M5 vs E55 feedback (and articles)

There are a couple of articles out from Australian car magazines that compare the E55 vs the M5, with the E55 coming out on top (and faster in each as well). The URL is http://www.netspace.net.au/~pandalais/jrobbo/Articles/

Also, there is quite a bit of discussion on the M5 bulletin board about all the problems, including qualilty control, that the M5 is having. Many people are having transmission and steering problems and failures. Oil consumption is well known. Engine check light is coming in within hundreds of miles, with BMW having to reprogram the DME on all US units.

Thanks goodness for Mercedes quality (plus the BMW is new and the engine is very complicated).

For the message board, the URL is http://www.InsideTheWeb.com/messageboard/mbs.cgi?acct=mb165896&GOTO=Go+To+Thread&TL=946880184&TPP=50

David

[Lee Scheeler]

Hate to point it out, but this isn't the first time a new-ish BMW engine has had problems. Anyone else remember the 4.0 DOHC V8 compression loss problems that were the bane of the 5/7/840's?

Though not the same problems, it seems they didn't quite debug it 100%. Still, it sounds like one helluva monster.

Lee

I remember that well, with the early engines having corrision problems (blamed on US gas) and requiring inserts.

One thing I was unaware of, is the M5 has no spare tire (not even a temporary one) and no run flat tires. Basically, they have an M-mobililty kit which is a can of fix-a-flat, air pump and the phone number of BMW road service.

That's just unacceptable, but the muffler size and tire size ate into the tire storage space.

I just blew out a sidewall on my current M5(with a 3 inch crack) and fix-a-flat wouldn't have done it.

Now my decision to get the E55 over the M5 makes me much happier. (The delivery got delayed to this Thursday).