BMW 5 Series 2010 Review

sharp chassis new design direction steering feedback & weight

meaty prices dull power delivery on 535i tyres lose high grip speed in wet

Things have changed at BMW and nothing reflects it better than the all-new, mid-sized 5 Series car.  The design of the new Five is a massive departure from anything over the past 10 years and shows the German making is moving on from the radical work done under former design chief Chris Bangle.

The sixth-generation Five will bring new and more-efficient engines, greater safety technology and better value to Australian buyers when the car launches Down Under in June. It shares much of the hidden stuff with the latest 7 Series flagship.  But it is the styling that sets the standard.

It has been refined and defined by a new generation of visionaries across the seven years it took to bring the car codenamed F10 5 to fruition.  In a ruthless process of last-man-standing, 20 exterior and a similar number of interior designers drew, refined and presented their interpretations of a modern 5 Series to senior management at three-monthly elimination competitions.

A large part of the challenge for any new BMW _  but especially a 5 Series _ is the demand that the car walk a thin line of being both dynamic and sporty yet refined enough to lay fair challenge to its key rivals, the Mercedes E-Class, Audi A6 and Lexus GS.

Styling aside, the new generation 5 Series will bring new more efficient engines, greater safety technology and better value to Australian buyers when the car launches Down Under in June.  "We are actually getting the car ahead of the United States and just weeks after it launches in Europe," BMW Australia's Toni Andreevski said. "We will launch with three petrol engines initially and follow that within about three months with the diesel 520d."

Engines and variants

Initially the June 3 launch choice for Australian buyers will start with the naturally-aspirated 190kW inline-six 528i ($99,900), move on to the 535i ($128,900) featuring the new 225kW twin-scroll turbo in-line six and top out at the 300kW V8 550i ($178,900). The only confirmed diesel for the Australian market is the 2-litre four-cylinder 520d which has yet to be priced for its expected launch in September. The manual 520d — not confirmed for Australia — will introduce stop/start technology to BMW at its European launch.

The entry-level 3-litre 528i offers power gains of 30kW and 60Nm over the superceded 2.5-litre 525i and will also pick up a swag of equipment including heads-up display — standard issue on all new 5 Series models — 18-inch alloys, front and rear park assistance, bi-Xenon headlights, brake energy regeneration and an active bonnet to improve pedestrian safety.

At the heart of the new 535i is the company's revised turbo strategy for its six-cylinder cars which sees an end to the twin turbocharging philosophy in favour of a twin-scroll single turbocharger which matches the twin turbo's 225kW and 400Nm output but does so while sipping 7 per cent less fuel.

At the top of the power scale, at least until the arrival of the new M5 around the middle of next year, the 550i shares BMW's new TwinPower turbo philosophy putting out 300kW and 600Nm — that's a 30kW and 110Nm boost over the previous model.

Dynamic equipment

Ride and handling will be assisted by the Dynamic Driving Control and Dynamic Damper Control (DDC) programs. The former will be standard across the range for Australia while the latter is standard on the 535i and 550i and available as a $2650 option on the 528i.

While the DDC varies steering, throttle, gear-change points and traction control settings across a driver-selected range of normal, sport and sport-plus options it is the damper control that lifts the car's comfort levels beyond the ordinary. The electronics continuously vary both compression and rebound settings with such rapidity that when a front wheel strikes a pothole the damping will have been adjusted to counter it by the time the rear wheels strike the same road imperfection.

Options

BMW Australia will offer a couple of new — at least to the brand — technologies as options. Parking Assistant ($1600) uses sonar to identify a suitably-sized parking space and then reverses the car into the park while the driver modulates the brake and throttle. Surround View ($1300) uses four external cameras to provide a virtual birds-eye view around the car to assist with manoeuvring through tight spaces or in crowded environments.

Driving

On the road there is plenty to like about the new 5 Series, a not entirely surprising thing considering it shares as much as 70 per cent of its componentry with the recently released 7 Series.  The first impression is that the emphasis inside the cabin is back on the driver. The design, while still recognisable as a luxury environment, has been subtly altered to move the focus back to the driver.

At the launch drive, the only Australia-bound engine available was the 535i, but what a fine thing it is. The power delivery, while not quite as sharp at the bottom end as the twin-turbo unit currently in the 1 and 3 Series, is creamy smooth and coupled to the eight-speed gearbox is willing to find urge over a huge span of the rev range. And it is as quiet and refined as it is strong.

The ride quality on the test drive cars — and it is difficult to image a more thorough testing environment than Portugal's mix of rutted minor roads and hotmix highways — was enhanced in no small part by the dynamic and damping control programs.

The new electric power steering on the 5 Series has a pleasing amount of feedback and feel with a meaty weighting that has not been a feature of the model for some time. With a 50:50 weight balance, the 5 brings a dynamism back to the class that will have the marque's rivals looking to their merits.

It also has to be said that the latest generation of the run-flat tyre technology so favoured by BMW has reached a standard where the vast majority of drivers will not easily notice any shortcomings.  Ride and road noise are excellent and while a wet track still found shortcomings with grip under more enthusiastic driving, performance at everyday road pace was more than acceptable.

BMW 5 SERIES

Price: from $99,900
Engine: 3-litre inline six to 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8, 190kw/310Nm-300kw/600Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Economy, CO2: 187-243g/km

RIVALS:

Audi A6: from $71,600
Lexus GS: from $94,900
Mercedes-Benz E-Class: from $93,900