New here, I've holla'd in the newbie forum.

Hopefully by September / October I will have a newish 535d on my driveway. not buying new as I can't warrant the cost.

I've been looking through the options but am confused about the difference between the standard auto box and the sports auto box. Does it affect mpg, iis it worth it, etc, etc.

Also, I'm looking for MY05 model but was this the facelift year change?

What other nice features should I hold out for - i desperately want the 19" 172 alloys.

Thanks

Mark

Welcome to the Forum Mark aka Salvatore,

The sport automatic gearbox will give you a bit worse mpg, because the car runs will higher rpms.

The standard auto gearbox has the sport- and a Steptronic function.
These will give you driving fun enough with a very strong 535d engine.

Nice extras are good stereos (Hi-Fi speakers or Logic 7) and sport- or comfort seats.

The E60 LCI (Life Circe Improvement ie facelift) came from cars manufactured after March '07.

The OEM M172 rims will fit a E60 OK, but not the E61.

Welcome to the forum & enjoy it ^_^

I can't give you a lot of info about auto/sport auto gearbox because I drive a manual :lol:
Concerning the facelift, MY07 (>march) cars got it.

If you want the 172M rims, ... 'need just to buy them :P

Hi, thanks for the welcome

Well this was the other thing. 18"s in the UK are notoriously run flat. I thought that to go to 19"'s or to ditch the run flats required some jiggery pokery with the suspension set up too.

Is this correct?

Euh... run flat or non run flat, there are lots of post about the discussion in the forum o:)

The SAT (Sports Auto Trans) wasn't available in MY05. The 535d is always an auto so you'll get the standard Steptronic with sports mode and manual override. The SAT adds a number of features including improved mpg, reduced CO2, paddles and other modes - there's lots of detailed information in the forum. The 535d was updated from 272HP to 286HP in 2007 and it's worth hunting one down if you can (and get SAT ;-)

I'd strongly recommend the 172M wheels as they avoid all of the runflat 'issues'...

Hi

I recently bought a 2005 535d with the DMS remap and I can honestly say that its a great all-round car. I have owned Maseratis, Merc's and other performance cars but the BMW is the most guilt-free performance car I've owned, at an average of 34mpg!!

I swapped the standard 18"'s with crappy runflats for a set of OEM M5 19"'s with Bridgestone Potenzas (Standard BMW fitment) and the difference was quite noticeable:
The car feels lighter and livelier, as the runflats are very heavy compared to "normal" tyres and the ride quality was also better - less crashy and more supple.I would say change the standard 18"'s as soon as you can - the car also looks so much better.
Nothing needs to be done to the suspension to change wheels and tyres, I've certainly had no problems - I'm sure that if I'm wrong someone out there will shout me down!!!

(The DMS remap costs about a grand but you get around 340 bhp and over 500 ft/lb of torque !!! 0-60 in 5.5 sec, top speed restrictor is also removed, meaning about 172 mph!)

(Cue lots of tyre smoke!)

Regards
Chris