-A (generous) freind of mine let me drive his 550i/6m Sport around this past weekend while my e30 was/is under the knife. Drove it up to Boone/Blowing Rock, NC for the SouthEast BMW Fall Meet, and to/from work a couple days, what a blast! My impressions:
-Its an 2006 550i, six-speed manual, Sports package, Titanic-met on black leather.
GOOD: Its a totally and mind-blowingly cool car. Loads of torque (4.8l v8.), the Valvetronic and Dual-VANOS go a wonderful job of smoothing out the curve, from off-idle to redline. The sound the engine makes is crazy cool, just a bit "different", and 360hp does a great job moving this beast! Great brakes, one panic-induced stop from 50-ish left my chest hurting from the seatbelt! Steering is nice and tight, not sure if all the e60 Sports have Active Steering (vaiable ratio rack thingy) but this one did. Kinda cool, the steering was slow and easy on the highway, but quick in parking lot. The clutch was smooth and the shifter well-spaced and notchy, all six gears had a nice, positive engagment and rev-matched well. iDrive wasn't all that bad to live with, I could do without it, but it didn't ruin the car.
BAD: The factory Bridgestones have OK grip but still suck- a lot. They roar on the highway and really aren't that sporty anyway- I would swap them out for some Mitch Pilot Sports, but it's not my car! The cupholders are crap... what German designed these? The Park-Assist is a nice feature, but it either didn't come on when I wanted it, or wouldn't shut up when I didn't need it. The ball joints seemed to be going out on this car, it kind of "darted" a bit when the front suspention was loaded up, maybe this was related to the Active Steering?
-All and all, I can't complain, this is a great and compliant car, if you're thinking of buying an e60 Sport, do it! BTW... prices on early e60s have fallen, there's an 04 545i/6m Sport for sale near my home for $21k. Not bad if you're in the market!
-Its an 2006 550i, six-speed manual, Sports package, Titanic-met on black leather.
GOOD: Its a totally and mind-blowingly cool car. Loads of torque (4.8l v8.), the Valvetronic and Dual-VANOS go a wonderful job of smoothing out the curve, from off-idle to redline. The sound the engine makes is crazy cool, just a bit "different", and 360hp does a great job moving this beast! Great brakes, one panic-induced stop from 50-ish left my chest hurting from the seatbelt! Steering is nice and tight, not sure if all the e60 Sports have Active Steering (vaiable ratio rack thingy) but this one did. Kinda cool, the steering was slow and easy on the highway, but quick in parking lot. The clutch was smooth and the shifter well-spaced and notchy, all six gears had a nice, positive engagment and rev-matched well. iDrive wasn't all that bad to live with, I could do without it, but it didn't ruin the car.
BAD: The factory Bridgestones have OK grip but still suck- a lot. They roar on the highway and really aren't that sporty anyway- I would swap them out for some Mitch Pilot Sports, but it's not my car! The cupholders are crap... what German designed these? The Park-Assist is a nice feature, but it either didn't come on when I wanted it, or wouldn't shut up when I didn't need it. The ball joints seemed to be going out on this car, it kind of "darted" a bit when the front suspention was loaded up, maybe this was related to the Active Steering?
-All and all, I can't complain, this is a great and compliant car, if you're thinking of buying an e60 Sport, do it! BTW... prices on early e60s have fallen, there's an 04 545i/6m Sport for sale near my home for $21k. Not bad if you're in the market!
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