[bm323]

Originally Posted by topologe

I turned off the drivetrain portion of the Sport mode and it seems like it is more economical now. Now if only I can find a way to make it default to Sports when I start the car. Thanks!

Glad to hear it works what is the difference in the drive between drivetrain on and drivetrain off, but both with chassis on?

[topologe]

drivetrain on is usually a gear lower, which equals to a higher rpm with more pickup. drivetrain off is just normal shifting. I am not sure what else is altered with drivetrain on.

[hinckley]

Originally Posted by erio

Hmm...this press release just posted makes me think they may offer it here after all.

http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=415771

There's a lot of confusion in this thread about the "Sport" package and the "M-Sport" package. They are two different things.

The Sport package is currently offered in the US and can be configured on the BMWUSA web site. The M-Sport package will be available in September and is not yet on the US site (although you can configure an M-Sport model on the UK site - www.bmw.co.uk).

[erio]

Originally Posted by erio

That's the sport package and not the "M sports package." M package is different and isn't on the web site, yet. We will get the M package but the question has been whether it will get the suspension or not. The latest info indicates that it might.

M Sport Package, Option 337

Shadow Grey Cloth/Alcantara (surcharge leather)
Interior trim Hexagon Aluminium
M Sports suspension
M Aerodynamic package
18" M light alloy wheels, double spoke 350M with mixed tires and runflat tires (optional 351M 19" see below)
BMW Individual anthracite roof lining
sport seats for driver and front passenger
M leather steering wheel
M footrest
BMW Individual high-gloss Shadow Line
Exhaust pipe tips in dark chrome

http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=415771

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=415757

Yes I posted this yesterday to help clarify the difference.

[topologe]

At the end of the day, BMW is a business that seems to be addressing the needs of the aging baby boomers, which so happen to be the richest age group in the world. What is with all the driver assistance package and change to electric steering so the car can park itself?

[erio]

Originally Posted by topologe

At the end of the day, BMW is a business that seems to be addressing the needs of the aging baby boomers, which so happen to be the richest age group in the world. What is with all the driver assistance package and change to electric steering so the car can park itself?

+1. You are correct.

[bm323]

Originally Posted by topologe

drivetrain on is usually a gear lower, which equals to a higher rpm with more pickup. drivetrain off is just normal shifting. I am not sure what else is altered with drivetrain on.

Tks, how do you find the drive between sport and sport+, with the same chassis and/or drivetrain on?

[topologe]

Originally Posted by bm323

Tks, how do you find the drive between sport and sport+, with the same chassis and/or drivetrain on?

I only switched from Sport to Sport + twice at highway speed and never noticed a difference with anything stiffening up or what not. Just a safety feature lturned off in the dashboard, can't remember it exactly (DTS?)

[pharding]

BabkenBMW you are the ultimate troll for the E-Class. Every post that you make you extol the virtues of the E-Class and you tell us that you are going to buy an E-Class. Please buy yourself an E-Class and troll off to a MB web site.

[bm323]

Originally Posted by pharding

BabkenBMW you are the ultimate troll for the E-Class. Every post that you make you extol the virtues of the E-Class and you tell us that you are going to buy an E-Class. Please buy yourself an E-Class and troll off to a MB web site.

I totally agree, and the way to deal with such a troll I propose is we all disregard his posts. He seeks attention which he must be not getting in his life, rather pathetic.

[d-rive]

BabkenBMW, drive a new 5 and after that you can talk and emite some opinnions.

The new 5 is drive connected but in different way than E60.

But better for you, just by a MB and your name will be something... loose.

[topologe]

Originally Posted by BabkenBMW

Thank you for your review, my friend,
I'm starting to lean towards the E-Class and Mercedes-Benz generally. BMW seem to impair their models by adding too much weight thus ruining their core brand values. If they wanted to compete with Mercedes-Benz by making a soft car then they'll never succeed because nothing comes close to Mercedes-Benz in terms of ride comfort. They should have made their models better balanced, but what do we actually see?

I have an E-Class and it is still not close to the F10. In addition, I will never buy a Mercedes ever again except for an S-Class perhaps, for a specific purpose.

[Grizzles]

Originally Posted by topologe

I have an E-Class and it is still not close to the F10. In addition, I will never buy a Mercedes ever again except for an S-Class perhaps, for a specific purpose.

What about a gull wing?

[MOCKBA]

Interesting point, perhaps BMW marketing realized that people shopping for mid size sedan rather have more luxury than sport. BMW sells well 3 and 1 series as sport cars.
But I am pretty sure that BMW succeeded well making 5 series truly luxury car. After driving 5 series I felt other BMW so cheap.

[topologe]

Originally Posted by Grizzles

What about a gull wing?

I'll take a Ferrari or Porsche GT3 over a Gull wing easily. Mercedes is a show off car, not a sports oriented car.

[delvek]

I continue to remain dumbfounded when anyone can even speak of the e-class in the same realm as the F10. Its an old argument to compare them. Update your magazine clippings into this century drive a F10 550 and shut your pie hole, from the looks to the drive its insulting to compare ... seriously.

Don't they have a thread for Mercedes somewhere? Its bad enough I have to see those slugs on the road let alone read about them on an F10 forum.

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by BabkenBMW

BMW lowered the 5 Series to the E-Class level. Dull steering? I can't believe it. No thanks. I'll buy an E60 or the new E-Class.

"E Class level", thats "FORD MINUS" in the UK, mercs are crap full stop.

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by gatoman39

Nice write up.
I believe you can turn off the drivetrain portion of the Sport mode. Thus effectively adjusting only the chassis and steering, but not the tranny. This should help you with your mpg issue.
Settings-->Sport Mode--> follow instructions.

Yes this is what I did on my test drive and it works great.

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by delvek

I continue to remain dumbfounded when anyone can even speak of the e-class in the same realm as the F10. Its an old argument to compare them. Update your magazine clippings into this century drive a F10 550 and shut your pie hole, from the looks to the drive its insulting to compare ... seriously.

Don't they have a thread for Mercedes somewhere? Its bad enough I have to see those slugs on the road let alone read about them on an F10 forum.

I test drove this C63 with engine upgrade before buying the E90 M3, the Merc was awful where was all this torque !!!!!, total crap car with 475BHP!!!! the M3 was way better in every way.
As for E350/500 my mate has tested the new 500 twin turbo yesterday and said it was crap

Ordered the 550i M Sport coming dec/jan time

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by topologe

I turned off the drivetrain portion of the Sport mode and it seems like it is more economical now. Now if only I can find a way to make it default to Sports when I start the car. Thanks!

Just press the button to "Sport" as your IDrive settings will all ready be "set-up".
The car "Defaults " too NORMAL, which is OK as you will be in town or going slowly from your home or destination, once on the move on the Highway just press the button.

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by hinckley

There's a lot of confusion in this thread about the "Sport" package and the "M-Sport" package. They are two different things.

The Sport package is currently offered in the US and can be configured on the BMWUSA web site. The M-Sport package will be available in September and is not yet on the US site (although you can configure an M-Sport model on the UK site - www.bmw.co.uk).

Yes I have ordered "M-Sport" for the 500i it comes in december/jan, this is whats configurable from "Normal through to Sport+" in suspension / steering, and Drive train. You can adjust this without the "Drive Train" and get tighter handling and improved steering feel with std gear changes.

PS) The car is lowered also helping with the Centre of Gravity issue.

[bobbyd1961]

Originally Posted by topologe

I picked up my 11 F10 BMW 550i two weeks ago and have put 1700 miles on it so far. It replaced a 07 550i sports that I have driven from Boston to DC and back around fifty times. As a background, I have been a BMW CCA member for 18 years now and have owned an E36 M3 and E46 M3 that I tracked several times for 8 years. I buy BMWs because of their capabilities and sport-oriented driving experience.

Due to circumstances, I had to get rid of the 07 E60 550i sports and picked up the 11 F10 550i from the dealer lot where it had all of the options that were important to me except for the comfort access, which I still miss terribly. It was a Dark Graphite (Sophisto Gray), with DHP, Premium, paddles, Cold, Sports, smartphone, and HUD. I did not test drive this car due to high expectations from BMW and voila, ¼ of a mile away from the dealership after I picked up the car, I said, “WTF! What is with the steering of this car?” It felt like a large car, luxurious and was floating a lot, which reminded me of my wife’s E350. For the next 300 miles, I drove it around town and explored its strengths and weaknesses compared to the E60 550i. It was better than the E60 for the most part except for the over-boosted feeling of the steering and disconnected from the road feeling which totally ruins the driving experience. This car is too detached from the driver. The sport setting helps a lot, but still does not complete the connection between man and machine. I was looking forward to my trip to DC in a few days as it would be a 1200 mile trip in total. It would be a good time to judge the car compared to the E60 550i with Sports, which never felt like a big car. I gave myself some time to get used to the steering of the F10 and planned to judge it when I got back from the trip.

I left for DC and reset the trip computer so that I can monitor the gas mileage of the car. The E60 550i got 27 mpg highway during the summer and 25 mpg highway during the winter. I started with the normal (DHP) setting and started the drive. The F10 got better gas mileage than the E60 at 75 mph driving but after two hours of floating, I switched to sports setting and the car came alive. I said, “There you go, now let us motor”, which was perfect as I was at the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, which is a winding road with changes of elevation where you can cruise at 80 mph or more for about 50 miles and also my favorite part of the trip. The car still felt big even in sports setting, but more responsive and a little more eager to go. I can feel the bumps more with sports setting, but it’s still not perfect. The F10 can and will turn if asked to, depending of what type of maneuver. I have encountered several cars that tried to play (e.g. S550, Mustang, CLS550, Maserati Quattroporte, F10 535i, etc) where I was able to judge how the car handled during spirited driving. It was fun running with the Maserati at speed. In sports setting, the F10 burned gas much more than the normal setting , which was disappointing. The steering wheel was numb and over-boosted, which bothered me the whole time, except when I was driving in a straight line or going over 80 mph. Using the sport setting at high speed, the weird feeling of the steering wheel went away especially with winding roads and it felt like a BMW. The Mustang was a little surprised with what this boat can do on twisties as I ran with him at on ramps and exit ramps especially when we did a sprint where I blew by him with a lot more to give. The paddle worked well with the 8 speed transmission when downshifting for quick passes and/or braking.

I noticed that with a 95°F ambient temperature, the E60 had better air conditioning than the F10. A month ago, the E60 handled the 110°F ambient temperature really well in DC. I had to press max at one point to really cool the interior of the F10 while sitting in traffic. Collectively, I probably sat in the car on idle for about 3 hours due to traffic, conference call, waiting, etc. Oil temperature approached almost at 12:00 on idle but would stabilize to 10:30 if the car was moving. The F10 also is noticeably noisier than the E60, due to wind noise and 19 inch tires. Hopefully, BMW can make the car more connected and quieter as it matures through the years.

The HUD was phenomenal especially with navigation.

I have tried to make the F10 to do certain maneuvers and compare it to the E60 and it seemed like it can match if not exceed the ability of the E60 550i with sports, yet it adds the numb feeling of disconnection to the car., which was uninspiring I have nothing good or bad to say about the Goodyear excellence so far, but it seems like they are okay. I have made them squeal for 5 seconds on the limit on a nice off-ramp but it was well controlled and did not even activate DSC. As they say, “a squealing tire is a happy tire”.

Below is my summary of PROS and CONS of the F10 550i with DHP versus the E60 550i with sports

PROS
- Better engine
- Better transmission, works well with the paddles
- Better brakes
- Better seats
- Better idrive, love the bookmarks and it is fast and more functional
- Better navigation, faster but Japanese design is still better and more user-friendly
- Better Bluetooth, good contact info list
- better Logic 7 than the E60, I thought the E60 Logic 7 was great but this is MUCH better

CONS
- disconnected over-boosted steering feel
- have to be on sport setting to enjoy, which burns more gas
- wobbly during abrupt steering input even on Sport setting
- weak air conditioning
- high center of gravity, needs to be lowered
- chassis is too isolated from road bumps but it is noisy due to wind and road noise
- wind noise, road noise
- big car feeling
- no cooler on center storage
- no flashlight
- no First aid kit
- no left net pocket in trunk
- rear center passenger seat is unusable for long trips (more than 30 minutes) because the backrest is too hard and is just not comfortable. Car seat will work for that spot, though.
My verdict, there is a certain style of driving and steering input that would minimize the disconnected effect of the electric steering to the driver. The car requires precision driving input combined with gas to not make it too wobbly as the F10 loves to run and turn if asked to. I believe that the sport setting is the only acceptable setting and it still doesn’t come close to the E60. Bottom line, I can live with the F10 no question but I can’t wait to return it in three years when the lease ends.

Hopefully they can just update the software to improve the feel of the steering. Luckily my 2010 Mini Cooper S with 6 speed is always ready willing and able to give me a bone jarring go-kart ride.

thanks for the comprehensive write up. however 1 point is the new 550 looks so much better than the old. but im concerned with the steering feel . my e90 M3 is so unbelievable to drive, but i was considering adding a 535xi . the M3 stays forever.