UK 5 Series

In time honoured BMW fashion, 3 new 'Special Editions' of the 5 Series are now available that;
a) dealers know nothing about
b) are not mentioned anywhere on BMW UK's website
c) prices are unknown

They are as follows;

Lifestyle Edition
Comprises Metallic Paint (Neptune Blue plus 5 other unknown colours)
17" Light Alloy Wheels in Double-Spoke Design
Leather / Reflex Cloth trim upholstery
Grey Wood trim
Anthracite Headlining

Exclusive Edition
Comprises Metallic Paint (Bronze Metallic plus 5 other unknown colours)
17" Light Alloy Wheels in V-Spoke Design
Fine Nappa Leather in Black or Tobacco
Electrically Adjustable Comfort Seats
High Gloss Satin Chrome on B Pillars and window trim on rear doors
Bamboo Trin in Anthracite

Sport Edition
Identical to current M-Sport model but available in Carbon Black, Imola Red or Le Mans Blue

Vehicles produced from Week 10 (last week) are usually subject to equipment upgrades and price changes. The bad news is that there are no improvements to standard equipment. The good news is that there are no price changes from 1st March either.

ExGMan

There's more about these Special Editions (with pictures) here: http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2008/02/genev...es-special.html

UK 5 Series

UPDATE

BMW dealers still claim to know nothing of these models, in spite of UK car magazine 'Auto Express' running an article on them. The price list for the 5 Series is still September of last year, with no due date for a 2008 version.

BMW's German website has full spec, colours and, most importantly, prices for these Special Editions and this may reveal the problem in the UK.

The 'Lifestyle Edition' has options worth just ?1,500, yet the 'premium' for this model is 4500 Euros, which converts to ?3,560.

The 'Exclusive Edition' has options worth ?4,300, yet the premium is 6900 Euros (?5,460).

The 'Sport Edition' equates to the current 'M-Sport', which is currently ?3,120 more than the SE, but the Euro price of 7800 Euros equates to ?6,170.

Given that there are colour & trim restrictions on these models, I'm struggling to see the advantage over the current SE / M-Sport choices. I can only assume that the German prices may be against a 'base' model rather than a UK SE equivalent, so come on BMW UK. Pull your finger out and let us all know what I'm missing here!

colejl

With the current discounting levels it would be academic to increase prices...

rsyed

more and more people in europe were taking alpine white and m-packet at no cost. now with the sport edition, you are made to pay for the metallic colour, but yet you only get a uni paint if you take alpine white. i ordered my car on teh 27th feb to make sure i ordered iwht the old price list - a week later, I was forced to change to the sport edition

UK 5 Series

Not entirely true. If it's a company vehicle, the 'benefit in kind' tax is based upon the listed retail price on the date of registration, so no price increase = no additional tax, price increase = additional tax. Good news for me as mine is due in 2 weeks time!

colejl

Indeed. But it's a crazy situation that private buyers get 10% of list but the tax is based on retail...

steve_gus

i wonder why the dealers havnt been promoting these amazingly overpriced bargains

colejl

Come on, it's a good time to buy a model that's about to be replaced soon... Does wonders for the residuals...