Fil’s next car
 

I thought I had a thread on this but guess it was buried in a few other topics.

So my lease on the 550 technically ended in July. I did a 2 month extension through September, and then w/ drama on house I’ve been able to get 2 more months out of BMW. I might be able to get another month if needed but assuming I’ll be replacing the car later this month.

I was originally thinking of a M550 but we’ve decided a little more space would be helpful after countless times of trying to stuff the car full of crap this year. Last month my plan was to score a crazy deal on a leftover 2019 X5 50i. At the time 2019 leases were stronger than 2020. This month BMW has the same programs on 2020 and 2019 models, and remaining 2019 inventory is pretty “meh” so I’ve talked myself into a 2020 X5 M50i. A few extra M badges has to make it better, right? :)

What is “new” to me this year is the leasehackr forum. The traditional BMW forums don’t seem to be the wealth of info they once were. But there is a ton of great info on leases on leasehackr, and I’ve been shocked by how aggressive dealers are these days. In my prior life, “invoice” was a really strong deal. Today, a good deal on a new BMW is generally 10%++ below MSRP before incentives.

X5 leases are not as strong as the 5-series (higher demand means less need for subsidized residuals) but with the discounts I’m seeing I think I can still score a ~1% payment.

Nice!

I really like the new X5, I think they did a great job on it plus I think you’re going to love the new technology in it. Also it is really cool you went with the big engine, that car is going to be really fast and it is really rare to see one.

Just wondering what type of car does your spouse drive ?

Yea, we’ve driven a few of them and I really like the new tech. I’m a big fan of the turbo 6 cylinder in general but it just feels like the X5 is carrying too much weight for that engine.

Right now we only have one car, we live in the city and walk to work. We work in the same building so we’ll commute in together once we move. We need to get 2nd car after but still trying to figure out what exactly we need - going to hold off on that a little bit.

Agreed

A 2020 X5 M50i would be sweet! Yeah, it's crazy how competitive the BMW lease scene is these days.

Congrats. I am told these drive really well but I cannot get past the front end. What were they thinking with the grille?!

https://www.bmwpalmsprings.com/inven...45617/ip/4.jpg

Possibly the best and only reason to get the car in black...

I actually don’t mind the grille on the X5. The proportions of headlight-to-grille look much better on the X5 (in my opinion) than the X7 or 2020 7-series, both of those look like they have too much grille.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...181877c6ab.jpg

Agreed. The X5 looks normal compared to this thing.

Can you get in a dark blue or brown metallic?

Cool - looking forward to welcoming you to the Carmudgeons v8 X5 club. WDC can teach you the secret handshake. This thread is relevant to my interests as we will probably replace our 2016 X5 50i with a 2020 X5 M50i within the next 6-12 months (Cayenne Turbo is the wildcard).

Thanks for the heads up on leasehackr - looking forward to seeing how this all plays out for you.

how have the v8s been maintenance wise? I've been afraid of them ever since the N63 hot turbo debacle.

zach, how many miles are on yours now?

They updated the N63 for the F15 generation, thankfully. Mine has been flawless - no issues at all with this car in over 2 years of ownership. I have 32K miles on it now.

Fil, I know you're a bmw man through and through, but did you compare at all to Cayennes or Macans? The Macan drives great but is only spacious in the front seats, rears are like a 3er and the trunk is something between a hatchback and a wagon, not too big. The Cayenne is standard issue size (X5, JGC etc).

I'll echo the suggestion to try one / both of the Porsches, though at least for the Cayenne, the price gets astronomically high when you add options that either come with the X5 M50i for free or are reasonably priced add-ons.

The X5 is a relatively good value in comparison, even at a 6-figure MSRP. By most accounts, the Porsches drive better (steering, etc.).

Exactly. We loved the Cayenne, but the value isn't really there vis-a-vis the X5.

And its even worse when you compare leases

I like the look of the Macan. Have never driven one but might do that. Have sat in a few though and it just seems really tight inside.

Cayenne just seems too rich for my blood. I’m comfortable pushing the comfort zone on a BMW MSRP since I know I can get a good discount and leases are pretty good. Don’t think I can say the same about a Cayenne.


I’m at 40k on my 2016 550. It has been the most reliable BMW I’ve had. It has the updated version of the V8 after they made the fixes.


Yea, I’ll let you know what dealer I go with. I’ve been shopping them all and didn’t take me too long to get to >10% discount and no mark up on lease rate. I’m still hoping to squeeze out a little more.


They have a medium metallic Blue (Phytonic) and then a dark metallic individual color (Tanzanite - $1950 extra) which is really nice. They have some grayish-brownish-greeny colors on the non M-sport versions.

Awesome, thanks!!

I've seen Tanzanite on some M's.. Tasty!

Fil - what are you thinking as far as options? I highly recommend the dynamic handling package in the X5. I have driven X5s with and without and it's an enormous difference. It makes the car feel much smaller and lighter.

Ditto.

+1 Tanzanite is beautiful. Saw it in person while doing European delivery back in 2014. Still - dont think i'd spend my option $$ on paint.

I’ve driven cars w/ DHP in the past and it does make a difference. Haven’t driven a new X5 with it though. Will have to see what’s out there. As for other options... it gets dangerous because once you start adding things, you just want to keep going.

Yep- especially on a car like the X5 where all the options sound tempting.

The secret is to build your X5 and then go to the Porsche website and build a Cayenne Turbo. The $50K+ difference will make getting all the options on the BMW seem like a great deal.

Ha ha. Comparing almost anything to a Porsche is a good way to make it make sense. Looking at 911s is how I justifying an R56 Mini as a family car.

Exactly.

So true. Same thing goes for Macan vs X3

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a2f05815f6.jpg

Pulled the trigger today. I’ve been spending like crazy this week :)

2020 M50i, White with Coffee Merino leather, Exec package and some other stuff. No DHP. There was only one car out there in a color combo we liked with it and it was really loaded with a bunch of stuff I didn’t need. All of 100 miles on it so far so I’ll have to provide more feedback soon, but first thing I observed is the sound - very nice!

Enjoy!

new cars galore , congrats:cool:

White cars for everyone!

Beautiful car! Look forward to reading your review of it


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Cool truck ... love it in White, enjoy !!

That thing’s a beast.

Looks great!!! Not surprising they didn't have one with DHP - the take rate on that is very low (which is why I'll probably have to order mine). How as dealing with BMW Gallery?

Fil’s next car
 

They’ve been good to deal with. I got my 550 there since one of my old coworkers used to be the manager there. He’s since gone elsewhere but they’re local and I plan to service there so I gave them a chance to match the deal I had elsewhere and they did, and they had a car in stock that I liked which helped. M50i allocations are apparently really limited right now so I was hoping to avoid an order. Ended up around 10.5% off MSRP before incentives.

Awesome. That seems like a good deal - certainly better than a lot of folks are mentioning on the X5 forum. I think leverage as a consumer is probably diminished if you order one given the shortage of allocations, so glad you found one you liked in stock.