Well, I did it...I broke down and headed back to BMW of Bellevue to try and change my thoughts on liking the new 745i. I'll start things off by saying that my opinions although swayed a tiny little bit is still the same as before. I don't like the rear end!
The beginning:
Arriving at the dealership, I found this sitting in the show room.
I was surprised to see the shark fin on this baby until I found out that it's for the cell phone!
Interesting! The new owner is on his way up from San Francisco and plans to drive it back down! Makes me wonder if this seems to be the standard practice everywhere for M car owners. Buy a car from out of state and bring it home. Seems to be! The red M3 was still there.
Finally the salesperson, Robb was ready to go. It was COLD outside so this would be a good chance for me to see how the 745i does with some ice on the road.
Walking outside, this is what I saw:
Not too bad I thought...until I walked around to take a look at the back.
Now, I've seen countless pictures online of the new 745i but I'd promised myself not to be too critical of the car's rear until I'd seen it in person. Well, it didn't make a difference seeing it in person. I still didn't like the rear. Reminds me too much of something that was perhaps left unfinished. Back to the drawing board, please. Come out with something better, Mr. Bungle.
Okay now that's done and over with, I proceeded to the passenger side door (Robb wanted to drive first). I opened the door and this is what I saw:
WOW! I thought...I saw it last week at the 745i intro but that was at night and I didn't really have a chance with all the people around to really take in things. Real classy I thought! Quite a departure from the clear coated wood trim that I'd seen in just about every other luxury car/SUV, etc. The biggest factor for me was the fact that this wood trim looked REAL! Very nice touch, indeed. On a side note, it was funny how they left all the plastic covering up everything. I guess this is how they protect their demo cars from those dirty smudges. Unfortunately this didn't do much to keep people from breaking other things. Some other parts such as the rear pop down mirror didn't work.
I sat in the car,
comfty I thought. Looking over to the left:
One of the first thing that struck me was the fact that it was HARD to read the computer display. Maybe the brightness was turned down or the plastic shield was polarized. Both me and Robb spent a couple minute trying to figure out how to fix this. We gave up...
I tinkered with everything that I could get my hands on! Out popped this:
Cool!
Okay now it was time to go for a drive. Robb put the key fob in place, pressed the brake and pressed the Start/Stop button. The car came to life! Not loud, not obtrusive..nothing at all like my beast! No resonance emanating from the non-Dinan exhaust.
...still is quiet..not Lexus-like quiet. You know that the engine is running. Not bad. To shift the car into gear, you press the brake button, pull on the shifter handle towards the steering wheel and then downward. Hit the "parking brake" handle. Very cool! We went around a few curves...hit the brakes HARD, floored the car...this car clearly has been abused. Robb made an off-hand remark, "don't buy THIS car..heheh." I was surprised how well the car was composed. Doesn't dive under hard braking, doesn't lean back under hard acceleration and no leaning in the curves! Very nice! Nothing at all like my mom's old 400SEL TANK! What especially got to me was how similiar the acceleration felt to the last X5 4.4 I test drove. Strong enough to press you back into the seats but not to the point where it's brutal as in the M5. Definitely has potential. After a few miles, Robb pulled over. MY TURN! Before that, Robb showed me the SOS button on the overhead console.
Now this is crazy...a $75k car and the button is covered by a cheap piece of plastic that comes OFF! It doesn't flip out like on the S class SOS button. It actually comes off! You have to fumble a bit to get the cover back on. I guess this is their way to discourage you from being too SOS-happy.
Okay, my turn! Brake pedal, check. Shift into "drive," check, parking brakes off, check. Okay it's time to go...
, acceleration isn't bad. Brakes are strong! What really got to me was how strong the brakes were! This thing has better braking feel than the M5! Doesn't feel mushy at all! Wow! Okay, as I drove along, Robb tried to figure out how to use the Nav feature so I could see how the directional arrows would pop up in the tachometer. It took him almost 10-15 minutes just to figure it out! It's complicated!
He even tried using the voice recognition feature too. No such luck. Giving up in disgust he proceeded to turn on the "auto-P" feature which means that it automatically holds the brake after you've come to a complete stop until you press the gas pedal again. NEAT! On a side note, it also holds the door so it doesn't BANG open too. This could be neat when you're parked sideways on the side of a hill. And so finally, Robb managed to figure out the navigation. Things were set. One last stretch of highway to go before we head back to the dealership. The directional arrows showed up in the tach, but what got to me is there was no voice guiding the way! Maybe it was turned off?
Pretty fast up the hill...not as fast as the M5 I kept thinking! Robb grinned because he knew what I was thinking whenever I gunned it.
Pulling into the dealer parking lot, I spied Waggoneer's trucking unloading a few cars into the lot. One of them was a brand new sterling grey 745i almost fully loaded. This was a stark contrast to the 745i that I was driving...NO options except for the heated seats! You would think that BMW would want to provide fully loaded demo cars so people can check out all the features. I guess they really like to nickle and dime us to ***** on the options! I could not believe how they charged every option:
Here's the sterling grey 745i
I like the color! The rear end looks almost bearable with this color too!
On a final note, the 745i was a fun car to drive although not as much as the M5. It's a car that I might consider but not before getting a Mercedes Benz S55 SMG! Now that's a car I find myself lusting after if I'm ever in the market for a luxo-cruiser!
745i test drive and impressions
LOL Thats funny how u keep comparing it to the beast... and even your salesman know... Flooring it uphill... ya its no M5... LOL The cars not so bad... I like it more and more... 
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