New 5 Series in Irish Times

-Chris-

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/motors/2010/0127/1224263189695.html

BMW’s latest 5-Series is effortlessly good, but is it still the benchmark to drive? PADDY COMYN gets 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.

BlackWizard

They redesigned the interior for the 5 series or is it just taken from the 7 series?

I never used the i-drive thing. But Clarkson always has a seizure when using it. It's not that bad is it?

-Chris-

Personally, I think the old version is terrible to the point of being dangerous.

The new version is better, but I haven't spent any time with it and so can't really comment.

Leonard Hofstadter

I wonder what way they will price it here?

In the UK the new car is cheaper than the old one once you add on Bluetooth and leather, which are now standard. Thankfully with the new VRT laws you can have a proper big engine in it and only pay the same road tax as the fools buying a new petrol Corolla:D, of course the 520d will clean up here once it arrives because the automatic is in VRT band B provided they keep the pricing close to the old one. Hopefully BMW will have sorted out the turbos and swirl flaps once and for all at this stage, or will there be more of the same where there are things that apparently we are all supposed to know need to be changed but never are like the crankcase breather like there has been with BMW diesels for the past 10 years?

whiterebel

Looks very 3 series to me in that pic, and there's no mistaking that dash.
Kearys must be near giving away 520d's here in Cork, every second 10C is a 520D. Don't know or don't care about the new 5 series?

paddydriver

BlackWizard wrote: »

They redesigned the interior for the 5 series or is it just taken from the 7 series?

I never used the i-drive thing. But Clarkson always has a seizure when using it. It's not that bad is it?

That's until "And then I hit another button on the steering wheel called “M”. "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z08jcWoM7ak

unkel

245BHP, 540Nm* :eek: and just 160g/km of CO2 is very impressive.

But as said, most sold here will be 520d and my prediction is that for the first time ever in a 5 series, the majority will be auto!

*That's a lot more than in a Ferrari F430 with its V8 4.3l petrol engine

Leonard Hofstadter

11.7 % of 5 series this year so far are for models with more than 4 cylinders, not earth shattering but not bad either especially for Ireland and also considering that the 6 cylinder versions of the new model will be here in 5 weeks time. Motorcheck says that the 520d manual accounts for 53.2% of sales and the auto accounts for 35.1%, so more are going for the auto than I would have thought. I agree that with the new model it will be mostly auto, in fairness to BMW getting the auto 520d down to band B is some achievement and gives the car a massive advantage here over its rivals because they were charging over 5 grand for the auto(and so are Merc and I presume Audi are as well) but now they can charge a lot less for it, now that the 6 cylinder diesels are in VRT band D even with the auto I sincerely hope that there will be more of them around than there was with the outgoing 5 series.

Rulmeq

BlackWizard wrote: »

They redesigned the interior for the 5 series or is it just taken from the 7 series?

I never used the i-drive thing. But Clarkson always has a seizure when using it. It's not that bad is it?

I rented a 740 out in Frankfurt a few years back, and the iDrive is fine (if you can use an iPod you can use the iDrive). However I have to say that I was sitting in the car for 10 minutes trying to find the gear lever (a guy even gave up waiting for my space, I nearly went back to the desk to ask them)

TheBazman

The idrive is fine. In fact I much prefer having it to not.

Padraig Mor

captainspeed wrote: »

11.7 % of 5 series this year so far are for models with more than 4 cylinders, not earth shattering but not bad either especially for Ireland and also considering that the 6 cylinder versions of the new model will be here in 5 weeks time. Motorcheck says that the 520d manual accounts for 53.2% of sales and the auto accounts for 35.1%, so more are going for the auto than I would have thought. I agree that with the new model it will be mostly auto, in fairness to BMW getting the auto 520d down to band B is some achievement and gives the car a massive advantage here over its rivals because they were charging over 5 grand for the auto(and so are Merc and I presume Audi are as well) but now they can charge a lot less for it, now that the 6 cylinder diesels are in VRT band D even with the auto I sincerely hope that there will be more of them around than there was with the outgoing 5 series.

I'd say that's the 5 GT throwing the figures out a bit.

MarkN

Clarkson is just your typical aul lad that can't figure out how to work anything once it's more complicated than Sky Plus.

It's fine to use.

The 530 new 5 series is still only 400 odd annual tax and 245bhp - seems like a good deal to me.

It does look like a stretched 3 series saloon in the paper today though.

It's on rte.ie, looks very dated style wise I think.

R.O.R

Sure this was posted before, but a good few pics in this PDF. I really like the last one to show the evolution of the model.

I believe pricing is going to be similar to what it costs now. If it hasn't gone up much in the UK it shouldn't go up much here. I'd even expect the bigger engined versions to drop a bit in price due to coming down in VRT.

VolvoMan

I don't know why it's only now that the last model is getting so much praise. I seem to remember that even a few months after its launch everybody went rushing to buy the last of the E39's. The only reason it became successful in later years was down to emissions and competitive pricing, that's all.

SuprSi

I have always liked the previous model, particularly with the M-Sport kit. I can't say I'm as fond of the new models looks, and I don't find it anywhere near as eye-catching. I've seen the pictures of the new M5 and that looks pretty good.

unkel

VolvoMan wrote: »

I don't know why it's only now that the last model is getting so much praise. I seem to remember that even a few months after its launch everybody went rushing to buy the last of the E39's. The only reason it became successful in later years was down to emissions and competitive pricing, that's all.

It's not getting praise only now, it was a very good car from the start. Most people (myself included) thought it was hideous when first launched and I guess people got used to the looks. I agree with you though that the emissions (and hence the competive pricing ) sold an awful lot of 520 diesels in the past 2 years

Idbatterim

how much can we expect the current 5 series to drop in price? or will it be 2011 before that really kicks in?

CoDy1

SuprSi wrote: »

I've seen the pictures of the new M5 and that looks pretty good.

Where??

Leonard Hofstadter

R.O.R wrote: »

Sure this was posted before, but a good few pics in this PDF. I really like the last one to show the evolution of the model.

I believe pricing is going to be similar to what it costs now. If it hasn't gone up much in the UK it shouldn't go up much here. I'd even expect the bigger engined versions to drop a bit in price due to coming down in VRT.

THAT is how an interior should be done, it is perfection, lets just hope they will make diesels that actually work this time. Encouragaing to hear the models higher up the range will be cheaper, then again anyone wanting a 5 series with more power than the 520d will go for the auto no questions asked which is why the new car will be cheaper for them now that the auto's are down a tax band(I am ignoring petrols here since last year the grand total of 3 petrol 5 series were sold in this country:eek:).