How could the monroney be inaccurate? Are you looking at the "generated" labels and not the real ones?

Surely, BMW Dealers can pull up the sheet.

Someone can correct me, but I thought the Dynamic Handling Package would have the Adaptive Button on the drive mode selector to the left of Sport, Comfort, and ECO Pro.

 

80%+ of the monroney labels for the m550s have been substantially incorrect. They have the right color, but often do not have the right options. I'm not sure why.

 

Two tips:
1) Dealer is just being lazy, all they have to do is give the VIN to the service dept and they can pull up the option list on the car. I told the salesman at the dealership when I was looking at a M550iX...he did it and sent it to me
2) You can crawl under the car at the rear, or have the sales guy, and take a quick picture. The rear will have a bunch of horizontal steering and active stabilization mechanisms that the regular car will not. Its pretty obvious.

I'm not impressed with the DHP on my M550iX. I believe they put softer springs on cars with DHP. So it rides really nice, but the handling does not feel as precise or connected. It certainly has great cornering, but the suspension does not dig in and load up G forces in a traditional way. I am considering replacing the springs with Dinan or H&R. I would have preferred the Bowers and Wilkins stereo over the DHP.

 

Two tips:
1) Dealer is just being lazy, all they have to do is give the VIN to the service dept and they can pull up the option list on the car. I told the salesman at the dealership when I was looking at a M550iX...he did it and sent it to me
2) You can crawl under the car at the rear, or have the sales guy, and take a quick picture. The rear will have a bunch of horizontal steering and active stabilization mechanisms that the regular car will not. Its pretty obvious.

I'm not impressed with the DHP on my M550iX. I believe they put softer springs on cars with DHP. So it rides really nice, but the handling does not feel as precise or connected. It certainly has great cornering, but the suspension does not dig in and load up G forces in a traditional way. I am considering replacing the springs with Dinan or H&R. I would have preferred the Bowers and Wilkins stereo over the DHP.

The problem is a lot of the vehicles I am looking at are not at BMW dealers.
Have you driven an M550 without DHP for comparison? I have found no apples-to-apples reviews which is frustrating. I can only assume (hah) if BMW took the time to engineer the package it would have to have some handling benefits, but based on your signature and your prior 540 build it looks like you have an attention to that kind of stuff. Doesn't the DHP introduce the electronic anti roll bar?

Do you really think it's worth foregoing the DHP overall?
Beyond that - do you have the executive seating package? That's the other one I'm digging for because of the seat ventilation. I'm not clear on the seat differences beyond that, though.

Thanks for tip #2. If you get a chance, would you mind snapping a pic of yours so I have an example? If not, totally understood and appreciate the feedback anyway.

And care to elaborate on the b&w? I think I've seen maybe 8 out of 200 cars with that on it. Is the stock system that bad, or is the b&w that good?

Thanks!

 

 

i just bought an ‘18 550 without DHP and I have the adaptive button choice so it is not part of that option. I also test drove a DHP car with m performance pkge and it might’ve felt a little bit more planted but it did not have other options that I really wanted so I passed. differences at this level were minimal maybe more so if you are going to rip through canyons etc.. Not my style because it’s my DD.

 

If I recall correctly when I had my F10 550 with DHP it had 'Comfort plus' mode. I have a 2019 540 Xdrive with dynamic dampers and my car does not have comfort plus ... I am not sure if all 550's being they have M adaptive suspension(or whatever they call it) have comfort plus so maybe someone else can comment.

 

OP, I was going to say "Welcome to the Fest" but it looks like you have been lurking here for a while (11 total posts in just under 6 years)! If you'd asked your question 6 months ago, we could have answered it easily by checking the 2018 M550i Ordering Guide archived on the Fest. Sadly, when the website was refreshed, it looks like all that valuable data disappeared. All I can tell you is that the 2021 Ordering Guide says ZDH includes adaptive suspension (essentially shock which can soften or firm up), Integral Active Steering (rear wheels turn when you are cornering) and Active Roll Stabilization (anti-sway bars which stiffen up to help keep the chassis more level in turns).

All those features may work great on the G30 (they worked terribly on the two F30 3 Series we had with the comparable package), but I think most folks who spec them on the M550 love them. But they also add a lot of complexity, and expensive bits which can break when the car is out of warranty. Since the cars you are looking at are not CPO's (not at BMW dealers), I'd factor that in.

There are plenty of BMW VIN decoders out there. Just Google BMW VIN Decoder.

All US market M550i's come with Multi Contour seats. And the front of the bottom cushion absolutely, positively does tilt up and down. You may not have been manipulating the controls properly, or perhaps the control is broken on the car you are looking at. But the fact that you called them "Executive" seats makes me wonder if you are outside the USA. Perhaps even in Oz?

The US-Spec 530's and 540's have the sport seats as a default, and the Multi Contours as a stand alone upgrade. In 2017 through 2020 you could tick the ZLS Luxury Seating box and add ventilation and massage to the mix. Doing so made the seat surfaces stiffer (due to the inflatable massage bladders sitting directly below the leather), and also limited the degree to which you could snug-in the side bolsters. I had ZLS on my 2014 F10 535 and again on my 2017 G30 540, and switched to the non-massaging, non-ventilated Multi-Contours. I find them much more comfortable, but YMMV.

If I was shopping for a 2017 or 2018, I'd skip the ZDH and the ZLS for reliability and comfort reasons respectively.

 

The US-Spec 530's and 540's have the sport seats as a default, and the Multi Contours as a stand alone upgrade. In 2017 through 2020 you could tick the ZLS Luxury Seating box and add ventilation and massage to the mix. Doing so made the seat surfaces stiffer (due to the inflatable massage bladders sitting directly below the leather), and also limited the degree to which you could snug-in the side bolsters. I had ZLS on my 2014 F10 535 and again on my 2017 G30 540, and switched to the non-massaging, non-ventilated Multi-Contours. I find them much more comfortable, but YMMV.

Which leather did you go with the Dakota or Nappa ... I currently have the Nappa with the massaging and Ventilation on the 540 ... I was thinking of possibly going without both features being I literally feel nothing in the ventilated seats (I have 3 other cars with this feature and completely feel it) and while I like the massaging feature I don't think it is a must have option and could go with a softer seat like I had in my F10 550 though those were Nappa leather.

The Dakota looks smoother though I am comparing the picture to my vented Nappa seats so maybe I am off on this ...

 

Here is a picture looking from the rear, at the rear suspension. That is the differential below and ahead of the thing above with the hexagonal impressions. That thing is the rear wheel steering/active roll bar mechanism (at least I believe it is both combined). Anyway, if you see that thing, the car has DHP/ZDH. Note my middle pipes are the Dinan SS X pipe I had installed last summer. It replaced the factory middle pipes and two resonators with straight pipe and an X crossover, 76mm in diameter over the stock 70mm. Made from 304 stainless steel over the cheap 409 stainless BMW uses. I retained the stock muffler. Makes a little more noise now.

I agree there can be concerns with future repairs/reliability, but I have friends with this option on F10s, even heavily boosted and abused cars and they have had no failures...yet. I'm not overly concerned, but if something were to fail, those parts are very expensive to replace. Something to consider regardless.

 

Here is a picture looking from the rear, at the rear suspension. That is the differential below and ahead of the thing above with the hexagonal impressions. That thing is the rear wheel steering/active roll bar mechanism (at least I believe it is both combined). Anyway, if you see that thing, the car has DHP/ZDH. Note my middle pipes are the Dinan SS X pipe I had installed last summer. It replaced the factory middle pipes and two resonators with straight pipe and an X crossover, 76mm in diameter over the stock 70mm. Made from 304 stainless steel over the cheap 409 stainless BMW uses. I retained the stock muffler. Makes a little more noise now.

I agree there can be concerns with future repairs/reliability, but I have friends with this option on F10s, even heavily boosted and abused cars and they have had no failures...yet. I'm not overly concerned, but if something were to fail, those parts are very expensive to replace. Something to consider regardless.
[redacted pic]

Thanks, man. HUGELY helpful in my endeavor.
That exhaust is pretty nice to look at too. Don't give me any more ideas! Ugh!

BTW OP, if you are looking at M550s, note that the G30 started production in 2018, there are no 2017s. Those would be the F10 platform.

This was a typo on my part and I kind of wanted to see how long you guys took to notice my error (while also being too lazy to correct it). I am cross shopping about 3-4 other cars, and the model I had in my head at the moment was a 2017.

 

BTW OP, if you are looking at M550s, note that the G30 started production in 2018, there are no 2017s. Those would be the F10 platform.

 

Plot twist:

ZDH is normally:

2VW - Adaptive M Suspension Plus
Z1A - Integral Active Steering
ZX5 - Active Roll Stabilization

I am finding some vehicles with 2VW, but no ZDH, Z1A, ZX5. What gives?

 

If you need an ordering/pricing guide...its simple...just google for the year you want. For example, if you want a 2018 G30 pricing/ordering guide...just type the following phrase into a google search box: BMW g30 2018 ordering pricing guide pdf

 

Struggling with this now! All the feedback on the seats has me wondering if it's going to be an issue for me (multi contour being too firm with massage package). It's not super easy to find a 2017-2019 around to feel the difference either.

 

Just go to a dealership and sit in some cars. The 2021 options are exactly the same as the 2017 through 2020. The Multi Contours without the massage are damn near perfect.

 

Found it! Not my favorite wheels, but ..

2018; 416, LZNI; without luxury seating package (which I was kind of regretting today as I was sweating to the seat, but I do feel like the non lux seat is softer).