bha7176

Yeah, my dealer gave me a 2011 535i as a loaner when I dropped off my 550i last night (just going in for state inspection, oil change and scoping whatever the hell that is).
I took my wife along, so I have her opinions and impressions to share also.
It is an alpine white with tan interior 535i non sport with auto tranny and not many options.

First impressions from the outside:
Wife, ?it looks like a Lexus or something?
Me, its Ok.

Inside impressions:
Wife, ?is this bigger than your car?
Me, ?it is bigger, and heavier. Everyone is saying that its more luxurious than the E60. I?m not so sure. Yeah it has nice ambient lighting everywhere, the lines of the dash and center are different, they moved away from idrive back to buttons and knobs everywhere. Again, its nice, but not necessarily better just different.?
Wife, ?I can see that (luxury that is). Your car (550i) is much more sporty inside, this one is a little more luxury. Like a car you would want 20 years from now.?

That about summed it all up for me, a car I would like 20 years from now ? as in an older man?s car.
Driving:
Wife, ?yes it definitely is bigger. I?ll probably be scraping some curbs in this?. ?it does drive very well, hugs the corners. 5 series seem to drive better than 3 series.?
Me, well it drives OK. Power isn?t like my 550i, but it does have plenty. It does hug the corners and feels fairly tight.

Overall:
Wife ? I?ll pass
Me ? I?ll pass, until I try a F10 550i with a decent sports package that is.
Anyone want me to take pictures or check anything out let me know, I have it at least until after work tonight.

Theo

What about the power steering, how does it feel compared to your E60?

That seems to be its achilles heel (except for the X-drives)...

bha7176

Steering was responsive, not something that I picked up as being an issue. but I'll definately check it out more today.

another item to note: the way they digitized the gas consumption and computer info under the tach and speedometer is totally hoakie. They basically just inserted a rectagular area for LED information and superposed it over the bottom of the tach. it looks very cheap and haphazardous at best. I'll try to snap a pick and post it up so you know what I mean.

corey

I have an f10 528i loaner that I picked up yesterday, returning it this evening. Your post just about summed up my thoughts as well. Buttons and dials everywhere, and if you have a travel mug in the cup holder it hinders climate control use. I'm not a fan of how much more forward the idrive knob is but the larger idrive display is very nice. I miss the ledge in front of the screen that the e60 has; it has disappeared on the f10. For me, the 528 felt as if it could not get out of its way - heavy and a bit sluggish. Yes more elegant inside, but lacking that feel and mystique of the e60. I felt as if I was inside a 2011 e-class. As far as the steering feel, I felt completely disconnected from the road. Not worse or better, just different and disconnected. You point the car and it goes where you want, but the e60 has more driver steering "feedback", something I definitely miss even though I've had the f10 a whole 24 hours thus far. Had I never had an e60 and went right into an f10 I'm sure I would be pleased, but us e60 owners have been spoiled by owning quite possibly the perfect sport sedan, and it will take a hell of a lot to change that.

Edit - the lack of storage compartments available to the driver in the e60 looks like an abundance, compared to the storage available in the f10.

corey

I actually thought that area of the gas consumption was cool (at first), and allowed to fit the oil temp gauge in. Then the sun went down, the dash lights got brighter, and I saw this huge rectangle that didn't work for me.

bha7176

Another item of note ? the steering wheel placement or the speedometer/tach placement or the seat?something isn?t right as I cannot, for the life of me, seem to find the right adjustment of these to enable me to see all of the information thru the steering wheel. My wife commented that they really want you to sit high in this car.

I can adjust to either see the turnsignals and all of the speedometer but not the odometer OR I can adjust to see half of the turn signals and all of the odometer. I want to see them all damnit.

bha7176

exactly - looks cheap doesn't it?

pukka

Its funny - Awhile back I remember reading threads where some members of this forum bashed the competition because their interiors had "too many buttons", "buttons and knobs everywhere", or something to that effect.

Now some of em are in an F10 - go figure

Petes550i

There aren't any more buttons in a F10 as those in an E60.

Besides, I rather have buttons to activate a function quicker than to fiddle with a huge knob and go through silly menu screens to get what I want.

bha7176

um, yes there are. the slide for temp control is back, the adjustment of climate control dispersion are back (head, mid, leg), there are now what, like 6 buttons surrounding the knob on idrive, and a few other ones that I can't recall right now.