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BMW 5-Series Sedans

12737 messages,  Last post on Feb 16, 2013 at 11:05 PM

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What is this discussion about? BMW 5 Series, Sedan

Messages Page 555 of 1275

#5534 of 12737 Jeffry by shipo

Feb 09, 2003 (10:29 am)

For the most part, I tried to find Hotels that had their own parking areas. I did park the 530i on the street overnight in Belfort, France, but that was on a reasonably wide (by French standards) on-way street, and literally right outside of my hotel room. The only time things got a little tight/nervous (other than driving down the Avenue des Champs-Elysées at 5:15 PM and navigating around the Place Charles de Gaulle (Arc de Triomphe) that is), was when we stopped for lunch in the old medieval walled city of Langres, where my 530i felt like an ENORMOUS car.
 
As for buying the first year, hmmm, I have mixed emotions about that one. First, I bought a 1999 328i built in December of 1998, just a couple of months into the (then) new E46 production, and I had a stellar experience. By that I mean that I had zero, unscheduled service calls, kind of unheard of, that said, there were two latent problems that were taken care of during my normal service calls. That said, IMHO at least, the E46 was an evolution of the long running and successful E36, so I wasn’t too worried about the traditional first year teething problems.
 
The E60 however, is, once again IMHO, a different story entirely. Much of the E60 is all new, and I would be worried about early problems on this car. In fact, I was worried enough to deliberately upgrade from my 328i (which only had 40K miles on it) to my 530i way earlier than I needed to, just so that I could have the “Tried and True” E39. Well, maybe that is overstating the case a little, the first year teething problems were half of my reason for upgrading early, and the other half was that my “Eye” prefers the look of the E39 to any of the E60 images that I have seen to date.
 
Regarding the 1997 E39, trust me, while in the long run, they seem to have turned out to be fairly reliable, the early cars had LOTS of teething problems, and were in and out of the dealership quite often until BMW got everything sorted out.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Best Regards,
Shipo

#5535 of 12737 George94 and MSchukar by shipo

Feb 09, 2003 (11:17 am)

George,
 
I called Steve back when I was shopping for my car; he wasn’t in, so I left a message. He never got back to me, that said, other folks have reported good things about him. In the end, I decided to negotiate my own deal.
 
I decided that based upon what I had read here at Edmunds, that a $1,500 dealership profit would be fair for a car bought outside a dealers’ allocation, via the ED program. I got on the BMWUSA web site, located all dealerships near my home and where I worked, and started calling. The first dealership I called accepted my offer, and I drove right down there, and signed the paperwork. My salesman was even able to schedule the EXACT delivery date (only about 6 weeks from that day) that I had requested by reconfiguring a car that the dealership already had scheduled for production, and then swapping that allocation with the ED program for a later car for his stock. While Steve might well have been able to find a lower price from another dealership, Steve also collects a commission or finders fee, and the dealership may have been far enough away to incur travel expenses. In the end, I felt $1,500 over ED invoice was a “Fair Deal”.
 
Murray,
 
Thanks, I’m working on it. Given that I have two weddings that I need to attend this spring, one in Paris and the other in Nairobi, I need to have both paws in reasonable operation to get through airports and to and from the various events that I will be attending.
 
As for the winter tires, up here in New Hampshire, they are absolutely necessary, unless of course, you have a snow mobile that is.
 
Best Regards,
Shipo

#5536 of 12737 by george94

Feb 09, 2003 (11:52 am)

Shipo, thanks for the insights. Yes, I have also contacted some dealers and I am in the process of getting some calls in. Lastly, a friend of mine is a BMW salesperson, so, I will see what the flexibility is w/ him. Steve mentioned at the worse scenario it would by 1800 over wholesale price.
In terms of ED delivery. How did you find the experience? Munich is not an easy place to fly in to. Did you go via Frankfurt or directly in? I am debating whether I should pursue it. I understand it is the cheapest by far. Just the time of year, this whole world situation etc. I have two little kids, not certain if the saving is worth the anxiety.
.g

#5537 of 12737 It's Interesting to Note. . . by cdnpinhead

Feb 09, 2003 (5:56 pm)

that even the possessors of the "benchmark" vehicle have trouble understanding the awe with which the car magazines treat the BMW, given the "maturity" of the present version.
 
My put is that most of these weenies are lazy and/or ignorant. Those of them who have really, really driven the cars in this class (A6 2.7T, BMW 530, unworthy American wannabe A, unworthy American wannabe B, Jaguar S, etc., etc.) would fit in a phone booth. Oh, wait, there aren't phone booths anymore. . . Well, they'd fit in a really small space.
 
Does anyone on this board have any use whatsoever for car reviews? If so, please help me understand why.

#5538 of 12737 What's Not To Understand? by riez

Feb 09, 2003 (7:17 pm)

cdnpinhead... The E39 5 Series rides, handles, brakes, steers, and accelerates well. Plus it gets good gas mileage. And it is space efficient (small on the outside, light, and acceptably sized on the inside, both trunk and interior). Just look at what C&D complained about. A dated dash? A bit too noisy? A bit pricey (though they added about $10,000 in options)?
 
When I compare all the positives (which are all the things I care about) to all the negatives (most of which I don't perceive to be negatives to begin with), the E39 is a classic!

#5539 of 12737 riez by kdshapiro

Feb 09, 2003 (7:27 pm)

Doesn't the E320 MSRP for about $48,000? Can't you add about $20,000 in options to it? Well if C&D tested an E320 with $10,000+ in options I think there would have been some more interesting commentary on the value side. Sounds like this: let's load up the 530i with $10,000 in options, but load up the Mercedes with $4,000 in options. Heck I have more than $4,000 in options on my 330i.

#5540 of 12737 kdshapiro, re: the C & D comparison, by carnaught

Feb 09, 2003 (7:42 pm)

I believe that the E320 was optioned with just about everything except Nav. I do not believe there are $20K of options one can add to the E320. It would put you more than just into, but exceeding E500 territory.

#5541 of 12737 car reviews are good for.... by cbgb1975

Feb 09, 2003 (7:50 pm)

providing information on best features of new cars and/or long term tests. As entertainment, these are subjective ratings and everyone can have an opinion. Must be a great job regardless of vehicle class. Reviews do not replace a test drive and your own impressions of a car....and if they rate your car higher or lower than a competing model,it shouldn't enhance nor diminish your pleasure one bit. There are a lot of wonderful cars being made in every price range. ....Enjoy whatever you drive.

#5542 of 12737 carnaught by kdshapiro

Feb 09, 2003 (7:54 pm)

I just checked the mbusa.com website. If you follow the links that let you build your own, step 2 and step 3 contain a dizzying amount of options, that add up to a significant amount of money. I just did this for a comparison, not reading the article, but assuming from the MSRP it was not really all that decked out.

#5543 of 12737 Misc thoughts... by shipo

Feb 09, 2003 (9:40 pm)

For my ED trip (last April) I flew via Copenhagen, Denmark. Oddly enough, there seems to be only 1 non-stop flight from the New York City area (where I lived at the time) per day, and that was out of JFK, and that airport, while only 5 miles further from my old house than Newark Airport (EWR), it was more like 2 hours farther away in terms of time (ie. on the far side of Manhattan). That left me with a stop in either Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris, Zurich or Budapest, and SAS had by far the best deal going through Copenhagen.
 
Regarding traveling in these troubled times, hmmm, well, I guess it just does not trouble me too much (I too have a wife and two small children), security is fairly good these days. In fact, I just recently took a good look at my projected travel schedule this year, and I am probably going to fly nearly 100,000 miles and hit Asia (4 times), Europe (at least twice), Africa (once) and various points around the U.S. in the process.
 
Regarding how well the 5-Series fares against its competition in the various sundry published comparison tests; it is not that I am surprised that they consistently pick the E39 to be one of the best (if not the outright winner), it is just that I am VERY impressed that a car in its eight year of production has remained so dominant compared to its competition after so long. That in my mind says that the folks that created this car over at BMW were WAY ahead of their time, and only just now, after all of these years is the competition catching up.
 
Regarding said competition; when I ordered my 530i, the new W211 E-Class was not yet out, that said, I used to work at MBUSA, and I drove plenty of W210s while there, and while I think it was a wonderful car, the lack of the manual transmission and the less precise ride (compared to the 5-Series) eliminated the MB from my list. The Jaguar X-Type does not pass my “Eyeball Test”, nor for that matter, do the G35, CTS, LS or the GS. The Jaguar S-Type, however does pass that test, but fails for the same reasons as the E-Class, but it was a nice ride, plush, but nice. The A6, while not really my favorite looking car is only available with three pedals in the 2.7t trim, and while it might have been a little faster than a 530i, it just did not GRAB me like the BMW, and this from a former Audi owner and someone who has a great appreciation for the marque. Yeah, I shopped.
 
Just for grins, I did a little E-Class (W211 version) configuring, and here is what I found:
 
2003 E320 Base Price: $47,670
2003 E320 Fully Optioned (w/o the Motorola V60): $66,490
2003 E320 Fully Optioned (including the Motorola V60): $68,085
 
All of the ~$20,000 in options were just that "Options" (Step 2), as in Factory Options, not "Accessories" (Step 3).
 
Best Regards,
Shipo

Messages Page 555 of 1275

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