hinckley

I'm a week and half away from my ED, so to make myself more crazy, I just did a short drive with my dealer's first 550. It was carbon black (all the reviews are right on track)/black/dark burl wood, auto.

Compared to my first year 545, it's a huge improvement, although we may be the only ones who notice the differences. I love the exterior mods, but - again compared to the first year model - it's the interior that is the biggest change. When the E60 was first introduced, it took me six months to finally hold my nose and order the car. I thought that the interior was a mess of a design and worse, I thought the interior materials were outrageously cheap looking. When I did order, I got an all black interior because I thought that it best hid the cheap materials. I'm not a designer or an architect, but to me, the new interior, while less avant-garde and more traditional, is much more pleasing to the eye and much more luxurious.

The new iDrive screen with the added buttons is a real move forward as is the additional storage space. Those of you who already have a 550 know that the engine's a great improvement over the 545. The new 550 exhaust note is deeper, more sportier sounding than the previous model, but I don't believe it has quite the deep throaty note that the 650 has. And btw, the rear directionals, at least on the 550 Sport, do blink red. Who sits around and decides that red is better than amber?? Bizarre.

Here's the other bizarre note. There was a sapphire black LCI M5 next to the 550 (with a 6-speed manual!). It has all the same changes as the 550 with one exception . . . I'm amazed to report that, instead of the rectangular, vertical, fender mounted amber reflectors, the M5 has slightly stylized, rectangular, HORIZONTAL reflectors. They're mounted about an inch behind the outer-most PDC sensors and wrap around the side. Who thinks this stuff up???!!!

jcflys

I have seen pictures of the new M5's and I agree, the reflectors look much better on the M5. It looks like they tried to come up with a stylish option on the M and just glued in a convenient location on the 550i. I am hoping we will have a good aftermarket alternative.

Oh yah I am arriving in MUC on May 8th for my ED scheduled on May 9th. I can't wait. If you are going to be at the Munich Marriott on May 8th I wanna see your new beast.

JC

hinckley

I'm arriving on the 3rd and am heading right from the airport to the pick-up center (how can you wait a day??!!). Anyway, by the 9th I hope to have a couple thousand kms on the car and should be somewhere around Avignon in the south of France. Where are you heading to after pick-up?