igord

My 08 550 has finally arrived.

Ordered in July, picked up last week.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Seeing how I am moving from and 05 545 SMG to a 08 550 SAT it is hard to go into any more detail than Rudy already has here: http://tinyurl.com/2vfenk

Well not much yet, I mean I only drove it for 200 miles, but so far I'm nothing but impressed.

Love the color combination (carbon black/natural brown), the interior is lighter than I expected (this is the first car for me where I haven't seen the interior or exterior color prior to pick up). I thought interior would be darker, more like this: http://tinyurl.com/2qanhx however it turned out to be a bit lighter (but not as light as beige). I guess in the evening it does look closer to the picture. Regardless, it looks good and I like it!

Things I've noticed compared to the '05 version (this is mostly feature review since Rudy covered the performance part pretty well and I haven't had a chance to open the car up yet, until the break-in is done):

• (+) Nicer materials inside (arm rest, center console, consistent look of all the knobs/switches/etc)
• (+) The cruise control indicator marker (on the outside of the speedometer dial) now lights up green when engaged; the marker pointing to the speed is now constantly in position (in case you want to resume). The old behavior was that when cruise control is engaged the marker (same color as the arrows on the speedometer) would stay at the speed selected, it would disappear once cruise control was disengaged (even temporarily, while braking for example) . I think the new way is much more convenient (although a fairly minor detail).
• (+/- undecided yet) Auto-dimming mirror, seems to react faster now and have a slight bias towards being less dim. I think a lot more is visible now, however the poorly adjusted light on some of the cars behind me tend to irritate more. (p.s. I had the windows tinted on the old one, so it may've worked the same I just didn't notice as much).
• (+) Folding mirrors, not sure why it took so long for this feature to get to US but glad it is here now. I only wish it could be programmed to work with the key or in some sort of automatic fashion (not a big deal).
• (+) iPod interface is great! Works with audiobooks and it resumes playback wherever you left it last time you listed to it (whether via car or not, so if I listened to a song in the office I can resume listening to it when I get in the car)
• (-) Logic 7: the audio from the iPod seems a bit muffled. Just as an example the first ~5-10 seconds of this http://tinyurl.com/gc94q song are virtually inaudible, vs the old system, things were loud-and-clear; in fact when I first listened to the song on the computer I didn't hear anything but heard the synth melody first when I got in the car. To be fare, I didn't have an iPod interface in my 545, I'll try burning this onto an mp3 CD (like before) and then trying again). However this does illustrate some of the comments people made about the system sounding less "brilliant" than the old one. (perhaps the front speakers are located differently?)
• (-) Driver-side door handle/panel design. The new version, while looks slightly nicer than the old, is much less convenient (button locations, door handles, etc). Also apparently makes the car less safe in case of a side impact. http://tinyurl.com/2qcm56
• (+/-) i-Drive, the force-feedback is gone, which does make things a bit faster (I guess the processing required for the force-feedback is no longer being done), however is slightly less convenient than the old one (for example in cases like EQ adjustment). Also, the leather on top of the i-Drive button, while nice looking, makes the thing feel a bit too mushy.
• (+/-) Bluetooth: synching is MUCH faster (I have KRZR with Verizon). The minus part comes from the Motorola or Verizon side of things. When paired with my cousin's LG enV the phonebook shows letters (W)/(H)/(M) for Work/Home/Mobile numbers for people that have more that one entry in the phonebook, this is not the case with KRZR - which was my gripe with the implementation before. Almost all of the people in my phonebook have more than one number and sometimes I wish I could tell which is which.
• (+) Programmable buttons: LOVE the feature, however I wish more functions could be programmable (for example "Route List" for current route).
• (+) The contour/comfort seats re-design - the headrest padding has changed, I think the old ones had to much padding and most of it towards the bottom half, the new ones seem more comfortable and apparently safer as well: http://tinyurl.com/2vnex3

Anzafin

What can I say?
Congratulations!!! Enjoy!!!

1600

Congrats!

igord

thank you!

Russ1974

Welcome and congrats !! I bet you can't wait to complete the run in period. As I always say, make sure you follow the run in period to the letter, just like I don't.

igord

Thank you! I'll try That 'sport' button is very tempting, but it is hard to keep it under 4500.

Russ1974

I lasted 40 miles before the temptation got the better of me Will be interesting to see how the car holds up over the next year or so... !!

igord

heh I turned it on right away! but! turned it right off after a few minutes, I'm sure 1200 miles will come soon enough (maybe there is a weekend road trip in my future )

yes, it definitely will be, the last one didn't have any major problems, but a lot of minor ones, such as window creaking and CCC issues, hopefully this is all taken care of *keeping fingers crossed*

amigo525

Beside your beautiful car, your append is the most beautiful one I have read seriously..well formatted

igord

thank you