stick v.s auto

[Wadula]

braht, sorry, of course i am talking about the E38. the E60 has no 750 but from routine i still think that 750 is the top model. my bad.

marinakorp, the description m540i is also totally unknown to me. i heard about it, but never in germany. only over here. what exactly hides behind that name? a special souped up 5er?

 

[brahtw8]

braht, sorry, of course i am talking about the E38. the E60 has no 750 but from routine i still think that 750 is the top model. my bad.

marinakorp, the description m540i is also totally unknown to me. i heard about it, but never in germany. only over here. what exactly hides behind that name? a special souped up 5er?

The M540i was a canadian-market only model for the 1995 modely year. The US got a limited number, 135 I believe, of special 540s as well, typically called the 540i M-Sport. The Canadian car was badged as an M540i from the factory, while the US version was simply a 540i.

Basically, the car is an E34 M5 in terms of suspension, brakes, etc., but has the 540 V8 instead of the inline six from the M5. BMW pulled the E34 M5 from the US market after the 1993 model year, as the E34 540i had similar performance numbers to the M5 and was more suited to the US driving environment (read low end torque).

 

[MrElussive]

My friend has that M540i Sport or whatever (auto transmission). He let me have a great drive in it, I absolutely loved it. The steering was very tight, handling was awesome, and that 4.4L V8 has serious punch. I was so surprised about the automatic transmission...I could not believe how aggresssive it was. As soon as I started driving aggressively, it kept the engine at higher rpm's....it had absolutely no regard for fuel economy which is just how I like it.

 

[bmd2ba]

It really boils down to... do you prefer stick or automatic? I will always prefer stick. (someday, Toto, we'll have a 6-speed...someday, somewhere...over the *nevermind*) My friend is absolutely sure she will never be able to learn stick (insert joke here). Yes. Stick sucks in traffic jams. But to me, automatic sucks all the time. It's just boring, and dumbed-down for people who have enough challenge staying between the lines. I don't know a whole lot about these new-fangled stick-wannabe transimissions, so I'm sorry, but I can't give you an evaluation, there.

I'm pretty sure I can guarantee that whichever you choose, since it's a BMW, that will make it a good investment, a great ride, and we'll like you even if you get the automatic.

Steve