Yow! This is a very impressive car!
I went over to Assael BMW in Arcadia, Calif. earlier this evening and asked the fellow who came up to help me if they had any 550is with manual transmission on the lot.
He said that they never, but never, get any of those in, but they just happened to have a black/black one that came in today and he had been planning to take it for a drive.
I said, "Sounds like a plan." So he copied my DL and we went for a spin.
This car is so very refined, but jumps like a scalded cat when you give it some throttle. A real Jekyll & Hyde car. The handling was very impressive; I tended to forget that it was a sedan. The only negative I noticed was a slight hesitation when hitting WOT from an idle. I'm sure that is due to the "throttle-by-wire" systen and will be there on all new BMWs.
I swear I'd have bought that car if I were ready to do the deal right now (I need to sell my M-coupe first). Oh well, I really want to get an '07 anyway.
If anybody is in the market for a new (with about 1900 miles on it) '06 550i 6MT give Brian at Assael a call. His cell # is (818) 808-6919.
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| Reply » Drove a new 550i 6MT tonight!!! |
I'm picking up my steptronic 550i on Saturday. Although it's an automatic, on the test drive . . I thought the same thing . . .it felt like a released caged animal when you hit the throttle. I usually get manual cars, but since the automatic performed so well (and I have a stubborn wife who will never allow herself to learn stick), I went automatic.
I could only imagine how the manual felt . . .
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| Reply » Drove a new 550i 6MT tonight!!! |
oh and by the way, "Freedom is not necessarily about letting people do things that you don't like" if it means that they will eventually become the wards of society due to their poor choices. When someone does something that is self-destructive, we all pay as a society . . .
Not trying to get political, but in the People's Republic of New Jersey, I hear similar "new age" platitudes all the time . . .and quite honestly, I'm not buying it.
As for the 550i, you are completely right.
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| Reply » Drove a new 550i 6MT tonight!!! |
I drove two 545's & a 550 (all 6 spds) in trying to make my decision between 530/550.
My local dealer always seems to have 1-2 manual V8 cars on the lot, but they do not last too long.
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| Reply » Drove a new 550i 6MT tonight!!! |
Quote: I drove two 545's & a 550 (all 6 spds) in trying to make my decision between 530/550.
My local dealer always seems to have 1-2 manual V8 cars on the lot, but they do not last too long. | They're rarer than hen's teeth around here.
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| Reply » Drove a new 550i 6MT tonight!!! |
Quote: I drove two 545's & a 550 (all 6 spds) in trying to make my decision between 530/550.
My local dealer always seems to have 1-2 manual V8 cars on the lot, but they do not last too long. | I'm in the same boat with my ED E60 coming up in September. The main issue for me is that this new E60 will more or less be the wife's car and family vacation car. I probably won't drive it much at all since I've got a new pickup coming in a week or two. 
It just doesn't seem practical (as practical as one can be buying BMWs anyway  ) to get the V8. It costs more, uses more gas, more expensive to insure and statistically speaking, is less reliable than the I6. However, I plan to lease the car so reliabiity is less of a concern.
Now I'm coming off a 545i that was a SHEER BLAST to drive and if the new E60 was my daily car, the V8 would be it without further ado.
This stinks...I want the V8 but just can't convince myself it is is the "right" car to get. 
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Drove a new 550i 6MT tonight!!!