2012 BMW 5 Series Reviews

BMW has just revealed one of its most critical models in decades, the all-new iX3.

Hot off the back of the BMW iX3 reveal, the German carmaker is expected to reveal a new 3 Series sedan and then a new X5 large SUV.

Mercedes-Benz design boss Gorden Wagener didn’t hold back.In an interview with Top Gear at this week’s Munich motor show, Wagener gave his frank opinions of the latest work from his German rivals at BMW and Audi. The German took specific aim at the interior design of both the new Audi Concept C and the BMW iX3.“That interior looks like it was designed in 1995,” Wagener was quoted as saying. “It is a little bit too known, and there is too little tech. I have always claimed that I am a big fan of hyper-analogue things, but you cannot ignore a screen. When you have a small screen, you automatically send the message ‘congratulations, you are sitting in a small car’.”As for the BMW, which not only had a large central screen but also a narrow screen that wraps around the lower edge of the windscreen, well, Wagener wasn’t a fan of that either.“What the other manufacturer did? I mean, they showed the concept a couple of years ago with the information across the bottom of the windscreen. I have to say I'm not a big fan of that because it's so far away it’s hard to read. Everything will appear smaller so it’s distracting, and you need a device to operate it because it’s too far away to be touch-sensitive, so you have to put a touchscreen in there which they did. So it’s a pretty conventional solution, and actually a complicated one because you have information on different levels and I don't think that's intuitive.”It’s always good to get honest comments from anyone you interview, but Wagener may want to look up the phrase ‘people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’ because, to be blunt, Mercedes’ design has been… hit and miss in recent years (to put it politely).I will acknowledge at this point that design is subjective and each individual will look at any car through their own eyes and form a unique opinion. But as someone who drives a wide variety of cars for a living, so I get up close to them, I have to say the latest era of German luxury design doesn’t make sense to me.Let’s do this alphabetically and start with the Audi. The Concept C is meant to preview the next-generation of design for the four-ring brand, ushering in a new ethos of ‘radical simplicity’, according to the brand’s design boss, Massimo Frascella.The new design, with a new vertical grille and a sloping tail is a clear call back to the brand’s iconic Auto Union racing cars of the 1930s. Nobody loves Auto Union racing cars more than me (just ask the poor Audi Australia folks who accidentally brought it up once at a dinner and I proceed to bore them for the next 45 minutes with non-stop history of such things), but the new look just doesn’t work in my eyes. The ‘vertical grille’ looks more rectangular to me, which looks very much like it came direct from the 1930s, before the car industry learnt to make radiators in all different shapes and sizes so cars could stop having rectangular, vertical grilles.Personally, I like the interior, but I also happen to think Wagener’s right that most customers will want bigger screens — even though, personally, I think a lot of brands are pushing the limits of how big in-car screens should be.Overall, I think Audi has arguably the best-looking and most consistent design themes of the three German luxury brands, so it is a huge risk to change it. Personally, I can’t see this design language transferring nicely to the same variety of cars the current styling does.Moving on to BMW, the all-new iX3 is also meant to herald the start of something radically different for the Bavarian brand. The so-called ‘Neue Klasse’ design theme is going to proliferate across the brand in the coming years, whether you like it or not.Again, the looks are subjective, but what bothers me about the iX3 design is it is yet another huge change for the brand and its once signature ‘kidney grille’ look. Ever since the controversial ‘flame surfacing’ design era, BMW has taken its long-running kidney grille and distorted it into all sorts of different shapes and sizes. So much so that what was once an easily recognisable design element has now become something completely random. On one model it might be small squares, on another giant, gaping holes and now the iX3 a throwback to the tall, slender version of decades ago.What is the point of a ‘signature look’ if it constantly changes?Finally there’s Mercedes, and the car Wagener will have personally overseen, the new GLC EV. This replaces the EQC SUV, the brand’s first mainstream electric model, which vanished without fanfare after clearly underwhelming the market.Maybe Wagener was lashing out at his rivals after the current EQ range of electric models has received ‘mixed’ reviews for their looks. Mercedes tried to clearly differentiate the looks of its electric models from its conventionally-powered range, but that has also been met with ‘mixed’ reviews and the new GLC attempts to correct course.Unfortunately, in an attempt to make the electric SUV look more like a traditional Mercedes that appears to have copied a design from the 1980s, when the grille was huge and rectangular, and added an array of bling to it.Personally, it’s not my taste, but for Mercedes’ sake I hope there are buyers lining up for the SUV with the big chrome face.I certainly don’t envy Wagener and his colleagues and the task they have at the moment, trying to integrate modern technology while retaining a distinctive look and needing to stand out in an increasingly competitive market. But, to be blunt, if what was on display at the Munich motor show is any guide, then we may be entering a controversial period for all three brands.

The BMW M240i xDrive, one of our favourite coupes, has undergone a revamp, but not where you might expect. A redesigned dash, new screens and updated operating system are the big changes, meaning the big 3.0-litre turbo in-line 'six', all-wheel drive and superb chassis balance remain. But that raises a question: in the four years since release, has BMW's smallest coupe kept up with the times?

BMW snuck in a little teaser after revealing its all-important new iX3 late last week.BMW CEO Oliver Zipse introduced the second model from its Neue Klasse group, the i3 sedan. While it had been rumoured to adopt that name, this was the first time it was publicly acknowledged.Covered in camouflage, the production model looks to have toned down some elements from the Vision Neue Klasse concept from 2023, like the little spoiler lip on the boot, but if the iX3 is anything to go by, expect it to retain a number of elements from the concept.The i3 will be the next model from the Neue Klasse architecture, and it will arrive ahead of the next-generation 3 Series. They will eventually sell alongside each other, but the all-electric i3 will arrive first.Zipse said the model is coming in 2026, but given the European on-sale date is closer to quarter three next year, it may not reach Australian shores until early 2027.While the i3 is underpinned by the hugely significant Neue Klasse architecture, the next-generation 3 Series will ride on an evolution of BMW’s CLAR platform (CLAR II) that already forms the basis of the 5 Series, 7 Series, iX and more.The i3 name was used for BMW’s first mass-produced EV. It was a small, quirky, tallboy hatchback that was a niche offering until it was discontinued in 2022. The badge has also been used on a China-only electric version of the 3 Series. This new i3 is expected to be a much more mainstream offering from the German giant. A Touring wagon version is all but certain.BMW has not revealed any mechanical details but the freshly revealed iX3 holds many clues. The only grade to be confirmed so far for the new SUV is the iX3 50 xDrive which features an electric motor on each axle for total outputs of 345kW and 645Nm and a driving range of up to 805km.Neue Klasse will be rolled out to 40 new derivatives over the coming years and from 2027 it will have spread across the range. Derivatives means model variants as well as full model changes and it can also be rolled out to facelifts and updates too.As well as the Neue Klasse design language, technology from the platform including digital functions like the Panoramic Vision projection that runs the width of the windscreen, will find their way to these other derivatives. So while the 40 derivatives might not be full Neue Klasse models they will feature at least some of the design and tech.Six Neue Klasse models are coming within the next two years, but expect those to be more iX3 and i3 model grades.As for what’s coming beyond i3, it is highly likely to be a smaller model.Speaking with Australian journalists at the iX3 reveal in Munich, Mike Reichelt, Head of BMW Neue Klasse ruled out a sports car based on Neue Klasse, but added that the biggest opportunity for the brand is smaller models. “The start and the most relevant advantages are the compact and middle class. That in higher classes is not so relevant. The technology comes there. Is it a Neue Klasse model? Maybe not. But in the compact and middle class, the smallest car, It's really important to go to step…”When asked by CarsGuide if the next full Neue Klasse model will be a new-gen 1 Series hatch or iX1 SUV, Reichelt simply responded with, “It's possible.”

The rise of smart electric cars could see us fall into a future where we have to pay for nearly every function – even turning the vehicle on.Computers have been an integral part of vehicles since the 1980s, when engine management systems and electronics became more sophisticated, but it was always a car first and mainly mechanical with software added. In the past 10 years, however, we’ve seen computers become the architecture around which the car is built and aptly referred to as software defined vehicles (SDVs).Sure, that seems a natural part of the evolution of vehicles which have always been on a path of continual advancement from performance, efficiency and safety to comfort, convenience and entertainment. What could go wrong?The problem is that with cars essentially becoming just large electronic devices with many functions provided with software that’s updated over the air, the carmakers may choose to charge you for the use of them, or switch those functions off remotely if you don't pay up.It’s no different from your phone or TV and because you’re fine with paying for your Netflix and Spotify subscription, it stands to reason you’ll be okay with paying a subscription fee for car functions. Things such as heated seats, a head-up display, proximity unlocking, even the amount of power the motor makes. A most extreme scenario is failure to pay a bill resulting in the car itself not being able to be started. The safety implications of this are obvious and concerning at the very least.That last one seems unlikely but don’t underestimate the potential carmakers see in monetising vehicle functions. Electric vehicles have much fewer moving parts that need replacing, or fixing or maintaining than internal combustion engine (ICE) cars and manufacturers stand to lose billions of dollars they’ve made in the past servicing ICE cars. Subscription fees will be one of the ways they’ll keep that cash flow going.Some car companies are already charging for features through subscriptions. Tesla currently offers extra features such as live traffic updates, dash cam and music streaming through its subscription model. BMW offers heated seats among other features through subscription, and Toyota has made its remote start function available this way on some models. Mercedes-Benz provides traffic and sat-nav updates using subscription, and Volkswagen will increase the power output of its ID.3 electric hatch from 150kW to 170kW for a monthly or annual fee. Chinese carmakers haven’t embraced the subscription model yet in Australia, despite many of the brands such as BYD, Geely and Zeekr having increasingly software-defined these vehicles.This could be because the competitiveness of the Australian market is forcing the new carmakers into a price war where the value for money of Chinese EVs is all important in attracting buyers to what are still unfamiliar brands. But given enough time the brands will establish themselves locally and be in a position to almost certainly charge subscriptions for what they used to offer for the price of the car.As vehicles become even more software-orientated, we could see brands compete on the basis of technology in the form of entertainment and comfort features to performance and handling, even the physical features of the car which could change the colour or shades of the car through intelligent body panels, as we’ve seen in concepts such as the BMW iX Flow at motor shows over the past few years.New Chinese brand Nio has just confirmed its coming to Australia and overseas it offers subscription services to vehicle functions including the EV battery itself. Buyers can purchase the Nio electric vehicle without the battery and then pay a regular fee that allows them to swap to a larger battery for a greater range if they want, but it’ll cost them a bit more.Nio scored particularly well in a recent report from research company Gartner, which ranked car manufacturers based on the value added to their vehicles through software. Nine categories ranging from electrification, vehicle architecture and autonomy to connectivity, the user experience, and even how tech-savvy the executive team of the company are were rated.The big winners this year were Tesla, Nio and Xiaomi, with all three being headed by technology leaders who focused on monetising and adding value to their products. Mazda, Nissan and Toyota came in at the bottom of the rankings. These three established companies who helped define the modern motoring would be being left behind by carmakers whose software defines their vehicles. Will consumers actually pay for features that were once part of the costs of the vehicle? Would you? Well, if you could see the number of silly apps I subscribe to on my phone, the answer is probably yes. But maybe subscriptions could lead to cars that are even more affordable - a blank slate that allows a really low entry price with no pressure to add any features unless you wanted to. Oh wait, that’s exactly how the carmakers will sell it to us…

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