BMW's latest 5-Series is effortlessly good, but is it still the benchmark to drive? PADDY COMYNgets behind the wheel to find out
WHERE DO you start on tinkering with a car that has been a massive success? It’s the sort of headache car manufacturers like to have since it is easier to make customers happy when they are already happy.
There is a fair probability that you know someone who owns the current 5-Series. It might be your dentist, your solicitor, your neighbour or yourself, but these cars have been absolutely everywhere in Ireland since 2004. Even last year, as the recession took hold, the 520d model gained a new lease of life because its low emissions made it more affordable. The styling of the current model was more than a little controversial when it first arrived, yet made the E-Class it was a rival to look positively decrepit.
Chris Bangle was in charge of design when that car was penned and while he has often been criticised for his flamboyance, nobody can say that his designs don’t last well. Even today, a 5-Series is a head turner. But Bangle is gone and we live in a different time, with a global economic downturn and a greater desire on the part of car manufacturers to get their cars right from the start.
This has lead to cars becoming perhaps a little on the safe side when it comes to design. Not that BMW is against offbeat design, but they appear to be getting that out of their system with some niche models like the X6 SUV and 5-Series GT.
What you probably won’t see is the Munich brand taking any more design risks with their core models, the 3-Series, 5-Series and 7-Series. We discussed the design of the new car just before Christmas after its Munich launch and looking at it today in the sunshine in Lisbon the 5-series has lost little of its Teutonic beauty, but certainly isn’t outstandingly eye-catching either. With the prior arrival of the 5-Series GT and 7-Series, BMW appear to have been softening us up for the arrival of this car. It already looks familiar, there is no “getting used to it” at all. You just seem to know it.
There are some definite visual traits that set it apart from its other family members, least of all the very prominent grille which slants forward slightly, giving it a more aggressive face. Clearly this has the intention of making the car look more dynamic.
Is it a handsome car? Yes, there is no doubt about that and it also looks much more upmarket. Having styling links with cars that cost €30,000-plus more won’t do the car’s credibility any harm.
Step inside and you are greeted with a cabin that will be familiar to anyone who has been inside a 5-Series GT or 7-Series, but will be a whole new world away from existing 5-Series customers who will find this car both more luxurious and better laid out.
Time and experience has allowed BMW to make the iDrive useful rather than maddening, the controls are more intuitive and the plastics and colour trims employed are more 7-Series than 3-Series this time around. It is a really good place to be. We spent most of our time in one of the first versions set to come to Ireland in March and that is the six-cylinder, 245bhp 530d and this superb diesel engine has 540Nm of torque, yet will only put out 160g/km of CO2, meaning buyers of this high-performance diesel version will only have to pay road tax from band D, which really is pretty impressive.
The new, more potent, diesel engine is quiet and effortless. Power is instantaneous, as is the torque, which comes seamlessly and without drama. Our car was fitted with the new improved paddle shift gearbox which felt not only more intuitive, but also more responsive. With diesels this alert and offering such impressive stats, you’d wonder about having petrol models in the range at all.
Our cars were also fitted with Adaptive Dampers which is set to be an option, so you could choose from a more comfortable to a more sporty set-up and this is something we have been familiar with from the 7-Series and 5-Series GT. In this car it feels superb.
What really impressed us on the back roads and later on the circuit at Estoril is the car’s agility. Yes, it is a big car, with a longer wheelbase than the current model but it feels like a much smaller car when you push it hard. BMW tell us that this car is much stiffer than before and it shows.
The new 5-Series is effortlessly good, ticking all the executive car boxes with relative ease. It has the sort of back-road prowess that you won’t find in even the new improved E-Class or Audi’s worthy A6. This is a car that is marking itself out as the athlete in the segment, but shows too that it can do luxury without too much fuss either.
If there is a criticism, then it is that it just lacks the “wow factor” that we had from the launch of the previous version. The current 5-Series model made such a significant leap from the one it replaced. This new model is just a very good evolution with a design that we have seen flavours of already in the cars that have been launched from Munich in recent months and years, namely the 5-Series GT and 7-Series. It is a given that current 5-Series owners will love this new car. Where the challenge will be now, will be in the race for the remaining customers and at the moment the Mercedes-Benz E-Class has the advantage of time.
While the six-cylinder 530d is very nice, the 520d is going to make up the overwhelming majority of the sales. We know that it will be in Band B in terms of emissions, putting out less than 140g/km with either manual or automatic transmissions despite putting out 184bhp and 380Nm of torque. This engine won’t arrive on sale until the summer though, by which time Mercedes-Benz will have added further to their already impressive E-Class sales score for this year. However the E-Class and the new 5-Series remain very different cars, for different customers. They are comparable in terms of luxury, but the 5-Series is now more of a driver’s car than ever.
BMW 520d
Engine:1,995cc four-cylinder diesel putting out 184 bhp @ 4,000 rpm
Max torque:380 Nm @ 1,900–2,750rpm
Acceleration:0–100 km/h in 8.1 seconds
Top speed:227 km/h (automatic: 225 km/h)
Average fuel consumption:5.0l/100km (automatic: 5.2 litres)
CO2 emissions:132g/km (automatic: 137 g/km)
Motor tax band:B
Annual Road Tax:€156
Price:likely to cost around €44,000
Arrival:520d available in June 2010
BMW 530d
Engine:2,993cc six-cylinder diesel putting out 245bhp @ 4,000rpm
Max torque:540Nm @ 1,750–3,000rpm
Acceleration:0–100 km/h in 6.3 seconds
Top speed:250km/h
Average fuel consumption:6.3l/100 km
CO2 emissions:160g/km
Motor tax band:D
Annual road tax:€447
Price:likely to cost around €58,000
Arrival:six- and eight-cylinder models available from March 2010. A Touring model will follow this summer