There are so many "cheap" cars that come with many of the E60 options as standard. I can buy many Ford cars for around ?10,000 which comes with Xenons, Satnav, CD Changer, Keyless ignition, electric seats, auto, leather, sunroof, etc etc etc.

But guess what ... BMW _never_ came with those. You've always had to add them. They have always been costed options. It's not a surprise!! Have a look on something like the Rolls Royce, Ferrari or Porsche options list. Then come back to BMW and see how cheap all the options are.

I am happy that the E60 and it's options are expensive. If it weren't, everybody would be driving one. Is my car and it's options actually worth ?55,000 in material terms? Absolutely not. But is it worth ?55,000 to me? Yes

 

the transmitter and the receiver of the comfort access (the electronic parts) cost 5 EUR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nevertheless, it is a nice gadget...

what i find useless is a the nightvision -> why would someone drive and look at the idrive?? that really does not make sense..

 

Agree!

 

I agree with Russ' comments about the options -- I think its great having so much choice, the opportunity to personalise your car and flexibility to work to your budget. As for the pricing policy, well that's questionable -- however BMW is a leading innovator in the industry and that all comes at a price.


Back to the original question... what's the biggest Ripoff... for me its got to be one of the cheapest options... the CUP HOLDERS!! I still can't believe we have to order these as an option Its so rude and unnecessary, I'm starting to think its simply a running joke at BMW HQ!

 

Jesus you are right! Cupholders! OMG

 

If you have driven a manual transmission car with ACC you will realize that this option is useless, I wonder why BMW is offering ACC option to manual cars?
Also, night vision is like watching TV when driving, but with much more suspense ...don't take your eyes off the screen, because the enemy is somewhere in front of you ...to me just useless :thumbsdown: I wonder why TV is locked when moving

 

I'm not sure how that you can call options that you are not forced to purchase ripoffs. No one is making you pay what BMW is asking for the various options. If you think they are ripoffs then simply do not purchase them. There are certainly options (probably most of them) that are over priced but that is true with every luxury car line. It was absolutely true with my previously owned Audi and Lexus models and also true with the MB 550E that I considered before going with my 550i. You can make a case that the BMW E60 base cost is very high and that you are paying, in part, for the name and that would be true. It doesn't, however, make the car a ripoff.

 

Why would someone drive and look at the rearview or sideview mirrors?

Kidding aside, I find night vision very useful but only after you train yourself (and your brain) to be able to glance at the screen and quickly determine if there's anything you need to worry about up ahead. Before I got used to the system, I felt the same way as you do because I found myself just staring at it and trying to figure out what all the "hotspots" were. Now, I've learned to ignore the standard hotspots and only notice the ones that are important (like people, animals, etc.)

 

Oh yeah, and I have to add that the stop-and-go feature makes ACC worth it. Without stop-and-go, I'd opt for the "normal" cruise control...

 

My car came with black anthracite headliner and I have grey interior???? None the less, they should all be black since real purpose is to cut down on glare/reflection on the windows.

What I don't understand is why Comfort access is $1000 on e60 and only $500 on some other models. BUT the biggest rip off to me is $400 for iPod adapter!!! :thumbsdown: Most cars today include it for free and in the next year more and more cars will simply have hard drives built in so music can just be transfered to the brain of the stereo system. Hope the engineers at BMW work this out.