2000 BMW 5 Series 540i review from North America
"A well designed, high performance, luxury, gas guzzler"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
The ABS and Traction Control sensors went on/off causing the speedometer and the fuel consumption meter not to function. Although the ABS and Traction were fully functional: fixed by dealer at no charge (would have cost me at least $600 CAN to have them replaced)
Nothing Wrong for 90000 km.
Now at 116000 the Trunk lid Open sensor has become faulty, but it doesn't concern me, it just pops up every time I turn the car on and leaves after 10 seconds.
Phone was stolen, cannot find it anywhere, not even Ebay, BMW says the phone is discontinued and they don't have it anymore which is kind of weird!
General comments?
The car drives like a dream, it accelerates so quickly that my friend who owns a 330CI decided not to race me with his car. It reaches high speeds ridiculously easily, I topped 280 kph (174 mph) the car could have gone faster, but I was just worried cops might catch me going 160 kph over the speed limit.
The stereo is Superb, I especially enjoy the Concert feature on it which gives the sound a slight echo with its 13 speakers!
The seats could have been more comfortable though and the shocks are slightly stiff, but that just adds to the driving pleasures.
You might ask then whats bad about the car? Fuel consumption. 540i kills me at gas station, especially these days when premium gas is a $1.35 in Toronto. I've learned some driving tricks to keep the consumption a bit lower, but I still average out about 15 l/100 km which is only 15 miles to the gallon, but that's the price I pay for 300 horses, and I'm used to it having owned a Lincoln Navigator right before this.
All and all a very well designed, high performance, luxury, gas guzzler.
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| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| Model year | 2000 |
| Year of manufacture | 2000 |
| First year of ownership | 2001 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2006 |
| Engine and transmission | 4.4 V8 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 10 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 9 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 8 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 10 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 4 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 24000 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 116000 kilometres |
| Previous car | Lincoln Navigator |
| Date of Entry | 13th August, 2006 |