BMW Alpina B5 vs BMW 5 Series

What's the difference?

The Alpina B5 is a special car – more special than most people will ever give you credit for if you own one. Those that do know what an Alpina is will let you know; people will cross dangerously busy streets to talk to you about your car. Insanely fast, almost incomprehensibly comfortable and effortlessly powerful to drive.

There’s no getting around the i5 being a rather expensive offering. More than $150,000 to get into an electric sedan that’s not much faster than a hot hatch is a big ask, but there’s plenty to enjoy about the 5 Series.

Things like its heated leather seats shouldn’t be the reason you’re willing to spend so much on a sedan when a $50,000 hybrid SUV will score you the same, instead it’s the fact the 5 Series is a delight to drive and hasn’t lost the feeling of prestige the badge has earned over the last half a century.

In terms of value - if speed isn’t your focus and you’re less of a gadget-type-operator when looking at cars like this - the 520i has the style and comfort you’d need and at $100K less than the M60.

And in terms of large electric sedans, the i5 eDrive40 is cheaper than a Porsche Taycan (by a little) or an Audi e-Tron (by a lot). The Genesis G80 Electrified is the closest cheaper rival, by about $10K, or the less powerful Mercedes EQE is similarly priced at $154,900.

Essentially, if you’re looking at a 5 Series, it might be worth considering if you really need it to be electric, but if so, there aren’t many alternatives in its category for the price.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

Interesting is the right word for it, because while it might be questionable that Alpina's changes to the exterior are aesthetic pleasing, they are definitely intriguing to those who aren't familiar with the brand.

First, there are those 20-spoke wheels. Alpinas have worn this style of wheel forever and they've become the most famous outward sign that this is not just another BMW. So don't under any circumstances take them off and replace them with anything else. You'd be run out of town by the Alpina mafia.

Yes, they're more painful to clean than a cheese grater (trust me, I know. And if you look closely at these images you can see the dirty bits I've missed), but if you really don't like them then perhaps it's a sign this car isn't for you.

Then there's the boot-lid spoiler. It's square and 1980s'-looking, it also appears a bit like it's been bought online and installed by a teenager, but again, this is another Alpina tradition and it suits the car's character perfectly.

All right, those pinstripes; they're known as the Deco-Set and are a hat-tip to the Alpina racecars of the 1970s and '80s. Again, don't take these off, your Alpina will drop through the centre of the Earth in value. These are also part-and-parcel of owning one of these cars. I'm not a massive fan of them.

But I'm all about that front spoiler, with the floating Alpina lettering that you can option in silver, high-gloss black or gold.

Inside, there are fewer Alpina additions, but they're nonetheless unmissable. There's the Alpina-badged steering wheel, and a new virtual instrument cluster, embossed headrests and  illuminated door sills.

There's also the little numbered plaque on the centre console which proves its authenticity, ours was number 49. Out of how many? I don't know. But I do know Alpina produces only about 1700 cars globally a year. Rolls Royce does about 4000. So, you can rest assured your B5 is exclusive.

At almost 5m long, 1.9m wide and 1.5m tall, the B5 is a large saloon, but having recently reviewed the Alpina B7 it feels small in comparison. How does it drive? We're getting there.

If you’ve watched other members of the BMW family go into a new generation within the last few years - the 3, 4 and 7 Series particularly, you won’t be too surprised by what you see here. Especially with the latter, having seen the petrol variants look roughly the same as the electric ones.

BMW specifically made the petrol 520i and the i5 variants look similar for egalitarian purposes - to not disenfranchise 520i buyers who are still spending a fair chunk of cash but might not be ready to go EV.

That means all three variants score a mix of new and old. The kidney grille remains and isn’t as large as on the M3 or 4 Series, while the bonnet line following it and the ‘character line’ down the car’s side also remain. And yes, the Hoffmeister kink where the C-pillar meets the passenger window’s lower corner is still there.

On that C-pillar though is a ‘5’ stamped into the bodywork, new to this generation, while the front grille as mentioned has a glowing light surround - the brand’s ‘Iconic Glow’ already seen on the 7 Series.

Overall, thanks to being slightly larger in every dimension, the new 5 is starting to look bigger than a 7 Series from a little while ago. And that’s because it is - its body is overall longer than an E65 7 Series from the mid-2000s.

It’s 5060mm long 1900mm wide, 1515mm tall (97mm longer, 32mm wider, and 36mm taller). Its wheelbase is 20mm longer too at 2995mm. 

Practicality is not really a BMW strong point no matter which model you pick. See, BMW mostly makes the car equivalent of uber-stylish and skin-tight active wear which looks good and performs brilliantly, but sometimes you just want pockets and a bit of room for your… um… bits and pieces.

So while there are two cup holders up front and two in the back, the bottle holders in the doors aren't huge, the centre console bin is on the small side, there's a hidy-hole in front of the shifter, the glove box is just a box for little more than gloves and there's no other great cabin storage options.

Legroom in the rear is good but not great, too - I'm 191cm tall and have about 30mm between my knees and the seat back in my driving position. Middle-seat passengers will also have to straddle the drive shaft hump in the floor. Headroom is restricted in the back, too (you could blame the sunroof) with my hair just skimming the headlining (I do have big hair).

Under that power tailgate, the B5's boot capacity is 530 litres which is 15L more than its big sister, the B7. There are two plastic storage areas either side of the luggage space for wet things. While there is one USB outlet in the front there aren't any in the rear.

A longer wheelbase means more space inside, where the 5 Series also still looks fairly familiar to those who have spent any significant time in a recent model BMW.

BMW has historically been pretty bang-on with ergonomics, and the new-gen 5 does a good job of sticking to that. Comfortable sports seats and quality feel for the materials on touch points mean the 5 Series feels nice to be in, and relatively restrained interior design for a somewhat luxurious car means it looks nice too.

It’s let down only by a couple of things - its multimedia screen and Operating System 8.5 is a little less simple to use now, and requires more touching the screen than previous iDrive systems, rendering the scroll wheel less useful.

The BMW Interaction Bar too is a little tricky to see controls on, as well as lacking physical feedback for using controls. Vent flow controls are digital sliders on the Bar, while vent direction is controlled by an unusual ‘joystick’ style control nearby.

The rear seat is plenty spacious, as you’d expect from a large sedan, with climate controls and ports for charging devices in the rear.

There are three members of the new 5 Series family from launch, with a base 520i starting things off from $114,900 before on-road costs.

It’s the only petrol-powered (with mild-hybrid, we’ll come back to this) variant in the trio, but it does have a fairly extensive list of features as standard. In terms of tech and comfort, most of what comes with the 520i is available further up the range too, with the major differences being drivetrain related.

In the 520i, the interior upholstery is synthetic ‘Veganza’ leather with Alcantara, though optional Merino leather is a $4000 BMW Individual option. The front seats are heated as standard, however, and electrically adjustable with memory settings and lumbar support.

A 12.3-inch instrument display paired with a 14.9-inch multimedia display are standard across the range, running BMW’s Operating System 8.5, while a head-up display, ambient lighting, wireless phone charging tray and BMW’s ‘new’ Interaction Bar are included too - a crystalline-style strip across the dash with touch-sensitive ‘buttons’ like the climate controls.

A panoramic glass roof - unable to be opened - is standard too, while the 520i’s sound system is a Harman Kardon set-up with 12 speakers.

Exterior features are quite similar to the more expensive i5 variants, with Adaptive LED headlights, automatic boot opening, an M design kit with front and rear aprons, side sills, and BMW’s Iconic Glow kidney grille surround.

Optional in the 520i is an ‘Enhancement Package’ which adds a choice of aerodynamic 21- or 20-inch wheels, metallic paint, and a 655-watt 17-speaker Bowers & Wilkins surround sound system for $5400. One test car on the launch we attended was painted in a BMW Individual colour - Tanzanite Blue - which upped the price to $7800.

Moving up the range to the mid-tier i5 eDrive40, which starts from $155,900, adds Merino leather interior, metallic paint, Bowers & Wilkins surround sound and aerodynamic 20-inch wheels standard, but it also includes adaptive suspension and some other EV-related features.

BMW’s ‘Adaptive Suspension Professional’ comes with Integral Active Steering (rear-wheel steering) and is a step up over the M Sport suspension from the 520i, while its aero wheels function as a way to keep the electric car’s range being affected by resistance.

The eDrive40 also comes with an acoustic protection system to make ‘electric car noises’ to warn pedestrians, as well as BMW’s ‘Iconic Sounds’ for the occupants - basically a system that uses orchestral sounds composed by Hans Zimmer that are affected by acceleration intensity, speed, and drive mode.

It also comes with the standard kit for an electric car, a Mode 2 and Mode 3 charger, cable, and a five-year Chargefox subscription. 

The top-spec i5 M60 xDrive ups the cost to $215,900 and the features list again slightly (as well as being far more powerful).

Its suspension is even more advanced, adding the brand’s Adaptive M Suspension Professional with active anti-roll, plus 21-inch aero wheels as a no-cost option. The M60 also gains an M rear boot lip spoiler.

Inside, BMW’s ‘Crafted Clarity Glass’ controls in the centre console are standard, as is ventilation for the front seats and a four-zone automatic air conditioning system.

The Alpina B5 uses the same 4.4-litre V8 engine found in the BMW M5 (and also the B7). But, and it's a big but, the M5 makes 441kW and 750Nm, while the B5 outdoes it with 447kW and 800Nm. Admittedly, the B5's torque arrives at the 3000rpm mark, while the M5's is all there from 1800rpm.

How does the B5 beat it? Alpina installed its specially developed twin turbochargers and intercoolers, a high-performance cooling system, a reconfigured air intake set up and a different exhaust system.

The B5, though, is a tenth of a second slower to 100km/h compared to the M5 with a time of 3.5 seconds, but it will blast on to a top speed of 330km/h while the M5 is limited to 250km/h in regular form and 305km/h with the optional M Driver's package.

Both uses the same ZF eight-speed automatic transmission with identical gear ratios, and both are all-wheel drive.

Despite BMW calling it ‘electrified’, the base 520i is only a mild hybrid so most wouldn’t realise unless they were told.

Its turbocharged 2.0-litre four cylinder puts out a modest 153kW and 330Nm, with power and torque sent to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.

BMW claims it’ll knock over the 0-100km/h sprint in 7.5 seconds, a few seconds too slow to blow anyone’s socks off.

The mid-spec eDrive40 has a little more kick to it, its rear-mounted electric motor capable of 250kW/430Nm and able to cut that time to 6.0 seconds.

It’s fitted with an 84kWh battery to draw its power from, the same as the 442kW/820Nm M60 with its all-wheel drive dual-motor setup.

The M-tuned i5 can hit 100km/h in a claimed 3.8 seconds. Bye bye socks, perhaps.

The Alpina B5 needs petrol. By that, I mean it needs quite a lot of it if you want to enjoy it properly. What type of mileage does it get? Officially, it should use 11.1L/100km after a combination of urban and open roads, where as the M5 is set to 10.5L/100km.

That makes sense, the B5 produces more power and torque, and it's 85kg heavier than the M5 at 2015kg.

Our test car's trip computer was reporting 13.2L/100km after flying low over country roads and slow city piloting. The more time spent in the urban warfare that is the daily peak hour commute, the more that figure crept and hovered around the 15L/100km mark.

BMW claims the petrol 520i sips 6.7 litres per 100km from its 60-litre fuel tank, though we were unable to independently test any of the claimed figures on the launch day.

The base car has a theoretical range of 896km if it was possible to achieve the claimed fuel consumption figure for the duration of the whole tank - but it isn’t and realistically you could knock about 20-30 per cent off that, depending on how enthusiastically you drive.

In the i5 variants, the same 84kWh battery provides slightly different ranges due to the eDrive40 using 16.56kWh per 100km, and the M60 using 18kWh.

The eDrive40 has a claimed 550km maximum range, while the M60 has a 506km figure thanks to its extra motor and weight.

Ok, stay with me here. For this next bit you'll need a fresh egg, a lounge chair, and it might be a good idea to have some plastic bags and carpet cleaner on hand.

First, in front of the lounge chair flatten out the plastic bag and place the egg on it. Next, sit down on the chair and very carefully rest the ball of your foot on the egg with as little pressure as humanly possible.

This is exactly how little force you need to apply to the go-pedal of the B5 to accelerate from a standstill to 60km/h in about five seconds.

If anything sums up the driving experience of the B5, it's that sense of effortlessness.

Stomp on that accelerator, and you'll be shot to 100km/h in 3.5 seconds, without a hint of broken traction thanks to the all-wheel-drive system.

The ride should have been terrible on 20-inch wheels shod in low-profile rubber (Pirelli P Zero 255/35 front, and 295/30 rear), but the Alpina-tuned air suspension is close to miraculous in the way it cushioned and censored the potholes out of Sydney's worst roads. Yes, it can be a touch floaty, particularly in the Comfort Plus setting, but this is benchmark-setting stuff for a comfortable ride.

Don't expect this beast to roar. Unlike the M5, the B5 gets its work done without deafening everybody around it. Sure, the B5's V8 sounds amazing when you push it, but it's not brash, not loud and not lairy. Buy an M5 or Mercedes-AMG E63s if you want to be heard half a block before you get home, but you won't get that with the B5 and its exhaust system.

The B5 also handles well, but I have to say the engagement factor is low. I piloted it effortlessly through the twists and turns of my country test circuit and roads which normally have me grinning like a maniac behind the wheel had me feeling a bit disconnected in the B5. That air suspension, the numb steering and pedal actions make it difficult to ‘feel' the road.

It's highways where the B5 is a king, but even at 110km/h there's the sense that this car is still fast asleep and won't get out of bed for anything less than 150km/h - making it perfect for Germany's autobahns, but maybe not for here in Australia.

For some cars, the list of features is what really separates the variants, but that’s not the case for the 5 Series. As is a bit of a BMW tradition, the drivetrains dictate the different trim levels and prices, and there are three fairly distinct flavours of 5 Series.

Starting at ground level, the 520i might at first seem like a bit of boring vanilla. Except it’s actually quite smooth and light vanilla.

There’s not a lot to write about when it comes to its drivetrain, but the lightness of its engine and petrol tank combo when compared to EV batteries and motors is refreshing, and makes for a quite dynamic rear-drive sedan.

Its 153kW and 330Nm is delivered smoothly enough with the mild hybrid assistance doing a little in helping responsiveness, but without intervening in the gearshifts it doesn’t feel particularly keen.

It lacks the ride comfort of the i5’s adaptive suspension, but it’s able to be driven in a spirited manner that belies its size and even, to some extent its 1725kg kerb weight. Chocolate sprinkles on the vanilla, if you like.

It’s not fast, but it feels nimble compared to its electric siblings and can carry a fair bit more speed through corners, after which there’s room to notice its rear-drive characteristics.

It’s especially noticeable after getting out of the 2130kg eDrive40, though the extra power from its 250kW/430Nm motor makes for some more spirited acceleration and a little more excitement when exiting a corner, especially if you’re aiming to double-check if it really is rear-wheel drive. There’s a little more than choc-topped vanilla going on here.

The steering is, like in the 520i, direct and responsive, though in most cases is probably best set to ‘comfort’ rather than ‘sport’ in its settings. 

The eDrive40 is rather comfortable and capable when barrelling through twisty backroads, and doesn’t feel out of hand for a five-metre-long sedan. It holds its weight well, and telegraphs when you might be approaching the limit quite sensibly.

When considering that, then, it’s impressive how brutally capable the 2305kg M60 is.

Here, we’re looking at a double-choc fudge with extra choc, and maybe some cookie dough in there for good measure. There’s a lot to like, but boy is it heavy.

It’s 580kg (or exactly half a Peugeot 208 GTi) heavier than the 520i, but it feels quick on its feet and its anti-roll seems to do a lot in terms of dynamics, the limiting factor really seems to be its tyres (which can and will squeal quite quickly to let you know when approaching said limit).

While you’ll need to take caution with how much speed you approach a corner with, you’re not going to lack acceleration on the other side, its all-wheel drive being less ‘fun’ but more efficient at getting you away from the bend than in the rear-drive eDrive40.

That adaptive suspension does also translate to a comfortable ride on relatively rough roads - only particularly bad bumps will reveal how much weight and pressure is being placed on each corner of the big sedan.

ANCAP hasn’t crash tested the new 5 Series. The last generation was a five-star car and it would be unusual to see that change with additional safety features - even with stricter testing.

The 5 Series comes with BMW Driving Assistant Professional as standard, with active cruise, lane assist and departure warning, front and rear cross traffic alert, collision prevention and intervention systems - in fact BMW says it has about 40 safety systems including an augmented reality dash display.

Its list of airbags includes front and side airbags for driver and passenger including one between the two occupants, as well as curtain airbags front and rear.

The Alpina B5 is covered by BMW's three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 12 months or 15,000km.

BMW has a fairly industry-standard five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty on its new cars, while its electric car batteries are covered by an eight year/160,000km warranty.

For servicing, BMW offers numerous discounted packs and deals based on your preferences and desire to pay upfront.

For the 5 Series, a five-year/80,000km basic service package is $2400, though the i5 will have different needs and lower servicing costs not yet listed by the brand.