Bart001

I hear the factory tour is incredible! My 16 year old son was so wiped out from jet-lag when we arrived at the pickup, we passed on the tour. I wish I had dragged him through it now...
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Wolverine, my oldest son (the 19 yr old) is really "into" cars and my own interests in BMW's have given him expensive tastes! When he was 17 the BMW Driving Experience came by and I signed him up for the 'young drivers school.' They let the 16-20 yr olds drive 330i's with instructors on the skid pad, through the cone course, etc., and do some classroom instruction. It's free, and he loved it. When he went off to college I gave him my 1994 325is and of course he loves that too. He put Euro. clear taillights on it but..eh...kids.

cobradav

Dont think so. Its new. its not the X5 4.8L it is a new engine.
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EBMCS03, its exactly same engine (I saw in BMW's internal brochure, same engine #) its on X5 since last year, its on 7er since this year and it will be on 550 in fall.
I've read conflicting articles: R&T, May 05, says this is the old 745 4.4L engine, bored and stroked to be 4.8L. BMWcar, March 05, says "all new engine" what ever that means. Only when we can get the engine code will we know for sure if it is same as X5 4.8L and maybe more direct unambiguous language from BMW.

EBMCS03

Dont think so. Its new. its not the X5 4.8L it is a new engine.
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EBMCS03, its exactly same engine (I saw in BMW's internal brochure, same engine #) its on X5 since last year, its on 7er since this year and it will be on 550 in fall.
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Humm thats interesting... so it really is the 4.8l from the current X5 4.8is???? wasnt that a modified 4.4L which was the E39 540i's engine??

So the new 750 and the up comming 550i is going to use a old E39 4.4L engine thats bored and modified to a 4.8???

Someone correct me... this doesnt sound right...

Hormazd

Dont think so. Its new. its not the X5 4.8L it is a new engine.
[/quote]
EBMCS03, its exactly same engine (I saw in BMW's internal brochure, same engine #) its on X5 since last year, its on 7er since this year and it will be on 550 in fall.
[/quote]

Humm thats interesting... so it really is the 4.8l from the current X5 4.8is???? wasnt that a modified 4.4L which was the E39 540i's engine??

So the new 750 and the up comming 550i is going to use a old E39 4.4L engine thats bored and modified to a 4.8???

Someone correct me... this doesnt sound right...
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It doesn't sound right and is not. This is a new V8 in the 750 and later in the 550. It is NOT the rebored V8 from the X5

jlgnyc11

Gotta figure BMW is putting the new engine in to save production costs- can eliminate the line making the 45's and consolidate to making all 48's for use in the X's, 7's and 5's. So it is probably the same engine as those others, although I have no idea where that engine came from (i.e., is it a re-bored E39 or something else).

I have read that when all is taken into consideration the 550i will have very similar performance specs to the 545i owing to higher weight. Although I find that odd (why would BMW make a bigger more powerful engine that didn't also have some practical performance advantage?) it would be consistent with the idea that they are just streamlining their production facilities to use the same engine in multiple lines.

Just speculating. And rationalizing - since I recently acquired a 545i when my CLK lease ended in February (couldn't wait for the 550i if I wanted to . . . )

ktulu

I am very confused on what to do. My current lease is up in 3 months and I do not want to extend it. I am also not sure if I want to drive a 545 around for 3 years when I could of had a 550. I know however that I do not want to spend $200 more a month just because the Money Factor on the 550 is going to be higher than the 545. I guess it could be worse. I could be debating on whether or not I should get a new Scion or a Kia.

What I understand is that the 4.8 that is in the 750 is a new engine. It would make since that this 'new engine' have some of the characteristics of the new I6 3.0 meaning perhaps magnesium? So it may be lighter even than the 4.4. The 750s powerplant is definitely visually different than the 4.8is' which is produced by Alpina and is basically a bored out 4.4, so I understand.

Hormazd

Well it sounds like you must give somewhere. Maybe extend your lease by a year. that will take you to 550 in the summer of 2006, when I am sure the money factor will lower.

Hormazd

Well it sounds like you must give somewhere. Maybe extend your lease by a year. That will take you to 550 in the summer of 2006, when I am sure the money factor will lower.