New 5 series most loved?
- Thread starter Abdoman
- Start date
The interior layout and material qualities are my only major gripe with the new 5er. The headlights could be a bit less dramatic/Lexusy, but overall, I think the 5er is hot.
On a side note, sat in and played with another 2006 E90 today (Fri 5/6), while I dropped of my car for it's requried 1200 mi M engine service. The E90 is sooooo much nicer inside than the 5. The leather, and gasp!!! plastics are a def. a step above the 5. I guess BMW listened and read all the reviews and complaints about the 5er plastics. Even the E90's doors felt more substantial. If the taillights were not so f--king ugly and cheap looking....I think the new 3er might be really, really good!!
See....open minded, not afraid of change and not old-fashioned![[hah]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_hah.gif "Hah! [hah]")
On a side note, sat in and played with another 2006 E90 today (Fri 5/6), while I dropped of my car for it's requried 1200 mi M engine service. The E90 is sooooo much nicer inside than the 5. The leather, and gasp!!! plastics are a def. a step above the 5. I guess BMW listened and read all the reviews and complaints about the 5er plastics. Even the E90's doors felt more substantial. If the taillights were not so f--king ugly and cheap looking....I think the new 3er might be really, really good!!
See....open minded, not afraid of change and not old-fashioned
I'm sorry but as the owner of a 2004 5 and with a couple of friends w/ E39's, I can see no major difference in the "fit and finish" of the interiors. Both the E60 and E39 make generous use of plastics and neither is of superior quality. The E60 has a faux "burlap" roof and the E39 has a lovely faux "felt" roofing material. The only real difference I can see is that in the E60 most of the buttons have been replaced by iDrive functions so there is more open space to notice the plastics. Now if you want to discuss design differences in terms of the humps on the dash that many don't seem to like, or the iDrive screen in the middle of the dash, let's talk, but come one, either way, cheap plastic is cheap plastic!
Very true, but if you would read my comment, I was comparing the cheap plastic in my E60 (which many seem to gripe about) to the cheap plastic in the E39, NOT a Pontiac. Many of the complaints about the E60 from inception have been about the quality of the interior materials, particularly when compared to its predessor, the E39. I just don't see it! That was my point, not trying to compare a BMW to a Pontiac. For the money I paid, my cheap plastic had better be of a higher quality of cheapness! ![[:)]](/images/smilies/smile.png "Smile [:)]")
kscarrol said:
Very true, but if you would read my comment, I was comparing the cheap plastic in my E60 (which many seem to gripe about) to the cheap plastic in the E39, NOT a Pontiac. Many of the complaints about the E60 from inception have been about the quality of the interior materials, particularly when compared to its predessor, the E39. I just don't see it! That was my point, not trying to compare a BMW to a Pontiac. For the money I paid, my cheap plastic had better be of a higher quality of cheapness!
But.....the plastics in the E60, are hard, flimsy and cheap looking. Compared to Eric's 1989 535i and the E39, the E60 is such a step back in terms of interior quality and design. Open and close the door on a 2003 540i, I mean really slam it...then do the same on an E60. Big difference. Second, touch the dashboard material, (FEEL the interior door handles), the center console. The E60 plastics feel like "My First Sony" boombox I had a LONG time ago as a kid.
No offense to you at all, but the new 5, some aspects of the 7, Z4 and X3 just are not of the same quality as older BMWs. I am not saying they do not handle and perform awesome, afterall, they are a BMW.
kscarrol said:
Very true, but if you would read my comment, I was comparing the cheap plastic in my E60 (which many seem to gripe about) to the cheap plastic in the E39, NOT a Pontiac. Many of the complaints about the E60 from inception have been about the quality of the interior materials, particularly when compared to its predessor, the E39. I just don't see it! That was my point, not trying to compare a BMW to a Pontiac. For the money I paid, my cheap plastic had better be of a higher quality of cheapness!
deutsch100 said:
First of Kenneth...I think your car is absolutley stunning...and if I was in the market for a mid-size luxury "sports" sedan, It would be hard to imagine driving anything besides your E60
But.....the plastics in the E60, are hard, flimsy and cheap looking. Compared to Eric's 1989 535i and the E39, the E60 is such a step back in terms of interior quality and design. Open and close the door on a 2003 540i, I mean really slam it...then do the same on an E60. Big difference. Second, touch the dashboard material, (FEEL the interior door handles), the center console. The E60 plastics feel like "My First Sony" boombox I had a LONG time ago as a kid.
No offense to you at all, but the new 5, some aspects of the 7, Z4 and X3 just are not of the same quality as older BMWs. I am not saying they do not handle and perform awesome, afterall, they are a BMW.
But.....the plastics in the E60, are hard, flimsy and cheap looking. Compared to Eric's 1989 535i and the E39, the E60 is such a step back in terms of interior quality and design. Open and close the door on a 2003 540i, I mean really slam it...then do the same on an E60. Big difference. Second, touch the dashboard material, (FEEL the interior door handles), the center console. The E60 plastics feel like "My First Sony" boombox I had a LONG time ago as a kid.
No offense to you at all, but the new 5, some aspects of the 7, Z4 and X3 just are not of the same quality as older BMWs. I am not saying they do not handle and perform awesome, afterall, they are a BMW.
Right on...maybe it's only me who's seen it a couple times. Go to the front of the car and squat down to look into the drivers side headlight. There's a gap betwen the headlight assembly and the front bumper cover. The gap is so large (at least in the few I've seen) you can see in to where the actual bumper is underneith. There's some sticker with a bar code on it. Please tell me I've been seeing things and that's not on yours?
My 94 540i interior has a quality feel to it. The plastic feels fine and it has worn well over the years. The new 5 series plastic doesn't feel as dense and feels cheaper, but I wonder if it has to do with the texture vs the quality of the material. I wonder if it will wear as well as the "older" 5 series?
Well, looked at it again this evening and still no barcode in sight on my car. I will admit the gap on the bottom of the headlight in larger than on the top, but something that is only noticable upon very close inspection, like I did this evening. It is certainly nothing that I ever noticed before. And if you could see a bar code of some sort on the cars you observed, that is indeed awful. Frankly it is finding things like this that has me convinced that when you don't like the overall design, people look for things to pick apart. And if you don't like the design, that's OK by me, everyone has different tastes.
Not to be a stickler for facts, but I went to the dealership the other day to pick up some parts, and two more 5 series on their lot had that blasted sticker on the front left side. Just some part numbers and all, not a bar code.
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the 5 series, but at the same time I'm not a loather of it. I just think with their rush to change everything, they over looked a lot of details. I don't mean to be overly critical. I just find it surprising the gap is so large there that you can see stickers with part numbers and all through the front of the car. I guess I am being overly critical. My bad. I'll get over it and move on. LOL.![[burnout]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_burnout.gif "Burnout [burnout]")
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the 5 series, but at the same time I'm not a loather of it. I just think with their rush to change everything, they over looked a lot of details. I don't mean to be overly critical. I just find it surprising the gap is so large there that you can see stickers with part numbers and all through the front of the car. I guess I am being overly critical. My bad. I'll get over it and move on. LOL.
Don't worry Kenneth, I happen to like the new 5 series a lot (even the new 3/7/6 series) and I do not find the exterior to be any more cheap looking that the E39 or any other BMW. Like stated above it may be just the texture or feel, but in overall quality I don't see any difference. Your assessment of the lack of button making the plastic more noticeable is a very valid point, which I would tend to agree with making the plastic in the E60 more noticeable....
aNoodle said:
Not to be a stickler for facts, but I went to the dealership the other day to pick up some parts, and two more 5 series on their lot had that blasted sticker on the front left side. Just some part numbers and all, not a bar code.
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the 5 series, but at the same time I'm not a loather of it. I just think with their rush to change everything, they over looked a lot of details. I don't mean to be overly critical. I just find it surprising the gap is so large there that you can see stickers with part numbers and all through the front of the car. I guess I am being overly critical. My bad. I'll get over it and move on. LOL.
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the 5 series, but at the same time I'm not a loather of it. I just think with their rush to change everything, they over looked a lot of details. I don't mean to be overly critical. I just find it surprising the gap is so large there that you can see stickers with part numbers and all through the front of the car. I guess I am being overly critical. My bad. I'll get over it and move on. LOL.
I can't totally disagree w/ you that the intro of the E60 seemed a bit rushed and that BMW could have spent another year fine tuning the systems, particularly the Sirius and Navigation issues that plagued the 2004 cars. But BMW is not the only car maker where it is well known that you should avoid the first year of any new model, until the bugs are worked out.