BMW 535i - Best of the 5's. Best Sedan Period.

I have replaced my 2005 VW New Jetta with the 2008 BMW 535i. The Jetta was a terrific car, see my review, but I decided to get a bigger car and treat myself.

I had three cars on my short list. The 535, the Audi A6, and the Mercedes CLS 550. My first choice was the Mercedes as I love the styling of the car. I was not overly impressed by the cars ride and the steering felt very artificial. My son equated it to driving a video game. The car is beautiful inside although technically it is a 4 seater.

It was a close call between the Audi and the BMW. The bottom line is the ride and feel of the BMW was just far far superior to that of the A6. The fact that BMW includes all maintenance does not hurt either. I did look at the new Cadillac CTS. Cadillac has done an amazing job with this car. The quality and ride is right up there with the BMW. It was a little too small for me and I felt it was a little too butch in design for my wife who drives my car occasionally.

I ordered my 535i in Platinum grey metallic with premium package, sport package, cold weather package, satellite radio(free for the first year), ipod adaptor, and the sun-shade package. I was able to track it's build progress at the BMW web site. It arrived as promised at the dealership. I got the car from Rallye BMW in Westbury NY. A beautiful facility and a great buying experience.

I love the design of the exterior in the color I got. I feel it really accents the lines in the car. The larger wheels with the sport package really make a difference in the look of the car. The car looks great in white as well, but I see a ton of white ones in my neighborhood.

The interior was refreshed and upgraded for 2008. It is tastefully done and not over the top. The new paddle style gear shift takes getting used to but is quite cool. BMW has recognized that the idrive has been a sticking point with a lot of people. They have added buttons to the dash that make using the idrive almost redundant. You really only need to use it for initial set-up of the many programmable options in the car. The dealer will do this for you. All of the climate control is right on the dash as well as most audio controls. They have added 6 favorites buttons which can store stations and phone numbers. A neat feature is as you pass your finger over the buttons they tell you what they are programmed for in the screen. There are plenty of control buttons on the steering wheel as well. I spent some time playing with the idrive and it is really not that bad. It is pretty intuitive and works on a menu, sub-menu premise.

It has blue tooth for phone connectivity. Any blue tooth phone can make and receive calls through the stereo system. Certain phones will link with the cars computer and store your numbers enabling you to place calls with the voice command system. The list of compatible phones is very short. You can dial a number by saying it through the voice command. BMW needs to make more phones compatible.

This car like many now has push button start. Personally I don't see the point. It's gimmicky as you need to push the fob into a receptacle on the column anyway. The sport seats adjust in a million different directions. The memory is located next to the adjustment controls. When will BMW learn to put the memory buttons in an easier location?
Storage the center console is limited, especially if you use the ipod hook-up which is in the center console.

All of these little gripes fade away the second you drive away in this car. I test drove the 528, 535, and 550. The 535 is the best of all worlds. The 528 can't get out of it's own way. The 550 feels heavier and the extra dollars is not worth the few extra horsepower. The 535 has a 300hp twin turbo engine. Power is strong and smooth at all times. Put the car in sport mode or manual and you enter another dimension. Road grip and feel is truly like you are one with the road. I was nervous that the low profile tires with the sport package would give a harsh ride. It is totally smooth and solid. No harshness at all. The tuning of this car is just absolutely perfect. The car goes wherever you point it with great on center feel. Braking is instantaneous.

This is not my first BMW. I had a 1988 325is and a 1989 635csi. Obviously the car has evolved, but those cars were awesome and provided the same sense of quality and driving experience in their own right. I have had many sedans from different manufacturers. The 5 series is the ultimate in sedan driving, maybe in driving period. It is the ultimate driving machine.

Update - I have had my 535i now for 10mths. I recently experienced my first problem with the car. One of the high pressure fuel pumps failed. I believe this car has 4 fuel pumps. Why? I have no idea. Luckily I was only a block from my home and was able to limp the car back there. I was a little upset since the car has only 8,000 miles on it but until now I have not had a single issue with the car. I pushed the SOS button and within 30 minutes a flatbed was there to pick up the car. Roadside assistance alerted the dealer that my car was coming. The dealer called me to tell me they would send a loaner car if they needed to keep the car more than a day after diagnosis. The breakdown occurred around 3:00 in the afternoon. By 11:30 the next morning the car was back in my driveway, delivered by the dealer.  As annoying as it was to break down, I can't say enough good things about the service. The dealer called twice in the following days to make sure all was ok.  Now for the car itself after driving it for 10 mths. The performance and ride of this car never ceases to amaze me. It is as solid and tight as the day I picked it up. A couple of things I have noticed; the tire pressure monitoring system is overly sensitive. As soon as the weather changes. one of my indicators seems to go off within 1lb of pressure change.  The other is the climate control. I have heard people complain that the a/c does not blow cold enough. If you go into the climate control settings in the i-drive you will see a little box that changes from blue to red as you rotate the knob. This has a huge effect on the cold or hot air coming into the car. Keep it blue in the summer and red or neutral in the winter and it is perfect. The car is a veritable ice box during the summer. Keep the mode on auto and just use the thermostat. I live in NY and I was concerned about the car's handling in the snow. I did not get the xi. We had a decent amount of snow this winter and I must say the car handled it immensely, even with the low profile performance run flat tires. With all the stability and traction control programs this car has, it never got un-composed even once. Not sure if people are aware of this but they don't even offer x drive for their sedans in Europe. It is a US only option. This car has been a blast to drive. It is still the ultimate driving machine.