I'm investigating a decked-out 535i xDrive including:

Convenience Package
Cold Weather Package
Premium I and II

Driver Assistance Package
Head-Up Display
Side and Top-View Cameras
Active Cruise Control

In my initial dealings with the sales guy, it would see that the first 3 packages are readily available, but the bottom 4 are essentially not made outside of a special order.

Can anyone tell me if this is (generally) correct? I really want all of these things, in which case I guess it means a special order (with the concomitant long wait and little/no discount).

 

I would say yes. When a dealer orders for their inventory, the first three you highlight are pretty standard and are easy to sell. The last four are very much in the "bells and whistles" category and make the car more expensive, potentially making it a more difficult sell.

And yes, this means you will likley have to order to get those options. I will disagree with your no discount comment. You should still be able to get a significant discount off MSRP. In fact some are getting deals at $500-$1,000 over invoice though that tends to be in very competitive markets like Southern California. Shop around, and let them know you are shopping around. They want to sell you a car and many dealers are pretty hungry right now...

 

If you're doing a special order it's a built-for-you car that the dealer doesn't have to keep in inventory. Of course if your dealer is sitting with lots of plain-vanilla 5'ers they might want you to encourage you pick one off the lot. In that case, if you're willing to give on some bells and whistles, you might be able to cut a better deal and not have to wait for your car to be built and shipped.

 

Agree 100% -- in fact, a special order costs the dealer nothing as there's no carrying/financing charges for cars they have on the lot that haven't sold. You should be able to fully negotiate since the car is sold before it arrives into their inventory. I saved over $4000 off MSRP - just under $1000 over invoice. and yes, the 8 week wait is the toughest part (on an order to southern NYS). But all good things are worth the wait

 

I would go so far as to say that most BMW's sold in the US are special order. I have never been asked to take one off the lot and I will even negotiate price upfront before option or color selection. Ordering is also the only way to get Priority 1 options

 

They are known as priority one options. BMW does not want their dealers having expensive cars sitting around so they do not let the dealers order a whole bunch of options and even some colors now unless it is an order for a customer. Look for the * on the build your own of bmwusa for the options a dealer cannot order. The list of options that moved to priority one increased dramatically with the 2011 model year of all BMWs.