01-30-2017, 01:13 AM | #1 |
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My 1st Impressions of the 540i M Sport (Coming from an F10 535i)
Visited the Dealership today to decide whether to trade in the 535i for the new 5 series. I was not expecting to have an opportunity to drive one so early especially end of January here in Southern California. As a heads up in advance the dealer I went to requests a 5K premium over sticker. In any event, here is my brief impression of the 540i M sport that I got a chance to drive:
Exterior: It looks almost exactly like the new 7 series. When we went to the lot to see the new 5 series the salesperson and myself kept confusing the two when we were walking to it. The front of the car looks great but the hood definitely looks more elegant now. Reminded me of the E39 hood... Overall, looks great but it has strong similarities to the outgoing F10 and a few cues from the new 7 series. INTERIOR: Now this was a total change compared to the F10. Interior was much more driver oriented and I felt that the road was much more visible. Seats & Dakota Leather: The seats were comfortable and hug you much more than the F10. The dashboard leather looks kind of cheap to be honest. Seats still have same amount of adjustments as the outgoing F10. Buttons and whatnot Oddly there is no plastic covering of the spedometer so you can touch the plastic gauge part and LCD screen. Not sure if it will be the same for the all digital cluster. The head up display is bigger and I personally prefer the old style because it was much smaller. The speed shown now has a box frame around it. I would assume it looks much better at night because I drove it during the day. However, I prefer the white lettering font for the speed currently in the F10. It just felt distracting with the new heads up display. iDrive & Screen The new iDrive and touch screen is definitely much better and faster. I think it will take some getting used to but I foresee never using the physical toggle and buttons near the gear shifter again. Gesture control was just a gimmick and I would probably never use it. Changing the volume was useless because it lagged and it would transition too fast. I can see using it for taking a call or rejecting one but I would probably just press the button on the steering wheel. Wireless charging did not work with my iPhone 6s Plus too when we were testing it... Drive & Experience The power of the 540i is much more present than my 535i with M Performance kit. The sound of the engine is non-existent in the 540i but when you step on it you can really feel the car pull especially in sport mode. Steering is much more precise and smooth. The car also did not feel heavy as it felt with my 535i without the performance upgrades. This car is way more forgiving on bumps and road imperfections compared to the F10 M Sport suspension. When I hit a bump in the F10 it is very cringe worthy but with the new one it felt smoother. OVERALL: I don't feel that the new 5 series is a major upgrade compared to the outgoing F10. The one thing I wish my F10 had was the touch screen Navigation, LED color change for the interior & the much more precise steering. Will I be trading the F10? Yes, but most likely for the M550i or M5. =) PICTURES: Forgot to mention: Picture of interior was a 530i I also looked at. Sorry for no photo of the 540i interior but it was practically identical.
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2021 Tesla Model 3 Wife's 2005 BMW M3 Kept Safely Away Last edited by Takumi587; 01-30-2017 at 09:37 AM.. |
01-30-2017, 03:06 AM | #2 |
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Thank you for the review.
Interior picture you posted does not match the specs on the sticker (black with blue stitching) Is it another car ?
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01-30-2017, 04:12 AM | #3 | |
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Quote:
No iPhone does yet.
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01-30-2017, 05:48 AM | #4 |
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what did you think about the steering, how does it compare to the F10.
Heavier / lighter? more feel. Any tramlining, any different from a F10? (obviously depends upon the type and surface of the road you were on.) |
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01-30-2017, 06:49 AM | #5 |
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About the wireless charging. Is it true that you need a certain cover on your iPhone for it to work? Maybe that's why it didn't work for you. I could have sworn so saw that on a review somewhere. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
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01-30-2017, 06:59 AM | #6 |
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Of course it's true since iP does not support wireless charging
You need a special iP case with inductive coils for that. Last edited by Laki021; 01-30-2017 at 07:09 AM.. |
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01-30-2017, 07:11 AM | #7 |
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As mentioned above, there are aftermarket covers available for iPhones for wireless charging, but Apple dose not support it yet in its present form.
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01-30-2017, 09:08 AM | #8 |
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Who the hell would pay $190 for Gesture Control???
It is very limited in its usefulness and I certainly wouldn't pay that price for it. And why can't BMW bring the fully digital instrument cluster to the US on launch???? And am I reading this right that now only the driver's side exterior mirror is auto dimming??? Never mind the gesture control, put the damn center vent temperature wheel back in rant over....
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01-30-2017, 09:39 AM | #9 |
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Sorry, I looked at both a 530i and 540i. I didn't snap a photo of the 540i interior. They look pretty much identical just different colored stitching.
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