21_in_az

with a comment like that, your not worthy!

i would take ANY m model! doesent mater to me, all m's are the shit! period.

need4spd_RENAMED

Getting better!

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Still gotta say that this new body style does the M5 no justice. Of course, the interior of the new 5-series looks like ass too. I think that of the uber-sedans, the best looking still has to be the Audi RS6. Understated, yet forceful, and the interior is just awesome. Plus, it looks distinctive from the standard A6.

Dan Martin

I wonder why BMW still hasn't come out with an M7 to compete with the likes of the S55 and S8. Sure they have the 760i but it's not quite the same.

need4spd_RENAMED

From the car connection article above, they will!

SiGGy

I guess your opinion is golden.

allmotor_2000

I will buy that car in 2007... I have to!!!

kurt_bradley

Most recently, the 318ti (the hatchback 3 series) of the mid-90s featured a 1.9L I-4 that had a mild-boost turbocharger.

ClutchPerformer

Um....not in the US.

dom

This car is the tits !!

I'll take mine in Black.

soopa

i agree with JayDef.

bangle is a master. genious!


but the wheels are still ugly.

Lung Fu Mo Shi

The did...killed not to long ago to insufficient sales. Available 1995 to 1999

ABP-CL9-TSX

the M5 looks good, but still not a fan of those headlights. It seems that styling has grown on me.

ClutchPerformer

I remember the car, but there's no turbo on that engine.

Lung Fu Mo Shi

You're right. My mistake.

TSX 'R' US

From that angle, looks like the rear lights came from a WRX.

ruski_RENAMED

looks like it got bang[l]ed with an ugly stick

SiGGy

I saw a 535 on the road today :thumbsdn:


I'll hold off commenting on the M5 until I see one in person. The 535 looks like crap as a whole.

Sections of it flow nicely together. But when you view the entire car it's pretty fugly.

farberstyle

when you look at the car in its individual pieces, the lights, doors, grill etc. they look out of place on a bmw. but together as a whole, the lines of the car are beautiful. it really says, "elegant power."

gavriil

535? You mean 530? Or 525? Or 545? That's all that's out for now...

I also saw the new 5 on the road in the past couple of weeks. One while I was on the road to the Santa Barbara, CA airport a couple of days ago. I have to admit, the rear looks better than on the photos (I hated the rear lights' design). Still though, I have not gotten used to this car's design...

SiGGy

Not sure then.. I thought it said 535, so i guess it was 525 or a 545 then. If I see it again on the way home from work I'll look a bit more closely.

I was really just checking out the car.

I like the rear of the M5 in the photos you posted. It's the side view and some of the front I don't like. I need to see it in person.

I like parts of the car when viewed individually, but when I put the entire picture together it doesn't work for me.

cusdaddy

I have to totally agree. There are certain parts or angles of the car that look nice, but put together, the car just doesn't work for me. There are now 3 at my office parking lot, so I see them every day. I still haven't warmed up to the design. I may eventually warm up to it, but I'll never like it.

Also, all of the rims that the 5-series has are pretty bad no matter if it's the 525, 530 or 545. I miss the older 5-series rim options

fiya

Looks good, could've given it some better rims though. Rear styling of the car does it no justice.

kiteboy

What's that squarish panel above the right exhaust? I keeping seeing them on BMW and MB, sometimes in the front. I don't know if other makes have them as well?

biker

You pop that little panel out to get to the tow hook. All European cars have them.

biker

Well I finally had a chance to get down to the Geneva show where that M5 pictured is displayed. While the picture does not do it justice I still can't get over that Bangle butt - even in M5 form one can't ignore that. Everything on that car is massive, from the wheels, to the brakes, the suspension , engine and of course the sticker price.
The CTS-V a few booths over is a very nice alternative indeed.
My main reson for going was to give my wife an idea of what's available these days (she still has difficulty with the idea that pretty soon she'll have to part with her '90 Civic).
Perhaps not surprisingly she liked all of the small German sedans (BMW 3 series, Audi A4, MB C classs) and the Cadillac CTS. She's debating the idea of a small SUV (she liked the RAV 4) but I think in the end she'll stick to a small 4 door sedan.
For me the only interesting cars were the new A6 and the new Lexus GS. The A6 has grown to be one of the biggest mid-sized sedans and looks quite good but in the end it's just a souped up Passat that I would have difficutly justifying paying 40K+ for. The GS also looks huge but unless the GS300 will be available with an MT it won't make my potential next car list either. BTW in person I could not see the Maxima resemblance and it looks very nice.
The Honda display had all of the usual European models (for some reason the Legend was missing) plus the HSC concept which will be the next NSX.


All in all nothing too exciting shown there (the Rinspeed hydrofoil/car was my kids' favorite). It was a very convenient way to sit in a lot of cars and play a bit with the various features of each. The common theme I have found is that even on their smaller and cheaper models, most makers have the ubiquitous NAV as a standard feature. Even if they don't have NAV everything from the A6, 5 series, etc and up has an LCD screen as an interface with the car. Something that will surely trickle down to the less expensive cars.

Dan Martin

Biker, what was the sticker on the M5?

biker

Dan, I don't think there was one listed but as a reference the typical 545 was listed around 100,000SFR or $80,000. Heck, even the new A6 stickered around 100,000SFR (maybe it was the A8 sticker I saw). Can't really judge US prices by prices here. Prices are really crazy for imported US cars - like a Corvette for 100,000 SFR or the CTS at 80,000SFR. But again at 80,000 SFR the CTS is the same price as the typical BMW 530. So if people don't object to the name/looks, feature wise, it's a similar car.

KingV

I think the new M5 looks better. The old one looks dated to me. It has the rubber trim down the side, boxy look. I think the old M5 looks well... old. It's still a stately attractive car, but IMO it doesn't look nearly as sporty as it did 6 years ago when they first came out.

legendguy

I think the photo shows some '95 Maxima character to it? Mainly when you look at the windows and doors but also the trunk from a front-quarter view.

Demos

500+ HP is cool as is the 9k rpm but noone seems to mention that it is the first 7 speed!!!!

228

wow........nice

Dan Martin

7 speed....

This is just like when I was growing up and I had a 12 speed bike but I was suddenly uncool because my friend got an 18 speed. This sounds like another pissing match. I know MB has a number of 7 speed ATs coming out for their AMG cars.

kiteboy

I think we're starting to hit the laws of diminishing returns with 7 spd gearboxes and Dan, your bike analogy is perfect for illustrating my point:

A human on a bike produces optimum power in a very narrow rev range (~90 rpm). Hence, bikes need to have many gears to keep the engine in the optimum rev range throughout the speed envelope. Modern road bikes have 9 cogs on the back and 2-3 on the front for a total of 18 or 27 gears.

OTOH, internal combustion engines can produce good power over a much more board rev range, especially engines with large torque plateaus. Therefore, they need fewer gears to cover their speed envelope. It will get to a point where the time needed to shift between that many gears outweighs the benefit of having finer steps between the ratios. Unless some of the gears are super-tall highway or autobahn cruising gears.

Dan Martin

gilboman

don't F1 cars have 7 speeds as well? i know the new SLK's 7spd autos are quite a bit faster than the 6spd manuals.

kiteboy

Dan, this is my opinion, and conjecture to a large degree. If you want to provide some constructive counterpoints to prove this wrong, by all means, proceed. I don't have a problem that. Maybe _I am_ dead wrong, and a car would benefit from having many more than 7 discrete ratios. Maybe the like glibo mentioned, the proof is already in the performance figures.

But posting broad insults like that serves no purpose.

biker

Dude, that's part of his sig.

Anyway, MB's 7 sp auto will trickle all the way down to next years' E350 - a mass market car. I think Nissan has an 8 sp auto on one of their up market cars. Like someone said - we are the point of diminishing returns. Once you get to that many gears you might as well get a CVT.

In an MT, I think 6 sp is about the max you would want.

Dan Martin

lol, sorry Kiteboy, that's my sig...
I was totally agreeing with you hence the "i'm with stupid" sign. Just like those fat hics that walk around Nascar meets with the "I'm with stupid" t-shirts with an arrow pointing to their wife.

I think the quote in my sig is paraphrased from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Stevens24

Gilbo

F1 cars have the capabiliy of seven speed boxes although I don't believe any run the at any of the current tracks, maybe Spa this year.

I agree that a 7 speed in a road car is a bit much the car would almost be shifting TO often.