Just took my car in to check the steering wheel position and to touch up the scraps on the lower front fascia. The current wheel position is slightly between the 12 and 1 clock position.

Drove home in a stock 05 530i with the old inline 6 motor. Interestingly, it was suffering the same issue as my car. Its steering wheel was off too. Something is surely amiss here and I can here service saying nothing is wrong. Don't want that call.

Anyway, I decided to pass on a few thoughts on the loaner car. Interestingly, the dealer put a speed limiter on the car (85 mph), which was triggered immediately on the freeway. It made me laugh. Nice. But, I missed the tight feel of the sports package right away. More of a cushy ride. As I pulled into the coffee shop, I realized the greater effort needed to turn the wheels at low speed. In fact, even 10 to 20 mph turns require relatively more noticeable effort. I really miss the active steering and would recommended it to everyone!!! Power was decent but you have to wait to get moving. Power comes on at about 3K rpm without the addictive violence of the V8. But, as a high speed cruiser the car felt good and nimble.

It also seems you sit higher in the stock seats versus the sport seats. Nope. I miss the blostering and snug feel of the sports seats. I'd imagine the comfort seats would be lower too. A few other things. I miss L7 and the larger Idrive screen. Collectively, I realize some options can really transform a car and, once experienced, would be tough to not have. Like giving up your E60 for Kia.

CVT Benhogan

 

Any idea on when you will be getting your 550i back problem free?

Keep us updated and good luck!

 

When you say speed limiter, do you mean you couldn't go any faster than 85MPH or the gong went off at 85 MPH ? Any make or model loaner is better than nothing.
cheers
vern

 

A limit light and chime popped on over 85 and the revs seemed to drop off. Would be a nice feature to engage should your friend speed racer ask to borrow your car. Yeah, glad to have a loaner but deserved one too. Happy it was bimmer and, its very probable, it won't be last time. I'd like to try a 330 next time, of course with a sports package.

CVT Benhogan

 

Being seated in sport seats, I noticed that my left foot (left hand drive E60) never seems to end intuitively on the M sports foot rest. It may be positioned a bit too far to the left. Or is this just my amorphy shape?

 

I have to agree with your comments. I am currently driving a '06 525xi loaner without sport. Miss the active steering. Of course, miss the V8 too! Also the seat seems higher than the sport seat - my wife is much more comfortable with the non-sport seat!! I certainly miss the larger i-drive screen, nav and voice commands too.

Overall a nice car (the 545 is a great car!). Would consider it for a second car in the family - my primary would still be the 545 (or now the 550). hehehehehe

 

Again with the bad AS comparisons... active steering is -NOT- the only thing that contributes to the reduction in required steering angle. ARS (dynamic drive) also greatly reduces the amount of steering angle required to execute a turn. This is due to the "self-steering" characteristics that ARS imparts to the chassis. These non-sport cars you both are comparing to your usual rides are missing ARS -and- AS. It's going to be hard to tell which is more to blame for your displeasure.

We recently had another report from a multi-E60-owner who got a new car without AS reporting how much better his Sport, non-AS 07 is compared to the AS cars he had before.

 

I saw that post as well - his specific comment was that he could feel the road better. In back to back drives of two cars with the same CIP, I did not notice this. Rumor has it that AS has been tweaked in some of the upgrades (yet I've never seen any mention of it in the BMW release notes). Yet he also mentioned that he had CIP 20 in his old car and even mentioned that he had the same tires. Very strange. It could easily be a personal choice.

 

Wow they limit the speed to 85mph for the loaners? that sucks

 

Could also be the previous person that drove the car. Why do we assume that the dealer set it? My loaner had a limit set to 125mph. Haven't had a need to change it.