First impressions from 550ix Msport with sport shifter

Just picked it up tonight...will take pictures later. It's the Carbon Black, which in the garage with fluorescent lights looks dark navy blue. Beautiful color.
The dealer removed the rear and side badges....the rear badge left some lines where the paint seems thinner...can feel the difference. Seems like maybe paint was soft when they glued on badge. Only visible if you look very hard in certain light.
I removed all interior stickers including ugly airbag stickers from visor.
The MSport body style in dark color, with black Nappa leather and anthracite wood looks mean and muscular - very well put together. The Nappa leather is much nicer than the base leather, very comfortable.
Sitting in the car - it's much more luxurious and comfortable than my E39 M5. It's also much bigger. Driving the car feels much bigger, too. Very brawny, feels entirely different than the E39 or E60. But in Sport mode it is pretty enjoyable driving! No problem with the steering. All Seasons clearly impact handling, but so far I'm taking it easy. Engine is a monster, but can feel added weight. I would call this car brawny, like a football player, not athetic like a soccer player (and my old M5) or lithe like a dancer (and my Porsche c4s) You have to accept it for what it is.
Electronics very cool, easy to use iDrive, programmed garage doors, iPhone, Sirius stations, Nav favorites. Cool that you can use the 8 "radio" preset buttons for presetting Nav as well as phone and radio favorites.
Msport steering wheel is beefy and just right. No heated steering wheel on Msport, even though it's spec'd in the Cold Weather Package I bought. Seats excellent. Overall visibility and sense of control very good. I converted ashtray to coin holder - wrapped interior with felt.
A few photos in garage. Color is pretty accurate. Sorry for rambling, will post more details after some long drives tomorrow. Overall first impression better than I feared given some of the concerns on this board and my preference for a sporty, enthusiast's car.

I've confirmed with several people on here that the steering is heated even with the Msport. Maybe you missed the switch or they made a mistake. Sure hope thats the case as I'm looking forward to the heating! Congratulations on the beautiful car. I get mine in 36 Hrs! its a 550i carbon black with oyster and black so seeing your pics gets me even more amped!

My bad. Steering wheel is heated. Right in front of lever that adjusts wheel position, on column.

Beautiful car! Enjoy, maybe I'll see you driving around town

Originally Posted by kocsis

My bad. Steering wheel is heated. Right in front of lever that adjusts wheel position, on column.

Glad to hear it! Scared me for a sec. Enjoy your car and keep the pics coming its beautiful.

I have a US 550i Xdrive M-Sport just arrived last week with cold weather package fully loaded and it came with a heated M steering wheel.

Any more pics??? Have you run into the same steering noise several others have run into?

Yep, that's the color scheme Im going to go with... beautiful car! any chance for a front /rear pic?

Congrats! It's beautiful!
How did you remove air-bag stickers without leaving that residue?

No steering noise yet.... Acetone used to remove airbag stickers. Little freaked out at moment as the "guru" who is installing radar in my car just sent me home after I arrived to pick up completed car.....Here are some photos. By the way, exterior color is pretty true to life in a cloudy day. Don't you think car looks better debadged?

Damn, very nice. I don't know why, but the M-Packs front bumper reminds me of Darth Vaders helmet (especially in Black), lol. Also, is there an alignment issue with the hoods shut-line (where it meets the bumper), or am I just seeing things in that pic?

Enjoy it.

Originally Posted by kocsis

No steering noise yet.... Acetone used to remove airbag stickers. Little freaked out at moment as the "guru" who is installing radar in my car just sent me home after I arrived to pick up completed car.....Here are some photos. By the way, exterior color is pretty true to life in a cloudy day. Don't you think car looks better debadged?

Those are the best shots yet of the M Sport. I had a passport 9500 installed in my last 535 and it never worked right. There was a power up problem all of the time. Hopefully your guy will know how to install it better than my guy.

Beautiful car! And your house looks pretty fabulous too!

Great looking car.

Now the windows need some dark tint. I'm not saying black it out. But a little tint really sets that car off nicely. I had a 08 carbon black and now I have F10 jet black. Both
had/have tint. I liked it so much on my 08 that I had it done this time at the dealer so that it was on the day I picked up the car.

Originally Posted by kocsis

By the way, exterior color is pretty true to life in a cloudy day. Don't you think car looks better debadged?

That color is phenomenal on that car... looks great with the M-sport tips too.

I also think it looks exceptionally clean fully debadged.

thanks again for posting the pics

Originally Posted by kocsis

No steering noise yet.... Acetone used to remove airbag stickers. Little freaked out at moment as the "guru" who is installing radar in my car just sent me home after I arrived to pick up completed car.....Here are some photos. By the way, exterior color is pretty true to life in a cloudy day. Don't you think car looks better debadged?

I think it looks better de-badged but that's a bummer regarding the thinner paint on the rear trunk. What exactly is the radar guru doing? Are you having a discrete detector installed?

Interestingly the paint where the badge was looks perfect now. The radar guy installed the new evrsion of the K40. Yes, I know lots of people don't like it, but it always served me well. The new one has GPS and you can adjust it to mute alarm below a set speed, so the supermarket doors don't trigger it.

Good eye on the hood - it was not fully closed.

Beautiful car! My 08 550i M-Sport was Carbon Black with black leather. My all time favorite color scheme. I never got tired of it.

Originally Posted by kocsis

Good eye on the hood - it was not fully closed.

I've noticed that the left side of my 535i hood tends to be a bit harder to latch as well. I hate "dropping" the hood closed but that's what the manual suggests and it's probably better than pressing hard in the one spot to try and latch it down.

Oh, and very nice car -- enjoy!

Originally Posted by markl53

I've noticed that the left side of my 535i hood tends to be a bit harder to latch as well. I hate "dropping" the hood closed but that's what the manual suggests and it's probably better than pressing hard in the one spot to try and latch it down.

Oh, and very nice car -- enjoy!

Drop it! The hood is designed to be dropped, and it is the only way you'll be sure that it latched properly. Recently while driving my wife's MB at about 75 mph I noticed the hood was shaking. I stopped and visually inspected the hood and it looked fine, so I did not open it and reclosed. The shaking continued so I stopped again, opened the hood and then dropped it. The shaking ceased.

Originally Posted by Rafa

Drop it! The hood is designed to be dropped, and it is the only way you'll be sure that it latched properly. Recently while driving my wife's MB at about 75 mph I noticed the hood was shaking. I stopped and visually inspected the hood and it looked fine, so I did not open it and reclosed. The shaking continued so I stopped again, opened the hood and then dropped it. The shaking ceased.

Yeah, I said I don't like dropping it, but I do -- for just the reason you say -- thanks!

Originally Posted by kocsis

Interestingly the paint where the badge was looks perfect now. The radar guy installed the new evrsion of the K40. Yes, I know lots of people don't like it, but it always served me well. The new one has GPS and you can adjust it to mute alarm below a set speed, so the supermarket doors don't trigger it.

Good eye on the hood - it was not fully closed.

I'm hoping still no steering noises, correct? Mine shows up in about 3 weeks and I just know I won't be that lucky. Anyway, what tires came on your car? Are you swapping out for snows or keeping the all seasons? Just love the pics!!!

No steering noises. Will keep all-seasons for time being as summer tires, but bought Dunlop WS ROFs for winter.

Originally Posted by kocsis

No steering noises. Will keep all-seasons for time being as summer tires, but bought Dunlop WS ROFs for winter.

So have your impressions changed at all after a few weeks?

These are still my favorite pics and I have the car / color coming in this week. Any updated impressions?