franki68

internationally acclaimed king ???? where ? In the uk its been regularly beaten in tests by the e39 m5,virtualyy every mag in any comparison lists the m5 first.

I drive a 996 tt fyi.The e55 I had for 2 months and really didn't like it,it is good if you have no interest in driving and what to get somewhere very quickly but I found the steering and brakes flawed,the acceleration is tremendous no doubt ,but there is no subtelty ,the m5 is more like a sports car ,you can hang the tail out if you wish for themost glorious slides .The m5 is fun,the e55 is not in a nutshell.
I do think that the e55 is a better in the states as your wide roads and lack of twisties help its cause.I also agree the new m5 is ugly and i canceleld my order on one because of it.

Im not anti merc at all,my wife has a cl500 and I run 6 mercs at work,I was just responding to the thread,and if you guys don't belive that BMW is goingto ensure the m5 beats the e55 in acceleration you're living in baa baa land.

stephens

Hmm
EVO, Car, R&T, C&D, Sports Car International and Motor all saw it different to you. Name the magazine where the E39 won, not counting the pumperdinkel village express news edited by your kid brother. Don't post broad statements that have no substantiation.

FYI I drive Gallardo, F550 had 996TT etc. What is your point? Does driving a 996TT somehow make you opinion more important?

The M5 is slower around a race circuit than the E55, and frankly the E39 is an understeering pig on a race track.
Don't insult my intelligence by attempting to post opinions dressed as facts. I personally believe the W211 is the best four door family car in the world right now, that is my opinion, albeit one shared by most reputable testers.
If you want to go for a sporting drive through the twisites, take the 996TT. The M5 and E55 are too big and understeer to much, for this sort of work.
In any event, the average driver will never come even close to the limits of any of these cars on the street.

franki68

i was asked what cars i drive hence my answer,
Re-read the articles autocar done 3 tests first one gave decison to e55,next two to m5,car gave it to m5 and evo gave it to m5 ,
top gear gave it to e55,i have all the mags at hand.
In myopinion along with most of the uk road testers the m5 is superior.
that is all.

stephens

Rather selective interpretation of the results.
The first Autocar article was a reprint of a widely distributed and prostituted article giving the M5 the win. This was the first and last. Two following articles gave an opposing view and rated the E55 first. I am an EVO subscriber and have not seen the issue where the E39 beat the W211 E55. Could you please let me know what issue this was? I am also a CAR subscriber, they did NOT give the win to the E39 in any of the issues that I read.
As you confirmed, your original post that all mags gave the win to the M5 is grossly incorrect, of the mags you quote 2 gave the win to the E55 by your own admission.
I reiterate the E55 is not a sports car, why do people expect it to handle like one?

franki68

sorry i just noticed you live in australia,im guessing you have alot of wide straight roads ,probably superior to Uk roads ?
hence you like the e-55.
Just out of interest the one i had ,i believed had a fault with it,when i queried MB about it ,they said it was normal and that all e55s drove like that,i tried 2 more and both had the same thing,on uneven road surface when braking the wheel vibrated like **** and the brake pedal did the same.This doesn't happen on the other e-classes we have.

EVO magazine (e55,Jag s-typeR,RS6,M5) ..though outgunned by the e55 and RS6 the m5 's beautifully balanced chassis is unmatvched in the class and noses it ahead.

Car magazine..(same comparison)thse aren't just about power,torque and top speed.They're aboput sensations and emotions,and the m5 scores highly in both departments....etc etc...alll things considered its the most rewarding drive.It wins.

etc etc

stephens

As I said, the first Autocar article was widely postituted originating from another European magazine whose name escapes me at the moment, you will note that the CAR article is by the same author. Later reviews reversed this position.

I didn't realize there were so many E55's around in the UK for you to find three with this problem. I regularly do high speed emergency braking manouvers in the E55 and I cannot fault it. By way of comparison I recently had to brake heavily at 240kmh in the F550 on an undulating road. The right front locked up momentarily and had the car sideways causing a high speed slide in a now very unbalanced car that felt as if it were about to flip over. I had enough time to realise that I was probably screwed, steered into the slide and recovered the car, drove home and changed my underpants.
I tried the same thing in the E55 and it tracked straight and true, with none of the drama associated with the Ferrari. High speed braking stability, pulsing or other such dramas are news to me and I regularly test drive different E55's.

If you were looking for the E55 to replace your 996TT you would have been sorely disappointed, but that is to be expected.

franki68

car was december 2002 and evo is ..look atthe back the best saloons section,the one I had was issue .
Autocar 27th novemeber 2002 gave the verdict just to the e55 but in the subsequent tests e.g 23rd april 2003 with the new jag s type in gave the verdict to the beemer with the jag second..They also considerd the m5 road test to be worthy of its top 100 road tests and the e55 not.
Top gear is the only mag that has stuck with the e55 and even in their test clarkson came out in favour of the RS6.

I do think the e55 iperforms better in the states and maybe in OZ due to the road conditions.

franki68

no the e55 came after the m5,then I wanted to go back to the m5 but drove the tt and fell in love.

I found it very strange and have only come across one other person who found this,but it is what i found,it has also been mentioned by car magazine I recall.

As I said im indifferent ,im no BMW freak or MB freak ,I found the s55 better and the SL55 is an excellent car,neither have shown the problem i encountered with the e55.

But to be honest the whole post was really to say there is no way BMW willmake a car that is in anyway slower than the e55.Though im sure AMG will immediately release a e65 to sort that problem out.

norb

Jag second and E55 third? Oh and that isn't tainted by nationalism, is it? I'm surprised the Jag didn't come in first!

I finally test drove a 545i manual. This one had the active steering and hated it, the steering feel itself was wonderful, but it felt to quick at low speeds, why mess with success? Handling is very nimble and connected, typical BMW. Ride was on the harsh side though, you could really feel it going over pot holes.

The rest of the car was *****. The interior is terrible, very disjointed and cheap feeling. I think that the wood looks worse than on a Honda Accord and the Honda's is fake! I didn't like the seating position, it felt like an SUV, the sensation was that you were sitting straight up. iDrive is confusing to use, at least in my brief experience, I guess I could master it after a few months!

But this is an example of how thoughtless the interior is, the iDrive has a binnacle (kudos to BMW for placing it high) but the screen inside it is small and so they have a blanking plate around the screen! Weren't the designers aware of the screen size before they designed the binnacle? Looks cheap, cheap, cheap.

Oh well I guess people can get over the looks. It drives well enough.