I picked up my 545i with the sports package on Saturday. Drove it about 150 miles from the dealer in SLO to Santa Barbara. Preferred to purchase in Santa Barbara but purchased from dealer in SLO since they gave me a better deal.

In driving back on Highway 101 at speeds averaging 75- 80 mph, I was pleasantly surprised at the gas mileage, a fantastic 31mpg. Amazing for 325 hp car. The car was remarkably smooth and quiet. I was a bit concerned about the ride before I picked up the car given that it had the stiffer sports suspension and the run flat tires. However, I am still concerned about the susceptibility of the rims to damage. It appears that there is only about 2 inches of rubber that separate the rim from the ground.

I was also on a business trip to Washington DC last week and stopped by the BMW dealer on Glebe Rd in Va. I found out that the SIRIS radio option will cost $750 dealer installed. $750 is a rip off! BMW should have told every party that ordered the SIRIS interface for $75 that the radio option was going to be $750. If I would have known, perhaps I would have had second thoughts about ordering the SIRIS interface. Is there a 3rd party approach to install the SIRIS radio module with iDrive compatibility for like $300 or so? It seems that this could be possible given that stand-alone SIRIS radios sell at Circuit City for about $120.

I will post my additional impressions in a few weeks.

I have to agree that this is a major rip off from BMW.

Let's not forget that I already paid thousands for the PREMIUM sound package and $75.00 for the interface prep. Now they want me to pay $750 for the radio - which isn't even a new radio. It's a small piece of hardware that get's installed there is no new radio face or anything. It's a module.

I love my 530, and I'm glad I got it but BMW needs to take a look at some of their decisions.

It's interesting that it is just a module and not even a full blown radio! BMW ought to be ashamed of themselves for pricing it at $750. It's even a bigger rip off than you think because I believe that SIRIS subsidizes the manufacturers of the SIRIS receivers since this market is much like the razor blade market where you give away the razor since the profits come from the consumables, i.e. the razor blades. Another example is the Direct TV deal that is widely advertised. You get all the equipment to view Direct TV in 3 rooms for free if you purchase a suscription for 1 year. Finally, what in the hell is BMW thinking with regards to this sort of pricing? I read somewhere that BMW has an equity position in SIRIS. Don't you think that they would want to proliferate the SIRIS system to generate a revenue stream of $10 per month from each suscriber? Charging $750 is counter to this. What's with BMW management? They make great cars and we (including myself) are willing to pay a premium for a BMW rather than purchase a Lexus or Acura which are more fully equipment and represent a better "value" in the car market.

I will check with a BMW mechanic that I know to find out more about the module and the interface between the module and the i drive. If it is a common interface with just the output of the receiver going into the cable, with the software residing in the idrive, it might be easy to retrofit a 3rd party unit. I also will check with SIRIS.

It's also possible (probable?) that the $750 for the SIRIS (like the $900 (IIRC) I was quoted for the 6cd changer), represent _dealer_ ripoffs, not BMW, per se. Note that you can't find those prices on any BMW produced data (or carpoint, etc), they all say n/a or DIO. My guess is that the dealers have set the price as a money maker, and you could very likely talk them down to the couple of hundred range.

If the Sirius module is anything like the CD changers, alarms, and garage door openers, the install will be a very simple and straightforward DIY job.

The pre-wiring option will add a wiring harness (somewhere in the trunk, most likely) and maybe even the mounting bracket, and it will be a fairly straightforward install and mounting job to actually mount the module and plug it in.

Once it's plugged in to the wiring harness, the car and iDrive should just automagically recognize it and it will be fully integrated into the car's electronic and audio system. There might be an activation process that the dealer has to perform, but the cost for that would only be like a half hour of labor.

I would not fret about the Sirius module installs at all. I am getting the pre-wiring in my 545 and fully intend to buy the module and install it myself.

By weight of comparison, I paid $595 for the BMW CD changer to install in my 330i and it took all of a half hour to get it mounted into the trunk. I paid $250 for the alarm and had it installed in less than 45 minutes, and paid $140 for the garage door opener and had it installed in less than half an hour. Had I had those parts installed at the dealership, I think it's safe to say that I would have paid twice what I paid for the parts + labor.

-MrB

Is SIRIS going to be around long enough for it to matter? Read yesterday that they are in serious trouble and will start broadcasting NFL games to boost subscriptions.

Barry

I would think that SIRIUS will be around in some capacity at least. They've already launched the satellites, and that is a pretty big cost. I think it's just a matter of waiting it out until the word gets out and more OEM's start packaging it into their audio systems.

-MrB