08 550 LCI Test Drive
04-14-2007, 06:00 PM
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My Ride: 11 550i Sophisto Gray/Oyster Black/Anthracite, Sprt Trns, DHP, IAS, SP, PP1, PP2, CWP, HUD, DAP, AVSP, SF RS, CA, ACC - Euro Del
Today my CA let me take their 550 Sport LCI out by myself for a test drive today. My impressions are in comparison to my 04 545.
Appearance Looks just like an M5 to this BMW enthusiast which is to say stunning. Each dealer will be getting a Carbon Black 550 initially. The 550 that I drove was Carbon Black with a new black wood trim and black leather. Carbon Black is ultra cool. Black with just hints of navy blue if the light is right. The front of the car with the larger air in-take and new headlights look spectacular. The only problem is that Carbon Black the contours of the new front bumper with the large air in-take gets Greeked out. It is not especially obvious. The 550 Sport rocker panels are also quite elegant. The new headlights without the orange turn signal within the housing looks much better. The new 19" wheels are also spectacular.
Sound When the car starts up it definitely has a throaty sports car sound that has connotations of power and sportiness.
Interior In my humble opinion the interior changes are hideous. If my lease weren't up this would be deal breaker by itself. The new electronic shifter sits on top of a cheap black filler panel that looks fitting for a developmental test car. It is clearly not the finished product that one would expect on a $80 k sticker German car. It gets worse. The new doors do not fit with the design of the rest of the interior in a coherent manner. Where the doors meet the dash they have this rounded curvy geometry that has nothing to do with the curves and creases of the dash. The previous doors were quite beautiful and cohesive with the dash and the interior. These doors look like a retrofit that was not fully resolved and designed. The controls have this new theme of plastic chrome outline with a black center. Unfortunately this chrome plastic outline is too fat and is not very elegant in general. Compare this to the elegance of a Audi interior details. What I did like was the new recess in the center console in place of the current ash tray. This is a great place for a cell phone or Blackberry. The ash tray moved into the lower center stack which works quite well. The I-Pod connection is a great thing.
Tactile Feel of the Controls and I-Drive BMW made major strides in this area. The I-Drive finally feels great. The maps on the navigation screen definitely look better. The other I-Drive screens have a subtle improved appearance.
Electronic Shifter Another improvement that will take some getting used to. In general I liked it.
Transmission This transmission is definitely not sporty enough. Apparently a new sporty tranny will be available in June. I definitely would wait for that. I am sure that there were issues attributable to the car not being broken in and newness in general. If found it extremely annoying to downshift and just have the tranny pop back to the previous gear. Probably attributable to the newness of the car.
Driving Feel The car drove and handled great when I ran through the local twisties. Acceleration was a notch better than my 545. Active steering was even more transparent then my 04 545. I surprised when I got out of the car to find out that it had the active steering option.
It is fine car with many fine improvements, but the interior changes are disappointing.
Appearance Looks just like an M5 to this BMW enthusiast which is to say stunning. Each dealer will be getting a Carbon Black 550 initially. The 550 that I drove was Carbon Black with a new black wood trim and black leather. Carbon Black is ultra cool. Black with just hints of navy blue if the light is right. The front of the car with the larger air in-take and new headlights look spectacular. The only problem is that Carbon Black the contours of the new front bumper with the large air in-take gets Greeked out. It is not especially obvious. The 550 Sport rocker panels are also quite elegant. The new headlights without the orange turn signal within the housing looks much better. The new 19" wheels are also spectacular.
Sound When the car starts up it definitely has a throaty sports car sound that has connotations of power and sportiness.
Interior In my humble opinion the interior changes are hideous. If my lease weren't up this would be deal breaker by itself. The new electronic shifter sits on top of a cheap black filler panel that looks fitting for a developmental test car. It is clearly not the finished product that one would expect on a $80 k sticker German car. It gets worse. The new doors do not fit with the design of the rest of the interior in a coherent manner. Where the doors meet the dash they have this rounded curvy geometry that has nothing to do with the curves and creases of the dash. The previous doors were quite beautiful and cohesive with the dash and the interior. These doors look like a retrofit that was not fully resolved and designed. The controls have this new theme of plastic chrome outline with a black center. Unfortunately this chrome plastic outline is too fat and is not very elegant in general. Compare this to the elegance of a Audi interior details. What I did like was the new recess in the center console in place of the current ash tray. This is a great place for a cell phone or Blackberry. The ash tray moved into the lower center stack which works quite well. The I-Pod connection is a great thing.
Tactile Feel of the Controls and I-Drive BMW made major strides in this area. The I-Drive finally feels great. The maps on the navigation screen definitely look better. The other I-Drive screens have a subtle improved appearance.
Electronic Shifter Another improvement that will take some getting used to. In general I liked it.
Transmission This transmission is definitely not sporty enough. Apparently a new sporty tranny will be available in June. I definitely would wait for that. I am sure that there were issues attributable to the car not being broken in and newness in general. If found it extremely annoying to downshift and just have the tranny pop back to the previous gear. Probably attributable to the newness of the car.
Driving Feel The car drove and handled great when I ran through the local twisties. Acceleration was a notch better than my 545. Active steering was even more transparent then my 04 545. I surprised when I got out of the car to find out that it had the active steering option.
It is fine car with many fine improvements, but the interior changes are disappointing.
04-14-2007, 06:20 PM
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Thanks for the information pharding!
Can you elaborate a bit more on what you're talking about with regard to the transmission? I'm going to be waiting for the sport model in June but I'm curious about the current offering...
Can you elaborate a bit more on what you're talking about with regard to the transmission? I'm going to be waiting for the sport model in June but I'm curious about the current offering...
04-14-2007, 07:20 PM
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My Ride: 11 550i Sophisto Gray/Oyster Black/Anthracite, Sprt Trns, DHP, IAS, SP, PP1, PP2, CWP, HUD, DAP, AVSP, SF RS, CA, ACC - Euro Del
It is possible that the transmission just had not adjusted to my aggressive driving style. I was using the transmission in sport mode and shifting manually. I did not find this very satisfying. If one is looking for sporty shifting this is probably not it. I was talking to someone today who had a new 335 coupe and he raved about the sportiness of the new tranny. By the way in Chicago the BMW dealers do not have 335 coupes in stock and they get MSRP on each one. The 335 coupe is getting great reviews from BMW enthusiasts. Hopefully the new tranny will be similar to the new tranny in the 335 coupe.
The dealer let me sit in a 335 coupe that was being prepped for delivery. It is an unbelievably beautiful, drop dead gorgeous car. I just wish that it had the headroom of the 5 series.
The dealer let me sit in a 335 coupe that was being prepped for delivery. It is an unbelievably beautiful, drop dead gorgeous car. I just wish that it had the headroom of the 5 series.
04-14-2007, 07:41 PM
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The car does not come with 20" wheels. It comes with 19" wheels.
The Carbonschwarz can be very very blue in some light - not just a hint of blue.
I did not look at how the doors meet the dash - but the interior door design is a great improvement. Unfortunately, if it doesn?t mesh up with other parts of the car...
The iDrive ,,improvements`` have pluses and minuses. The elimination of haptic feedback makes for haphazard selection of some items. It is much faster otherwise. It would have taken increased processor power to speed up iDrive and improve the haptic feedback so the decision was made to eliminate it. But overall, it is an improved design.
The Carbonschwarz can be very very blue in some light - not just a hint of blue.
I did not look at how the doors meet the dash - but the interior door design is a great improvement. Unfortunately, if it doesn?t mesh up with other parts of the car...
The iDrive ,,improvements`` have pluses and minuses. The elimination of haptic feedback makes for haphazard selection of some items. It is much faster otherwise. It would have taken increased processor power to speed up iDrive and improve the haptic feedback so the decision was made to eliminate it. But overall, it is an improved design.
04-14-2007, 08:04 PM
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Jonathan, you may have missed Paul's first impressions of the interior and the discussion that followed back in January:
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=35357
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=35357
04-14-2007, 09:08 PM
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Hadn?t but danke.
I spent about an hour in the 550i and came off with a very positive impression (and I can be very critical over small design imperfections, just read any of my articles).
I think that the photos accentuate some details which come off differently from the driver?s seat.
I spent about an hour in the 550i and came off with a very positive impression (and I can be very critical over small design imperfections, just read any of my articles).
I think that the photos accentuate some details which come off differently from the driver?s seat.
04-15-2007, 05:33 AM
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My Ride: 2008 Sapphire Black on Black M5 - loaded sans soft close doors
Can I ask what dealer you drove it at? I'm curious to see this bad boy. Nice write-up. I agree about the front end.
Jonathan, remember, we are up north here and the sun is still low in the horizon - so the Carbon Black won't really start to take light until closer to summer (I've noticed this with my Monaco Blue) - which is totally different in the bright summer sunlight vs. sunny days in April.
Jonathan, remember, we are up north here and the sun is still low in the horizon - so the Carbon Black won't really start to take light until closer to summer (I've noticed this with my Monaco Blue) - which is totally different in the bright summer sunlight vs. sunny days in April.
04-15-2007, 06:15 AM
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Originally Posted by doug_999' post='413882' date='Apr 15 2007, 09:33 AM
Jonathan, remember, we are up north here and the sun is still low in the horizon - so the Carbon Black won't really start to take light until closer to summer (I've noticed this with my Monaco Blue) - which is totally different in the bright summer sunlight vs. sunny days in April.
04-15-2007, 11:00 AM
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I think someone in the old thread may be on to something - that the old filler plate may only be used until the old console trim inventory is used up. I'm basing this on pics from C.K.'s (I think) carbon black on black interior with high gloss black trim. If you look at the shifter in those pics, it is centered on the console (instead of off toward the driver) and there is a strip of trim surrounding the shifter base which is then surrounded by the large trim piece that covers the console. Since this was high gloss trim, not the dark poplar trim that I've seen the filler plate used with, maybe there wasn't excess inventory and this allowed for the new design. Just a guess but I hope I'm right.
Paul what trim did the 550 have that you drove yesterday?
Paul what trim did the 550 have that you drove yesterday?