CRRobert

Was looking around and found BMW Individual. If you go down and select models, you can select the 5 series. Looks like there are additional colors, trims, and different leather type and colors.

I am just curious, but has anyone done this before on other BMW's, I think is says Fall 04 before available.

Does anyone know about the Merino leather type, or opinions on the other options like the double V wheels.

gdavis

I tried ordering Individual and the dealer said not possible for US models.

NickP

CRRobert; what were your original color choices (before you saw info on Individual)

Doctor Diesel

You need VERY deep pockets to delve into the individual options

I saw a 745i with white merino leather and piano black trim.....gorgeous but nearly 10K$ extra!

CRRobert

Nick,

Currently I am looking at Siver Gray, Black interior, Dakota Grey Upholstery(Not standard so don't know if I can get it, I like the two tone), and black anthracite trim. How about you?

I really liked the Sepia metallic, merino leather amarone, and walnut amarone trim. Looks like they have more leather around the consol also.

DD, Yeah I figured they would be extra, my English Grandmother always says I have "Champagne tastes and beer Pocketbook."

qdavis, It did say something about the expanded leather available fall 2004, so I would imagine your delivery is too early. What did you want?

I came across this pic, could have been here, is a Euro model, with two tone interior.

salio

Hi CRRobert:
I am glad to see that you are using the picture of my car which I posted on Roadfly a while ago. I love the two tone combination. Please be aware that this interior is Amethyst Gray and not Silver Gray. I had to do a special order in Canada in order to get Amethyst Gray interior with Orient Blue exterior. I think that the Amethyst Gray is not avaliable in the US.

CRRobert

Salio,

Thanks, now I know who to give credit too. Very very good looking. Yeah I think I remember you stating it was amethest gray. I think that the Dakota Grey would look very similar though. Agree that the amethest gray is not available in the US to my knowledge. I hope that I am available to get the two tone with Grey dakota leather, unless my pockets get a little deeper and they allow to get BMW individual.

NickP

Two tone is of interest for me as well. I'm mostly set on Oriental Blue on the exterior. Full black for me is an issue with heat in the cabin. Tan is a cleaning nightmare (I do keep all my cars clean!). Grey on it's own just seems like it's a Honda to me For all I know I may just get stuck with grey anyway!

I will support a Black interior if I can get active/ventilated seats which my dealer is hounding BMW NA on as a priority option... Let's see.

CRRobert

NickP,

Salio has the orient blue exterior I think, in the picture I posted. I also noticed that the only color options(priority one) for ventilated seats was the beige or black. I am hoping that they may extend that to the grey, otherwise I probably won't get the ventilated seats. Maybe they will add it for MY 05.

Hope you can get it.

I will try to email my dealer to see if he can dig up any information. Longshot, but we will see.

rodybmw

CRRobert,

Before I begin let me appologize for the long post. Once you get past my rantings on BMW NA I have a couple of suggestions that MAY help.

BMW NA can be (and usually always is) a pain in the rear end when it comes to non-standard orders. I can almost guarantee that BMW NA will not accept any BMW Individual orders. I have heard for the past ten years that BMW Individual will be introduced in the US soon, but it has not happened yet. Someone posted on this board last year that BMW NA MAY have a very limited BMW Individual program soon, but I have heard that time and time again for ten years now.

I don't mind so much that BMW NA does not take Individual orders, but that they are getting worse and worse in allowing any non-US interior or exterior colors/materials (even when it's a standard color for that model BMW for non-US cars). This is absolutely no problem for the factory because the US BMW's are built in the same factories and assembly lines as the Euro models, but it is a BMW NA issue. While BMW AG makes it easier to order what the customer wants and even change order specifications the week prior to production, BMW NA is going the opposite route and taking away the EXTREMELY LIMITED special order allwoance that they offered before.

On my last three BMW purchases BMW NA refused my special orders on non-US exterior/interior colors, even though they were standard colors for the Euro models of the same cars. The only time they granted one of my requests was when the let me have a European cloth interior for my 1997 528i Euro Delivery. They even did it for free.

As time goes by they make it next to impossible to do anything like this anymore. For the last few years their policy has been to refuse ALL special orders on Euro Delivery BMW's (even though there is someone that posts on another board who got one because of some connections and the quantity of BMW's that he has purchased over the years).

So in the past couple of years the only way that very limited number of people have been able to get special exterior/interior colors has been to order their cars through the dealers allocation and take delivery at their US dealer (no Euro Delivery). Unfortunately they seem to be going in the direction of even stopping this. The salesman that I buy from has many high level clients in several studios in Los Angeles (Disney, Dreamworks, etc.). He used to be able to get special colors for his clients from BMW NA after NA realized who the clients were. However, BMW NA has recently refused special colors for these top level clients (and by top level I mean famous celebrities and head of the studios). One of his clients requested a special non-standard paint on a $120,000 760Li, and even though he was a famous and powerful person in Hollywood BMW NA still denied his request. Now, this was NOT a "custom" paint color, it was just a BMW paint that does not come on the 7 series in the US, yet it still was refused.

I would suggest that in order to maximize the chance of BMW NA accepting your non-US color request you should stay away from BMW Individual stuff, as well as "custom work". By "custom work" I mean choosing somthing that does not exist in Europe as a standard option. For example, if you like the two tone Amethyst/Black, then find the interior code for Amethyst Dakota and have your dealer submit that to BMW NA as the interior code of your order. If you insist on the two tone interior BUT you want the Amethyst Dakota sections to be substituted by the regular Gray Dakota then BMW NA would not even consider it. Yes, I know that the Amethyst Dakota is a different shade than the Gray Dakota, but at least it is a STANDARD Euro color with a code, which increases your chance with BMW NA. By the way the interior code for Amethyst Dakota is LCRH.

Personally I am interested in ordering the Truffle Brown Dakota. This is also not available on US E60's but I will at least give it a shot and see if they deny it. I am pretty much guaranteed a denial because I also want Euro Delivery.

Maybe we will get lucky and BMW NA will add the colors we want for the 2005 model year (at least some of the colors available on Euro E60's). By the way, the vented seats come only in Black and Beige in Europe as well.

Thanks for reading my long post (and rants).........and good luck. Do let us know how your dealings with BMW NA turn out.

rodybmw