arentz07

Wow, that is admirable they went to that length, but... I've never been in a car where I couldn't see the turn signal lights flashing in the instrument cluster. I guess due to the wide range of seating positions and steering wheel positions drivers use, there's not a good way to guarantee them to be visible apart from putting them on the steering wheel, or in a head-up display.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Well, I am tall and I like the steering wheel all the way down, so when I drive any car the steering wheel blocks the upper half of gauge cluster in just about every car.

Johnhav430

Reminds me of a simulated ring sound, where when you call someone on your cell or with an app, you hear ringing on your side, even though this is the digital age. They could choose to play the Stones' Miss You if they wanted (I never liked that actually, when people did that). Where this can also come into play is how quickly or not quickly you want your voicemail to kick in, when you don't answer. Apparently if some folks don't hear this ringing, they hang up and try again.

alexulan

Yep, the bushing are a pain. to press them out and install new ones you risk damage to the arm that holds the bushing. Since the car was lowered it wore the bushings pretty bad.
Would not hold the alignment and eat tires front and back every 10k miles.
I loved my GS but could not see putting $2500 (all four corners) worth of repairs on a $5000 car. It was time to let the girl go. The car was a solid performer

The 535i is very nice no complaints. It only took me a $15 cable of Amazon and
an hour on the laptop to enable DVD in motion, Windows and Trunk Close from Fob, Nag Screen eliminate, etc. Love it.
I don't think "Coding" like this is available on the new Lexus.

Johnhav430

Which app did you use, ISTA-P?

SW17LS

Sounds like you should choose a seating position that more safely allows you to see the vehicles displays

HPLouis

LOL, when I went from a 3 to a 5, the first thing I noticed was that stalk and thought that was so different and the coolest thing in the world.

Back to the discussion.....I thought both my E60's were the sexiest cars in the world. The M Sport package, the M166 or M172 wheels (I had both) were hot. Those were going to be the last cars I would ever own. They have 8 cylinders, looked good, made power, handled well, etc.

The first E60 was a CPO that I bought with 30K miles. It had a manual transmission and a Dinan Stage 1 package. First came the check engine light. The computer needed replacing (that's cool, it was under warranty). Then the plastics in the cooling system started going bust. Now I needed an expansion tank, vent hoses, belts, thermostats and water pumps. It's cool, I still loved the car. Master and slave cylinders go out but those were inexpensive repairs (only $800). Some charcoal canister goes bust so that needs replacing too. Also a fan for one of the computers in the engine bay goes bad so I replace that too. Around 80K, the car starts leaking coolant and oil. I go to the dealer and they tell me that I have to replace gaskets (valve cover, upper and lower timing chain, alternator, oil pan) and valley pan gasket tube. All at a grand total of $6800 plus tax. At this time, the car is only worth 8000 so I trade it in on a 2008 550i.

I still loved the E60 and even after my bad experience, I still loved the car. This one was an automatic (hard to find a manual) and it was white (I love white cars). It was another Dinan car. At first, the cooling fan went and left me stranded. It's cool though. The tow and fix was free since I was under warranty. At first there were no problems. Then the miles started creeping up. The expansion tank went, then the vent, the water pump,then the thermostat. Left me stranded again but I still loved the car. Anyway, I'm on all the BMW forums and I read that the plastics in the cooling system are a problem anyway and you should budget to replace them around 60K miles and I was there anyway. All of a sudden, I notice oil consumption. The alternator bracket goes out, leaves me stranded again. Get that fixed. Then the pulleys start squealing. Get that replaced. I still notice oil consumption. Now I'm told that the valve cover and upper timing chain gaskets are leaking. I fix those. Now the suspension starts squeaking and groaning. I check the forums and now, at around 70K miles and city driving, I should be looking at new shocks, bushings, etc. I'm getting ready to do that when I notice I'm still burning 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles. BMW said it's normal but I just can't accept it. I then read more on the forums and was told it could be my valve stem seals and that is common with BMW 8 cylinders. I do the test and that's what it is. I search around and find prices ranging from $5500-$9500 for repairs and again, I'm told that this is common. At this point, I decided I've had it. I had the chance to buy a CPO Crafted Line GS back in February with 20K miles and I passed on it because I loved my car. Now I kick myself in the *** because I could have taken the $7500 in repairs I've paid in just this year and put it on the Lexus. Thankfully, I found another Crafted Line. The miles were higher but it was cheaper so I just bit the bullet and traded in the BMW.

Now, with both these cars, they did not have any catastrophic failures. It was really nothing big, some leaks here, and couple of groans there, etc. but, the price of the constant maintenance went into the tens of thousands. I did the Mike Miller BMW maintenance plan and the car still spent a lot of time in the shop. A lot of people that I've run into (and I've been around BMW for 12 years and I'm an active CCA member), who say that their cars are reliable are either, 1. have an older BMW, or 2. have one with low miles (lease, weekend car etc), or 3. they're like my brother who is a mechanic and lives in NC where he drives on long highway stretches. My 4,000 mile 2004 Cobra is a dream to own. It's a 12 year old car and all spend is $75 for an oil change every year. As you can see, my statement is unrealistic.

MattyG

Sounds like you would probably love a car with a HUD. But I would be careful because that's not the ideal position for an airbag deployment.

Och

iTrader: (3)

I have HUD in my X5 and X6M, but turn signals do not show up in HUD.

MattyG

I wonder if it's because manufacturers might think it's too distracting and draws your eye to the blinking display. At any rate, if you are very tall, you probably have the seat quite a ways back?

peteharvey

I think the purpose of the new type of turn indicators is that they are less mechanical, so are cheaper to make, last longer and quieter in operation, but true that it does not mechanically tell you if it is blinking left or right by its self-centering position.
However, I got used to it very quickly, and I consider it only a small point.

I quickly got used to the foot pedal parking brake, and even to the latest type of automatic electronic parking brakes too.

The only thing that took me longer to get used to, or still causes some inaccuracies is Lexus' 5-way joystick, especially on screens where there are "more" icons closely spaced together from left to right [like the Menu Screen], or from top to bottom, such that I would often push either not far enough, or past the icon that I actually wanted to select with the 5-way joystick.
_

Johnhav430

Wait, was your first E60 a 6 or 8 cyl? My buddy got a non-CPO 550i 6-man from a BMW dealer, and wouldn't you know the water pump fails 4k after he bought it, at 53k. Then again, on a BMW, the water pump at an indie (or DIY for many) is no worse than a Lexus LS and the timing belt. The $6800 had to have been at the dealer, would be interesting to see if the indie is 40% of that or what it is.

I always remarked if you see a nice 745 or X5 4.4 with white smoke coming out the tailpipes, the owner is avoiding the $10,000 coolant fix repair......

My strategy again is DIY as much as possible, but of course not having a lift limits this in many ways...I lucked out with the DSC hydro failure thanks to the fourm and YouTube. But imho one must have an indie lined up who is willing to install customer parts--this severely puts an upper bound on the price. The tricky part is where the job is not warranted as a result--so one must decide is the parts savings worth it. Like on a LS430 where the labor is 8-10 hours for a starter, maybe let the indie upcharge ont he part. It fails, they eat the redo labor. But on stuff like suspension etc., why not provide the parts. It's crazy how affordable BMW OEM is online, it's so competitive. The forged parts are cheaper than stamped steel of Toyota. My 335i has been reliable, again, except the failure of the ABS pump, which goes across all 3's and BMW bikes, bad design....no question driving fun, has a price....

HPLouis

They were 8 cylinders. The 6800 was the dealer and the indies wanted $4000. The problem with Brooklyn is that there are only 3 real BMW trained indies and they know the prices so they only go a little under the dealer prices. Even in the whole NYC area, all the prices are high.

I went to my indy for coils and spark plugs. One wanted 1200, another wanted 1400 and th last wanted 1150. These are the 3 in Brooklyn. I bought the spark plugs and coils for $250 and did it myself in my driveway. In this area, sometimes the inidies are just as bad as the dealer.

Before the e60's, I had a E46, 2000, 328 and that car had tons of leaks too. I got rid of that for the E60, 545 thinking the 5 Series would have been more reliable than the 3 Series.