So those that have been following my saga know that I bought an M5 only to have it implode on itself like a dying star within 18 hours of purchase. Whoa is me.
So instead I picked up a groovy 550i with a 6 speed manual. I fucking love this car. It moves out, it power slides, it handles like a 3800lb sedan should never handle and it's just an awesome overall car. My only beef with it is that the 360hp is just a bit short of what I desire and the car is just about impossible to modify. There's a bigger problem though: I'm shipping a car to California to have out there which means we're only going to have my wife's XC90 and my BMW out here.
She hasn't demanded it but strongly prefers that I have something that she can drive. She can't drive stick and if I'm being honest, even if I taught her I'm not sure I'd want her driving the car. I think she'd be hell on the clutch.
So, that said, I've been casually shopping. My ideal car? Another 2006+ V10 M5 but to own that car I'm looking at a $5000 warranty that lasts just two years, 10 miles to the gallon and exorbitant maintenance costs. For instance, $500 rotors... per rotor. Can I afford it? Yeah but I'm cheap and for a guy that puts 15 - 20k miles per year on his cars I'm not sure it's the smartest buy.
So that leaves me with a couple other cars. I'm going to list them below in no particular order. If you have recommendations, go nuts. I'm all ears. Keep in mind that I'm pretty anti-domestic street rods though (last gen CTSv, SRT8 300, etc). I like the build quality of the Bimmer, the features, the way the whole car as a package handles, etc. I'd suffer with a slower car rather than a faster domestic equivalent. Don't hate me; it's just what I like. I think the CTS-V and SRT 8 are awesome cars but they're just not for me. So without further delay...
BMW 535i - 300hp Twin Turbo inline 6. Slow stock but with $1500 it runs 12's and is well north of 400hp. Has most of the features I love about my 550 but is nearly impossible to find fully loaded (heads up display, sport package, nav, sport transmission, etc) without paying more than the same body style M5.
Audi S6 - Lamborghini V10... What more do I need to say? It has the build quality of my A8, a familiar interface system (MMI), all wheel drive which would be great for the winter, and timeless looks. The downsides? Whereas my 550 weighs 3800lbs (still a pig), the S6 weighs 4500lbs, eaks just 435hp out of that V10, is painfully nose heavy and is not 435hp fast with a quarter mile time of just 14.0 seconds at 102mph. I hate to say it's slow but It's not much quicker than my A8. Apparently once it's moving though, it's just sick.
Mercedes E55 - 470 horsepower supercharged V8 which is reliably kicked up pretty inexpensively, not that you'd ever need more power in a street car. This car is an enigma to me. I LOVE it's power. I'm less enthralled with it's aging looks, painfully out dated navigation system and the fact that my 550 beats it in every handling/ braking stat. I know Mercedes' aren't made for handling but I'm spoiled now. I know the car is nice, I'm just not in love.
Honorable mention: Jaguar XF Supercharged - 500 Horsepower Supercharged V8. I drove one with the 400 supercharged V8 and even that was ridiculous. The tap shift in this car is a replacement for a manual transmission too. It's as fast as the SMG in the M5 was but is a full automatic transmission. The best automatic I've ever felt and with 500 horsepower out of the current models, this car is sick. It also has a standard Bowers and Wilkins audio system and I'm a huge audio nut so this is a selling point. Downsides... The seats suck. No really, they're terrible. Go look at pictures. They're narrow, lack side support and even look bad. They are a deal breaker. I can't get by them.
So when I look at my own post, to me it seems like the BMW 535 is the obvious choice. It has everything I like about the 550 plus the ability to make more power and it solves my problem with ditching the manual transmission. The only issue with this is that I want nav, I want the top audio system, I want the sport package with a rare sport transmission option and I want the heads up display but to get the car with these options is rare which means that when I do find one it's generally a lot more money than a comparable M5 and the M5 comes with all of this stuff (and more) standard. My brain won't let me pay more than an M5 for a 535.
Opinions on the listed cars? Recommendations for other cars?
So instead I picked up a groovy 550i with a 6 speed manual. I fucking love this car. It moves out, it power slides, it handles like a 3800lb sedan should never handle and it's just an awesome overall car. My only beef with it is that the 360hp is just a bit short of what I desire and the car is just about impossible to modify. There's a bigger problem though: I'm shipping a car to California to have out there which means we're only going to have my wife's XC90 and my BMW out here.
She hasn't demanded it but strongly prefers that I have something that she can drive. She can't drive stick and if I'm being honest, even if I taught her I'm not sure I'd want her driving the car. I think she'd be hell on the clutch.
So, that said, I've been casually shopping. My ideal car? Another 2006+ V10 M5 but to own that car I'm looking at a $5000 warranty that lasts just two years, 10 miles to the gallon and exorbitant maintenance costs. For instance, $500 rotors... per rotor. Can I afford it? Yeah but I'm cheap and for a guy that puts 15 - 20k miles per year on his cars I'm not sure it's the smartest buy.
So that leaves me with a couple other cars. I'm going to list them below in no particular order. If you have recommendations, go nuts. I'm all ears. Keep in mind that I'm pretty anti-domestic street rods though (last gen CTSv, SRT8 300, etc). I like the build quality of the Bimmer, the features, the way the whole car as a package handles, etc. I'd suffer with a slower car rather than a faster domestic equivalent. Don't hate me; it's just what I like. I think the CTS-V and SRT 8 are awesome cars but they're just not for me. So without further delay...
BMW 535i - 300hp Twin Turbo inline 6. Slow stock but with $1500 it runs 12's and is well north of 400hp. Has most of the features I love about my 550 but is nearly impossible to find fully loaded (heads up display, sport package, nav, sport transmission, etc) without paying more than the same body style M5.
Audi S6 - Lamborghini V10... What more do I need to say? It has the build quality of my A8, a familiar interface system (MMI), all wheel drive which would be great for the winter, and timeless looks. The downsides? Whereas my 550 weighs 3800lbs (still a pig), the S6 weighs 4500lbs, eaks just 435hp out of that V10, is painfully nose heavy and is not 435hp fast with a quarter mile time of just 14.0 seconds at 102mph. I hate to say it's slow but It's not much quicker than my A8. Apparently once it's moving though, it's just sick.
Mercedes E55 - 470 horsepower supercharged V8 which is reliably kicked up pretty inexpensively, not that you'd ever need more power in a street car. This car is an enigma to me. I LOVE it's power. I'm less enthralled with it's aging looks, painfully out dated navigation system and the fact that my 550 beats it in every handling/ braking stat. I know Mercedes' aren't made for handling but I'm spoiled now. I know the car is nice, I'm just not in love.
Honorable mention: Jaguar XF Supercharged - 500 Horsepower Supercharged V8. I drove one with the 400 supercharged V8 and even that was ridiculous. The tap shift in this car is a replacement for a manual transmission too. It's as fast as the SMG in the M5 was but is a full automatic transmission. The best automatic I've ever felt and with 500 horsepower out of the current models, this car is sick. It also has a standard Bowers and Wilkins audio system and I'm a huge audio nut so this is a selling point. Downsides... The seats suck. No really, they're terrible. Go look at pictures. They're narrow, lack side support and even look bad. They are a deal breaker. I can't get by them.
So when I look at my own post, to me it seems like the BMW 535 is the obvious choice. It has everything I like about the 550 plus the ability to make more power and it solves my problem with ditching the manual transmission. The only issue with this is that I want nav, I want the top audio system, I want the sport package with a rare sport transmission option and I want the heads up display but to get the car with these options is rare which means that when I do find one it's generally a lot more money than a comparable M5 and the M5 comes with all of this stuff (and more) standard. My brain won't let me pay more than an M5 for a 535.
Opinions on the listed cars? Recommendations for other cars?