BrianTx5

I just received my December issue of Road & Track magazine in the mail today. They ran a comparison of the Infinity G35 Sport and the Cadillac CTS. They were going to invite the 535i to the dance but decided it was too expensive for this comparison. They were comparing six cylinder sedans. The "price as tested" of the three car were - Cadillac $43,620, Infinity $36,800, BMW $61,125.

Although they did not include the BMW in the comparison they did make a few comments on it. They were very impressed with it and said it was worth the extra money over the Caddy. They ran a 0-60 mph in 5.1 seconds and a quarter mile in 13.7 at 102.6 mph. The skid pad result was .91g which they said was better than the Porsche Cayman.

vrondados

I also read this and noticed that it was the fastest 0-60 I've seen posted. The Ultimate Driving Machine, cant beat it

westcoast550

They need to talk about resale value to make the purchase equation complete......

BrianTx5

Yes, that is fast!! And in the back of the magazine they post a 0-60 mph time of 5.0 seconds for the 550i!!

redwhiteblue

Although the bimmer rocks the new caddy cts is pretty sweet. Apparently it drives and was tuned/designed in germany in an attempt to truly compete with all aspects of the german cars. Has over 300 hp out of a v6, has a great sport suspension with adjustable settings, a nice tiptronic new gearbox that has lightning fast shifts. Idont really like the look of the car but it is pretty impressive and a nice buy for the dough forsure. Caddy is smart since their cts competes with both the 3 series and 5 series so it sucks buyers from each of those cars into the cts.

And guys dont be so shocked to see 5 seconds flat for a 550 or 5.1 for a 535. My 530 with a couple minor mods consistently ran 5.5-5.6 and that was with an automatic and lacked much horsepower either of those 2 cars have. I think bmw way underestimates their 0-60s. I guarentee the 550 can break 5 seconds into the 4s every time if you have your launch down. Launch is the key to 0-60s especially when you have gobs of torque to control

MidnightRider

I thought the zero to sixty time was also funny. This is an even zero to sixty time for a 550 with a steptronic tranny. The 5.0 tested time was for the 550 manual. The 550 has a 20% horsepower advantage over the 535 so I doubt the times are that close. I was also floored by the comments in the current issue of der Bayerische where they claim they got a consistent 31 mpg on the freeway with the 535. Let's see...0-60 in 5.1 and 31 mpg...should I rethink my new 550 decision?

HotLap

No offense but all those numbers seem a bit suspicious to me (both for the 535 and the 550). Seems magazines sometimes can make cars perform even better than the manufacturer's... ! 31mpg - don't think so (I HOPE so) but I'm thinking consistent (combined fuel mileage) in the mid 20's would be excellent for the 535. And the 0 - 60 times being that close are consistent with the other reports and BMW's stats as weight KILLS hp. Both times appear to be a bit generous though. Nice read, thanks for sharing and can't wait till my 535 arrives!!

kscarrol

NO!

redwhiteblue

Remember guys although it is now the benchmark of performance a 0-60 time is a very poor indicator of how much power a car has. A better representation is a run from a roll to 100 or something like that. You take the launch and wheel spin out of the equation which is more a problem for the 550. You cannot put down the full 360 foot pounds of torque off the line or else you would spin the wheels through first gear therefore you are not even using the full HP or torque in a 0-60 run with a powerful car. So although the 550 has 360 hp it may only be effectively using 330 of that hp on average to the sprint to 60. Combine that with its weight being heavier and it is very reasonable that the 2 cars are virtually identical

branie555

HotLap: Love your color choice! Post pics as soon as you can.