V8 sounds good but a turbo engine with air intake and tune will sound insane! you'll probably forget about the v8 once you hear those turbos spooling and feel the 420hp torque of dinan!

 

Quick question. You point out the $150/month higher cost of the 550 for a 24 month lease. Are you accounting for the cost of the Dinan upgrade or are you comparing the base cost of the 550 to the base cost of the 535? How much is the software upgrade, $2,000 or so. Spread that over the 24 month time frame and that is $83/month of incremental costs for the upgraded 535, pushing it closer to the cost of the 550. If you have included the upgrade costs in your math, nevermind!

Either way, they are both great cars and you won't go wrong what ever you choose!

 

I'll add my vote for the 535. I just traded my '04 545i sport for a 535xiT (sport wagon). Last week finally got the Dinan upgrade (had to wait for the latest version). Just passed 1000 miles so haven't really had a chance to see what it will really do, but my initial impression is that it is quicker than my 545 ... did notice a bit of turbo lag (it's not linear by any stretch) but it moves a lot of metal in a hurry. Torque RULES. After I've got a few miles under my belt I'll post my impressions.

No there isn't a great sound out of the 535 vs the 545 but I'm about driving impressions not sound. If you're worried about how you look in the car ..... well.

 

What's the latest version of the Dinan software? I have the first version D900-30T3, what's the difference? The D900-30T3 is still listed on Dinan's website.

 

I suspect there is no difference other than it is adapted to work on later builds of the 535 ... and maybe because mine is a sport wagon there is some other difference. Only a guess.

 

Is it still 384 hp and 421 ft lbs?

 

I did. 550 with only must have options (in my opinion), basically same that I have now + sport auto, iPod, HD radio about $200/month more than matching 535 + Premium + PDC.
Minus $83 per month for Dinan
Plus 30 per month in gas savings
Roughly equals 150 per month in savings.

Not much, but if I can also get a lighter and faster car, then why not? If I was going after looks alone the XF for sure would be my choice at this time.

 

D - I'll be holding you to that statement on June 7th when we have our meet and our drive. I want to test that thing out and see for myself.

 

I'm not sure what you guys are talking about... I drove 535i just after I drove 550i... Or rather wanted
to drive it... Went out of the lot, pressed the gas once and came back straight to the parking lot.
It's not even close. Maybe you can spice it up, add some techno-magic.
But it's not even close. 550i drives great, the suspension, power, comfort is just a great sport package.
535i is like any turbo car, press-wait-wait-oh-waking-a-bit-wait-again-... Feels really soft too.
C'mon guys!

 

sort of off topic.....my best friend is the honeywell turbo technologies sales manager for BMW. You have a Turbo, good chance he sold it.

Turbos are the way of the future for BMW and the plans they have for their big block engines with turbos is simply hair raising.