[ezmaass]

So today I took the 550xi for a roughly 200 mile trip - visiting family for the day. I had a chance to do some nice back roads, highways, and twisty parkways. What a blast!

DHP:

First off, let me just say that Dynamic Handling is AMAZING. For those who live in the NYC metro area and have EVER driven the length of i-684 through Westchester County, you know that this highway is a complete POS in terms of road quality. There are many miles of completely broken concrete, making for uneven surfaces galore. My 335i with normal sport suspension would skip laterally over a good deal of this mess... making for a choppy, uncomfortable, and cringing drive. Even my Audi Q5 skips around quite a bit on it despite being an SUV with plenty of cushion.

Well, the 550's dampers on "Comfort" made all the difference. Even with RFTs, the ride was comfortable, controlled, and confidence-inspiring. The car never floated, skipped, or even felt for a moment uneasy. I switched back and forth to Sport mode to check out the difference, and it was clear. In sport, the car "tightened up" enough to make the ride feel "familiar" - still not as bad as the 335i, but clearly similarly bumpy territory.

When I took some smaller 2-lane parkways, sport mode was a blast. The car was sharper in steering, firmer in suspension, and more responsive in the throttle. And as for the anti-roll, I can't say enough good things about what BMW has done here. This system is truly amazing. While it won't do away with roll completely if you really toss the car, in "spirited" driving conditions corners will be all but flat... just putting a smile on my face each and every turn.

Bottom line here - if you're looking to buy a 5 and are unsure (as I was) about a typical "stiff" passive sport suspension or DHP, I'd go with DHP for sure. It truly gives you two cars in one - comfortable and sedate when you want it, and sporty and responsive when you feel the need. I have a feeling we're going to see BMW eventually phase out passive suspensions altogether in the coming years. This may also make sense why they've stopped offering the M Sport suspension on the 5 - assuming you'd opt for the DHP vs standard. I'm sure others may differ in opinion (and have valid reasons for it) - but for me, the DHP on this car is shaping up to be one of the best features.

Luxury Seating:

I also spent some time playing with the Active Seats and Ventilated Seats, both of which came as part of the Luxury Seating Package. The Active Seats were surprisingly good at their job. I was a bit weary that they'd do little more than poke my butt, but I have to say they work as advertised. The seat slowly moves, elevating your left cheek, then your right, and so on. These small changes in elevations truly keep your muscles from settling in and potentially cramping. While I drove a decent amount today, I'm curious to see how this works on a much longer trip and will report back. But if you do a lot of driving, this may actually be a good option to consider.

The ventilated seats? I guess they do what they say. It's winter, and I'm wearing clothing probably too thick to adequately measure their effectiveness, but they give a "slight breeze" from the perforations in the seat, which I imagine on a really hot day will feel considerably more intense than on a winter's day.

LED Lighting:

I also gave the new LED headlights a run for their money this evening. The light is on par with standard HIDs that BMW offers. So, in my opinion, if you're looking to get the LED (Lighting Package) for better quality light alone, I'd pass - it's a $1,900 option. That said, the package also comes with "automatic highbeams." I gave this a try on the back-roads leading to my house - I have some semi rural twisties in the CT countryside. My first impression was - "I hate this." The car flicked the high-beams on and off as advertised - when lighting changed, on-coming traffic approached, or traffic directly ahead (same direction) was identified. I found it a bit disconcerting that I wasn't in control of this function that I'm so used-to controlling. But after a few more miles of flicking them on/off manually, I suddenly had the urge to let the car do it for me. Ha! Surprising how quickly I was willing to change my mind on this and give up the mundane task of controlling the high-beams.

Still - is the Lighting Package at $1,900 worth it? I'm not sure. While LEDs are the future (and they're fantastic to look at - the car looks great with them), their utilitarian effectiveness, to me, is no greater than typical HIDs. Bright white color and intensity looks on-par with HIDs from the driver's seat. Perhaps, long term, their reliability may prove greater? That said, I've never had a HID fail on me, but I know it does happen... and likely will with LEDs in similar, yet rare, frequency.

Entertainment System:

I'm LEAST impressed, so far, with the entertainment system. I'm finding the controls way too complex for simple things like adjusting the radio. This may just be a matter of getting more familiar and acquainted with the new iDrive system, but for now I'll say it's overly complex for some features. I'm going to put this to the test much more this week as I start loading music to the on-board HD, too.

New iDrive:

The new iDrive system (sans the entertainment portion) seems great so far. The touch controller actually works much better than I would have thought. After entering a letter, it'll repeat it audibly to you, which could get old or may be nice depending upon the circumstances. However, I can say that the recognition is fairly good. I stuck to entering everything in all caps as it appears that was easiest for the car to recognize, but it did seem to do well with lower case when I used it.

All in all a successful "Day 2" with the 550xi. Tomorrow and Friday we're expecting some heavy snow. I'm tempted to take it out and see how it handles, but at the same time, I'd like to keep it cozy and warm in the garage - the Q5 typically pulls "snow duty" - not that it's all that great in it, honestly. More to come, though. I have to say, I'm loving this car so far!