darkside

As of yet I have only seen one car magazine with a 0-60 times listed for the 550i. It was CAR and they gave it 5.3 (I believe this was 0-62). BMW gives the manual and SMG a time of 5.4, and the steptronic 5.5. It seems to me these are a little conservative. If the e39 M5 does it in 4.8, then it would seem 5.0 or at the worst 5.1 would be appropriate for the 550. After all, the wt. to torque ratio is actually better in the 550 (10.6/1 vrs 10.9/1). And the wt to hp is only slightly worse ( 10.6/1 vrs 10.2/1). The 545 is 11.6/1. If the 0-60 is linear based on power to wt. ratio, and BMW's published times for the e39M5 is 4.8, then one would expect the 550i to be 5.0 and the 545 to be 5.46.

Coming from an e39 M3 with a published 0-60 time of 4.8, it would not surprise me if the 550i was in the 5.0 vicinity. It certainly feels that fast to me. I will be curious to see what the car magazines give as the 0-60 for this car.

UUronL

A lot of us seem to think that 4.9 seconds is a reasonable expectation. Car and Driver just tested an e60 M5 and it did 4.2 seconds.

znod

I predict .3 sec. less than either 5.4 or 5.5--SMG/Manual and Step, respectively--so, 5.1 and 5.2. I doubt we'll ever see an SMG or manual tested though.

wolverine

I think we'll see times ranging from 4.9 - 5.2.

EuroCarFan

The Dec issue of Road & Track clocked the 545i Steptronic at 5.2 0-60 and 13.7 @ 104mph for the quarter mile. The 550 should be a tad quicker so 5.0 is logical.

znod

I think the 5.2 time is bogus. Below is what the big 3 US mag's tests yield:

BMW 545i--Manual C&D 5/04 5.5 14.1 103
BMW 545i--Step R&T 6/05 5.2 13.7 104.0
BMW 545i--Step MT 8/04 5.4 13.7 102.1
BMW 545i--Step MT11/05 5.5 13.8 102.8

The 5.2 is highly suspicious to me because one of the other tests yields the same 1/4 mile time but a .2 sec slower 0 to 60. And, the Steptronic test yielding 0 to 60 of 5.5 yields a 1/4 mile time that is only .1 sec. slower than the test yielding the 5.2 0 to 60. Some of this reasoning gets fuzzier since the manual 545i gets a typical 5.5 0 to 60, but gets only 14.1 in the quarter. Go figure. Next, the 5.2 time is a full .6 sec. faster than BMW's claimed time--which seems like too much of a difference.

Finally, two similarly modded cars, including light wheels and tires, have not yet been able to get below 5.30. Using G-meters, the SMG 545i of Realtyman has achieved 5.35, while my Steptronic 545i has achieved the 5.30. I am not too surprised that we have not done better since Realityman did not use the AA, and I don't use brake torquing--although lack of traction might outweight the benefits even if I did.

EDIT: The 5.30 time was produced in a different location on the same road. The asphalt looked the same, but provided better traction. For complete info, check out the new GTech tread in the "Parts Accessories, and Mods" discussion.

znod

Post 8 updated for this morning's experience.

mr_djurgarden

What is the weight for the 550/the e39 m5?

znod

You would think that the 550i and the 545i would be the same. The 545i is right at 3.8k. I have seen the 550i weight stated differently in BMW sources--right at either 3.8k and 3.9k. I think the e39 M5 is lighter, but I have no data. You probably can find its weight by searching on the big three US auto sites for e39 M5 tests.

darkside

The e39M5 unlaiden is 4024, the 550 is 3814, the 545 is approx 3760.