You can take it as read that the 6-speed manual will be fine - BMW don't make bad manual gearboxes.

Until you drive an SMG - you can't know if you want one. You have to have a nice long test drive - THEN weigh up the other pro's and con's like reliability, consumption and speed.

 

Very funny difference between US and Europe.
In the US almost all cars are automatics, people who like driving take manuals.
Here in Europe, lots of cars are manuals but cars like 5 series are almost not sold with manual gearbox. Actually i understand this cause a five series, certainly a 550 is not a car for a manual transmission. Thats why i think u should take a steptronic. If u want a car with manual take a sportscar like an M3 of Z4 M. Exceptance is the M5 which is a sportscar aswell.

 

I've never been bothered with traffic and a manual gear box like others here are (keeps things fun...no sleepies).

I notice that under traffic conditions the autos get up close to cars in front of them (aggresive).

I just take my time and make better use of gas mamanagement.

 

Ok so I feel your pain. I was in the same position before I ordered my car. Fortunately I had a dealer with a 550i SMG I could test drive. After reading comments on this site and test driving SMG like 6 times for a total for about 8+ hours, I decided to order SMG. This happened over the course of a week and half. The 550i just came in and many customers were doing the same thing I was doing. Of the 5 I meet all of us ordered the SMG. Then about one week after the car was sold.

I became quite good at it after my 4 "test drive". Now I have driven stick (many cars) and triptronics (wife's Volvo XC90) for years. It is so much fun to drive.

My thought on maintenance is that BMW will pay for it for the next 4 years and should just continue to improve with software upgrades. If it becomes too much of a problem after 4 years then I can always trade it in.

Not to sound to big headed but people buying loaded BMW 550's (top of the 5 series line.. aside from the M series) would probably not worry too much about cost for a fine machine like the 550i within reason.

Also consider that very few race car drivers drive a manual and high end exotics like Ferrari have a fair amount of SMG versions.

 

I vote manual with a short shift kit to reduce shifter travel. I have had two 540-6spds with SSK's and now a 550 with SSK's all by Rogue Engineering. Shifting cements the driver to the car and manual yields the ultimate in control IMO.

BTW, I also waived on Active Steering since it requires the driver to adapt to the variability of AS steering response which is just one more thing that I don't want to have to think about. I expect to get breathed on for this statement.

 

I think the short shift kits are the way to go for the manual. I think I would seriously consider the SMG on my next 5......as for the AS......I think it's another personal preference. No need to get "breathed" on! Personally, I really liked the AS.......and I look forward to driving my car....SOON......it's at the west coast VPC right now.......

 

As far as the active steering goes, I did not need to adapt to anything, its enginered so well that you hardly notice it. Alot of my buddies have driven my car and had no idea it had active steering. The one time you will notice it, is when you are parking, and then you see how truely great it is.

 

Let me be the first. Okay... not really... I didn't want to get an E60 because of the inclusion of AS in the sport package. Now that they made it a seperate option I thought it might be time for a test drive and look at an E60 to replace my E39 540i/6. I accidently test drove one with AS (sales guy told me it didn't have it but it did) and I'm sold. It was very nice to drive. That said, I ordered my E60 without AS since I noticed lots of issues with it. I might get it on my next car.

 

I like in Manhattan, traffic here is horrible, but I'd actually rather have a manual over SMG in traffic.

I don't like the way my SMG disengages the clutch when I lift off from rolling at 10mph in first gear. It does it at a higher rpm than I'd like, and does it very quickly, making the car pretty abrupt. With a manual, I can control when exactly and how smoothly the clutch is disengaged. All other gears are very smooth in SMG though, so this only applies when I'm in real bumper-to-bumper traffic in 1st gear.

The time I prefer SMG is actually when there's no traffic, when I'm in "attack mode" around some winding roads.

 

Dealer flat out told me SMG was a piece of crap. They know my desire for manuals and stated with my driving style I would be dissapointed. They also gave me one to drive for a few days and despite all the tips from this board on SMG, I still felt this was inferior to a manual. Engagement of the clucht just felt too artificial.

Decision to order another manual was quite easy.