Jakpro1

I am kinda newer to the luxury car market and have a quick question about how BMW operates.

I guess I have been hearing about the M5 and how awesome it's going to be for roughly 2 full years now, but it just never seems to arrive. No dates as to when it's coming, no announcements planned. Car and Driver has the review of how GREAT it is compared to the Mercs, but that was late last year.

Is this the most bizarre marketing you have ever heard. Imagine seeing a Super Bowl commercial about so something that is just so incredible, so groundbreaking, so revolutionary....then going to your local store foaming at the mouth only to be told.....uhhhhh it's coming......uhhhh soon....I guess..maybe later this year....but someday when it gets here, it's gonna really kick your a$$.

Seriously, am I missing something? This has to be the longest build up for a product in history.

I guess I work in marketing, so in my field, you have the product on the store shelves, in the car lot, or ready on the net....then hype the crap outta it and make your money.

Last thing...so the last M5 was made in 2003....then a 3 year wait for the new one... Anyone have info as to why that is? Am I wrong on this? I can't seem to find a car newer then 2003 on the web. Again, these are all things that you would be taught in marketing 101. You have a hot product...you pump it out year after year with little changes to keep it fresh.. ALA the 55, heck even the Thighmaster.

Any input on the crack that is being passed out and smoked in Bavaria would be appreciated.

Vetluver

The M5 is a halo car. It's designed to get people into the dealership. I bet they lose money on each one. Right now they are out performing all other german manufacturers and don't need the extra traffic that an M5 will bring.

I have a friend that has owned BMWs for 20 years and the last one is a 03 M5. He bought it after the 04 models were out. He is number 1 on the list for the new M5. He's been to dealership twice to drive the 545i but still doesn't like it as much as his 03.

He's turned off, but I'll bet BMW is banking on most people going ahead and getting the top of the line 5 series rather than waiting forever for an M5.

Another thought about the new M5. With the recent spate of BMW engine failures I'll bet they are testing the heck out of them to make sure that they don't have the dealers replacing all the motors within 8k miles. Out of the 03 M3s sold locally I haven't heard of any that has the same motor as it came from the factory with. BMW has done a great job with damage control and has hushed up this subject quite well.

04E55 AMG

Feel sorry for the new M5 owner that comes up against you with Kleemann K2 under the hood

onesixeight

BMW has always been that way with their M cars. Compared to MB & AMG, they MB releases their AMG car within a few month or even the same time, ala CLS 55. The M division releases their car 1-2 MY's down the road.

Vetlover brought up a very interesting point about his friend with the '03 M5 coming in and test driving the new 545i. My sister is in the current '02 E39 M5 is waiting for a new M5. But she might get a CLS 55 because she doesn't want to wait until later this year...so that is a very valid argument that BMW is losing customers with the long wait.

enzom

The M5 always takes some time to come out. They put alot of development work into this car. They are also having some mechanical issues with the car overseas. Hopefully, they will get them worked out before this car gets here.

Although a bit different, we saw Ford GT commercials and advertisements - and magazine reviews - long before the first one was sold to a customer. BMW isn't the only one guilty of making us wait.

I also had two BMW E39's (1998 540 and 2001 540 sport). I test drove the 545 before buying my E55 and did not like it. The active steering was too artificial, the idrive was an inconvenience and the styling didn't turn me on. Too bad. I so loved my two 540's that I swore I would get the new one when it came out.

krispykrme

M5 has always came out 2 years after introduction of regular 5 series.

The e39 M5 did not appear in europe until 1998 (2 years after E39 introduction). The E60 M5 also debuted two years after the E60. This has always been their tradition.

BMW had no intention to bring the E39 M5 over to US because fear of low demand. Hence E39 M5 arrived a whopping 3 years after E39 was introduced.

Unlike AMG who seems to be only interested in getting most HP out of an engine and neglect everything else. BMW has always taken the extra time to get chassis, suspension and rest of the package right.

The E55 drive like E500 with slightly less body roll, much worse steering response, and way more power. There isn't really much of a difference between the two except the power. Where the differences between M and non-m cars are huge.

Your crack comment simply reflect lack of knowlege and what M stands for.

As far as losing customers, I seriously doubt that. People who understand M product life cycle knows how long it will take. They would simply wait.

As far as the claim that BMW is keeping the M3 engine issue under wrap is BS. My M3 had factory engine and is still on the same one after i sold it one year later. I never had issues with M3 engines. Yes, there was one batch on the early 2002 cars that the connecting rod failed. That's it. There has not been a widespread engine issues like vetluver claims.

In my circle of friends we have at least 5 M3 that is outside the recall range. All of them are fine. They eat some oil in the 1st 1200 miles. But after that the engines are quite fine. The only issue that could arise is for someone that does know how to drive a stick and did a money shift and busted the engine. If you over-rev the M3 engine, of course it will be a very expansive pile of junk metal.

W210

I do not think it was intentional. I think they also got caught up in silly things like poor side ENCAP ratings trying to raise from a shocking 3-star to 5.

For a potential buyer like myself, I'm certainly ticked off. Perhaps their strategy was to force everyone to look at it more to get used to the ugly shape?

DRCrowder

Not true at all, please be fair. the S54 has had major problems from 2001 to 2003. ALL S54's from, I think it was just 2001 and 2002, were given free 100K warranty's for all of the problems and more importantly the potential problems During that time they did have a problem with the engine blowing (don't know if both items have been fully resolved.

You are also wrong about people waiting. I am on the M5 list and was long before I bought my E55, I got sick of waiting.....

You are often correct in your assessment of AMG and in your honesty of their shortcomings. All that honesty loses credit when you get on your "BWM Apologist" soapbox

Disclaimer: the dates for the engine blowing and the 100K warranty could be off, I stopped following when I dumped my S54 MCoupe

E55_POWER

You dog! Are you picking on them already? I got my car back today...wow...you gotz to get LSD my man. Yeah, tires still spin like crazy but you go straight rather than sideways now.

E55_POWER

I have to agree. Out of the 6 M3 owners I personally know, ALL 6 had their motor either worked on extensively by dealer or replaced. All of them got 100K warranty. None of them own the car now. As for M customer loyalty, sure some will wait, but lot's of them have gone elswhere for 2 reasons, 1) they couldn't wait and got sick of they "hype", or 2) the styling is too much for them. The SMG vs manual is probably another reason.

But no one really knows for sure as to why the M5 is taking this long to be released. I'm not too concerned about the "M5 vs E55" thing since I'll drive whichever car I feel is the better car for me. The M5 will def. be something to admire, if you can get past certain attributes..for me, the styling, cheap interior (I hope to God they do something different on the M) and biggest on of all - the iDrive. I don't care what BMW owner tells me, the iDrive should have been made like the Audi MMI, Auid NAILED it! Speaking of Audi...I hope they do F/I on the next RS6 and not N/A V10 I keep reading.

04E55 AMG

Did they finish the Kleemann LSD install today? That was fast!!!

E55_POWER

Yeah but those BASTAGES are charging me 12 F@CKING hours of labor. I mean damn they started on my car at around 11AM then I get a call at 5:30PM telling me my car is ready and it will be 12 hours charge...let me see, last time I checked 11 to 6 (I'll give them 30 free minutes) is 7 hours...where the hell did they find 5 additional hours.

In any case, I'm so happy about the LSD, I could give a ***** about the 5 hours.

E55_POWER

Oh change your sig now bro! No longer "coming soon".

Damn, I thought I was bad with AMV8 and Z06 coming...you have 3 cars coming.

04E55 AMG

On that note, it may be time to change the car you drive to a CL55

Call me tomorrow so you can give me your thoughts on the LSD. When you hammer it with traction off, does it spin less?

E55_POWER

I can't really tell today...roads are still all wet for the most part.

enzom

Woh. Don't let the excitement get to you. You are getting screwed. I would call them on it and tell them to check the hours again. I don't care how good a job they might have done. Do you have a money tree growing in your yard? If I broke into your house and stole $300 you'd be pissed, right?

enzom

So pissed about this that I am posting twice. I know it isn't my business, and maybe the money doesn't matter, but it just ticks me off when people try to get over on others like that.

DRCrowder

maybe they used 2 ppl * 6 hours == 12 hours

medici78

I have an M3 and I'm on the M5 waiting list. But I got impatient and decided to purchase an E55 (should be picking it up next month). However, by all accounts, BMW seems to be having some trouble with the M5 as far as reliability goes. As it is, some M3 engines were having trouble, but with the M5 we're talking about an engine that has 4 more cylinders, 1.8 litres more displacement and revs 250 rpms higher. Makes the E55 that much more appealing.