2004 BMW 545i 6-Speed Road Test

The main arteries throughout the east side of my city are well beyond repair, but fortunately the 545i's

Thankfully the 545i features the much easier to use second-generation iDrive interface. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press)

suspension is much more compliant than I could have previously known, considering I had only just dusted off corner after corner of smoothly paved uptown tarmac. The 5's front seats are also about as perfect as I could have hoped for, having enveloped my backside into soft, comfortable leather, ideally bolstered to impede lateral movement while supporting under the thigh better than the majority in this class.

Shawn turned on the audio system for the traffic report, accessible either via dash mounted controls or the much easier to use second-generation iDrive interface. Even AM stations sound decent on the multi-speaker LOGIC7 audio system, something I enjoyed previously when time was more luxuriously paced.

At this time speed was of the essence, and therefore my route to the airport unfolded before me as predetermined as a rat would circle a maze. Which ever door would open, or in my case whichever light was green became

The ABS, EBD and BA assisted 4-wheel disc brakes were frequently put to the test during my cross city jaunt. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press)

my chosen course. We crisscrossed through town, up main thoroughfares and down side streets, all the while hammering the drive-by-wire throttle, slapping the 6-speed gearbox from cog to cog and plunging down hard on the ABS, EBD and BA assisted 4-wheel disc brakes until we joined up with the 6-laner that terminates at the airport.

One last bridge and onto the flatlands of the delta, we slowed to a crawl as the airport came into sight - the men in blue are aware of crisis management flyers like me, and regularly lie in waiting behind signs and shrubbery that edge up against the final stretch of roadway that leads up to departures.