# Driving Impression E60 from an E39 owner



## beewang (Dec 18, 2001)

*Beewang's E60 Driving Impression*

I know the battle line was drawn long ago by the E39 loyalist. I too, was once skeptical w/ the direction of the new generation of BMW (aka a Chris Bagel hater). Individual's taste in automotive style is not a topic I want to debate on. However, I must say that we absolutely love the new 545 SMG that recently purchased. Albeit outdated, it is my intention to keep my E39 M5. For the M5 is a special car IMO, and will remain as an "///M" car for its useful life. That is all I can say about that.

Onto the new 545: The car is simply amazing. Aside from its astonishing looks (IMO, of course) our 545 contains pretty much all the best BMW has to offer, I will try to cover my impression, item by item:

i-drive: I think the I-drive is a much improved version of what BMW offered as part of the navigation system. The process is much simplified compare to the widescreen navigation system in my M5. I can't speak from I-drive system in other BMWs but I can say this, the people who thinks the I-drive system in the E60 to be "..too complicated.." and have difficulty to use the system are the same people who can't use a computer for web surfing. It is nowhere near the task of programming VCR. Really!! If you have problem using I-drive in the E60, you will the 21st century a serious challenge w/ the blue tooth mobile phone and tivo as well the HDTV.

On a separate note, the voice command (if you are too lazy to click the I-drive, too busy driving) is F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C! it recognized my off accent inglish and that's pretty f***king good!










HUD: This is an long overdue item for the BMW world. A common problem amongst the BMW drivers is that you can't see the speed you are traveling (because we all want to drive the bimmer as a sports car and not have the steering wheel tilted up like being a truck driver). At any given moment, I know exactly how fast I am traveling (comes in handy when you spot the local law enforcement ahead, and able to adjust how fast you need to brake to be within the law) without taking my eyes off the road. Also, able to see the navigation directions without moving my head and re-focus to the road again. I highly recommend this option. I do NOT find the HUD data distracting, and no, it is NOT like reading sub-title while watching a flick. One noticeable problem is when I saddle back into the ol' E39 M5, I feel psychologically "blind" as the HUD is not on the car.

SMG: Oh baby!! Look, as much I enjoy the "control" of manual tranny, there is just no way around it. SMG gives you the control and the unbelievable shifting speed (and this is just the SSG version of SMG, just imagine what the SMG3 in the new M5 can do!). There is a certain learning curve w/ a SMG to be able to get the system to learn your driving style. As well as you learn how the SMG system works. In fact, I would say the learning curve for the driver portion is VERY similar to how one learns to drive a manual transmission. It isn't difficult, it just takes a lil' time (a few hours). Having the opportunity to drive the SMG for a week, I can easily make the car drive as smooth as an auto tranny limo in both auto mode or manual mode.

Logic-7: I have the M-audio option from BMW for the E39 M5 (not great, its just okay!) and I recommend everyone to get the Logic-7 system if you have the opportunity. (You are foolish if you don't) And those of you who either bought the car off the rack or just didn't order the car w/ the L-7 upgrade&#8230;. Be happy w/ what you have and NEVER let the curiosity get the best of you and play w/ a car that has L-7. You WILL be miserable for the remainder duration of your E60 ownership. DON'T do it!

Active suspension: Geezes!! The guy who designed this system for BMW needs to get a salary raise. I went thru several hair-pin turns and the 545 ate it up it like gravity didn't exist. The 545 manage the turn better than my stock E39 M5, that IMO is pretty damn impressive!

Active headlights: Man!! The E39 owners will never know what they are missing. Kindda like the guys/gals who bought their car without xenon headlight, would never know what they are missing.

Active steering: So what's all the fuzz about??!! What is there not to like about it? I think its really cool to not have to crank my steering wheel side-to-side going thru a tight canyon road. It kinnda gives me a taste how driving Formula 1 car is like.

PDC: Althought the PDC is pretty much the same, the visual distance provided by the I-drive screen is very entertaining. Thumbs-up!!

Cheers,

beewang :bigpimp:


----------



## Alex Baumann (Dec 19, 2001)

Thanks for the write-up, Bee. Yes, I was also very impressed with Active Suspension and Active Steering.


----------



## Gabe (Sep 20, 2004)

Does that in fact show that you are going 137*m*ph (as opposed to kph)?

Nice write up.


----------



## RONAN (Nov 4, 2003)

I went from an E39 540i to a 645ci. I also loved the active steering and suspension. There were two things I liked less:

(1) The seats in the 645 do not have the articulated setabacks I had on the 540 and I fond they are not as comfortable.

(2) The suspension is rock hard- fabulous for running fast but can remove your fillings if you hit a pothole..

Thje Logic7 is simply amazing, and the engine note is phenomenal. Roasholding is significantly better than the 540,which I liked very much.


----------



## Alex Baumann (Dec 19, 2001)

Gabe said:


> Does that in fact show that you are going 137*m*ph (as opposed to kph)?
> 
> Nice write up.


Yup, that's 137mph. Beewang in action


----------



## ObD (Dec 29, 2001)

: popcorn: 

Waiting for the "nanny crowd" to complain about the speed. How they save it for the track. Sort of like those who wear a wetsuit. Those who admit to pissing in it and those who lie about it.


----------



## LeucX3 (Dec 26, 2001)

More pics please.


----------



## JetBlack330i (Feb 8, 2002)

ObD said:


> : popcorn:
> 
> Waiting for the "nanny crowd" to complain about the speed. How they save it for the track. Sort of like those who wear a wetsuit. Those who admit to pissing in it and those who lie about it.


I believe that was on Autobahn. No nannies need apply.


----------



## cruztopless (Sep 23, 2002)

JetBlack330i said:


> I believe that was on Autobahn. No nannies need apply.


Beat me to the punch! Bee would never do that excessive of a speed here in the US.



Nice write up Bee. Glad you having a great time!


----------



## 01Byte (Jun 22, 2003)

I'd like to ask for a moment of silence for all the bugs that gave their lives to make the HUD picture possible..  

Otherwise, nice write up and more pics please


----------



## beewang (Dec 18, 2001)

Thanks fellas 



LeucX3 said:


> More pics please.


How about a video clip?

cheers,

beewang :bigpimp:


----------



## JetBlack330i (Feb 8, 2002)

Diam. Are you holding the camera with one hand and the steering wheel with the other? Why is it so bouncy? And why the HUD keeps disapearing?


----------



## hormazd (Aug 18, 2004)

Hey Bee, do remember the RPM and gear that you were in at 137.
If you were in 6th you should have been just about 3500RPM. Right? BTW In the picture to the left I was in 5th


----------



## heezyo2o (Mar 23, 2004)

RONAN said:


> (2) The suspension is rock hard- fabulous for running fast but can remove your fillings if you hit a pothole..


You can probably owe some of that to the run-flats.

Not to get off-topic, but how does your 645 compare with your sl500?


----------



## JetBlack330i (Feb 8, 2002)

hormazd said:


> Hey Bee, do remember the RPM and gear that you were in at 137.
> If you were in 6th you should have been just about 3500RPM. Right? BTW In the picture to the left I was in 5th


At about 12 sec into his 15 sec video, you can see that he's at almost 140mph @ 4500rpm. Maybe he wasn't in 6th :dunno:


----------



## johnf (Sep 16, 2003)

ObD said:


> Waiting for the "nanny crowd" to complain about the speed. How they save it for the track. Sort of like those who wear a wetsuit. Those who admit to pissing in it and those who lie about it.


I am not sure what this comment is from or about.

Whatever. There are perhaps 50 000 Americans driving in Germany. Whatever you guys do during a European Delivery probably won't register in the noise. Nonetheless, it is fun to read about some of your adventures!


----------



## ObD (Dec 29, 2001)

johnf said:


> I am not sure what this comment is from or about.


Forgot the [/sarcasm] tag. Figured the : popcorn: would suffice. :rofl:


----------



## liuk3 (May 3, 2004)

That HUD is pretty cool. Thanks for the pic. I was wondering what it would look like.


----------



## johnf (Sep 16, 2003)

ObD said:


> Forgot the [/sarcasm] tag. Figured the : popcorn: would suffice. :rofl:


I guess I got confused by the unbalanced tags.


----------



## johnf (Sep 16, 2003)

Out of curiosity, is the HUD image projected to infinity, that is, can you focus on it and the traffic ahead at the same time?


----------



## Moderato (Nov 24, 2003)

ObD said:


> Sort of like those who wear a wetsuit. Those who admit to pissing in it and those who lie about it.


I think that went over a lot of people's heads here.


----------



## beewang (Dec 18, 2001)

A. I do relief myself in the wetsuit, that is why I can never dive w/ a drysuit. The compressed air will cause your body to create diarettic hermon. So I will be the first one to admit  

B. JohnF: The answer is Yes and No, it all depends how hard you focus to the road ahead. It is fairly easy to look at both if you point of focus is on the lower part of your windshield.

cheers,

beewang :bigpimp:


----------



## johnf (Sep 16, 2003)

beewang said:


> B. JohnF: The answer is Yes and No, it all depends how hard you focus to the road ahead. It is fairly easy to look at both if you point of focus is on the lower part of your windshield.


In that case, the answer is noooo. With the proper optics, BMW could appear to cast the display on the sky or the road ahead. That would be safer as then you could read the data and yet remain focused on what's outside _all the time_. That's the whole point of a HUD. BMW's system is only part way there, perhaps because a full-blown HUD, one that projects data focused at infinity, would be too costly or adventurous at this point. Or maybe the optics would take too much space. I can only guess!


----------



## johnf (Sep 16, 2003)

Beewang, I think it would be educational and fun if you were to make a service call about your out-of-focus HUD when your E60 rejoins you in the States. At the very least, that ought to flush out the former air force types. 

If they are paying attention, I have just given the BMW NA spooks :wave: a head start.


----------



## bbkat (Oct 27, 2002)

Alex Baumann said:


> Yup, that's 137mph. Beewang in action


Yeah, I think the the factory puts out a public service bulletin throughout the country whenever he orders a car :rofl:


----------

