Originally Posted by BMWSTL' post='447252' date='Jul 13 2007, 10:56 AM

I had ordered a 535i, reasoning that was a better car for me than a 550i. Close-in performance to the 550, and better fuel economy, for a lot less money.

I started thinking about upgrading the 18? runflats to non-runflats. Then I started thinking that if I was going to go that route, why not upgrade to a set of 19?s? I could then use the 18? rims for winter tires. Not a bad idea. I started pricing wheels and tires, and pretty soon was looking at spending $3000. At that point, the 535 was still a pretty decent deal, but less so.

Then I started looking at pictures of cars that had 166?s, 167?s and 172?s on them. Although I had earlier discounted the M-tech body treatment as something that I didn?t really ?need,? the look snagged me. The 19?s would look a lot better with the M-tech body treatment.

When I reached that point, I realized that the 535?s price advantage had all but evaporated. If I put those upgrades on the 535, I?d wind up with a great looking car but not have additional ZSP features of the 550 (enhanced suspension and exhaust), and would have a difficult time recouping the additional cost of those upgrades on the 535 when the time came to sell the car. I also reasoned that if I got the 550 and wanted to change out the 172?s to 166?s or 167?s, I could just put the tires and TMP sensors that came with the 550 on the new rims and sell the 172?s and probably do better than keeping the 18?s for snows and trying to dispose of a set of 18? runflats. I have no desire to enhance the engine performance of the 535 though a Vishnu or other aftermarket solution, so a 535 tuner upgrade path didn?t factor in. Plus the stock 550 ZSP is faster and, with the upgraded suspension, handles better (perhaps not by a lot on either count).

The 535 is a great car, and has its advantages. But the allure of the extras the 550 ZSP offers relative to the 535, the elimination of the cost difference given the upgrades I desired, and the performance advantages of the 550 ZSP, swung me around.

The dealer was OK with it, so I switched my order to a 550 ZSP. I?ll be waiting about a month longer for my car (end of August vs. end of July), but I?m glad I realized that the 535i was not the better route for me to go before I bought the car than afterward.

Lou