studavis

Doc, I can't match Tolstoy...er...Hopco, but all of the points here are valid. With the economy tanking, cash is king, especially on a model nearing the end of it's life cycle. The E60 is by far the best sedan on the planet for a driver. Do a search for the most up to date dealer cost sheet, pop an oxiconten, and go get that bad boy into your stable.

z06bigbird

[quote name='consultingdoc' date='May 21 2009, 01:07 PM' post='885699']



First rule of thumb: Never ever fall in love with a car. You like it; you drive it for a while. Then you sell it when you can make the most on it. Otherwise, keeping a car too long can become a money pit.

consultingdoc

Thank you all again for your kind and useful advice. Hopco, have no fear, I very much appreciate as much detail as people are willing to write. As a newbie, I know nothing, other than what I've read perusing websites and fora, and having gone on three 20 minute (each) drives in a 535i, two with the sport package and one without. The sport pkg. is necessary - yes. And I test drove a 2008 750il for about 40 minutes. I really like the updated/upgraded iDrive in the 2009 535; it has more buttons that can go direct to the specific function desired, such as nav or radio. I understand the reason the iDrive works faster in the 2010 is that the 2010 iDrive uses a hard drive rather than a DVD disk.

I am happy to hear about the freebies offered on the new 2010. Thank you very much for that heads up.

I've printed out price sheets from Edmunds.com and from Consumer Reports which list invoice and msrp prices.

Would it be considered o.k. form to post on some existent thread or on a new thread the list of what I want and prices in order to get hints and advice about how much to pay the dealer for the model I want? You guys are so helpful, you could be helpful also in advising a newbie on how low you think dealers will go to sell a new 2010?

Thanks again.
best wishes

P.S. to bigbird: I don't normally fall in love with a car, it's more "in like." But I really have disliked my doofus RX330 since I drove it home in August, 2004, that by comparison, I love this BMW that I plan on making my mistress sometime in the next few weeks or months (it's o.k. my wife of 38 years knows about it and thinks it's a fine idea). If this car performs as it did on my test drives, and is as reliable as y'all say it is, and considering that GEICO offers a dirt-cheap "mechanical breakdown insurance up to 100k miles with no limitation on years, then this car that I hope to purchase may be my mode of transportation far longer than any previous car, perhaps up to 8 years (?) which would likely be my 100k mile warranty limit. At that point I'll sell it to someone else who knows how to take an older BMW, take it apart, modify it and enjoy a rebuilt car for another 100k.

Am I beginning to think like a Bimmer owner?

BTW, did I say you guys are great? Thanks for your help.

HaroutK

ive had my 535i for a month now, the new lines i really love the car, it is excellent, if you really want a throttle response and that sporty feel, just invest in a sprintbooster for around 140 after 2000 miles or something, that'll do you well

the AC is amazing!!!! socal heat right now, 80's 90's and its great

NO ONE mentioned the automatic parked ventilation!!! you can set the A/C to turn on at anytime during the day so lets say 8am and you wake up at 8, the car ventilates and cools down while you dress and drink coffee or whatever, and you open the door, and ahhh cool or heat! either or

perfect for cold mornings in my opinion

truley an amazing car, the twin turbos are fun to hear, the gear shifter is truley amazing,click to park and stuff, the steering wheel buttons, built in bluetoooth where you can access ur contacts! top 10, redial, call, anything...

your whole car service is through the iDrive, check tire pressure and oil levels

HaroutK

oh and the ipod adapter, your ipod goes up on idrive and sorts in albums/artists and such, so everything is basically handless, plug it in and stash it away

ssibaroma

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/dir.../.ef0f831/3258

that link should help you trying to get some idea how much you should be paying for the 535 you wanting to get.

I found out about the site after i bought the car last fall well i could have done better if i knew about the site prior to my purchase but i got a decent deal on my both 5 and 7er.

You know how the economy is right now, and i do not believe tmv of the edmunds is really that accurate. I see people getting far better deals than edmunds tmvs.