[ezmaass]

Great write-up, thank you!

I'm in the same boat as you - the 550 is an "executive sedan" for me. My experiences with previous BMW passive sport suspension setups was similar - fun, great feel, but not what I always wanted, especially when on the road for several hours for business.

The 550, for me, is exactly as you've found it - a powerful sedan that can get you where you're going extremely quickly (when need be) and in supreme comfort. The tech gadgets are, as you said, not as much necessary as they are desired once experienced. But I'll take it even further and say - to experience all that this car has to offer is greater than the sum of the parts.

What do I mean by that? Well, on a stand-alone basis, each of the gadgets is nice. But when used in concert, the composition becomes more than the individual parts. Case in point - during a cold winter's night, I was driving a lengthy distance home after a long, stressful day. I engaged the following systems:

- heated steering wheel
- ACC to keep pace in the traffic
- heated seats
- active seats for a nice little bottom massage
- DHP suspension set to Comfort+ to take the road bumps away
- satellite radio on some soothing tunes

Individually, those systems are nice... but combine them in the right situation, and it turned a stressful, long day into a comfortable and relaxing drive home. The ability to really exploit these systems in combination, as I said, is where I think the "real" luxury for the F10 begins... and it's perhaps the best argument I have for fully loading the car if you can justify it.

The 550's real advantage is obviously it's strong engine. In 90% of the driving I rarely push it - a 535 would suffice. But in a few circumstances, especially if you're a road warrior type, traveling a good deal for business, that other 10% can be critical... as you said, the difference between effortlessly making a merge, putting the car where you need it without disrupting traffic, etc. And for nothing else, it makes for a really big smile when you just want to push it a bit.

Best of luck with your new 550! Enjoy it!