sapman986

I booked a Mustang Convertible for 2 days at FLL for a quick meeting on Friday. The FUN rates are 50% off at the weekend and I figured I had a good shot at upgrading to something more interesting from the $50/day Mustang.

I got to the counter late and my name was not on the board. The agent told me that she'd have to look for a Mustang for me. Rather than have her spend time searching for a car that I didn't really want to begin with I asked if she had anything else available after eying a convertible Corvette just outside the door. She offered a Solara convertible (yuck, no thanks) and after a bit of prodding then offered a BMW 525i. Having not driven the current 5 series to date (except as a passenger ride in an M5), I figured this was a good alternative. It was too hot to put the roof down anyway.

Walking to the car I spotted 3 or 4 A4 3.2 convertibles. They might have been nice, but the Mrs. has an A4 sedan. I wanted to drive something different.

The 5 was a lovely dark green color with a light beige interior. It looked to be in great condition until I sat in to be welcomed with an overpowering smell of stale cigarette smoke. I'm used to getting smoker's cars in Europe, but this was awful. It was as if the previous renter had smoked with the windows up for the 10k miles on the clock. I still wanted to drive the car, so figured I'd drop the windows and try to get cozy with the infamous iDrive management system. If the smell was still overpowering I'd ask for a swap.

Well, iDrive is really as bad as reported. It's as if they made it as unintuitive as possible. I played with it for 30 minutes and concluded I was best just using the (thankfully) independent A/C and radio control. Nav and Bluetooth duties would be handled by my trusty Garman Nuvi. At this point the smell was cleared for the most part and I figured I'd give it a shot.

On the road the car did well. It could certainly handle some more power, but acceleration was adequate. Since I got ticketed at 103mph coming out of FLL a few years ago I tried to keep my lead foot in check. A couple of web sites I checked indicate a 0-60 time of 8.3 for the auto box and my experience would roughly agree with that. The steering was nicely weighted and reasonably communicative. On and off ramps were handled without drama and the 20 mile cruise on the highway was comfortable.

Though a bit dirty, the interior was nice. Dark wood inlays and beige leather. There was plenty of space in the front and the back, which is a nice change from the older E39 5 series.

In summary, I'd recommend the 5 as a rental, just not this 5. If you can get it as an upgrade, even better. FLL is the only station I have seen with a 5 series BMW. Though, given the option between this and an A6, I think I'd take the A6 for it's better power and more toys.

UNITED959

Now you need to drive that M5 you speak of...

Yes, iDrive is absolute rubbish. It's a shame, too, because in concept it's great...but very user-unfriendly. Audi's MMI is a much better interface (one of the reasons to take the A6 over the 5).

Nice to know Hertz now has the 5s as an option...

Wiggums

Not sure about the 5's iDrive, but I absolutely HATED the 7's iDrive which comes with even more crap. The 5-series I've driven are all in Germany - and it seems more simple.

UNITED959

I've used the 3's iDrive...it's rubbish. I think iDrive, as a whole, is dumb.

stevenshev

I don't mind iDrive that much. I HATE the Audi system. Haven't EXTENSIVELY tried the one on the new S-Class yet. Would very much like to.

Wiggums

I just wish Audi, Benz, and BMW would get the message and GET RID of it.

It's utterly ridiculous having to dance around that gigantic knob to get out of the radio and get to the air conditioner so you can adjust the air flow between the window and to your feet.

Bring back the buttons, I say!

sapman986

I plan to. Going to swap my car for the M5 for a weekend before the end of the summer.

UNITED959

Can I come and play?

UNITED959

That's interesting as conventional wisdom suggests most prefer Audi MMI over iDrive. Of course, to each their own.

stevenshev

Both Audi and BMW are backwards to your intuitive twisting sense. E.g. clockwise should be down and counter should be up....but noooooooooooo.

UNITED959

Yeah, that is true. Ze Germans feel the need to be different from the Americans and Japanese, I guess.

photojojo

Total side note but don't rule out the soon to arrive A/S5 or for the time being an S/RS4. I've been going back and forth since June between the M5 and S4 and I for the life of me can't figure out how the S4 costs half the price and is totally on par with the M5.

I've got a modified A6 2.7T right now (about 450HP) and the S4 even gives it a run for it's money.

UNITED959

I think his friend has the M5, and he's just going to use it for the weekend...

FWIW, I have an S4...and it's hardly on par w/ the M5, IMHO. The M5 kicks its butt big time...it even whomps on the RS4, stock for stock!! I'm really shocked that your modded 450hp 2.7T has to work to keep up with the S4. (We are talking about the 340hp V8 S4 that debuted in 2004, correct? )

I love my car, but I do realize it's far from being the fastest thing on the road.

I'm looking forward to the new S5, but if the only difference is going to be the 4.2 FSI...it's going to be tough when a 335i is neck and neck, $10k less, comes with free maintenance, and probably 5 MPG better!

photojojo

(Editors note: I don't want to drag this too far off topic, so please, after this feel free to PM me.)

Yea the 07 4.2L; That's why I said for the life of me I can't figure it out. It doesn't have a major power to weight ratio advantage and it has more parasitic loss due to the AWD.

I've been on three test drives now with an 07 M5 and I think it's a gear ratio issue. I'm going in to these TD's with high hopes because I wanted to "move up" from Audi but no dice so far. While I know I'm sitting on 500HP it feels (sort of) like it's got turbo lag. Maybe it has something to do with the engine being under 500 miles on the car I've been testing?

You're right though, on paper, the M5 should be wiping it's tailpipes with the S4 but I've been sorely unimpressed so far; almost to the point where I wanted to ask the salesman if there was a problem with the car. Test drive #4 is next Tuesday and they're letting me take it out with another M5 owner.

As for the 07 S4 and my A6; they're only head to head until the low 60's mph, after that the 60-100 is a no contest. And only 9 more days until the K04 turbos arrive.

Please feel free to PM me though and talk to me about it. I really did/do want in an M5/6 but if these are any indication, I'll probably go with the R8 or just get the RS4 and modify it as well.

sapman986

I had an A6 4.2 (non S/RS6) a few years ago. I really wanted to like it, but it was a piece of junk. Owned it for 12 months, during which it visited the shop for warranty work 13 times.