255hp mated to the 6-speed manual is quick enough for me. You don't have the torque of a 545i or 550i but you get nice even power throughout the various gears.
- Comfort access: I love the feature, but $1,000?
- Bluetooth works great with my Treo 700p - favorites show up right on the I-drive display automatically
- Factory installed satellite radio comes with Sirius for one year free (didn't know that)
Some small disappointments:
- Navigation Perspective View: a very cool, 3D map view except for one thing - none of the local street names are displayed; it's still useful, but perhaps BMW will fix this in an upcoming software update?
- Logic 7 with Sirius hasn't sounded as good as I thought it would - FM Radio sounds better, I think (haven't tried my iPod yet). If I had to do this all over again I might go aftermarket for sound rather than spend the $1,200 for L7.
- When starting the car, I-drive needs to boot up and then you need to hit 'accept' every time to get past the user warning. If you want to use PDC right after starting the car, you'll have to wait (although you can hear the beeping right away). Also, I wish I-drive would default back to where you left off when you stopped the car.
- The black leather shows dirt (think little kids kicking the back of a black seat) a lot more than I thought it would
Stuff I didn't know but wish I did:
- Rear airbags - I thought it was a no-brainer (little kids under 7) but didn't bother to read this forum or talk to the sales guy more about it; turns out that there are mixed opinions on the safety of rear air bags for children but most seem to advise to have these turned off (I'm not sure that I would have bought them in retrospect)
- Folding rear seats - for some reason, I thought they were included. Should've known better. Haven't missed them yet but probably will. Can these be retrofit?
One last thing:
- A lot of forum members like Rejex so I bought a couple of bottles. I Rejexed the car today and really like how it works/looks.
This forum is one of the most active and most informative I've seen on any subject on the web - it's really unbelievable. There are very few topics that haven't been touched before, but I still wanted to contribute a summary of my experience as a first time e60 owner - maybe it'll be helpful to someone out there.
Buying process (Northern CA):
- No dealer anywhere carried a 6-speed 530i in any form, so I needed to order one
- Submitted quote requests via Edmunds, received a bunch of email quotes
- Picked the lowest one, called and negotiated down to roughly $980 over invoice
- Ordered the car - the dealer took my Amex for a $500 deposit and it turns out that they don't accept Amex so I was never charged (I'm still amazed that the commitment on my part was essentially zero)
- The way you can track a car via the BMW website is pretty cool
- Car came in 7 weeks later and I showed up, paid for it and drove it off the lot - no hassles, great experience
- For those of you in CA, the dealer did not install the front plate holder but I've heard you'll get ticketed at SFO (and possibly pulled over somewhere) if you don't have a front plate so I'm probably going to have it put on
Positive impressions:
- I think the car looks amazing. Thanks to this forum, I'm now familiar with M-Aero kits and the like and that's always an option for the future...
- I'm still in my break-in period, but the car handles extremely well and is very quiet; I don't have many squeaks/noises to report
- I'm not a speed demon, but I can appreciate power and the 255hp mated to the 6-speed manual is quick enough for me. You don't have the torque of a 545i or 550i but you get nice even power throughout the various gears.
- Comfort access: I love the feature, but $1,000?
- Bluetooth works great with my Treo 700p - favorites show up right on the I-drive display automatically
- Factory installed satellite radio comes with Sirius for one year free (didn't know that)
Some small disappointments:
- Navigation Perspective View: a very cool, 3D map view except for one thing - none of the local street names are displayed; it's still useful, but perhaps BMW will fix this in an upcoming software update?
- Logic 7 with Sirius hasn't sounded as good as I thought it would - FM Radio sounds better, I think (haven't tried my iPod yet). If I had to do this all over again I might go aftermarket for sound rather than spend the $1,200 for L7.
- When starting the car, I-drive needs to boot up and then you need to hit 'accept' every time to get past the user warning. If you want to use PDC right after starting the car, you'll have to wait (although you can hear the beeping right away). Also, I wish I-drive would default back to where you left off when you stopped the car.
- The black leather shows dirt (think little kids kicking the back of a black seat) a lot more than I thought it would
Stuff I didn't know but wish I did:
- Rear airbags - I thought it was a no-brainer (little kids under 7) but didn't bother to read this forum or talk to the sales guy more about it; turns out that there are mixed opinions on the safety of rear air bags for children but most seem to advise to have these turned off (I'm not sure that I would have bought them in retrospect)
- Folding rear seats - for some reason, I thought they were included. Should've known better. Haven't missed them yet but probably will. Can these be retrofit?
One last thing:
- A lot of forum members like Rejex so I bought a couple of bottles. I Rejexed the car today and really like how it works/looks.
08-14-2006, 05:07 PM
#16
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My Ride: 2005 545i Orient Blue
Great write up Chris.y. I searched for something like this when I was looking into leasing my 545.
I find that playing around with the equalizer and other Logic 7 settings help improve the sound immensely!
Enjoy!
I find that playing around with the equalizer and other Logic 7 settings help improve the sound immensely!
Enjoy!
08-14-2006, 05:12 PM
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Your warning message disappears in 5 seconds? Wish mine did that. I just took delivery so I assume I have the latest sw update but I'll have to check it somehow.
08-14-2006, 05:46 PM
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My Ride: 2006 530i, titanium silver, gray leather, sport package, premium package, Logic 7, steptronic, folding rear seats, comfort seats, comfort access, heated front seats
The warning message goes off after 5 seconds if you don't have NAV. If you have NAV then you have to accept it.
08-14-2006, 06:04 PM
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My Ride: 545iSMGSilver GrayAuburn Dakota LeatherLogic 7 Premium SoundSports Package
Very cool! Nice write up. Everyone seems to just write about the car you actually went and did a write up about the whole process. Thats awesome!
Welcome aboard! and congrats on the car.
Welcome aboard! and congrats on the car.
08-14-2006, 06:16 PM
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My Ride: 2008 Sapphire Black on Black M5 - loaded sans soft close doors
The Logic 7 has nothing to do with your Sirius sounding bad. It just sounds bad no matter what. Do a quick search, most people (myself included) find it worse sounding than FM. My wife's XM in her MDX is even worse.
If you think the black interior shows dirt, rumor has it the Gray and Tan are FAR worse. The black cleans up with a damp cloth BTW.
Last but not least, I really like the "power" of Rejex - makes it very easy to clean and it is still holding up great after 2 months. HOWEVER, the paint is now a bit "blurry" - it has lost its depth. Those with dark cars may want to chime in here and agree/disagree. I may want to try something different next time.
If you think the black interior shows dirt, rumor has it the Gray and Tan are FAR worse. The black cleans up with a damp cloth BTW.
Last but not least, I really like the "power" of Rejex - makes it very easy to clean and it is still holding up great after 2 months. HOWEVER, the paint is now a bit "blurry" - it has lost its depth. Those with dark cars may want to chime in here and agree/disagree. I may want to try something different next time.