ISUK

I guess I have the best of both worlds. I went for sports seats, sports steering wheel, sports suspension and 18" alloys on my SE which has seriously improved the handling when pressing on. I just didn't like the all black/aluminium cube interior but I realise it is all down to personal taste. The Dakota leather doesn't have a nice finish at the best of times but in black it looks a whole lot worse IMHO. BMW used to do much better quality leather finishes. The all black interior made me appreciate just how special the auburn interior is.

Another thing that looked bad on the demo car I had was the lack of the high gloss shadowline trim. This is a must on a sport model in my book. The car looks much better finished with this option. I agree with northernmonkey though that the sport will be the better bet on resale but I'd still spec an SE again with the various sport options I already have and spend the difference on the Individual pack 2.

Stu,

"mutterings"..... I'll have you know that those are insightful observations

northernmonkey

definitely. i got it on mine, was a bit unsure of its value as an option as dealer had no demo/display model with it on but I went ahead and specced it anyway. Now i've got the car am very pleased i did as it has a big visual impact especially against my silver grey paintwork.

manc5

Oh..
I fancied a 535d sport as my next motor..

I find the handling of my 530 with 124 18" and sports suspension quite good.. for the size of teh car that is.. what is the difference for the 535d sport.. does it have different sports suspension ?

Performance wise the 530d is no MCar but the accessible torque is addictive.. i drove a 530 petrol and diesel back to back when deciding which one to buy and chose the diesel.. although i must admit low emmissions for a company car helped the decision.

Performance wise the diesel felt much quicker from 40 through 100 in all circumstances so long as you understood the turbo's power band. Below 40 it seems dead then all of a sudden manic.. classic turbo lag.. just like an old integrale !

David

igor

UK sports car has M-suspension making the car lower, rougher but preciser to ride..
Though Dynamic Drive is not possible with it

stu

For anyone upgrading their E60 . Then do consider AS. I think a lot of us missed it first time round in our haste to get into the new shape car .
I've had the loaner for 5 days now and am loving every minute with active steer.

Hormazd

Tell that to the purists

clived

I think the problem is that both cars are so smooth it's actually quite easy in both to not realise how fast you're going. However, having stepped from 535d to 530d as a loaner, I did notice a difference. And I'm sure you'd see it if you were to run the two side by side...

Were both cars equally run in? My 535d is only at about 3000miles, and I'm feeling it start to loosen up... and speed up :-)

Iceman

Welcome aboard, mountainboy !

JBOO

My biggest complaint on the 535d was that the performance was so smooth I was not able to gauge how fast I was actually going. Having driven it now for some time, I realize the car is quite quick.

I haven't driven a 530d or 530i since I first started looking at the E60, but regardless of how it feels, it hard to argue the published numbers. However, I believe the 535d is only a 1 sec or so quicker to 100 kmh so I'm not sure it would be a night and day difference anyways. Certainly not enough reason to get rid of a perfectly fine 530d.

As for the sound, again, I have not a back-to-back comparison, but all of the reviews have had favorable comments on the engine note compared to other diesel engines.

One last thing to add, there are several options included in the 535d over the 530d, so the intial price difference is much less if you take those in to consideration. Of course, if you're wanting a 6 spd 530d with manual A/C seats and 16" wheels, then the 535d would be a bad choice.

mountainboy

Thanks Iceman. Got a demo of the 535d sport for 24 hours. It's that or keep my 530d and no cash exchange or have a Carbon Black biturbo monster( 22mpg as opposed to 27)