dtrojanz

Really appreciate the candid answers here. The internet sales person told me that if I ordered a 2005 today, I would have it no sooner than late Jan or Feb, so waiting until mid year for the new R6 engine doesnt sound bad.

Rudy...I found this site thru search engine (I think I googled it).

A couple of other questions...is the new engine slated just for the 545 or will that be across the board for the 5 series?

What does MY2005 stand for?...same as E61??


Again, thanks in advance

heezy545i

The upgraded six cylinder engines are definite, but I've heard rumors of a 550 coming out in '06 that will replace the 545.

This new engine will lessen the gap between the regular fives and the M5, but overall I don't understand the upgrade. The V8 in the 545 is a new engine in itself, so I don't see why it will be replaced so soon. Umm yeah....I'm just a little jealous.

MY2005 = model year 2005
e60 = the five series '04 - 0?
e61 = the touring/wagon which is not available in the U.S. (at least I think)

alohalc

i've heard this rumor as well. so when people later on ask us what are we driving, we just tell them 550 and they all think we are driving ferrari .

e60 s/b '04 - '10. same as e39, '97 - '03. every seven years they'll change the bodystyle.

Rudy

Cool, do you remember what search word(s) you used?

tab545

On the engines, I test-drove the 530 and 545, and I found the difference very significant. The 530 is sweet, and very balanced, and with a stick you could wring all the performance you need out of it; but the feeling of a 545, with monster torque and HP behind you in any situation, is awesome. I found the price difference between full "sport" 530 and the 545 "sport" not that great, in the end. I knew with the 530 I would always be waiting until next time, when I could get the 545. So I just got the 545 now, and knew I could keep it and be thrilled silly for a much longer time.

skipper

Hello and welcome.

The positives that you mentioned are indeed very good. I did not opt for the sport package so I can not confirm that.

The negatives: Yes the cupholders are not the best feature of the car, but they are functional for the most part. I have had the occasional 16oz water bottle thrown at me while going around a turn. The I- Drive is not complicated or difficult at all after using it for a couple of days or in my case 1 day since I was unable to get out of the car after taking delivery. Most of the commands for the radio can be done via the steering wheel buttons.

The voice activation works fine. Click here for a list of available voice commands. You do not have to memorize them because you can just say HELP or there was another command that will have the car give you the list of commands for the area you are in. You can give it a command such as "FM / PRESETS 1" to get to your first preset or " NAVIGATION / MAP FACING NORTH " to see a map oriented north at the top. You can leave off the FM or NAVIGATION part of the command if you are already in those resepctive areas.

I am in the minority here since I opted for the 530 over the 545 since the I6 was quite powerful enough for me and also gave me better gas milage.

My sales person was knowledgable and able to go through all of the options with me. He told me that they were made to go through training last year right before the car debuted.

alohalc

Cool, do you remember what search word(s) you used?
[/quote]
just "e60" is good enough and this site is on the first spot .

Rudy

I realize that. Clearly E60 will get a good ranking. My reason for the question is a simple one -- I believe most people don't know the about 'E60' designation though so I'm curious to see what terms some of the newcomers are using to find us here.

Jimbo

I did some searches and only when I put in "e60" by itself did e60.net come up in the first ten spots. Otherwise it didn't come up at all.

Rudy

I can't decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing...