I wasn't sure about the variable steering either but we have a fairly tight turning circle at home and the salesman convinced me the steering would be much easier. No doubt the usual rubbish to get a sale.
The 5.9% is through BMW's finance. Originally I was told it wasn't available but I told them the APR was too high otherwise and if they did the deal then we had a deal. Took them a couple of minutes to agree but they did. At that point I decided to push my luck and got them to discount the car price too.
Either they were desperate for a sale or I'm a better haggler than I thought