I purchased my first BMW last month - 2005 545i manual, sport and premium packages, black-on-black.

I had originally purchased a 2004 545i automatic, sport and premium packages, with heads-up display (very cool!), but learned within a day or two that the tranny was giving out (the famous intermittent hesitation at 1500rpms indiciative of a failing mechatronics). Luckily I convinced the car lot to take it back and put me in the '05 manual.

As this was an upgrade from the 4 cylinder Honda Accord I was driving all last year (and a 1995 VW Golf that I drove while in the UK for a while), what used to be a permanent scowl during my daily commute has turned into a permanent ear-to-ear grin!!

While this is my first personal BMW purchase, my family has a long history with BMW's:

1977 530i (my dad's first car out of law school)
1977 630CSi (my mom's car when I was a teenager - late 90's)
1978 320i (2 of them) - kid cars in high school in the early to late 90's (me and a few of my older brothers drove them)
1988 318i - my dad's (then my sister's once my dad got his 540i in '95) car in the early 90's
1995 540i sport (my father still drives it - only 126k miles)
1997 540i manual (my brother still drives it - 236k miles!)
2004 X3 (was my sister-in-laws, but she just crossed over to the dark side and traded it for a Mercedes GLK 350...)
2006 530i sport (my other brother still drives this one)

I'm excited to be part of the forum with the first of what I hope will be many BMW's in my future!

 

Congrats on the new (to you) car, enjoy it. Also, welcome to the forum, good to see more SoCal members. There is a TON of info on the care and feeding of your 545 here.