I took a ride up to Louisville last weekend to go to the Eagles concert with my brother...AWESOME FLIPPEN Concert!!!!!...amazing. Anyway, my brother has a new 535ix that he's in love with.. i must admit; I was a little worried that I might like it better than my Merc. Well, not the case-at all! Don't get me wrong;it was a nice car. But, I wasn't impressed after having owned my W212. We rode in his car every where we went for 3 days. When I got into my car to head home, it was SO nice...just a nicer car IMO. Oh, did I mention that the Eagles concert was AWSOME?

 

that is good news: that you like the Merc better

I saw the Eagles in NC once a long time ago; was in high school hehe...........
still remember when they had a spot light on an golden Eagle during one
of their songs.....

 

Did you drive it or simply ride in it (big difference especially on this particular car)?

And I'm assuming it's not an M Sport model (big difference in driving dynamics for 2013)? Even if it is, being an XI (AWD) unfortunately your brothers car is "plagued" with the too-singularly-floaty Base Active suspension, and doesn't get the impeccable M suspension that only 2013 RWD M Sports have gotten so far (i.e even in "M Sport" guise, an XI/AWD F10 is only cosmetic while the RWD M Sport gets said much sportier and lower sitting mechanical "M" suspension whilst sacrificing barely an ounce if anything at all in comfort.... basically many feel the 2013 RWD M Sport suspension is the only way the F10 feels like a pure "BMW", taking into consideration it's working with an extremely inherently heavy chassis that's meant to absorb everything thrown at it whilst not letting a peep into the cabin as this chassis was developed to ride under the Rolls Royce Ghost as well.... hence it having one of the highest torsional rigidity figures in automotive history). Also I wonder if he had the Sport Auto Tranny which is another option that's a must to really bring out the potential of the F10 drivetrain.

Other than that, glad you came away happier with your vehicle still (always a great feeling and worth celebrating). I've been admiring some pre-facelift E's driving around lately. I guess the aesthetic love-jones ain't gone after all. I wish I could have one of both (I did for a week, was awesome while it lasted). Then I see a facelift E with the haphazardly mashed on new "Sport" front and I remember what upset me in the first place.

 

Hype, The last time I saw the Eagles (Heart, & Liittel River Band) in concert was sometime in the mid-late 70s in Montreal...It was an out door concert. It's amazing how much time has past since then.

 

wow, I was born in '75
I'd love to see Heart; well, the Heart from the 80's haha

 

I last saw the eagles in Munich in the 70's. It has been a long time.

 

The concert started with a solo by Don Henly, and at that point I thought that it was going to be long night. It wasn't long, though, before Walsh, Frey, and the rest of the crew made there way out. Once they were all on stage, and they got into the groove, it was just crazy...especially Frey and Walsh.

Break:

K-A, Yes, I did drive the 5er...nice car. To be honest, after sitting in it for a while, I found it to be a bit boring; espsecially the interior. I did like the (much) bigger dash monitor. The car is was not an Msport, but did have the optional sport suspension. I thought the ride was fine, by the way.

 

A couple years ago in Germany, my rental car was an F11 528i Touring. It was a nicely loaded comfortable car, but didn't seem any sportier or better than a 212. I will say I like the BMW "gong" or chime sound.

 

Totally agreed 5er no doubt a nice car, I have one F10 prior to W212 E-CLASS. I find it boring maybe the design especially the interior is too modern after a while I just do not like it. A part of that the maintainence of BMW also higher as compared to Mercedes.

From my own experience, 5er is good to drive and nice car but E-Class is much more balance in every expect.

 

the 5 is more precise, less luxurious...more of a drivers car. I can't knock on the bimmers handling because it really is sporty/superb. As for the rest of it.....it just feels so cheap and if you had it longer than 2 years it feels even cheaper.

 

All you need is to look at a new 5 series to know that you will not prefer it.

 

Where in Louisville, Freedom Hall? Must have been an awesome concert... Good read on being happy to be back in your 212, and agree on liking the bigger nav display screen only...

 

One area where I feel you can't even make an objective comparo between the E and 5 is in interior material quality. I can't find one area where the E has even on-par materials as the 5, once you really feel around and take in the environment. The window switches and some of the levers around the steering wheel are actually indeed a bit higher quality to me on the E, but other than that I feel its interior feels and appears a segment below. I guess we all have our varying perceptions. Both feel quite robust and durable, however I agree that the E's interior feels like you can take a baseball bat to it and it'll come away unscathed.... however it comes at a cost of a kind of cold, hard and in someways un-coddling environment, relatively speaking, IMO.

 

KA has no sigpic HAHA

 

Lol. No I just try and not use it as much as possible 'round these parts.

 

you can borrow mine KA, it's a nice snap from the other night, no PS either

 

Rob, T concert was at the Yum Center...it was a sold out house. The only thing that I recorded during the concert was the 10 minute roar after Hotel California... UNREAL.

 

K-A, I didn't take good note to the switches and buttons...wish I did now. I can tell you that he was as in love with his 5er as I am with my 212. I guess, that's about all that matters in the end. . They are both awesome rides, for sure.

 

Haha, indeed it does. Glad to hear he loves it (as you love yours). I loved my E like crazy and I once again feel that I am hitting my new peak of "how much I can love a car" with my 5er. The switches are good and all, I just mean if I'm nitpicking I think the W212's window switches and stalks (by the steering wheel) might be a little more elegant, but most people probably wouldn't be able to really tell a difference I'd assume. Other than that I'm so enamored by the F10's interior that I'm convinced that Rolls Royce lent their expertise on how to make a proper Luxury Car interior, especially considering how the F10's interior is leagues above previous BMW's in luxury/refinement. It's literally a shrunken down 7-Series interior with a better (IMO) and more modernized design, which is why I feel it almost has an "unfair" advantage in this segment.

But regardless, they're both damn good choices. Seems both of you have good taste (and I can pat myself on the back on that same note, considering my most recent cars ).

 

Much perception is what we are used to. After driving the S6 for several years, I once again looked at a BMW and wasn't overly impressed with the interior. I then got the 3 and after a short while decided I liked the interior better. Looking at E's now I can't say I'm impressed...

I went from the 3 to my current Acura. I wasn't overly excited about interior quality but after a year I think it is pretty good.

 

Awesome,,,, I am definitely jealous.

 

K-A,

Your ride is the M trim of the BMW. How would you compare it with the E63 AMG, which has a bit better interior? That is what it should be compared to, right?

 

K-A, the BMW dealer kept pushing me to buy a 528 instead of the 535. What reasons did you opt for the 535? The 528 felt pretty powerful...

 

Totally true. Perception and what you're used to rule OR can make you long for something "new" thus unjustly misjudging your "old" car. I'll say this: I feel the F10 interior is more akin to the W211 interior in many ways than the W212 is to the W211. W211 had a softer, more elegant interior with more soft touch surfaces, more carpeting, etc. The W212 has lots of harder surfaces, however feels W126 inspired to me.... like M-B went back to their roots and made something ultimately durable and teutonic.... with focus on longevity and durability but not so much on softness and "elegance" like they did the W211. The Facelift E's added bits definitely help, but the material quality is still largely the same (for better or worse).

Yeah I have the M Sport but the E63 would be compared to an M5 actually. The only differences my interior has from base F10 interior are due to my options: M Sport gives you black Anthracite headliner (very nice), 535i gives you standard Dakota leather, Sport Auto Transmission gives you high quality thick matte-black mixed with aluminum paddles along with a much nicer and higher quality "Joystick" shifter and leather base (the stock F10 shifter is this "Gumbee" looking thing with no leather, just a plastic base), and the Technology Package gave me the "trick" "Black Panel Display" gauges which are much nicer than the analogue gauges with a nicer and larger display screen. Also of course Navi gave me the widescreen.

To be honest I don't like the E63 interior much more than the standard W212 interior. The shifter area has lots of plastic replacing the wood, the center armrest I believe is straight off of the pre-facelift W204 C which leaves a lot to be desired. At the same time, the M5 interior I actually feel looks worse than my cars interior ,as they took away the entire wood paneling on the lower center console as well and replaced it with leather, however in pictures looks like plastic. Of course, the big selling points of both interiors are the much upgraded seats and the alcantara headliners.

The 528i is indeed totally enough for real-world use but I always wanted specifically a 535i. I honestly wanted one more than a 550i. I've wanted an I6 Bimmer for so long, the inherently balanced motor, that distinctive sound, ultra smooth, low-end torquey with the turbo, etc. It was perfect for me and a logical performance upgrade from my 268HP E350 (who I always defended as having fine and adequate power for an E Class and stick to that). I'm also not a 4 cylinder fan AT ALL and just get turned off by the sound and even though BMW's is very refined, it feels more crude and along with the sound I felt wasn't a worthy "match" to the 535i I6 Turbo and its luxurious virtues.