BMW 5-series driven: autobahn blaster blends boring with brilliant
P eter Stevens, respected British designer of – among other jalopies – the McLaren F1, once said that while the BMW 5-series is the ideal size for a GT, it wasn’t itself the flawless GT.
For while autobahn-blasting consistency, scientifically-honed ergonomics and ruthless mile-eating effectiveness make this business-class German saloon a citadel of efficiency, it’s also a pretty boring car. Arguably the best-looking 5-series was the very first one, six generations ago, launched in one thousand nine hundred seventy two when BMW substituted its Neue Klasse with the E12 and took the fight to Triumph, Rover and Mercedes-Benz.
While this fresh seventh-generation version, which goes on sale early next year, is excruciatingly billed as an “executive athlete”, its transcendence is defined by touchscreen wizardry, near-beer self driving, and carbon-dioxide tax effrontery. Of peerless driving qualities there was originally little sign.
A nd while BMW offers increasingly fantabulous engine configurations for the fresh 5-series, in reality the vast majority of sales will be of a CO2-friendly, two-litre turbodiesel nature. Fleet managers will be drawn like a spanner to a bloodied knuckle when they read that car’s vital statistics: £36,025, top speed 146mph, 0-62mph in 7.5sec, combined fuel consumption of 68.8mpg and CO2 emissions of 108g/km.
Unnecessary to say, that particular car wasn’t on the launch, tho’ it and its 4×4 (xDrive) derivative will be in the very first wave of the 5-series invasion fleet arriving next February. Joining them on the landing craft will be: a 248bhp, four-cylinder turbo 530i petrol at £40,120; a 261bhp, six-cylinder turbodiesel 530d with two- and four-wheel-drive embarking at £43,835; and a 335bhp, six-cylinder turbo petrol 540i 4×4 at £46,645.
BMW UK won’t import the monsterous 455bhp V8 petrol M550i, albeit there will eventually be an M5 version on British shores. And later next year, we’ll get the 46g/km plug-in hybrid 530i and the 108g/km Efficient Dynamics version of the 520d.
S o of the two cars we got to drive, the 530d xDrive (4×4) and the 540i S-drive, only the former will actually go on sale in the UK – so that’s the car we are writing about here. And on very first glance, you’d be forgiven for wondering what the fuss is all about.
Wolfgang Hacker, head of 5-series product management, denies the delicious notion that the very first sketches were dramatically different, but that its designers were turned away to do it again when the board reminded them that 5-series did ‘dramatically different” in two thousand three with the fifth-generation car designed by Chris Bangle. (That car did sell OK, but it is forever damned by its controversial style and the tricky iDrive electronics interface.)
So fifth-gen 5-series is the same size as the sixth-gen 5-Series and as such its style is muted, tho’ I’ve a sneaking admiration for that twisted waistline pressing in the aluminium-alloy coachwork, if not the fussy sill detail. The only questionable ‘Bangle’ moments here are the optional hexagonal LED front running lights, given that BMW’s signature headlights have defined its cars after dark in a way that rival marques would kill for.
It’s under the skin that most switches are wrought, with over 100kg saved as a result of the magnesium, aluminium and high-strength steel under bod. There’s no air suspension, an omission that some might see as a cost-saving error, but the five-link rear is revised and fitted with an optional rear-steering system, and the wishbone front (MacPherson struts were substituted with wishbones on the last MKVI model) has been similarly tweaked.
“There are more lightweight materials and we have switched the geometry, too,” says Manfred Ahrens, Driving Dynamics manager for the fresh 5-series.
I nside there’s a plush redesign of the facia with elementary, horizontal lines inset with veneers and aluminium trim. The five-dial instrument binnacle has been gently updated, but in visibly BMW style – instead of the dash sweeping over the centre console, BMW has gone for the iPad-jammed-into-the-facia look for its touch-screen interface. Hacker says the extra depth of this arrangement makes it lighter to use BMW’s ‘gesture control’.
The basics seem good, with a first-rate driving position and good visibility out thanks to the lower-height instrument panel, but I didn’t like the way your elbows awkwardly ended up jammed on the centre console and door rest. Accommodation is generally well thought out, however, with big door pockets and a decent-sized centre console, albeit we’ll have to wait to see if the large glove box survives the transition from left to right-hand drive.
In the back there’s room for three adults sitting across the rear with head room if not much legroom to spare. The boot is a class standard five hundred thirty litres, albeit the plug-in hybrid loses 140kg to accommodate a 9.2kWh battery pack.
As for the technology, well I could write a book on it. I could hardly carry the press pack. Some of the fresh gadgetry is useful, such as the endlessly adjustable adaptive drive driveline, which confers with the sat nav system to work out how the car should be set up. Other parts are a bit rubbish, such as the intelligent lane keeping, which requests you keep your mitts on the wheel, but doesn’t reliably read road markings and switches itself off with no more warning than an extinguished dash lamp. The self-driving lane switching happens if you gently depress the indicator stalk, but it takes forever, isn’t totally foolproof and that endless indicator flashing will confuse following motorists and confound bikers.
S imilarly, the gesture control took no notice of my gestures whatsoever. By contrast the i-Drive rotary controller on the centre console, previously the source of much ire, is a cinch to use. “You talk to ten different customers, you get twelve different set of feedback,” says Hacker with a breathe.
As with all fresh 5-series engines, the big-six diesel comes from the modular family. It starts with a pleasingly technical growl and picks up quickly and powerfully. It’s mated to BMW’s first-rate eight-speed automatic gearbox and in this case, the Haldex-type multiplate clutch, which drives each axle similarly, but will disengage on long straight roads to reduce drivetrain haul and shove up to eighty per cent to each end of the car to reduce wheel slip and spin.
For the most part, the treating is imperious, stable, well balanced and even on run-flat tyres, grippy. But there’s no feedback through the steering and on moist and lubricious roads the chassis doesn’t inspire confidence. That’s not so much the feeling that it’s going to vanish rearwards into a hedge, more that there’s no feeling of its intentions at all.
H ow comfy? It rails well for the majority of the time, albeit not as well as the Mercedes-Benz E-class on admittedly optional air suspension. What spoils things for the BMW is inconsistency over cracked surfaces, where the damping fights over petite, evenly spaced bumps and there’s a fair bit of side-to-side shiftiness. The suspension fountains up just fine, but unloads patchily. Driven hard, this 1.7 tonne, 4×4, rear-steering turbodiesel saloon feels distinctly raggedy at times.
Which is a shame, since the car we don’t get, the six-pot 540i two-wheel drive is both sporting a treating delight. It also rails far better, as that lovely three-litre mill wails delightfully up the rev counter speaking of sporting BMWs of yore.
I expected the 5-series to be a smaller version of the 7-series, in which the best seat in the house is the driver’s. Turns out it’s more and less than that, however its sporting pretensions and smaller stature obviate the long-distance cruise status – Stevens was so right.
As usual with BMW it’s in the details that the 5-series triumphs and fails, and it’s ideally possible to spend your way into a very average automobile here. Keep it elementary, eschew most of the options, leave behind the questionable self-driving stuff, perhaps even trade specification for that creamy six-pot turbo petrol, and you’ll have an unsurpassed driving saloon.
THE FACTS
Tested: Two,993cc, straight-six twin-turbo diesel, eight-speed automatic gearbox, rear-wheel drive
Price/on sale: £36,025 to £46,645 (£43,835 as tested)/February
Power/Torque: 261bhp @ Four,000rpm, 457lb ft @ Two,000rpm
Top speed: 155mph (electronically limited)
Acceleration: 0-62mph in Five.4sec
Fuel economy: 48.7mpg/56.5mpg (EU Urban/Combined). On test 42mpg
Solid rather than sparkling seventh generation of BMW’s evergreen exec saloon. Marginally more sporting than rivals, however steering is disappointingly inert and suspension can be inconsistent. Clever fresh electronics and lovely comfy accommodation can’t hide the fact that it looks a little bit abate.
Four out of five starlets
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