BMW 5 Series 530i 2005 Review

Maybe the makers are worried the vehicle will be viewed as a sexless family transporter — an image that has killed off a lot of the people mover segment.

Station wagons are now Avant, Estate, Sportwagon or Touring.

To be fair, Peugeot and BMW have been calling their wagons Touring for some time.

But BMW need not be worried that the 530i Touring could be viewed as a sexless family utility.

I actually think it is much sexier than the frumpy 5 Series sedan with its rear boot hump that resembles a taxi advertising sign.

The wagon, or Touring, has a gentle swoop around the rear, tidy tail lights and a sleek side-on view.

This is no hearse. And neither does it handle like a hearse.

The $4950 dynamic driving option and the standard electronic active steering and self-levelling pneumatic rear suspension made this test car handle like a sedan.

There is no feeling of the back being out of phase with the front as you guide it through the urban obstacle course.

However, the intervention of so much electronics and computerisation tends to have a disembodying effect on the driver.

Input doesn't really seem to match car behaviour the way we are used to.

Steering is instant, without any "play" in the wheel, the whole car just simply going where it is pointed without the usual intervention of physics.

Importantly, for a wagon, this has a functional rear cargo area with a flat floor, low loading rear sill and the tailgate automatically opens and closes at the touch of a button on the key fob and the tailgate, just like the Lexus RX330. If you are doing the grocery shopping, this is an absolute must.

Despite having the Touring for a week I did little touring because of other commitments, but it was quickly evident there were a few options on this car that also are absolute musts.

The $4500 adaptive cruise control option actually works. I drove from the Gold Coast to the Royal Brisbane Hospital with the cruise set on 110km/h, never broke the speed limit and never touched the accelerator or brake once.

Head-up display, with the speed, cruise controls and a few other vital functions shone on the windscreen in front of the driver, is important in these days of prolific speed cameras. It works in daylight and dark.

And those $3100 "comfort" leather seats? You could screw them out of the floor, place them in your living room and set up a coffee table beside them.

There is one option I could live without: the $4000 iDrive with voice recognition, plus satellite navigation and TV.

I can't see the point of a dashboard-mounted TV with poor reception that only plays when the handbrake is on. Now maybe if it was in the rear . . .

As for iDrive, it turns simple button-pushing into a major chore that distracts your attention from the road. However, this one comes with voice recognition so you can perform commands by talking to the system, but it takes a lot of setting up and patience.

I threw up my hands in frustration and gave up. But then I only had it for a week.

If you persist and get it to work with every driver who uses the car, then it would be the perfect complement to the safety of the head-up display.