km : Daily Driver

Our extended checkout of the 2010 BMW 550i GT has come to an end, and it leaves us with mixed emotions. We were impressed with its ability to stupefy people who had no idea how to describe it, other than pretty damn cool. And it certainly was a nice car in which to spend an evening out in the company of others. On the other hand, we wish it been a little less thirsty, and just a bit more engaging as a driver’s vehicle.

For the entire time we had the 550i GT, it continued to impress neighbors and friends with its indefinable sense of being. No one quite knew what to make of it; is it, like, a 7-series coupe, or some sort of a 5-series wagon mutant? Ironically, no one ever called it a hatchback. The truth is, most people really liked it, especially once they got inside. The detractors were almost exclusively traditional BMW enthusiasts, meaning the GT should be good for recruiting new members to the blue-and-white brigade, even if it doesn’t strike a chord with some already in the fold.

Driving the 550i GT was always a pleasure. With its long wheelbase and generous views outward, the GT is like a personal limousine. Around-town driving invoked a state of calm, as if nothing happening outside the car really mattered. That’s one of the great hallmarks of a true luxury car. So is exclusivity, and in our time with the GT we never passed another on the road. Perhaps BMW should have launched the more attainable 535i GT first.

The luxury treatment was nice, but once in a while we preferred to slip the Dynamic Chassis Control into its sport setting. This simple change tightens up the dampers and brings the big sedan closer to a BMW-ideal driving experience than the normal or comfort modes, which were too floaty for our taste. Power was never a problem, and the transmission’s willingness to play along in sport mode was always welcome.

The dual rear hatch seemed like it would be a great solution, but we found ourselves using the full opening more often than not. Maybe it’s the fact that most of what we carried required the full opening (Ikea boxes), or that access for regular items (groceries) is just more convenient. But we suspect it may have more to do with the fact that the full hatch has a self-closing feature that we became rather accustomed to using. Regardless of how you get to it, the cargo area is bigger than it looks, and it swallowed up just about everything we threw at it, except for a professional-scale upright exercise bike that didn’t make it between the wheel wells.

After nearly 3000 miles of driving, we certainly aren’t going to miss feeding this twin-turbo V8 beast. Filling its 18.5-gallon tank was like stocking the fridge in a frat house; we often found ourselves saying, “But I swear I just filled it up yesterday! What are you people doing?” Average fuel economy hovered around 15.9 mpg overall, but it was solid work to keep it there. One staffer, however, managed to squeak out 24 mpg on a highway trip with three passengers, so it is possible to make it miserly.

There’s been a broadening gap as of late between BMW’s luxurious and sporting sides, with all the M cars, plus the 1- and 3-series holding strong in one camp and cars like the new 7-series and Z4 leading the charge for a “fluffier” kind of BMW. The 5 GT definitely runs with the latter, while oddly enough we’d say the X6 crossover (people love to compare it to the GT, though they couldn’t be more different) is more in the driver’s category. While we’re a bit concerned about these Ultimate Riding Machines creeping in, the 5 GT is a fine vehicle in its own right and we just hope BMW doesn’t take its eyes off the enthusiast community with these experiments.

Its stay was short, but we certainly liked having the 550i GT around. It may not be the Ultimate Driving Machine, but then again, it’s not really meant to be. We’ll take the back seat any time it’s offered. Meanwhile, a 2011 535i sedan has taken its place in our garage — is it a driver’s car or a rider’s one? We’ll fill you in soon with some early impressions.

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