edl

Hi All, continue to enjoy the heck out of the forum - thanks to all for making it a great community.

Loving the car - have just shy of 850 miles on it (2 weeks old) here are observations - many of which are comparisons to the 530 stick (no sport package - current 545 has sport package) i had for 10 weeks before this car.

Handling: the sport package makes a massive difference in the handling - anyone considering it should buy it - I believe it is well worth it - with it comes the active steering, which as i have gotten the hang of it, is a fantastic technology - active roll stabilization, which coupled with the staggered sport wheels/tires (new dunlops) creates rails - there are probably suspension tweaks (anyone know what these are compared to a non-sport) - sport seats, more side bolstering (although i still can't figure out what benefit the thigh extender is supposed to give) -- finally, the engine tuning - unlike an autmatic or smg, the sport mode is always "on" - anyone know exactly what it does (assume more direct ration with gas pedal - anything else?)

Shifting: is the shifter on this car the same as the 530? If it is, the particular one that come with this 545 is not great (and if it is different, it not as good as the 530) - this is really my only "complaint" - with the 530, the car seemed to "know" the next natural gear and seemed to lean that way - particularly while accelerating - with the 545, there is a big gap (left to right) between 4th and 5th - i often find i am accidently shifting to 3rd (not good!) - have others had this exerience? - could it be just a bum shifter? - would a short shift kit fix the lateral (left to right) distances?

Engine: wow, wow, wow - now don't get me wrong my 530 brethren, although i was one of you for only about 10 weeks, it is a fantastic engine - it is smoother than the 545 (which one would hope when comparing an in-line to a V) and smoother shifting (at laeast compared to my 545) - and if you kept her over 3500, lively and although more roll and understeer, still a bmw with fantastic handling --- BUT, the V8 is awesome...period. you may not need it and it may not be for everyone, but it has a beautiful engine note (not much sound out of the exhaust that i can tell), and has torque and horses to spare - no lag (which i had with the 530, unless i was in high rev area), able to pull horses out at 2K rpm (and even lower) - accerates like a beast (and yes, i am observing breakin - so all of the above relates to no hard accelerations (so can't imagine how much fun i'll have over 1.2K mi), nothing over 4.5K rpm (although often at that limit) and nothing over 100 mph (although....).

Sound: did not have the premium sound on the 530 - all i can say is if you can afford it, buy it ... period. Prior to this, i wondered if BMW knew what "bass" meant - i am not saying this is the best sound out there, but compared to the standard radio (which quite frankly was one of the biggest disappointments of the 530), it is awesome.

In short, loving the ride ... completely sensitive to cash constraints, but any of you out there who are thinking about sport or premium and would buy if you thought it really made a big difference...in my humble opinion, it makes a HUGE difference...and the same goes for the 10K (although take off 2K for premium package (which is standard in 545, option in 530, .7K for PDC (std in 545) and .7k for xenon (std in 545)) for the V8 - it is materially different than then the inline 6.

NOTE: the 530 i had was an 04 - so old i6 (225 hp not the new 250? hp).

thanks for reading,
edl

Bart001

I read the title and was thinking, "what the hell is an 850 Mi, I never heard of such a model."

Ricracing

Yeah, I went for that too.

They never made more than one 8-series M.

The E31 models (1989 - 1999) where:
840Ci (7.803 built)
850i (20.072 built)
850Ci (1.218 built)
850CSi (1.510 built).

And a few Alpinas.
B12 Coupe 5.0 (97 built)
B12 Coupe 5.7 (57 built)

Talk about classics!

18 prototype 830i's and one M8 was bult, but they never reached the market.

tab545

On my stick, I wish the Reverse gear were left and down or something. Sometimes, when in a hurry at a light or something, I have caught myself pushing too hard left and going into Reverse (up and too far left) instead of first (up and easy left). I've always caught it, but I wish I didn't have that risk.

Is that just me being bad with a stick?

paasan

Frankly, I think that is just you
How much does it require to get it into reverse - 5-7 kg of pressure?

Hormazd

The pattern did take me some getting used to. About one week to be precise. I just know that 3 is above neutral and 4 is below. The others are a little to the sides. I have little difficulty shifting to any gear. It just takes a little adjustment.