| 03-05-2023, 09:07 AM | #1 |
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New 2023 UK M550i initial review. The perfect car?
New 2023 UK M550i initial review.
I previously had a 2017 G30 540i xdrive msport and have been very happy with this. At the time of buying that, I was interested in the 550 , I had always wanted a V8 but unfortunately the 550 was not available in the UK market so had to contend with just reading articles and watching videos about it. Then I read a rumour that the 550 was going to be introduced to the UK market with the LCI. However with Covid and then chip shortages, I hadn’t really given any focus on getting a 550 until of late that is. So after arranging a test drive, which was not easy as these are rare cars in the UK, I was convinced I wanted to go for one. This is a very special car. How rare? Well this website lists how many of a certain type of car there is registered At time of writing, up to 2022Q3, there were 215 registered. So in the grand scheme of things, not many at all. BMW M550I XDRIVE AUTO - How Many Left? However, there was a problem, they were now no longer available in the UK. I knew their production would be coming to an end as the G60 was to be introduced in 2023. I had no interest in a G60 for the following reasons :- No V8 (unless you chose a M5) Renders were not to my taste (appreciate these are just educated guesses but still..) Curved instrument cluster that seems to be the standard on all new and revised beemers now I’m old school and prefer buttons and feel these are better from an ergonomic point of view to having to press the screen. You have to look at the screen to operate where as you can just turn uip say the temperature 1 degree without taking your eyes off the road.The curved screen just looks like it was added without any thought and not integrated with the dashboard. Flat bottomed steering wheel. I just don’t see the point of this. Seems like a fashion at the moment. How you are supposed to feed this though your hands smoothly? I don’t buy the argument that it gives more space, as there is plenty. This is gimmicky in my opinion and seems like BMW putting form before function, something which is on the increase, not just in BMWs but everything these days it seems! No gear knob / lever. So it was a last chance to get a V8. It was now or never and it was looking never. I spoke to my usual dealer who came back a couple of days later with some good news and had managed to get an allocation which was not allocated to a customer. So I have managed to bag one of the last M550’s to be delivered in the UK. Build would only be several weeks after ordering so pretty quick really. I had in mind it could be up to 6 months but in reality, it was just less than 2. Ordering process and specification. The way the car is specified has changed since I ordered my previous 2017 540. With WLTP, BMW are now bundling up options in a small number of packs. Now if you want all the options contained with a pack, it’s probably better value, the downside, is that you may have to pay more for a feature and get options you would not have otherwise chosen. Some options were also not available that were there before, so it felt a little limited in comparison. So here is what I chose. Colour Sophisto grey. The number of colours offered felt a little limited. Gone was bluestone which I had previously and liked. I however fancied something a little darker this time. I didn’t want black as I wanted a metallic. Carbon black, a gorgeous colour but one that I think most people agree is a difficult one to keep clean and one that shows up swirls easily so for that reason I wanted to avoid despite my cleaning regime being as good as I can make it. Skyscraper grey was of interest, seems like bluestone but without the blue tint but a light colour which is not what I wanted. I couldn’t really justify an individual colour based on the cost which looks to have just gone up in price at just over £5000, Given the fact that this allocation was one of the last models, I wasn’t sure if going for this would even be possible as it would delay production potentially. Is it also still the case that an individual colour prevent some of the autonomous features from working as the paint is thicker and as a result the sensors cannot be relied on? Is that still the case or something of the past? (see later text) So I settled on Sophisto grey. This is a colour I had previously on my F10 530d although back then I had paint code B90 which was the alternative created as the original paint could not be made due to the tusami in Japan. This time though it will be the original A90 paint which although the same colour, I believe has a bit more sparkle over the B90 paint. Years back it was called Xirallic but at least in the UK, BMW have dropped this term. Like most paints, it requires sunshine on it to show it off as its best. In cloudy dull days, it can lose its punch. One of many colours that are difficult to portray well in photos. This gives the car quite an understated look. If it wasn’t for the wheels and badge, it could be mistaken for a 520d msport with nice wheels. Interior is Ivory White Dakota Money no object, I’d have chosen Nappa but I had to draw the line somewhere. I had this previously on the 540 and was very happy with it. Its hard wearing, I’ve had no stains from jeans on it. Having a light interior also lifts the interior especially as I had not chosen a sunroof. Options Technology plus pack This includes Driving assistant professional Parking assistant plus Head up display Drive recorder Enhanced Bluetooth / wireless charging Gesture control Wifi hotspot Comfort pack Now I only chose this because I wanted the comfort seats. Had these on my 540 and these are superb. Along with those, you also get Heated steering wheel Electric boot lid Comfort access Included as standard is the Msport brakes with red callipers. I don’t really get the whole coloured callipers thing . not sure why they are red on this car, they were blue on my 540 and assume these are the same brakes? Interior trim Here choice seemed less than before, I wanted grey popular but that option was not available. Piano black, stunning but I read many discussions about how easy it is to scratch. My grey popular trim didn’t seem to get scratched so I did wander how much of an issue this might be, I stayed away though. I eventually chose Ash trunk wood open pored. I had reservations about this as this was a matt finish, so presumably not varnished. This time I also chose a leather dashboard. I was hoping this would lift the interior a bit as well. Alcantara headlining I have had this on my previous F10 and G30 and this looks really nice. A very classy touch to make the headlining along with A , B and C pillars along with visors and rear parcel shelf have a quality look about it. For wheels, I chose the 668 style which looked very nice. These were the wheel I wanted on my 540 back in 2017 but were only available as an after delivery purchase. Review So with around 250 miles under my belt, these are my initial thoughts about the car. The car has according to VIN decoder i-step S15A-22-11-560 Engine / gearbox The obvious place to start is the engine which is what this car is all about! The figures which you already know, 523HP and 750NM of torque are obscene really and this is a considerable jump up from the 340HP of the 540. To put it into perspective, it has more power than a M3. Incredible really. So what is it like? Well as it turns out, very good indeed. Whilst I’m still running it in, I’ve not experienced its full potential, but despite that the engine is very refined and very quiet. A lot quieter than I was expecting and to be honest, what I was after. It’s a cliché to say it’s effortless, but it really is. You can hear a quiet rumble in front of you but that’s about it. This is before I changed the engine sound in the idrive to “reduced” which to be honest didn’t seem to make much difference, if at all. For normal day to day driving , there is just this very relaxed feel about it. I would argue that the full power is not necessary to enjoy this car, it’s the way it accelerates from A to B that’s the joy of using this. And knowing that it can do so much more….. So you really can enjoy this car without running around with your hair on fire! Now as I’m running this in, I’m avoiding motorways to ensure that I vary the load and revs as much as possible. So this is certainly not my typical driving but even so, the economy of this car is better than I was expecting. On one day I covered 65 miles with an average of 27mpg(imperial. I drove in London on one occasion, lots of stop-start but roads not too congested. I got 20mpg (Imperial) on that run so not too bad all things considering. As you would expect, stop start driving around town is not it's forte in terms of fuel efficiency but it improves considerably once on the move at a constant speed. Althouth I’ve not tried yet, I have no doubt this car is capable of low 30s on a long relaxed motorway drive. We’ll see once it’s run in. So expecting something like 370 miles to a tank or thereabouts, although that obviously depends upon how it is driven. My typical driving is relaxed motorway with spurts of performance where possible. I’ll reiterate that you don’t have to use 523hp to enjoy this car. Its overall refinement appeals very much. Its also worth saying that having come from a 540, it has to be said that the B58 really isn’t that far behind at all. At 70mph, the engine is turning over at 1500RPM. For comparison, my previous G30 540 was turning over at 1600rpm, and prior to that my F10 530d, 1500rpm and even before that my E39 530i was from memory about 2200rpm. At 50mph, it’s turning over at a lowly 1100rpm. Those low revs make cruising very relaxed. There is so much debate about oil service intervals on these cars. There is also a discrepancy between UK and US models, it seems the US service internal is more like 10000 miles / 1 year and in Europe, 19000 miles / 2 years. As this car is intended to be a keeper and intend to run it as long as the government allow me too (don’t get me started on the push to EVs etc), I may get the oil changed 1 year old outside of the service pack. I can see the only harm is my wallet. Talking of oil, the oil does seem to take a while before its up to temperature. On a fairly cold day (5C) , it took 10 minutes before the oil was at 75C and a further 5 minutes before it was up to 100C – which I assume is the ideal running temperature. In comparison the coolant temp is displaying in the middle of the gauge quiet quickly. The oil temperature can be seen in the sport displays. So a little longer than I was expecting. The question is what temp does he oil have to be before its considered warmed up so you can “give it the beans”. Suspension The suspension is the standard, ie msport m adaptive I didn’t opt for the msport adaptive m pro (DHP ins the US) for both cost and not wanting rear wheel steering. I have to say, very very impressed with the suspension. It sits 10mm lower than the VDC on my 540 so logic would suggest with less travel, the ride would be firmer. Having driven it on familiar roads, I’d say the ride could even be slightly better than my previous 540 with VDC. Very comfortable and not jarring at all. However with 20 inch wheels and run flat tyres, you are aware of road imperfections and potholes still produce a bone jarring jolt to the whole car. I don’t know how BMW have done this as the lower 10mm ride would suggest there is less travel of the suspension available, but it does seem to work. I’ve not driven a M5, but reviews seem to suggest these have quite a firm ride, so if this is not to your taste, then M Adaptive , could well be the answer. Steering Like the previous 540, I prefer the steering in the sport mode. The lighter comfort mode just feels even more disconnected to me. The steering doesn’t really have much feedback but in general does weight up ok. Between 0-2mph it can feel very artificial and odd as you manoeuvre the car around but you move off, it quickly becomes better. I was hoping the LCI might improve matters but the only think I can detect (and this may just be my perception) is that the steering is a tad heavier. Is that because there is more weight over the front wheels this time? I therefore set up eco pro individual to have sport steering along with Sport individual. Those modes along with sport will be my 3 modes of choice with me ignoring comfort, adaptive and I can’t really see using sport plus on the public roads offers a benefit? Wheels The style 668 wheels are very handsome set of wheels to look at. The car came from the factory on Goodyear Eagle F1 asymmetric 5 tyres. I don’t really have much to say on these other than certainly no negative comments so far. Reviews that I’ve read seem favourable so hopefully these are a good set of tyres to be running. Idrive 7 The display is larger than pre-LCI and brighter too, and this was something I wasn’t initially keen on when I saw the LCI. Still feels it looks like an afterthought, it was integrated on the 3 series pre-LCI in a better way in my opinion. Despite its size, it doesn’t impact on your vision out of the windscreen when looking to the left. There is an element of relearning where everything is as its quite different to Idrive6. I always thought Idrive 6 was pretty good to be honest. Idrive 7 overall I feel is as good, just different and where I think it improves and looks “nicer” is that the cosmetic graphics are better to look at. Modes / configuration I have added photos of the idrive configuration of the eco pro individual and sport individual modes. ASD I’ve turned the ASD setting to reduced to ensure that the car is as quite as possible. There are a number of videos online with the m550 and they all seem to have the engine note being quite loud and this just seemed intrusive to me. Each to their own of course but for me, the loud noise , pops and bangs is not for me. Instrument Cluster The obvious thing to say here regards the rev counter. Still feels odd that it’s designed this way. Its perfectly logical, but after years of looking at dials, my brain just hasn’t adjust to this fully, not sure it ever will! The cluster can appear different based upon whether you are in Ecopro, comfort or sports mode. Like by 540, I have configured the cluster to remain the same regards less which mode you are in, as I just prefer that. Another item not to my liking,is the map in the middle of the cluster. I really don’t see the point of this as the information displayed is just the roads but without road names and also because I feel that eyes down looking at detail in the cluster , is not a good thing as your eyes should be on the road. This feels like an ergonomic mistake. I just don’t think any detailed information (i.e. that you have to actually READ and interpret) should be displayed here, at least whilst you are moving. I turned this off and rely on the HUD to provide that information. A much better place within your view to display this. HUD The HUD is as the pre LCI, a fantastic bit of kit. Not a gimmick at all, a genuine enhancement to your driving. The size of the image certainly feels like it is slightly larger than on the pre LCI. It is easily visible and the layout of it has changed a bit from the pre LCI. You can configure it quite a bit more than the Pre LCI. There is the choice to display engine revs, sounds good, but that’s instead of the assistance information. So for example if you are setting the speed limiter on , this does not display in the HUD. I personally prefer to set it showing the assistance information as I find that more useful. If you have navigation instructions being displayed, if you have selected music tracks to display in the HUD as opposed to the instrument cluster, then these are displayed where the Nav instructions would be, which means if you decide to review tracks when coming up to a change of direction for your route, you don’t see them.(So don’t change your music coming up to a change!) Semi autonomous features. As I’ve been running in the car, I’ve avoided the motorway to ensure that I am varying the revs and load on the engine. I have however briefly ventured on them and the driver assistance does seem better than on the Pre-LCI. It maintains the lane better and if you are in the left hand lane, it doesn’t seem to want to take you off the motorway on to the slip road unlike my previous car. It was a bit hit and miss but so far the LCI seems better in that respect. Now an oddity, lane change assistant is not enabled. Vin decoder shows that 8TR is optioned which I believe removes this. Now not sure why this is the case, I though this was done when individual paint is used (thicker and potentially interferes with sensors?) but I have sophisto grey. My previous 540 had this back in 2017. Has legislation changed to block this since? Traffic light recognition also does not seem to be enabled for the UK. Seats If like me, you prefer to sit up high in the car, the comfort seats are the ones to choose as these allow you to adjust the seat slightly higher than the standard seats. With 20 way adjustments, you can easily find what is your most comfortable position. Although as I’ve found with any new car, it takes me a while to get the perfect driving position. Air conditioning This car comes with 4 zone climate control as standard. An option I wouldn’t have chosen otherwise. The control panel for this is slightly different to the 2 zone one. Instead of buttons there are touch controls. Now whilst it looks ok, I have on quite a few occasions managed to accidently put my seat heating on so I think from an ergonomic point of view, a step back. Temperatures here in the UK have been typical winter so not had a chance to test the air conditioning. My previous 540 I would describe as adequate, but now more. Be interesting to see if the LCI has made any improvements in this area. The logic behind it does seem to be slightly different. The temperature does seem slight higher than I have set on the pre-LCI. I normally have 22c set in winter , but this does feel warm and I found myself setting 21 or 20.5C instead. I’ve also noticed that after a while the car seems to think its got too warm and you can fell cooler air being blown in. My pre-LCI feels more sonsistent in this respect. A subtle change for sure, but when you drive the same car for a number of years, you do get to notice these things. Interior With the dark headlining, the ivory colour seats brighten up the interior . With darkened glass on the rear window and doors, felt this was more important. Really recommend the alcantara as it has a high quality look and feel about it that I feel the standard material doesn’t have. Comes at a cost though £1100. So not too cheap. Leather Dashboard Not a lot of pictures online for this and the online brochure for it isn’t particularly clear so I ordered this blind. I am however pleased with it although it doesn’t really look like leather, presumable as its treated to be long lasting. the tops of the doors are also treated and together they do look good. They are black in colour and the leather is quite smooth compared to the more dimply sensatec appearance. Illuminated door sills. I like the M550 kick plates and although illuminated, you don’t really notice this with the interior lights lighting up this area anyway. Exterior design. When I first saw the LCI, I didn’t immediately like it. I thought the headlights were very generic. You see almost identical ones on Skodas and Jags to name a couple. Certainly not an obvious BMW. My view has changed on these over time and now feel they look good even if not what you might consider “BMWish”. The pre lci full adaptive still look in my opinion but for me the new ones now have the edge and combined with the new grill, give the car some presence. I like the way the grill protrudes forward more this time. This model dispenses with front fog lights for what I think are larger cooling requirements I don’t see this as an issue for me as I think it’s been over 30 years if not more, the last time I actually required front fog lights. So not something I will miss over my 540. I only ever turned them on to verify they were still working before a MOT. Rear lights. Again have warmed to these. These are obviously lit up with DRLs now which the pre LCI didn’t do. I feel they look better with darker paintwork as they merge more into the body work. There is a single rear fog light. Not sure why there is only 1 as the pre-LCI (at least in the UK) had 2. 1 is obviously the legal minimum, but no idea why they settled for the minimum. The front Grill. I actually prefer this over the per LCI. Although slightly bigger, the shape looks a bit more aggressive. The 5 series is traditionally a conservative design and I think if they had done what they had to the m4 / 7 , they may have alienated some customers. The G60 looks like it will again be conservative in this respect. It seems the original M550s had cerium colour grills, but they are now gloss black on this years model. The spoiler on my 540 was body colour and I assumed it was for m550. But upon closer inspection it’s black. So its not obviously apparent against sophisto grey. HK sound system An item missing from the LCI is the CD player. I do miss this. Whilst I didn’t play a large number of CDs in my 540, I was useful on occasions. I’m of the mind that CDs are not old fashioned and feel that BMW were just cost saving here. The majority of music is played back from a USB drive with either .WAV or lossless WMA files on it. I however can’t work out what’s it doing with organizing the files. I have always created a file structure like this Albumname Track1.wav Track2.wav Albumname2 Track1.wav Track2.wav Idrive 7 however seems to think every track is an album so when you browse for albums it lists individual tracks. For those albums that I sipped as lossless WMA, these on the most part seem ok. Lossless WMA obviously retains the metadata , so you see the album artwork. These albums seemd to be organized ok, although one album seemed to missing some tracks. So need to work out what Idrive 7 is doing here. Changing tracks via the thumbwheel on the steering wheel is slightly more fiddly than pre LCI. I’ve found myself selecting 2 tracks ahead instead of 1. The distance between each seems smaller. Feel the steering wheel controls a little less good in this respect. Slight cheaper in feel. I am nit picking here though. The first day I bought the car, I logged into my connected drive and purchased the speed camera warning app. In the UK, this costs £25 per year. This is really effective and I have this configured it to display in the HUD as opposed to the instrument cluster. It warns you in advance, counting down the distance to the camera. There is no audio alert. A very worthwhile addition. Note that whilst the speed camera alert is displayed, you cannot change music tracks via the wheel on the steering wheel.(You can via the central controls though) Comfort access Maybe this should be called discomfort access? As thieves can potentially take the car when the key is in range, I ensure that as soon as lock the car, I put the key in a faraday cage pouch. So a bit of a nuisance to do every time. Apparently the circumvent this, the key only transmits when its moving, it shuts down when stationary but I was still advised to put it in a pouch anyway by my dealer. Speed camera alerts The first day I bought the car, I logged into my connected drive and purchased the speed camera warning app. In the UK, this costs £25 per year. This is really effective and I have this configured it to display in the HUD as opposed to the instrument cluster. It warns you in advance, counting down the distance to the camera. There is no audio alert. A very worthwhile addition. Note that whilst the speed camera alert is displayed, you cannot change music tracks via the wheel on the steering wheel.(You can via the central controls though) On reflection. I would describe this as a faster 540 rather than a slower M5. In fact I think BMW should maybe have called it just a 550? Overall what a car. Certainly, an upgrade over the 540. Issues Recommended pressures do not display either in idrive or on the my bmw app. 3d remote view didn’t seem to work when I first tried but will retry this. I was in an area with marginal phone coverage at the time though. Likes Engine, smooth and quiet. Suspension. Very impressed with this. Cabin quiet. Seems quieter overall than the 540 (is that just perception?). Very drum tight. Fit and finish. Very high quality. Dislikes Comfort access – having to put the key in a faraday cage to protect it. Having the key in your hand when opening doors seems to lock / unlock then unnecessarily. Airconditioning controls. Easy to make an unintended change. Steering, feedback could be better. Rev counter. Guess I’ll get used to it, but a traditional dial would have been my preference. No CD player. Display of music on USB drive. Doesn’t seem like it lists everything correctly or initiatively. The perfect car? very very nearly! DEAD SLOW, not 2 words you would put in the same sentence as a M550! Last edited by AP; 03-05-2023 at 09:11 AM.. Reason: additional text |
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| 03-05-2023, 10:14 AM | #2 |
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It is finally here, what a beauty! Congrats!! I like your tasteful selection of the interior. Glad you are enjoying it and look forward to more updates as you put more miles on the car. My M550i is planned to be a keeper too, so I am very keen on hearing everything about their M550i(s) from all owners. Welcome to the club!
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2020 M550i (G30) | Carbon Black/Black Nappa | DHP | DAP | Executive | Luxury Seating | Park Asst | Ceramic Controls | Front/Rear Heated Seats | 20" 668M wheels
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| 03-05-2023, 11:16 AM | #3 |
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Will do. Had to feel I had to get something out so far but I think the next update will be once it’s run in and I can start to use its performance
I can only imagine at this stage what it can offer and I will give it a lot of respect as it is after all a large amount of power Stunning high quality product though |
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| 03-05-2023, 12:36 PM | #4 |
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Great write up, it's definitely a special car!
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| 03-05-2023, 02:24 PM | #5 |
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This is a better review than any magazine or blog I've read on the car, and spot on to boot.! I also recently parted with a 540 in favor of a '23 550 for the same reasons, and while the 540 was a great car I couldn't be happier.
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| 03-05-2023, 02:52 PM | #6 |
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I think that screen is water temperature not oil?
Reason I question is the temperature on the dash cluster goes up real fast. The temperature on the sport screen lags a bit. Happy to be corrected |
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| 03-05-2023, 03:49 PM | #7 |
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Great review, AP, thanks!
Being a brand new (less than 4 weeks) owner of a 2023 M550i, I read this with great interest to see how it would resonate with my impressions. Here are some random thoughts that reading this review has produced. Note that my previous car was 2016 Audi S6, tuned to about 550 horsepower and 600 ft-lb of torque. Engine/Transmission The M550's acceleration is comparable to my tuned S6, but the overall experience is much smoother. At any speed > 0, the M550 responds to the throttle input both faster and smoother than the S6, which may occasionally exhibit a bit of a lag and jerks (the S6 has a DSG transmission). The only exception to the M550's faster response is moving from rest, where the S6 responds a bit faster. Overall, the automatic transmission in the M550 is probably the best I have experienced! In the Driving Dynamics Control, I use Sport Individual, with both Engine and Transmission set to Sport. I mostly keep the transmission in 'D', occasionally switching to 'M'; I do not use 'S', as I am pretty happy with the way 'D' behaves in the Sport mode. For comparison, the S6 only has two transmission modes: 'D' and 'S', and neither was completely satisfactory ('D' being too mild, 'S' being too aggressive). Suspension The suspension is simply amazing, both in Comfort and in Sport! I prefer Sport, so I set Damping to 'Sport' in Driving Dynamics Control. Note, though, that my M550 has 19" wheels with Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 Plus tires. If I had 20" wheels with run-flats, I would likely prefer the Comfort mode for the suspension. Brakes I like the M550's brakes: they engage earlier than in the S6 and have a nice progressive feel that inspires confidence. Steering As many reviews of the G30 mention numb steering, I did not expect much. The steering, however has turned out to be better than I expected. While it does not provide a lot of feedback, it feels precise with a well defined center position. In Driving Dynamics Control I set Steering to Comfort: I feel that the Sport mode requires more effort without any noticeable improvement in the road feedback department. ASD BMW's idea of running the engine sound via the car's sound system is plain stupid! If you insist on such a thing, you should allow people to disable it. One of the first things I did taking possession of the car is to set Engine Sound to Reduced. One of the first things I did with BimmerCode is to disable the ASD. HK sound system The M550's HK sound system sounds much better than S6's Bose. Similarly to AP, I organize my music by folders and prefer that the sound system would display and play the tracks that way. For those who have not figured out how to get the folder view: go to Media --> USB --> Search, and there, at the bottom of the list in Search, hides the access to the folder view. It nicely displays all folders, sub-folders and tracks within. One caveat, though: after the system has played all the tracks in a folder, it goes back to the first track and starts playing the folder contents again. In contrast, the S6 Bose system starts playing the contents of next folder after finishing playing the current one. If anybody has figured out how to change the HK's folder behavior from repeating the current one to playing the next one, please shout! Another minor gripe about the M550's sound system is that there is only one USB input. In the S6 there are two USB inputs and two SD card inputs, and the system can simultaneously remember the track that is currently played from each input. I find this very convenient: for example, I listen to my stuff; then, pick up my daughter from one of her activities; she wants to listen to her staff; a simple switch of the USB inputs achieves this. Conclusion I liked my S6 a lot -- especially after tuning it and having installed a couple of third-party suspension hardware components. But the M550 has exceeded my expectations in so many ways! It is an amazing car; I enjoy driving it way more than I did driving the S6! Last edited by Carmody; 03-05-2023 at 08:04 PM.. |
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| 03-05-2023, 07:37 PM | #8 | |
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| 03-07-2023, 08:50 AM | #9 |
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Nice comments all, thanks for sharing.
As for the OP and the comment about the red calipers - I'll suggest that they are in fact significantly larger than what was on your 540i (I too had a G30 540i) and they are red because that's the "M" caliper color. Unless you have CCBs. Or, if your car is a shade of red and you selected the other color so that they don't clash.
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| 03-07-2023, 02:30 PM | #10 | |
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I think about >90 degrees for the oil is warmed up. On my old 135i 90-100 degrees was normal. 120 degrees was getting hot. |
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| 03-12-2023, 05:54 PM | #11 | |
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I'm in a simiar position, 2019 540i up for replacement so have ordered an M550i, delivery date tbc. It sounds like you have a similar driving style to me so good to hear your take on noise levels and ride quality. I didn't opt for tinted windows on my current car because I don't really care for the aesthetics nor do I spend enough time anywhere sunny enough for them to make a difference. I referenced your point on brightening up the interior because it's something I hadn't thought about. I also won't have a sunroof but have gone for a black interior, I have the same at the moment but wondering if the addition of sun protection glass wil lmake the cabin quite dark. May be too late to change so may have t oget used to it (not that I ever sit in the back!) |
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| 03-13-2023, 12:34 AM | #12 |
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Yeh I have preferred not to have the darkened rear windows but they come as standard in the U.K. so no choice on this.
Still running in , 450 miles on it now and the more I drive it, the more impressed I am with it. A drive down to Goodwood at the weekend , I got 31 mpg(imperial) without trying and that includes varying the revs and load for running in purposes. Last edited by AP; 03-13-2023 at 06:10 AM.. |
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NGT25543.00 HighlandPete6658.50 |
| 03-18-2023, 03:47 PM | #13 |
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Last edited by KendraChew; 03-23-2023 at 04:30 AM.. |
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