As some of you may know, I have been waiting forever for a G61 to arrive. Its a lease and there was some disagreement over whether the agreed deal when ordered in Feb would be applied to the car when available in August as it wasn't delivered in June when originally scheduled. Ultimately the dealer took the hit to make it happen so I finally got delivery yesterday... For background its an absolutely standard i5 M60 Touring in oxide grey with smoke white interior, style 938 wheels and some grey ash trim... No extras as it is a lease and frankly BMWs way of packaging them meant I needed to have pretty much every pack to get the spec the Jag had an I wasnt prepared to pay that - so I decided to go without all! It replaces an iPace SE 2021 which I had for 3 years and 34000 miles and was not one bit of trouble, but I never really trusted it just because of the JLR reputation thing - and they have some known foibles.... Not many pictures as I was working / going out / it was dark / you have seen them before.... but one showing the first you notice about it below, its flipping big! The second thing is its a bit bling inside and I think I need a computer degree to work it rather than a driving licence. But glossing over that (the latest BMW dash will never be my thing, I prefer something a bit more traditional and like my Audis from 2017 and 2020!), it is a fab piece of kit. Amazingly refined and quiet, very comfortable, the 4 wheel steering aids manoeuvring, and it feels the refined long distance cruiser it was chosen to be. Its definitely more efficient than the iPace - not hard as they are notoriously inefficient - and it can clearly pick its skirt up if needed but I wont really be driving it like that.... I know EVs arent everyone's cup of tea and that is fine, they work for me and I love the way they drive. I'll try and get some better pictures and update the impressions as I do more than drive round the M25 in it! Have to say that unlike petrol cars it was very efficient in the rush hour slog this morning - and everything just worked how you would want. . So I think I have the perfect 2 car garage for me for now - little and large, ICE and EV, manual and auto....tiny boot and massive boot, fold down roof and fixed roof.
Congratulations! This one has felt a long time coming, well done for holding out on the original deal, I’m sure others may have given up sometime ago. It sure is one big slab of car, more so sat next to the Mini. Will be interesting to hear how it works on an everyday level in terms of size and practicality, manoeuvrability etc. I wish the G20/21 series had the option of the grey, it looks stunning. Hoping the ownership experience is a grand one.
Thanks. When it comes to doing the right thing, its something I passionately believe in and if they hadnt honoured the deal I was walking (and swapping the Mini to be completely free of BMW!) I like Oxide, always did when I first saw it and everyone loved dravit! Did wobble and nearly change to carbon black but glad I stuck it out if for no other reason than it shouldnt show the dirt as bad! Car park at work was fun, the spaces arent huge and its main collaboration day today so its now full - but was in early and got a space on the end to keep away from anyone else... This weekend it will be the first trip to Derbyshire and doing what it was bought for, pounding the M1 with a dog in the boot. Be interesting to see how that compares to the Jag as it should do further on a full charge and charge when needed more quickly.....so I will report back on those stats after. Might also try the performance then, apparently its about as quick to 60 as the M5 I had - but this one doesnt feel like it wants to do that regardless of what you want!
Lovely colour combination - I do like Oxide Grey from when it came as an Individual option on G21's. May it bring you many happy miles and please keep us updated. Any interior pics too please.
I'll take one or two of the inside when I get a chance and before it gets too messy - although apart from finger prints on the screen and the piano black I do keep them pretty clean - wouldnt have chosen white if I didnt!
If it has, I won't trust it! I am ok with parking, with multi storeys its more the tight turns and hidden kerbs designed to catch you out!
Judging by the paint trails along the walls in most multi-stories plenty of people have misjudged things
Lovely car. I've driven a couple and would be tempted if going electric. Options are the biggest issue as you've mentioned, you need the £5k comfort plus pack to get memory seats! Madness. You'll be fine with parking, just take your time. My similarly-sized 7 Series is usually fine but I don't often need to park in particularly dodgy car parks, thankfully...
The M60 has memory seats. It doesn't have pan roof, heated wheel, 360 cameras, keyless entry or HUD. I can live without most of those I think. It does have Bowers and Wilkins which is immense.
Happy without keyless entry given the security issues. Pan roof doesn't bother me - my other car is a convertible if I want to see the sky! Never been a fan of HUD as I wear varifocal glasses! Heated wheel is a miss and the 360 cameras really ought to be standard. Haven't really pushed the stereo yet but you can tell its good- apparently not as good as B&W in some brands / models but for a car its more than adequate...
I can’t say I miss the comfort access either, not really a struggle to press a button on the remote to be fair. Also gives me some extra security given how easy the scum (and I’m being polite there) can access the car systems. HUD was useful for me, but I’ve quickly got used to using the driver display instead. As your got a light coloured interior I’d imagine the pan roof isn’t much of an issue, looking forward to the photos.
Ah, perhaps it's standard on the M60 - it definitely wasn't on the normal i5. Interestingly on the new 5 Series, I believe Harman Kardon has effectively replaced what was the standard stereo (and it's quite good), and B&W is the new Harman Kardon! So they've been pretty crafty there... I had the supposed top of the range B&W on my 840i and it was very good, but I'd only say 15% better than the HK you'd normally get.
Can't believe I missed this! Congratulations on the long awaited arrival of what looks to be an absolute beast!! Can't say I'm a massive fan of a lot of the BMW design language currently, but there is something that they always manage to get so right about a 5er Touring. It's the first BMW in a while that I'd love to have on the drive.....even though I'm sure it wouldn't fit! Really looking forward to hearing how you get on with it. Please keep us posted. And I agree - FWIW, you've got a super balanced fleet there. Wish you many happy miles in it.
Sorry for the thread hijack but @TheVoid what did you think of the 840i overall? keep looking at the 840i GC that come up for sale to replace my 640d GC..
The new 5 series is growing on me to be honest especially in touring form - looks good, I hope it proves a good companion please update on how you get on with it.
Here you go... so far I am loving it and its all I hoped. The weekend and a 300 mile round trip with dog will be the test....
