Our new Ruby Black X5 35d

[jdcolombo]

Hi everyone.

First post here. We took delivery today of what may be the only Ruby Black U.S.-spec X5 in existence. Ruby Black is a BMW Individual color that is not normally available on the 5-series in the US (it is an option on the 7-series), and so we had to get special permission from BMWNA for this color on our X5. It is very difficult to photograph; outside of direct sunlight, it looks black, but direct sunlight lights up the red metallic flakes in the paint and it takes on this dark red sheen that is just gorgeous, IMHO. Here are two photos, one of the whole car (where it looks mostly black) and another close-up of the paint where you can clearly see the red metallic effect in direct sunlight:





We're loving the diesel so far. It's acceleration off the line puts our 2008 3.0i to shame, and I suspect the gas mileage will, as well (a short highway trip at 75 mph netted us a 27 mpg average).

John Colombo

[thlax]

Wow. I'm speechless. New favorite color.

[ucla1995]

Did you have to pay the $5000 charge? Irv at Motorwerks get that done for you?

[c4sman]

Hi, I'm about to place an order - pls let me know how I can get an individual color. Do you know if ANY color made by BMW is eligible to be put on the X5d? I'd love to put silverstone on it. Can this be done for leather interior as well? Is there an upcharge or a wait time to do this? pls let know and thank you!

[pmeloche]

Wow, very beautiful. Congratulations.

[vladberca]

Congrats! It really looks very good!

[jdcolombo]

Originally Posted by ucla1995

Did you have to pay the $5000 charge? Irv at Motorwerks get that done for you?

Yes, the upcharge was $5000. No to Irv - explanation in post below.

John C.

[jdcolombo]

Originally Posted by c4sman

Hi, I'm about to place an order - pls let me know how I can get an individual color. Do you know if ANY color made by BMW is eligible to be put on the X5d? I'd love to put silverstone on it. Can this be done for leather interior as well? Is there an upcharge or a wait time to do this? pls let know and thank you!

As noted above, the upcharge was $5000. Yes, it is a lot of money, but I understand why. The "normal" cost for Individual paint is something like $2000 (for example, if you order in Germany or UK). But because there is no way for BMW to enter this color in its automated production systems for a U.S.-spec car, in order to get the color, the production foreman literally had to personally follow our body into the paint booth and specially program the computers to paint it in a color that wasn't supposed to be possible. So I sort of understand why it cost us $3000 more than normai.

As for the process, I can only tell you how we did it. Here's the story (and it's a long one). Last spring my wife and I decided we wanted a diesel X5, and knew that the LCI 2011's would be released shortly. So we waited. But when the LCI's came out, she wasn't very fond of the available colors (which she characterized as mostly a lack of color: silver, a couple of grays, black, etc. - deep sea blue was a possibility, but my 1-series 'vert is deep sea blue, so that was out and Vermillion Red just didn't turn us on). So she was poking around the internet and found that in every country of the world OTHER THAN the U.S., you can customize your X5 under BMW's Individual program, which includes some terrific (in our view) colors: Ruby Black, Azurite Black, Moonstone, etc.

So, we first asked our dealer about the possibility of getting a special-order Ruby Black X5; our sales rep contacted the head of regional sales, who said "no way." Frustrated by that, I wrote a letter to Jim O'Donnell, the CEO of BMWNA, noting that since all the X5's in the world were built in Spartanburg, there must be Ruby Black paint lying around there somewhere; so why couldn't BMW paint an X5 in Ruby Black for us? After all, if I lived in Windsor, Ontario, instead of Savoy, Illinois, I could order Ruby Black with no problem.

I actually never expected an answer to this letter. But to my great surprise, about two weeks later someone called from BMWNA and said that Mr. O'Donnell had asked this person to follow up on my "complaint." He in turn had contacted the production folks at Spartanburg, the U.S. sales execs, and the guys in Germany, all of whom agreed that it should be possible to paint an X5 in Ruby Black for us, if we were willing to pay the $5000 upcharge.

So, we asked this person to contact our dealer, and he put our dealer in touch with the plant manager at Spartanburg, who then got the production manager involved, and after several weeks, we had an order for a custom-painted X5 35d.

So . . . I don't know how to tell you to get this done other than write BMWNA, or have your dealer contact the right people at BMWNA. I suspect a large dealer who is better plugged-in to the BMW "power structure" could handle this for you. The key is not to take "no" for an answer if you really, really want this done. As my photos and sticker show, it can be done!



John C.

[richard in NC]

Years ago, a dealer I was working with did that with a 5 Series. The sales manager ordered a 528i and a 540i in a gorgeous gun metal blue that he had seen in Germany. They came in no questions asked. I almost bought the 528i. So it can be done.

[M4Mafia]

Nice color! But 5Gs?! DAMN!!

[TheWanderer]

I've seen other folks get this done successfully as well, glad to see you did too! I love all BMW's black variants. Citrin Black, available on the 7 series as well is also gorgeous.

Ruby black though is very special, and looks gorgeous on your X5! I'd love to see BMW add the individual program options on the X5 here in the US. I don't quite get why they haven't.

[TurboFan]

Love the ruby black - I've seen it in person on a 7 series, it's gorgeous. Well done!

[Jim E.]

Very cool color!! I love to see success stories about Individual orders.

Sort of Like this success story. A one of a kind 335d in the world.

[ucla1995]

Time to see an X5 in Dakar Yellow...