I am on an extended test drive in a 2003 E500. My BMW is being repaired and my mechanic and friend offered to loan me this car. He wants me to buy it. It is a big change from my E38 (2001 740iL). But, there are some things I like and some things I am not used to. My first thoughts as a driver of one of these for the first time.

1. The brake pedal is VERY firm. The brakes work fine. But, I was surprised how firm the pedal was the first time I used them.
2. The information center and different screen choices on the instrument cluster seems unnecessarily complicated. AND this is coming from someone who is used to a 7 series!
3. Gas mileage is decent, but less than I expected. My 7 series gets 23.5-24 combined with about 70% highway driving. This car is getting about 22 mpg. That's not bad. But, I thought since it was quite a bit smaller than my 7 series, it would be better. But, it is a 5.0 8 cylinder.
4. I drove it for the first two days in the winter driving mode. I didn't know that is what the W stood for. The Standard is a lot better! It was a pretty slow take off in the W mode.
5. It is almost as quiet as my 7 series. I like that.
6. It is sportier than I expected. I like it.
7. HUGE trunk!
8. Small back seat.
9, I had forgotten about the awkward placement of the cruise control stalk.
10. I do enjoy seeing that pointed star again on the hood!
11. Seats are very comfortable and adjustable.
12. It looks smaller than it is.
13. I'm amazed that a 2003 still has a tape player. It took me two days to figure out the little plastic door covered the tape player.
14. Even though its 15 years old, it still has presence.
15. Neither BMW nor Mercedes can figure out how to design a decent cupholder.

 

If you are thinkign about buying it make sure to check what radiator is in it, if its a valeo it might be one of the defective that may leak coolant into the transmission oil and ruin the gearbox over time, theres ways to test for contamination in the oil.
The reason for firm brake pedal is probably because of its electronic brake system (SBC, sensotronic brake control) also that pump will work for a set amount of pedal presses (i think, not completely sure) and will stop working almost completely when its at that point.
also becuase of that system its a pain to change brake pads and rotors unless you have a MB star multiplexer or iCarsoft MB II/MB v2.0 to turn it off and then back on when done, just dontm quote me on any of this as I havnt had any of this happen to me yet (as far as I know)
Apart from those things its the best car Ive ever driven

 

Yeah, it's basically SBC and airmatic that makes an E500 somewhat more expensive to maintain than the later 2007-2009 E350's which didn't have SBC or airmatic.

And while there's a lot of options for the dash display, you don't really have to play with it that much. Normally I just leave it on music or switch once in a while to the gas mileage display. But I don't worry about gas that much, just fill it when it needs it. Even the E-350 isn't that great, I get around 20-22 on the highway, but there's a lot more traffic around here. Worse I think I got was around 14, but bad is 16-18. That's when it takes 45 minutes to an hour to go 10 miles.

 

I tried to check the radiator and I searched the forum about identifying the Valeo versus the Behr. But, I can't tell anything with it in the car. Here are some pics. Sorry for the lousy phone pics.

The one above is mine. This one below is supposedly the behr. The crimping on the edge looks the same.