sumu

My 2pence worth:

I like my music too and went from the Harmon-Kardon system in an E46 3 series (the equivalent of the logic 7 as I understand) to the HiFi speaker option in my E61. I was prepared to be disappointed but I was in fact pleasantly surprised - bass is solid through underseat subs and treble sweet though in-door extra tweeters. Maybe L7 is better ... but it's a lot more expensive.

Also I thought hard about the standard vs advanced climate and in the end went for the standard. I have to say it does the job well. What do you need other than a temperature setting and easy manual controls for demist/recirculate etc.. Again I had advanced stuiff in my E46 like auto-recirc but I don't miss it.

So now you've saved a bit I have to echo a previous comment and say how about some leather for the seats.

pedrollo

Had 3 T5s, but the latest (bulbous) one finished me off. Wanted to enjoy driving again so tried an E39 (diesel!) and loved it. Almost as quick, handled so much better, and 30 plus to the gallon (auto). Missed the Volvo sports seats, and the superbly simple controls for heater etc. - oh, and the dealer.

Just traded the E39 and tried E90 touring and the E61, both as Sports. Could have lived with either but decided the 5 was a better mile eater, and the wheel arch intrusion in the back of the 3 was another clincher.

I actually preferred the 3 sports seats to the 5s, depends how big your *rse is I suppose!

Standard radio is very average, you need to have the hi-fi speakers (better amp, speakers, and has subs under the seats). L7 is expensive and not necessary unless you are someone who actually uses a graphic equaliser.

Agree with the others, skip the adv air-con, downgrade L7 to hi-fi speakers and try to get leather. There will be some value to leather at trade-in, nothing for the air-con or stereo.

My weakness is xenons, won't buy a car without them now.

Best advice I can give is to make sure that you don't pick one and then wish you had chosen the other, I HATE that!