Do the trims available for the 5-series feel cheap? Especially the black high-gloss, is that trim plastic? Is the black high-gloss trim different from the piano black BMW Individual trim? Are the wood trims real wood or just plastic? Is real aluminum used for the brushed aluminum trim?

 

i can answer that my bamboo trim is real bamboo. i drove a 328 last week and i couldnt determine if the wood was real or not. the aluminum in the M5 is def real as well.

 

While its definitely not the 1930's Rolls Royce slabs of hand-polished wood, I'd say e60 has the best trims I've seen in its class. And that goes for ALL the colors and materials. If you wanna do smth completely custom, there's a vendor on this forum who sells elastic carbon fibre material that stretches over your original trim and people have said its really nice and feels better than the original BMW trim. I'm not sure, but I think its Eurorev that sells it... come to think of it, I should get me some (Craig, I'm just asking for an intervention here got the new shift knob, now getting the trunk finisher - someone stop me!)

 

mine feels like aluminium

 

The wood in my 535 feels like it's plastic.

 

its not. i have a very strange grain area. i also have an imperfection in the black stain. i am sure if they were gonna use fake stuff it would look perfect.

 

The best trim in it's class...hmm. What about black high gloss? Is that plastic or some sort of other material?

 

I believe that it is real wood and real aluminum. I can't speak postively for the E60, but I can for a Mercedes M-Class. I have seen the wood trim on the dash of a M-Class actually broken in half...and it is positively real wood. It's not thick, maybe 1/16 inch, but it is wood. My buddy has a ~70 Jaguar, and it has wood on the dash that is warping a bit. It is pretty cool...and about 1/4 inch.

 

I've got a beech tree out the back garden. Thats also real wood.
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