Tres Chic!

A harmony of luxury and power make this perhaps the most desireable car in the BMW line-up, short of the ludicrously expensive M5.
A 4.4L V8 engine making almost 300 horses and over 350 ft/lbs of torque mated to a five-speed auto-stick transmission give you a 0-60 time under six seconds. More so, take it on the freeway, and throw the shifter down quickly to move from 4th down to 3rd, and punch the gas pedal, and before you know it, you'll be passing that Mercedes E at 90mph.

But what makes this car special, becuase a Chevy Camaro can practically acomplish the same thing speed-wise, is that the BMW gives you that unique feeling of being in control, while also feeling the road and your car. You are in control of ths car, even going 90. If ever you did encounter a problem, BMW's advanced traction control system, which monitors power being distributed to each wheel, and applies braking force to lessen slip and keep you in control, is always on.

The first thing you may notice when you get in the 540i is that everything is very simple to operate. the windows are one-touch up and down, the moon-roof is one-touch open and close, the rear sun-shade in one-touch up and down, the ignition is self starting. Just turn the key to the start position and let go, the BMW will crank until the engine turns over all by itself.

The premium stereo is intuitive to operate, and the optional DSP system is amazing, creating an atmosphere in the car to make it sound like a concert hall.

But while the sound system and air conditioning keep you in your own world, crack the windows and open the sunroof, and roar of your engine in 3rd gear revving all the way to the red line before shifting down, will catch your attention. And you realize you didn't even have it floored.

Welcome to the 540i's sport mode. Shift the trasmission to drive, the knock it over to the left, and you will notice a small "S" appear on your dash. The sport mode keeps your car in gear as long as possible before shifting, and also keeps the car in gear after releasing the gas pedal, to help you slow down and speed up quickly, like when merging. Perhaps this feature is the most advanced in the entire car. With shifting so fast it almost feels like it is reading your mind and predicting the gear you want, this is a surefire competitor to those claiming that a stick is the most fun to drive.

If you can afford this, and are going to be primarily driving it for yourself, get it. More focused on the driver than the Mercedes E430, and with a sportier feel and more speed, it is the definite car to get. The mercedes does have a slightly better car engineered to the passengers, but who cares about passengers?