GpFarell,
Welcome to the forum - I am a long time BMW owner with about 8 months experience in my 550. My last car was an E60 M5 6 Speed manual that I miss dearly! I was in the same boat as you - 535i or 550i Manual Trans M sport only mandatory. Wouldn't you know that one day my local dealer had the exact car I wanted with 20,000 miles and BMW CPO? According to the chart below I am one of 28 Alpine White M sport 550's produced!!! Talk about rare!
Get the 550!
- 550's are rare in my parts (whereas 535i are a dime a dozen)
- Maintenance will be more expensive
- Gas mileage will be marginal at best
- Engine is super quiet - car is bank vault quiet in fact
But.....that power!! Have you heard a 550i with a proper exhaust? Absolute heaven
Regarding RWD... I am outside of Philly and drove my car through this winter with Pirelli Sottozero Runflats on 18" BMW wheels. With weight in the trunk the car is just fine!
Stephan735i provided some excellent information in a separate thread regarding the rarity of the 550i Manual trans. There were only 611 Manual transmission 550 cars produced
period. My understanding is that this was a US/Canada option only. Production numbers are as follows:
Exterior colors (by their German name) for the 611 550i/6 F10 produced:
416 Carbonschwarz: 89 (units)
668 Schwarz II: 78
475 Black Sapphire: 76
A90 Sophistograu: 63
354 Titansilber: 58
A89 Imperialblau: 52
300 Alpinweiss III: 51
A52 Spacegrau: 50
B90 Sophistograu II: 44
A72 Kaschmirsilber: 16
A17 Havanna: 13
A76 Tiefseeblau: 8
A81 Tasman: 7
A84 Milanobeige: 5
X08 Champagner Quarz: 1st (Individual paint)
269 examples were made with M Sport Package in the following colors:
416 Carbonschwarz: 89
668 Schwarz II: 40
354 Titansilber: 30
300 Alpinweiss III: 28
B90 Sophistograu II: 24
A52 Spacegrau: 24
A89 Imperialblau: 22
A90 Sophistograu: 12
Canada's 27 cars were all 2011 models with 12 having M Sport Package. There is one from January 2013.
Check out this local beast!
BMW of the Main Line - 2012 550i
I will say that this vehicle is desirable and the market reflects it as such (do a search on Cars.com) you will see that M sport cars with lower mileage/cpo carry a sweet premium.
Hope this is a good start! Good Luck and be patient!
- C