Get a used m5 and you'll be happy. I got a 08 550i and now thinking of moving to an m5.

Based on massively positive feedback on this forum I'm sure you will be very happy with the 2008 550i.

Stick with the 550 IMO. Thinking about a 6MT or SMG M5? The SMG is pretty clunky around town. Plus, the M5 absolutely gulps fuel. It [M5] has the same gas tank size as the other "regular" 5 series (~18 gallon) and gets about 10mpg.
If you drive ~12K miles/year you will be filling up the tank more than 5x/month.
18 gallons x $4.00 (or insert your price of premium fuel) = $72. Filling up 5+ times per month = $360 (at least) .

Keep and thoroughly enjoy the 550 and that extra $2000+ in gas savings per year plus lower monthly payments.

I thought about the M5. For a few minutes. But those are my thoughts, too. Plus there's no gas guzzler tax on the MY08 550i (hope there's not one on the MY09 with the new EPA changes.)

Not only the gas, but I personally feel the 550i is somewhat similar enough to the M5 with the fun factor. Like the perennial 335i and M3 argument.....

But best of all, I feel I can be sedate and disappear into the crowd when I want to; the M5 would mean the constant urge to drive it the way it's really meant to be driven. With the MT on the 550i I can still have fun once in a while and not worry about every Ricer on the block trying to pull from me at a stop light.

It's a good choice for me, I believe. And I've yet to hear anything really negative (esp from people here!)..... except for those unfortunate "marginal" rating side impact crash tests; a bit scary.

Whether you lease or buy it looks like a good time to do so. Remember that if you buy, there is a .9% rate going on.

The shifting issue is easily fixed. I installed a Rogue Engineering Short Shift Kit/Weighted Shift Rod on my 06 550 on the way home from dealer at 3 miles on the odo. At the same time, installed a modified Clutch Delay Valve as available from Zeckhausen Racing. Result - crisp short shifts and great clutch modulation.

Only further modification made is that after about 5,000 miles, I deinstalled the Rogue vertical shift rod (the stick) and put about 5 degrees of forward bend in it just above the pivot ball, then reinstalled. Doing so moved the shift pattern towards the dash which made it much more comfortable in relation to the armrest.

Good info, thanks. That'll probably be the first thing I will do. I'll look into it.

Interesting, because I noticed right away the armrest in relation to the stick. And it sorta bothered me. I didn't have the time at the dealer to play around with extending the armrest and so forth (salespeople think you're a bit wacky when you get into those kind of discussions.)

I don't think the ergonomics of the manual stick was really thought out enough by BMW. I realize more Sport Autos are sold over MTs. But I'm glad that someone else notices it, too. Driving ergonomics is pretty key to everything. Thanks again for that tip.