I was going to get the 535 doing European Delivery in July. The M.S.R.P. of the 740i is $71,025 including the $875 Destination and Handling charge. Rather than getting a loaded 535, I may get a 740 with hardly any options. If the lease rates are aggressive on the 740 in July the monthly payments may get close. Decisions, decisions.

i thought 7 series are pretty much loaded as standard.
tough choice...

to me, they are entirely different cars... at least when comparing the e60...

The new 7 has not received good press reviews, especially its driving dynamics. I'm hoping that the new 5 does not follow that trend.

I'd suggest that you test the 7 before you take the leap and I'd sure be interested in your impressions, especially coming from a 5 Sport.

I doubt you would be disappointed in either, but they are completely different. If you know what characteristics you want this time, it should be easy to pick.

2 days ago my Dad picked up his brand new 2010 X5 but the next day the new GPS system was released and so when it was getting a free update, the service department gave us the new F01 730d as a loan car (we're a loyal customer because we previously purchased two brand new E65 7 Series and E60 5 Series) and I have to say, it was FAST! And VERY agile car! I was VERY impressed!!!!! And although I thrashed the car around, it was only doing 8.9L/100km! Very nice car! No wonder why it beat Audi A8, Mercedes S-Class to be the best luxury performance sedan! Two thumbs up!

https://i994.photobucket.com/albums/...L_2006/007.jpg

The F01 is actually getting very mixed reviews here in the US, it's losing most of the comparison tests to the S-Class. The issue doesn't seem to be driving dynamics, the F01 is getting flak due to its overly bipolar personality which is out of keeping with expectations for the class. There were a few threads here discussing the US reviews, I think they're in the press articles forum.

Needless to say, I agree with the US reviewers. The S Class is the segment leader for a reason, and it significantly outsells the 7 for a reason. BMW owns the 3 Series and 5 Series segments, but the S Class dominates in the top tier. In one of the US reviews, the new F01 placed behind even the prior gen A8, a car that's currently being replaced. The top tier simply isn't a segment that BMW understands like Mercedes - those that really care about the drive are few and far between in the F01/S Class/A8 space, and Mercedes and Audi do a far better job at high-end luxury with measured sportiness than BMW. I don't think there's any doubt that the F01 is the sportiest drive in its class, but that's something that has much less significance in the final analysis for its intended market and customer base than it does for intended buyers of buyers of cars in say the 3 and 5 Series segments.

There is a trick to determining which BMW to get. If the first number of the model number matches the first digit of your age, then it's the car for you. So for someone in their 30's it would be a 3 series, 5 series for someone in their 50's, 6 series for someone in their 60's and so on. The 1 series can go to the 16 to 20's age demographics. :P :D