alohalc

i think he was having too much fun and drove too far...and got lost but couldn't figure out how to use the nav system yet .

Iceman

Those flaps are there for the engine cooling...

I called BMW waaaay back and asked about it, because I was worried to see "changes"... All other cars here on the board (at this time) didn't had those flaps, so I thought that BMW added them for some reason...
But one of the guys who work in the development team of the V8 engine told me, that those flaps are there to cool the engine. The air flow gets directed towards the bottom of the engine, the oil sump, and helps cooling the engine down better. This is only in those countrys, where you drive very fast the most of the time! On US cars you don't have them, because usually a US E60 is not driven as fast as the European E60's. Maybe you take it to the track one day, but only for a couple laps. In Europe the cars are driven very fast almost every day, so the flaps help us over here. BMW just saved the money and the weight, because it's not really necessary, but better if you drive fast very often...
I like this very much, because it hides the radiator and the front looks better, IMHO...