I vividly remember driving a BMW 5-Series
very quickly along roads through Germany’s Black Forest many years ago. The car
felt like a racer – powerful, nimble, controllable on the limit, delivering a very
fulfilling 60 km test drive.
Moving on to this week and the latest BMW 5
Series, the 540i, and every experience of the car gives the impression you’ve
just upgraded from Business Class to First Class. The trim levels, materials,
equipment, technology and performance are top shelf.
The problem I have with this, is that it
has fundamentally changed what I always thought was BMW’s most dynamic high
performance sedan.
Even after selecting the Sport settings, the new 5 Series
gives you the impression it has matured into a quiet, powerful, old man. None
of that ‘boy-racer’ feel about it.
It feels like it’s a ‘pretend’ 7 Series,
the Grand Master of the range.
In fact, when you throw the tape measure over
it, the new 5 Series is the same physical size as the outgoing (‘old’) 7 Series.
There’s clearly more interior space thanks to increases in wheelbase and
overall length, and the interior design treatment is more akin to a car driven
by a chauffeur, rather than someone who is a boy-racer at heart. Maybe, like
the Volvo S90, this car has been developed with the Chinese market uppermost in
the planners’ minds.
None of this diminishes the overall
experience, but it’s quite amazing that the 5 Series has changed its
personality so dramatically. The power from the 3.0L turbocharged inline six is
prodigious, and the ZF transmission is faultless.
The ride and handling is exemplary, and
using the Sport settings, the car turns in beautifully, and thanks to the shove
in the back from the 250kW, the 540i exits corners in a smooth, fast, linear push.
Now, to what you’ll pay to experience all
this. It’s a bit of a three card trick, because as usual BMW’s options list was
developed by NASA (where every item is premium quality, and premium-priced).
The initial pricetag shows AUD$136,900 – but the car in these photos extracts
almost AUD$169,000 from your bank account, thanks to a list of M-Sport cosmetic features!
Yes, the 540i is a lot of car for the
money; but in my book that’s an awful lot of money for what is, really, in the
premium car sector, nothing super-special.
The other telling feature of this new G30 5
Series is the styling.
During my time behind the wheel, with a lot of the early
kilometres spent tooling through the city streets, it never attracted any
special attention. I never saw a look that said, “Wow, that’s beautiful.”
That’s because the design may be accomplished, but again, not ‘special’.
I was never a fan of Chris Bangle’s
‘clamshell’ and ‘flame surfaced’ design aesthetic, but you have to admit it was
‘different’. In fact it was so ‘different’ that after only two generations, BMW
returned to much more conservative themes.
So, what we have here is a good example of
the luxury carmakers’ art, with a level of technology that is almost
mind-boggling, and a pedigree guaranteed to find favour with longtime BMW
owners. But, be warned – you’re really buying a 7 Series, with a mature,
serious, personality.
TECHNOLOGY
The technology package in the new BMW
models has come a long way from the frustrating, annoying, hopelessly-complex
iDrive system which debuted in BMWs in 2001.
Today, the interface is much more
user-friendly, more intuitive, and requires less drilling down through endless
menus. The boffins in the BMW building in München appear to have grudgingly
listened to the voice of the customer, and tried really hard to simplify the
use of the system.
The list of optional settings is far too
long to list, but you are left with the overwhelming impression that it’s ‘too
much’ and that you may never fully exploit what’s on offer.
Sadly, during my time in the car, listening to some recently-recorded jazz on the optional Bowers and Wilkins sound system, on several occasions the bass notes caused the bass speaker cones to distort and vibrate badly.
Maybe buyers should stick with the standard system.
In most cases the technology options are useful,
practical and deliver a pleasing experience.
Truthfully, once you’ve attended a
couple of ‘Genius’ sessions at the BMW dealership when you take delivery, the
car will be set up for you initially, and you probably won’t change a thing
until trade-in time.
In fact, once set up to your liking, the technology can be so user-specific, and you will get so comfortable with the car, you may consider keeping it beyond the lease period. In that regard you could consider the technology a buyer-retention feature.
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