2003 BMW 745i vs. S500 vs. 2004 A8L - Funky Car, Good Handling

Author's Rating:

Pros: Excellent handling, acceleration and braking, good seats, creature comforts

Cons: Strange interior, difficult to use iDrive and seat controls, over-assisted steering

The Bottom Line: 
I would get the 2004 Audi A8L instead. If you have $80K, send me a check.

Author's Review
I got a chance to compare the BMW 745i with Mercedes-Benz S500 and the new 2004 Audi A8L when I attended a MotorTrend event. The event featured both the performance and “luxury” courses.

Technology

The 745i moved forward technologically over the previous 740i substantially. In fact, I think it moved too far. Although, the 6-speed automatic transmission, active roll bars and Valvetronic engine (no throttle plate) are nice technological advances, the infamous iDrive and funky design are not.

iDrive

The iDrive is overly complicated and is very difficult to use. Although the goal was to simplify the control over the car’s numerous functions, the good idea turned into poor execution and instead of the simplification, the over-complication resulted.

I normally have no problem changing settings on a previously sight-unseen camcorder, TV or VCR. Although I haven’t read the manual, the iDrive seemed to almost impossible to use. I am sure things would improve had I spent more time learning it, but how would one know if he/she wants to buy this car without first being able to control its functions? At lease the climate control has its own controls.

Seats

The seat adjustment is also funky – you select the section to adjust by pushing one of three buttons and then pull/rotate the joystick/knob to adjust. The process is not intuitive and slow. But the seats themselves are comfortable and supportive.

There is plenty of room for back seat passengers and the car provides front, side and head airbags for occupants, which, in addition to the stiff body and excellent handling, provides for excellent safety.

The trunk is very large and features a ski pass-through.

Column Shifter

The car features a little electronic column shifter. To shift into “Drive”, you have to pull the lever towards yourself and push it down, then release. It returns into its original position, but the display shows you are now in the “Drive”.

To put it into park, just press the button on the shifter. You can shift gears manually using shiny silverish buttons on the steering wheel’s rim.

Power

The 745i’s engine and transmission seemed to provide better acceleration that the 2004 Audi A8L’s and comparable to the Mercedes S500’s. The engine also produced good sounds.

Although there was no way for me to measure the acceleration times, various publications clocked the 745i to 60 mph at about 6.1-6.4 seconds.

The engine in question is a 4.5-liter V8 with ValveTronic technology (infinitely variable valve lift), which eliminates throttle plate and should provide better fuel economy and performance. The engine also features steplessly-variable intake runner length, which enhances torque throughout the RPM range.

The 6-speed automatic transmission shift seamlessly, better than the S500’s.

More on Interior

The interior of this car causes conflicting feelings. Feature-wise it is definitely a good fit for a luxury sedan. Ditto the panel fit and control feel. But the look is so unconventional (even aside from the lack of the floor shifter and the location of the iDrive controller) that it is difficult to classify the interior as to which category of cars it should belong to.

The two front cupholders are conveniently located as are the two rear cupholders (in the passthrough door/rear headrest).

There are two small drawers/boxes in the center console, one above the other. The glove box is on the large side. The climate control has its own controls – separate for each occupant.

Handling

The car handled better than the S500 on the “Performance” course. There was virtually no body roll in slalom and in sharp turns, unlike the S500. The car also did not understeer the way the S500 did. But the steering seemed over-assisted, comparing to Audi and its rim seemed too thin.

The braking was excellent and the chassis felt very comfortable exiting turns, which I cannot say about the S500 that exhibited body roll and unneeded downshifts that furter unsettled the chassis.

On the “luxury” driving course, over simulated potholes, speed bumps and other road irregularities, the suspension felt pretty good too. The car features antiroll bars that can be decoupled by the car’s control system to achieve smooth ride over the road irregularities.

Likes/Dislikes

I liked acceleration, braking, handling, engine sound, seats. I disliked the over-assisted steering, funky interior, iDrive, shifter, some other controls. And I somewhat like the exterior styling.

Whould I Buy It

No. I would get the 2004 Audi A8L instead. It looks more luxurious inside and out, is less noisy under acceleration, has MMI interface that is easier to use than the iDrive and features the beautiful multi-colored fiber-optic interior lighting. The A8L has better steering feel too. If you have $80K, send me a check.