MockbaBenz

my lease is coming to an end, and I pulled the trigger and switched to a BMW M5. The car is coming in about 10 days and I cant wait. The e350 was and still is an amazing car. Very safe vehicle and kept me safe when I was in a side swipe accident. It was smooth and quite powerful for what it was. The Power of the m5 is something else though.

gaazmon

A very bad boy indeed, time to get a spanking

J/K. Enjoy your new ride. The M5 is very nice. Wouldn't mind having a 550i with the M body kit myself

MockbaBenz

Thanks I'll post pics when it comes

Dema

I switched to BMW too. However I still consider Benz as better car.

gaazmon

Dema, what happened to the E? No more?

Is that a 128 or 135?

220S

As a long time BMW owner, I came really close to getting a new 550i with a MT and ZSP. But I needed to behave and try to drive sensibly. The MB helps me to drive like an old man

And my 993 is always there to keep my blood pressure up when needed.

Enjoy the M. You're not a bad boy, they are totally different types of cars. For a heavy sedan, the M5 handles extremely well. Just don't get side swiped again! The 5ers are not as safe as the MB in side impacts.

Dema

I like E a lot. Itis my wife primary car. So it is still in my garage.

It is 135.

lkchris

It's really an apples/oranges comparison, as the M5 is more like the E63 than your E350.

Good luck with reliablity, as there's nothing worse than BMW.

vettdvr

I would be interested in the reliability of BMW to MB. ball joints, sbc, ignition key,door locks,and so on,, you know,, just the stuff that has kept our E500 in the shop every 6000 miles or so for the life of the car,, now air suspension failing.

Dema

I leased BMWs, so I had zero problems for that period. BMW looked more solid car for me. I guess recent cars for MB and BMW have much better reliability. So I wouldn't predict that 09 M5 will break quickly.

gaazmon

It really is luck. Friends 01 330 convertible was crap, his now 07 530 has never had problems. Uncle's X5 was crap. Friends 02 745i (the nightmare) was... can you guess??? Cousin's 97 528i is pretty good. Friend's A4 has been giving him some decent amount of problems. Another uncle's 735i has been fine, while his 02 S500 has given him a lot of problems.

Viper786

I beg to differ. I've had both a 5 series (from 2004 until 2006) and an E-class (from 2006- current which i'm about to trade in)

Did not have a single problem with my BMW but i'm having horrible luck with my Mercedes. See my post here
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...-throttle.html

And that's not even the only problem I've had.

220S

All Euro cars are equally unreliable (or reliable; depending on your view: a glass half empty, half full sort of thing.)

That's why we like them. Just like we prefer a tempestuous woman (or man) over a docile one. We elect to put up with the difficult times because the good times are that good.

Diesel Benz

I don't think he is a bad boy, he is just stupid, if not a complete fool.





Kidding really, everyone can try a BMW once, I think trying once is acceptable (guess how many I've had).

Enjoy your new ride what ever it is.

K-A

I never liked the new 5-Series stylistically but I ruled one out right away when I was looking for my last car due to its Safety performances in the Side Crash Tests.

In this day and age, everything from a Hyandai Elantra to the cheapest GM or Ford perform better in Side Tests.

Congrats to O/P on the M5 though, I really love those cars, just the way it all comes together works so well even on what IMO is not a great looking body-style, definitely a 4-Door exotic.

Seems like alot of people on these Boards are getting new M5's! Must have some attractive deals going on.

weinschela

One of the reasons I switched some years ago was the Bangle Butt. The 7 series was bad but imho the 5 series was just awful and while you can get used to anything I suppose, I just didn't want to have to look at it every day. My last BMW was an E39 540i. I have driven a 550i and my E550 is comparable in performance (admittedly I am not driving "at the limits") but the interior is far nicer and the exterior --- well the 5 has softened the Bangle Butt but its still there and I still don't care for it. But if you like it, enjoy it, and as another poster said comparing a M5 to a E350 is unfair as the right comparison is E63.

jcpca356

tell us how you like the SMG. i got rid of my e46 m3 smg because the single plate clutch shifting action ended up being quite annoying for everyday driving...

Vader55

Benz or Bimmer you cannot go wrong, I love'em both.

gaazmon

My cousin actually had SMG on her 04 325ic (ya, wtf huh? I guess 04 was the only year they offered smg on none M 3-series's). The thing broke on her all the time (then again she might've not known how to drive it), but her husband also said it was crap, so I believe them.

Porsche has PDK now (dual clutch transmission), sounds interesting. And Audi has it too on the R8's. Seems like MB never jumped on this bandwagon, I wonder why (I know they have the M mode on the AMG's, is this the same?).

jcpca356

yeah, SMG is not like tiptronic or any of the automated shifters. it's truly a manual without the clutch pedal action. sporty driving with the manual mode is great but in the automated mode, the shifting action can be quite slow, making it pretty frustrating in traffic. also, mis-shifting or overworking the shifting pods will cause tranny issues down the line...very expensive to fix...the new dual clutch smg's are supposed to have cured that problem but i haven't even tested it yet as i'm still haunted by the issues i had.

you'll notice that there are many many smg's out there for sale.

gaazmon

Isn't the new BMW one called DCT or something? I've always wanted to have a car with a dual clutch transmission (lol, I remember the last generation of Toyota MR2's having one, but it had no auto feature, just manual).