Och - go drive another 550 - I'll leave it at that.

Mike - the value has taken a dump on these babies since gas skyrocketed.

That said...
Checking cars.com for my area, I see 15 550s (2006 and 2007s) ranging in price from $34,895 - $44,900 with four of them being certified (extra $) for an overall average price of $39,547.

Taking the 2006-2007 GS430, I see 12 GS430s (2006 and 2007s) ranging in price from $29,995 - $43,744) with four of them being certified (extra $) for an average price of $37,173.

.... but take out the certified cars (which seem to have unrealistically high $s on them) and you get an average 550 price of $38,912 and an average GS430 price of $35,357.

So I agree that the pricing is ripe on these babies, but I'm not sure I agree that it is comparable between the GS430 and the 550 - at least in my neck of the woods.

 

ISick, get the 550. I have a 04 545i and it's a blast to drive. I love it. No problems at all. I ALWAYS get compliments anywhere I go. I have the M-Kit and it makes it look much more aggressive. I think it has the best Bimmer interior as well. Pull the trigger. You will not regret it.

 

Does your not have a delay when you floor it from dead stop? It starts pulling pretty nice after the delay, but that delay is just too annoying... Most new cars have, its something that annoys me a lot in my gs, but the 550 I drove had it much worse.

 

zero delay - if anything, the throttle could be considered jumpy (probably one of the reasons my wife hates driving my car). My GS430 had a terrible delay, there is zero with the 550.

There is a trans reset trick that you can do with these cars - involves holding down the gas for like 30 seconds or so after turning the key to the first position. Rumor has it this can exercise the demons if you are having slow throttle response.

I don't doubt that you drove a goofy 550 - I think MT just reviewed the 550 and thought it felt slow or something like that - so I'm sure it can happen. But the 5-series cars I've driven have all been pretty snappy.

 

Reviews of the 545 were all over the board due to the very jumpy response from the accelerator. The reviews indicated that the 545i was too responsive to the point that the car was not very pleasurable to drive. Not sure on the 550 of which I have read nothing but great things about.

As both are underpowered and the AMG is priced similarly I am heavily leaning towards a E55 at this time. Still not a fan of Bavarian interiors.

Best to drive them before commenting on them I suppose. But yeah, anything with a V8 is probably not on many shopping lists these days and with gas to easily surpass $6 this year it will only get worse or better depending on whether you are a buyer or seller. Hopefully gas will hit $7 soon.

 

It's all about perspective...
Compared to a Range Rover, a cement truck is fun to drive.

 

A 550 manual is bada$$.... love em....

 

Got pics???

Very interesting car to buy.....maybe Sunday I can check a couple out...

 

The 550 I drove had a terrible delay off the line, much much worse than my GS, from a dead stop. Literally, I pushed the gas and waited for probably almost a second until the thing started moving. But after the delay it pulled pretty nicely off the line, however highway acceleration wasnt impressive at all. Comparable to my GS, and I was expecting the 550 to be a blast. However I gotta give it credit, the transmission downshifted so fast, compared to my GS which is painfully slow. But on the other hand because it was so fast, the acceleration was indeed jumpy. I dont know if I could live with that on daily basis. I think i'd much prefer a CVT such as GS450h.

Well, it was at a BMW event that was sort of like Taste of Lexus event... same location as Taste of Lexus event. And I honestly thought the 550 was slow... It pulled pretty nicely off the line (after the delay) but on the highway it felt no quicker, if not slower than my GS. After that I drive a 750, which felt roughly the same as 550 off the line, but on the highway it felt very slow.. seriously.. felt barely faster than my LS.

And then I drove the 335 which completely blew both 750 and 550 away, even despited being overheated.

 

Five bucks says you're gonna check out a 550 and end up buy a TSX.

 

you guys should see the bmw dealer in buffalo, every single used bmw, and i mean EVERY has dropped at least 4 grand within a month, bmw will offer great financing along with paying for the first 4 months of car payments, so we saw a used 2006 545? or 540 i can't remember at it was like 28 thousand with like 21k on it, id get that over a brand new camry anyday

 

People are just holding onto their cash these days so prices are dropping. A 2005 Acura RL which is one very very nice car can be had all day long for under 20k. Q45 for under 10k. 3rd gen GS's are approaching mid 20's (I'd take the RL though) and on and on.

I like the listing on Autotrader for the 550 for 24k where the guy states:

So if he forgot his password how did he manage to log on to update his listing to reflect that he lost his password? SCAM!

Here is a 550 for under 28k. Guess BMW has gotten so stingy with standard equipment that they list the bumper as optional.

 

I'm surprised no one here has mentioned the MB E550 prices for that baby are dropping as well

 

With today's high gas price, why not consider 530i instead? My father has a 07 and it feels much lighter than it actually is. And the steering feel is so good. My father's 530i has a 17" stock rims/tires so the ride feels relatively softer and I love it.

 

The 530 does get good fuel mileage but a 0-60 of 6.6 vs 5.3 of the 550 is nothing to sneeze at. To some it is all about the stats.