W210

E60:

side and rear are ok, but the front and interior still look prett miserable.

BudC

If you see one on the street, the sides look too plain. See the new 3'er for how they should have done it. I could probably live with the exterior if I was blown away by the driving experience. However, the interior (especially the dash and door panels) pretty much kill it for me. The dash is made up of bits and pieces so that it looks like it was rushed to production w/o finishing the job.

Other problems include the rivet and glue construction and the size of the 6 cylinder engine. I've heard that BMW plan to turbocharge the six next year to get better performance.

plocjim

Was driving by the BMW dealer today and stopped in...I've been looking around to replace the '03 E320, and wanted to give everyone a fair shot. Plus, this thread had me really curious about taking a good look at the 5 series.

Stared at the car in the showroom for about 15 minutes, walked around it, and checked out the cars on the lot. I really thought the styling was pretty decent - aggressive, but I liked it...the car had a great "stance". Then I test drove both the 525xi and the 530xi...both were great fun to drive...and the interior, although simple, was not at all ugly (IMHO). Again, I kept staring at the dash, trying to figure out why so many people think it's hideous - it just struck me as being simple, clean and linear. The idrive is strange, but you really don't have to use it that much...just set up the options for the most part and leave'em be!

Long story short - I really liked it - especially the 530xi. It was the first car that I've test driven in the past two weeks that didn't leave me with that "thank god I'm back in my e320" feeling. It's definitely under consideration...along, of course, with an E350!

rayray64105

5 series has been growing on me. I think aftermarket wheels would help the exterior a lot. Wish it looked more like the 3, but 3 is too small for me. It would definitely be hard going from an E interior to that of the 5. It's got a few ergonomic quirks, but I absolutely love my E interior.

IMO the 6 series is the best version of the Bangle styling. Better lines. Better proportions. It's a gorgeous coupe.

DWP

... except for the Bangle Butt perched on the rear of the 645 like some sort of malignant tumor.

Barry45RPM

Can anybody come up with a good reason why the vinyl dash is black, along with other interior trim pieces (like around the mirror on the windshield), no matter what the interior color of the BMW.

Its so Chevrolet to save money that way so that there are fewer specially color matched painted pieces inside the car. On a car in this price range, everything should match!

BudC

I don't know about the current BMW's but in the past they used recycled rubber for their dashes. The dash on my 300E looks more like leather than anything else but I'm sure it's vinyl. The dash on the W211 could be a recycled material.

SAguirre

In Germany the environmental laws are getting stricter every year. One of the laws now is that car manufacturers are responsible for accepting their own cars back (in Germany). So instead of the car going to a junkyard it would go back to the factory and be recycled.

My 190E and my 300E both had tons of recycled material already. All the trunk liner, glove box liner and all the plastic was recycled. I am not sure about the dashboard though.

All German cars now are incredibly environmentally friendly. The Japanese and the American cars are still a long ways away to being anywhere close to the Germans in this respect.

Steve

Barry45RPM

All they have to do is paint the dash pad & steering wheel, just like MB & Lexus do. The material itself is NOT moulded in the interior color. All dash pads come black to some point in the assembly process at which time they are sprayed to match the color interior they are destined for down the road. The black color in a cream colored or grey colored interior is a choice BMW is making either to save money or because they think it looks better.

PUZZ1

Bottom line is that it's still a BMW. Who are we kidding. I was a BMW guy long before I was a Mercedes guy and would have bought a new 5 if I liked it when it came out. As I said, I'm not saying I'm in love with it, but I think I would test drive it now whereas I didn't consider in June 04.

Kev04C320

The touring version is alright without the Bangled butt. However, it looked really huge and plain to me (i.e. lack of personality) to me when I looked at it in the show room. I still can't get over the lines of the sedan though.

However, we decided to acquire a E91 325xiT for wife.

plocjim

Was out tooling around again today, looking at the E350 4matic, and also stopped by the BMW dealership. Took out the 530xi for another test drive and liked it even more than the first time I drove it. It drove amazingly and I really liked the look. So, looked around the lot and saw an awesome looking 530xi (silver grey, beige leather) that was pretty well equipped (premium package, nav, premium sound, automatic, cold weather, sports package, 18" star alloy wheels, and park distance). They weren't looking to deal as much as the Mercedes dealership (didn't have the $3K marketing allowance to play with) but they were willing to deal - so I bought it! So, I guess it really did grow on me. I'm picking it up on Tuesday. I feel pretty bad about leaving Mercedes, never thought this would happen, but felt like I need a change and wanted to try something different. Given that I pick up a new car every 3-4 years or so, I'll probably be back looking at the next E class sometime in the 2009-2010 time frame!

Kev04C320

Congratulations.

SwedeMercedes

The BMW's appearance is God awful and looks like the back is chopped off, among other things, and this is their NEW body! The 4 eyes of the Mercedes is NOT one of my favorites anymore as it has NOT changed since 1998, I believe. However it is due to change in 2007.

My opion on appearance only BMW (the Thomas Kincade of Automobiles i.e.: over sold and everyone can buy one, and does) does not beat the 4 eyes (which I hate now) of the Mercedes Benz.


Mercedes Benz still beats out the BMW and the NEW body will, hopefully, be much better yet. For now the winner is............Mercedes Benz E Class!

slk55lvr

Good for you, have fun! I like to try different cars out once in a while as well, and although the 5 series design does not appeal to me most bmw's are a lot of fun to drive!

S65_AMG

Exterior has grown on me...but the interior looks too plain and cheap!

RJC

The car just has too many angles/lines for my taste and as mentioned here the interior of the 5 and even 6 for that matter is very cheap looking indeed. The new 5 needs a similar refreshing akin to the 7 series; the sooner the better...

BudC

Ignoring styling, there are a few things about the new E60 that concerns me.

• The use of rivets and glue that requires specialist repair techniques in case of an accident.
• The design of the new six cylinder which is very unique and makes me wonder if it will have problems down the road.
• The small size of the six which gives up low-end torque and requires the use of RPM to compete with the larger engines of the competition.

Even so, would I like to own a 550i? In a NY minute if I could convince my wife to let me buy another BMW, especially one she thinks is butt-ugly.

CE750

I just (two days ago) drove a good friends 760Li and found that the interior was a) way to complex (and I've got 5000 hours in complex airplanes), and b) the plastics inside of a quality not worthy of a fine German car.

The handling and power on the other hand were awesome, but the car also sells for $120K

JWS3

is too damned fugly in every possible way. The interior is especially ghastly--never have a seen a 50+K car with an absolutely hideous interior as bad as this car's. The dash is just awful- Dischordant swoopes and curves and a dorky double hump design that looks like something out a 10K Kia.
I had 4 BMWs and bolted when the E60 5 series came out. I just couldn't drive a car that ugly on a daily basis no matter how well it drives.

Rudegar

No

SAguirre

Look at what Chris Bangel uses for inspiration! This work from 1912 from Umberto Boccioni with 3-dimensional surfaces (rough translation). This type of art is definitely no to be made light of, but do you think this translates to a nice car design?

The next two paintings he loves are the ones that also inspired his design of a few Fiat coupes. Well. . . that explains why I did not like those Fiats when I lived in Europe.

So I would like to say that this design has yet to grow on me. I doubt it ever will. I would buy it if I would be able to close my eyes while I walk towards the car and never look at the inside while I am driving. Not to mention, I better not see the reflection of my car if I am driving by a store window!

The car drives like a dream, but then again, I also like how my W211 drives. This is all a matter of tastes and preferences. So I am saying that this car is not of my liking. Also, since I found this magazine today I thought I should shed some light on Chris Bangel's source of inspiration. What if his next source is Picasso? Will his next car have the front and rear windshields on one side and the double kidney grill on the car’s a$$? Just a thought.

Enjoy!

Steve

plocjim

OK - I picked up the new 530xi today, and sadly dropped of the E320! After tooling around in her today, the verdict is that I really love the 530 - the ride is much different, somewhat harsher - but the 18" performance tires certainly play a big part of that, in addition to the design. The voice command is awesome, Logic7 is great and the nav is pretty cool. All the other toys that came with it will take me some time to sort out!

Posted a few pics - obviously not everyone will enjoy them! Thanks to all who post on this forum...it's been a great source of information and fun over the past 3+ years! I'll keep reading...I still think the E-class is an awesome car!!

Brian_I.

My mother just picked up a new 530i last night and do have to say I am very impressed. The whole iDrive thing is a little annoying but I'm sure once you get used to it it is great. I like the fact that it has bluetooth and a LOT of technical bells and whistles (which I love to play with). I also liked the power and smooth acceleration as well as the soft leather. I still think it is ugly from the back though. Overall it is a very nice car. I do have to say that the buying experience between BMW and MB is really different. They sure don't budge very much at BMW whereas when I was getting my E they pretty much just chopped off like 10 grand right off the bat with very little haggling!

D2-AUTOSPORT

I liked the e60 alot better when I saw a sport model in person with the 18" wheels and lower ride height.

These things look really aggressive with the HARTGE Classic 2 in 21x9 / 21x10.5 and aggressively lowered. The interior could certainly use some softening however.