5Series.net - Forums - My E60 through the white Burgoundy

This saturday, I was coming back from Lyon (France) towards Belgium. Everybody here knows Burgundy, I suppose ? Right ! Between BEAUNE and LANGRES, there is 120 km. My E60 took 4 HOURS 30 to ride this distance ! No ..., no brakedown, no accident (not for me) ... But heavy snow falls, blizzard, ice evywhere !
The motorway was very crowdy, due to return travels from mountain (school holiday here). You can imagine lorries stuck in light hills, cars slipping to the ditch, cars moving at 5 km/h when it was at least possible to move !

You know what, I felt really very happy to sit in my 530D :

- Winter tyres & DTC were doing a fantastic job, while MB ML, Range Rover or Volvo X90 were strugling on their large summer sport tyres ! They need people pushing to start to move, an other cars rear bumpers to stop !!! :blink: My E60 was even able to pass in the grass in deep snow to overtake stuck trucks. Ok, I admit traction was maybe better with 120 bottles of fine wines in the trunk !!! :thumbsup:

- The steptronic is giant in "les bouchons" (we were in Burgundy). Thousands of times I've had to stop & to restart. It's so simply without clutch ! It's my first automatic gearbox, but I'll never choose anything else (maybe SMG).

- I could stay 100% cool & zen sitting in my car, in my heated sport seat, listening nice music through HiFi system : 180 songs on the same MP3 CD !!!

- Everything was working fine : clim, engine, wipers, headlights,... while other conductors had to stop to remove ice on their windscreen, or for engine heating problems because of ice stuck on the radiators, or headlights covered with snow.
I was just thinking snow looks whiter under double xenon light !!

I never drove a so secure car : ice, snow, "sloche", water, mud on the road & only this little yellow light on the dashboard lets you know the car is doing the job for you ! I've never been a fan of all these electronic systems making the driving easier, but I have to admit it's +++ in such difficult conditions !

With 800 kms autonomy, you need to stop only for a little pee. And when you finaly arrive home after beeing sitted 8 hours, you are not tired, you don't have pain at your back ! Fantastic. My friend traveling with me owns a MB E320cdi, and I'm now sure his next car will be also a E60 !!!

Why only 99% satisfaction ? In fact I have a slight vibration in the front brakes. I think the front left brake disc received a thermic shock after the wheel passed in a water splash just after a hard braking. I called my dealer and he fixed an appointment to change the front disks & the pads under warranty (I've only 6.000 kms).

By the way, I often travel across Burgundy, but I NEVER saw such road conditions in that nice part of France !

And if I may advise you a very good adress when you travel there : Hostellerie du Chapeau Rouge, centrum Dijon. Both Hotel & Restaurant are perfect. :twoup: (we spent the night there when traveling to Lyon).