[2020540]

4 time BMW owner. New 2016 328, CPO 2016 535, New 2020 540, current new 2022 X5. Wife likes her MB GLE. Not bad (except transmission which is stupendously bad and cheap interior) but I generally prefer BMW. In addition to the ZF the B58 is an all time great powerplant and the styling of the G05/30/60 is to my taste. Like others I feel the new iDrive was a step backward but still seems to be as good or better than MBUX. I am not ready for electric yet.

One thing I have noticed in the CLAR chassis vehicles is the road noise on certain surfaces comes through more prominently that the F10 chassis (less steel, more aluminum?). This was noticeable on the 540 and the current X5. Not a deal breaker, but as I age quiet is more important as is ride quality. I live in PA where the roads can be quite poor.

Honestly were it not for the ride over sharp bumps and sound on concrete I would keep the X5 for a long time. Otherwise a wonderful vehicle with real buttons, passable A/C and a nice color scheme. But the vehicle really gets caught out on some bumps and it is annoying that my $70k luxury SUV rides more poorly than my son's $30k Accord.

I am looking for my next purchase. As of this very moment I can order air suspension on the base X5, which has been unavailable for several years. None to drive but my gut is that the ride would be better. But the noise issue is still there (may be worse on the LCI).

I was thinking about going back to the 540 and this is the nature of my inquiry. I did a quick test drive when the 540 started to show up at dealers. My impressions of the base suspension, 19 inch rim 540 seemed to be consistent with what others here have said: notably improved ride, somewhat better noise suppression despite no acoustic glass, superlative powertrain with tolerable ASS, good seats, decontenting and some cheap materials. And new owners seem pleased with the A/C which has been an issue on the LCI X7 and some X5s. Probably would run about $100 less per month than an X5 since BMW still is putting absurdly high residuals on these leases.

C and D just did a road test on the e450. IF you load it with options BMW is choosing not to offer (air suspension, rear steering, acoustic glass, etc.) it is the better luxury drive, per C and D. I suspect even without the adaptive dampers (despite high skidpad readings for the MB) the Msport 540 would probably handle a bit better. But that is conjecture and at this point in my life I am not choosing an Msport. They did not comment on how an e-class drives without a $90k sticker price worth of options. I suspect BMW still makes a better powertrain but the e450 is probably a very nice powertrain, if not as smooth or responsive as a 540 and I will bet that without the air suspension the BMW rides better. There are not a lot of air suspended e classes out there but I will make an effort to test drive.

Another concern is reliability. Other than the X5 50e BMWs seem overall to have less reliability issues. This is taken with a grain of salt (Consumer Reports notwithstanding) as people who post on owners forums tend to be really angry at the car or fanboys. Same goes for build quality. Never had an issue on fit or finish on any of mine but at least on the GLE forum quality control has been an issue.

Clearly MB has gone in a different direction on the e class, allowing buyers the option of turning it into a smaller S class whereas BMW limiting available options and pushing luxury buyers to the 7 series and the SUVs.

To me, my appropriate 540 runs about $73k. To get the vehicle I would honestly compare (air suspension, pinnacle which is the only way to get HUD which I cannot do without) I am looking at a price at least $6-10k higher for the Benz recognizing that I cannot price out truly comparable cars.

I have not really seen any detailed posts on the forum about comparing the new 5 series against competitors. I am really focused on ICE purchasers sincer electric purchases have different priorities. Does this mean the only people buying the 5 series are previous BMW owners (not necessarily a good thing for the future of the 5 series) who were already sold? Has anyone spent any real time in a new e-class to provide some level of comparison between the two? Driven a non-air car? Is the interior quality better than the 5 (was definitely not in previous versions)?

Any insight from people who did the comparison and chose one over the other would be appreciated.