I took a quick drive in a 2011, but broken in, 535xi manual with sport pack. The sticker was $67k (without the automatic = it had a lot of options)

Really quick impressions:

1) car is very large and drives heavy. Clearly significant influences from the 7. Should be useful to BMW in stealing away some E class buyers (the perennial sales champ in this segment)
2) The tech is very nice. BMW is still clearly the leader in producing state of the art technology - regardless of what the Japanese have.
3) The single turbo engine has less lag than the twin turbo 6, but is deceptive b/c its so linear it doesn't feel that fast.
4) The manual has a short throw, medium length travel light action clutch, so its a nice gearbox, but totally out of place in a baby 7. If the car had a body kit, lowered M suspension, more massive wheels and a sport exhaust then the manual might be cool, but the 535xi sport is about as sporty as Ritchie Cunningham's argyle sweater vest.
5) The dynamic chassis modes in the real world go as follows: Near Mercedes soft, less soft, E60 530i settings (normal), and then 2 sport modes that tighten up the car a bit. In sport + the car is still buttery. So clearly not extreme enough. but, the xi, I believe doesn't get sport suspenesion, so perhaps the rear driver is more agressive in this respect....which would be a good thing.

All tolled, a nice luxury sedan. But it's emphasis on weight and luxury should a) make the M5 that much more attractive and b) open up more aftermarket performance tuning - I'd love to hear Steve Dinan's unedited assessment of the suspension on these cars.

A gap has opened....an opportunity awaits any manufacturer who can make a sporty aggressive mid size (not jr. full size) sedan that has tech and attitude and reliability. I don't know if Jag can/does offer anything here. The S line audis are woefully short in the handling dept. and Merc will never make cars that don't massively understeer into corners...(SLS and black series excluded). I think BMW should (or maybe already has) designed a more aggressive sedan for the would be 5 series buyer. Whether its called a gran coupe with 4 doors, or some panamera/A7 sport back competitor - they need something. Its too valuable a market to loose (valuable to their brand identity that is).

The new 5 is handsome, super smooth etc., but not sporty enough, IMHO.

Hopefully the Gran Coupe will fill the void that the F10 has left in the bmw lineup for a sports oriented 4 door... :whistle:

Interesting mix and I agree, for the US Market a manual baby 7 is a rare ride indeed. Might be fun for the adventurous but it'd probably be a real handful to unload as a pre-owned. With all the luxury built into the car having to row a gearbox is not likely to attract a lot of buyers - now or in 2-3 years!

That said, knowing how the long term reliability of BMW automatics goes ... it might actually be the preferred pre-owned buy. Especially if the resale price slides, as I would predict, to new lows.

Thanks for sharing your drive experience :twoup:

E-Class - the perennial sales champ in this segment? You're making no sense at all.

I'm thinking the 2012 BMW F30 3-series?

I currently own an E90 and E60.

Hi 550isport,

,...but the 535xi sport is about as sporty as Ritchie Cunningham's argyle sweater vest. :twoup: :hyper: :hyper:

How did you rememeber this?

Cheers, Fonzie

Huh?? US F10 xDrive models are not available with manual transmissions. The 535 and 550 RWD models can be had with a stick here. I'm guessing that the car that you drove was not xDrive.

Yes I was told repeatedly that the 535xi will not have a stick here in the USA.