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It would seem I'm following @Hatzenbach out the door. After roughly 2-1/2 years of driving the S600, as of yesterday afternoon I'm now a BMW driver - for a while, at least. I swapped the W221 for a G30, a CPO 2018 540i xDrive in "Atlas Cedar", a color which defies classification as to whether it's green, gold, or brown.
The pros: Well, it's 11 years newer, under 30K miles, and doesn't have ABC or the problems of a 15 year old V12 Mercedes. Handling is at least an order of magnitude more responsive than the Merc, and with a bit over half the engine displacement the acceleration is astonishingly good. Like, very close if not equal to the S600 good. Some of the systems are much better, like seat massage, and of course it's got features the much older Merc didn't (and the parking sensors don't scream at you every time you drive it). My mileage in town so far, with very limited driving, is right at 20 MPG, so that's nice as well.
Cons: It's not quite as quiet. The ride is firmer even n Comfort mode, though it's quite nice. It's not a 7-series, so you do give up about 6" of rear legroom - though it will fit much better in the garage, if I ever get that cleared out. It will make an acceptable replacement road trip machine, and a much better DD.
Why did I do it? Well... I just got tired of fighting one thing after another breaking on the S600. As soon as I'd get one thing sorted out, another would fail. Three times in the past week, the transmission has simply disengaged while I was driving down the road. The indicator would still show D, but it acted like it was in neutral. Usually shifting to neutral and back to drive would get it to re-engage. Once the trans warmed up things were fine, but of course transmission problems never get better on their own, and I was fed up with this one. It also is going to need a new AC compressor, and it's due for another brake and ACB flush... I just don't want to keep pouring money into it. I need a driver, not a project car.
I thought I'd miss it a lot, but honestly... the 540i is nicer than I expected, and I keep finding little things that surprise me. I'm not sad. I'll be unloading the Mercedes-specific tools I've accumulated, like the iCarsoft MBII scan tool, the ABC flush tool, the Tactrix OBD device and the laptop with XENTRY/DAS on it, along with whatever else I fond in the garage. PM me if you're interested in that stuff, I'll still check in from time to time for a while.
And you all remember the difference between a porcupine and a BMW, right?
Will miss you DaleB. You always had good advice in my opinion.
Understand the reason for a change. The S550 in my garage does not have ABC, or the V12, or a turbo, so it works fairly well on reliability. I'll keep for a while.
Congrats,
I had a G30 5 Series before . I disliked it , poor A/C performance regardless of settings , poor suspension comfort over W212 , something like wallowing or as others described tramlining effect while driving but solid craftmanship and quality materials were good things about it
Congrats,
I had a G30 5 Series before . I disliked it , poor A/C performance regardless of settings , poor suspension comfort over W212 , something like wallowing or as others described tramlining effect while driving but solid craftmanship and quality materials were good things about it
Well, the A/C in the S600 was poor to marginal at best. I'm sure it could have been made to work properly, for another thousand or two. The ride in the BMW isn't as silky smooth, but it is quite competent, substantially more stable on rough roads, and quite a bit more nimble of course. It's a completely different car, and not an uber-luxury sedan like the S class. It's more competitive with the E class, obviously. I didn't even bother looking for a 7 series. This one is a "Luxury line" and not the M Sport. The dealer had an M Sport, but it was black and I liked this one better.
I've driven this for a couple of days now, and it's such a relief to just get in and know that the car will start, drive, cool off, etc. without any issues. The S600 could be a little fussy about starting. No one could determine why, but the dealer and the indy shop both wanted to start troubleshooting by replacing ALL of the ignition parts - which I'd already spent over $2500 replacing. The A/C was completely non-functional for the first 5-10 minutes of driving every day, which was less than wonderful in 95 degree weather. I had to remember to turn off park assist every time I started it, or it would inevitably panic at a stop light when someone with blind spot or parking radar was in the vicinity. And, in the past couple of weeks the transmission had acted up in ways that made me pretty sure it was going to get very expensive before long. All of these taken together meant that my confidence that I could get in the car and get from A to B was relatively low. Driving this is less stressful.
So... while the 5 series is not an S class, it wasn't built to be one. It's really a better choice for daily driving in town, and still quite comfortable on the highway. We'll see, I suppose, how the long distance comfort is, but the seats are actually more adjustable and the massage functions are WAY better than what the Mercedes had, so I'm pretty sure it will be fine (if not quite as quiet). And of course having 3 or 4 year old technology rather than 15 or 16 year old technology is awfully nice, too. I think I'd like driving this even if everything on the S600 had been working perfectly -- but if that were the case I wouldn't have been looking at other cars, probably.
Reliable of the car is a most important especially when it getting old. Natural Aspirated engine without ABC is my choice because it very reliable and easy for troubleshooting and maintenance.
One of the better looking BMW's I've seen in a well. I totally get the desire for reduced anxiety. Congrats and enjoy your new car.
Thanks. We both really did love the S600 when it was on its game... but the lack of reliability, even after spending countless hours and several thousand dollars on repairs and upkeep, simply sucked the joy out of owning and driving it. There are, I'm certain, really good, solid S600s and S65s out there. Apparently I didn't buy one.
Thanks. We both really did love the S600 when it was on its game... but the lack of reliability, even after spending countless hours and several thousand dollars on repairs and upkeep, simply sucked the joy out of owning and driving it. There are, I'm certain, really good, solid S600s and S65s out there. Apparently I didn't buy one.
That really sucks to hear. There are definitely extremely reliable v12's out there...I've had 2 so far (knock on wood). I know if I was doing repair after repair, I'd be annoyed and tired of it too. At least your wallet will thank you for a while.
Thanks. We both really did love the S600 when it was on its game... but the lack of reliability, even after spending countless hours and several thousand dollars on repairs and upkeep, simply sucked the joy out of owning and driving it. There are, I'm certain, really good, solid S600s and S65s out there. Apparently I didn't buy one.
Not sure that is true. There is one guy on the board who had a W221 S600 indicates he got paid back multiple times over from his investment in his aftermarket warranty. We are talking tens of thousands of dollars. Added up to a pretty maintenance intensive car.
Not sure that is true. There is one guy on the board who had a W221 S600 indicates he got paid back multiple times over from his investment in his aftermarket warranty. We are talking tens of thousands of dollars. Added up to a pretty maintenance intensive car.
Definitely true and all depends on the car...mine have been maintenance free and I surely don't baby mine when it comes to driving it.
Not sure that is true. There is one guy on the board who had a W221 S600 indicates he got paid back multiple times over from his investment in his aftermarket warranty. We are talking tens of thousands of dollars. Added up to a pretty maintenance intensive car.
After I bought mine, I explored the cost of a service plan (commonly called an "extended warranty", but they're really not). The best price I got, from the VERY few places that would write one on a car of that age, was about $3500 and didn't cover basically anything suspension related. I passed. In 40 years of vehicle ownership, we have never once had one that required enough service or repairs to make a service plan or extended warranty worthwhile. That was a large assortment of Ford products, a few GM, a couple of Hondas and Toyotas, and a Volvo. Call us lucky, we'd never had one try to bankrupt us before.
Had I bought it for the Mercedes, I'd have taken it to the dealer for a lot of things I fixed myself, and I'd have had them fix the transmission and air. Under those circumstances, I'd have gotten far more than $3500 of benefit from the service plan and saved a lot of hassle. By the time I realized that it would pay off, there was no one who would even sell a plan for a 2007.
I'll be perfectly honest, the S600 experience is why I didn't even look at the CLS550 that was available locally. I just felt like it was time for a change of marque. I will say that the quality and workmanship of the BMW is outstanding, easily the equal of the Mercedes, so we're not giving anything up there. Materials and fit & finish are superb. I'm getting 19+ MPG in town, not babying it, so that's nice. The inline 6 is really smooth, nearly V12 smooth, even under load or near redline. I have no idea how long I'll keep this car, but almost certainly not until it's 15 or more years old. Will it hold up better than the S600 did? I'll never know, I'm sure. I'll let the next guy find out.
After I bought mine, I explored the cost of a service plan (commonly called an "extended warranty", but they're really not). The best price I got, from the VERY few places that would write one on a car of that age, was about $3500 and didn't cover basically anything suspension related. I passed. In 40 years of vehicle ownership, we have never once had one that required enough service or repairs to make a service plan or extended warranty worthwhile. That was a large assortment of Ford products, a few GM, a couple of Hondas and Toyotas, and a Volvo. Call us lucky, we'd never had one try to bankrupt us before.
Had I bought it for the Mercedes, I'd have taken it to the dealer for a lot of things I fixed myself, and I'd have had them fix the transmission and air. Under those circumstances, I'd have gotten far more than $3500 of benefit from the service plan and saved a lot of hassle. By the time I realized that it would pay off, there was no one who would even sell a plan for a 2007.
I'll be perfectly honest, the S600 experience is why I didn't even look at the CLS550 that was available locally. I just felt like it was time for a change of marque. I will say that the quality and workmanship of the BMW is outstanding, easily the equal of the Mercedes, so we're not giving anything up there. Materials and fit & finish are superb. I'm getting 19+ MPG in town, not babying it, so that's nice. The inline 6 is really smooth, nearly V12 smooth, even under load or near redline. I have no idea how long I'll keep this car, but almost certainly not until it's 15 or more years old. Will it hold up better than the S600 did? I'll never know, I'm sure. I'll let the next guy find out.
Yes until recently BMW was in a league of it's own on six cylinder engines.
I've driven this for a couple of days now, and it's such a relief to just get in and know that the car will start, drive, cool off, etc. without any issues.
EXACTLY my thoughts. And also I have no longer to worry about: "what is this strange noise"?
By the way, new BMW owner: please let us know how long it takes, until you no longer use the signal
By the way, new BMW owner: please let us know how long it takes, until you no longer use the signal
Haha! I’ve gathered that it’s a “thing” for some drivers. Of course I’m in NE and deal with lots of IA drivers, and it seems that half of them don’t know that that sticky-outy thing behind the steering wheel is for. I’m pretty good about using them, even more so since I started driving cars that might tend to make people think you’re probably a d-bag to begin with.
But, the turn signals work just fine, and I’m using them unless I’m the only one on the road. And sometimes even then.
One welcome change is a little OBD dongle and the BimmerCode app to make various little custom tweaks, like turning off that annoying seatbelt warning at first startup so it’s not nagging at me WHILE I’m putting the bloody seatbelt on.
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