The Big Size Sedans 750 vs 550

[sheggaw]

I am not much of a Benz fan, I test drove but was never convinced at all. I am assuming the same for most here, but has anyone had any experience with a late model large size luxury sedan ? Bangle Butt bmw's are out of contention. Is the new 750, which looks much much better than the past model, relatively like the E38 ? Just hating the bangle butt and the S550 looks genuinely good. Any info is helpful...

not in the competition are Lexus and Acura. Maybe Audi.

[Lebowski]

My lease was up and I was looking for a late model 4 door family hauler and highway cruiser since I travel for work. I always liked the E39 M5 but wanted new and the 5 series just doesn't speak to me. No local Audi dealer either. Our BMW dealer also sells Cadillac, so I wandered over and looked at a CTS-V... I was hooked. Love the styling, and the drive is nothing short of amazing! Got incredible discounts and financing with GM at the end of the last year. Had the car for 7 months and haven't had any build quality issues, and I absolutely love driving the car... but this is my first GM vehicle in 20 years and I'm still a bit wary.

If every car GM made was this good... they wouldn't have needed a bailout!

All this and significant discount from the price of a MB or 7 series...

And it comes in wagon and coupe form!

FWIW, just my opinion.

(I still have more fun in my 2002!)... though I'll admit my tastes in cars is a bit schizophrenic!

[Jim_75Sahara]

Aaron: let's talk about schizo. OK, we just bought another 2001 Taurus SES wagon to replace the nearly identical one totalled in a 4 car pileup on 6/28. (Mary is OK.) It's great for family vacations & car-pooling. Mary loves it so I got another for her. Chris Burd shares my schizo. tendencies when it comes to '02's & Taurus wagons! He's got 2 Taurus wagons & gets 200K mi. out of them & then gets another! EDIT: YES I did, Harv!!! hehehehehe!

[Harv]

we just bought another 2001 Taurus SES wagon to replace the nearly identical one totalled in a 4 car pileup on 6/28. (Mary is OK.)

You actually bought another one? Eww. I feel dirty.

John

[Lebowski]

Ahhh Jim, you bring back family vacation memories in the back of my parents old Buick wagon. 4 kids and my dad wouldn't stop to let us go to the bathroom so we had a "cup" that the boys had to pass around... mom would dump it out the window while moving. I guess I'm Whiskey Tango, one generation removed!

[Jim_75Sahara]

I have similar memories from childhood of family vacations in a station wagon. In my case, dad was driving a '60 Falcon Wagon, with no a/c & a small 6 cylinder engine, hauling the 5 of us to Nebraska or to Garden City, SC. Dad never wanted to stop for the restroom, it was go-go-go. If we stopped for gas, he'd be starting to pull out before we'd finished our sodas. Back then you had to stick the glass bottle in the rack before you sped away. I hated to put it back with any left in it. Soft drinks were a rare treat at the time. It was mostly 2-lane highways, not much in the way of huge interstate hwys. then.

[Harv]

As a little kid, I can remember road trips to the Grandparents house in in my Mom's VW Bug. My favorite spot to sleep was "the way back". That was up behind the rear seat over the motor and under the back window. Can anyone even imagine something like that today?

Then we graduated "?" to a 73 Dodge Dart Swinger. Yellow with black vinyl interior and top. Wow areal big car!

Fast forward.

My Mom's BF had a 89 750il that he bought for 1500 bucks. He's a tec so he was able to keep up with it. It was a wonderful and fast car. Lasted to 260K and it was getting a little "crunchy" when he would put it on a lift. In the end, the alternator died and that was that as he replaced it with a 528it.

Here it is dead in my driveway a few Christmases ago. It was -12F out there and snowing. I was using a leaf blower to keep the snow at bay under the hood.

Jeff was changing 9 of the 12 plugs because when one of the 2 fuel pumps died (two independent fi systems) they limped the last 60 miles to my house and when we tried a few days later to start it it fouled the plugs for some unknown (at the time) We had tee'd into the good fuel pump but in the cold didn't realize we had tee'd into the return. If I could show you what we were looking at you might have done the same thing.

I found that KMS motor sport wasn't too far away and they liked to fool around with 750's They had a good used dual fuel pump assembly for 75 bucks. Blammo and Bob was his Uncle.

The joke was that I was going to get a dead 750il from Chanukah Harry that year. Jeff being Jewish.

I think the magic of the big (no huge) Bimmers is that they really don't drive like big cars. That 750 was truly athletic, and could be hustled around 90 deg. intersection corners as well as high speed back roads. As you drive the size and mass of the car just melts away. I was driving a newer 535i the other day and it's the same way.

They are real BMW's

John

[Kidasters]

As you drive the size and mass of the car just melts away. I was driving a newer 535i the other day and it's the same way.

They are real BMW's

John

And that, sir, is why the next car will be a 5 series at a minimum....

[robspeed]

just throwing this out there for whatever it is worth:

the >07 hyundai elantra (subcompact) has more interior room than a BMW 7 series. only dimension lacking is the interior width, but legroom and headroom, as well as overall interior volume, are greater in the itty-bitty hyundai than the big bim. so for those looking for a "big car", kinda a game changer, or at least a perspective-changer.

just sayin.

[Harv]

just sayin.

Well just stop sayin..

John