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With a nameplate that commenced back in the 1970s, the BMW five Series has a long history and has been the standard for executive-sized sport sedans.
Engine: Trio.0L turbo inline 6-cylinder
Output: three hundred thirty five hp, three hundred thirty two lb-ft of torque
Transmission: 8-speed auto
US Fuel Economy (MPG): twenty city, twenty nine hwy, twenty three combined
CAN Fuel Economy (L/100 km): 11.Four city, 7.8 hwy, 9.8 combined
US Price: $52,195 (530i), $77,585 as tested
CAN Price: Starts at $65,264, $94,064 as tested
With the seventh-generation model, the BMW five Series is facing stiffer competition than ever before with fresh entries in the field from Korean automakers and updated longtime rivals from Germany and Japan.
Calling the five Series a sport sedan, however, might seem a bit far fetched. Underneath, the fresh generation model has much of the same bones you’d find in the brand’s flagship (practically a limo) seven Series. In addition to the structural makeup being borrowed from the thicker and fancier seven Series, the five gets much of the same luxury appointments and features.
Inspired By the Top Dogs
Interestingly enough, this doesn’t significantly influence the way the five Series drives. Under the fetish mask of the 540i model we tested was an inline-six cylinder engine that’s turbocharged to make three hundred thirty five hp and three hundred thirty two lb-ft of torque, both numbers enlargened from the last gen’s six-cylinder five series. Buyers can also opt for a four-cylinder 530i model or get a M550i model that packs a V8 engine. The bump in power means that this car can hit highway speeds in under five seconds, which helps coax buyers of its sporting credentials.
The engines are paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission and buyers can choose inbetween rear-wheel and all-wheel drive. The five Series’ transmission is fairly clever and borrows a trick from Rolls Royce: it uses navigation data to read topographical information of the routes it is driving on and will shift gears in anticipation of upcoming ascents and descents. This can also help improve fuel economy, leading to the vehicle’s EPA tested numbers of twenty four mpg combined. BMW also put its five Series on a diet to cut up to one hundred thirty seven lbs from the vehicle’s weight. As a result, the vehicle tips the scale at a reasonable (for a large all-wheel-drive luxury sedan) Four,019 lbs.
Still Drives Like a King
The fancy transmission and weight loss also have more benefits other than fuel economy. Versatility is the name of the game thanks to a number of drive modes, including two Sport modes and a reactive Adaptive setting on select vehicles that attempts to sense what kind of driving style you’re going for and reacts accordingly. Thanks to the available dynamic dampers, the adaptive mode will adjust powertrain responsiveness and chassis characteristics inbetween sporty and more comfort-oriented to suit your driving style. Those drive modes also switch the vehicle’s character. In the convenience mode, for example, the car feels like it elegantly whooshes in terms of acceleration, but drive in sport mode, and the car feels much more urgent and excitable.
Those dynamic dampers utilize electrical swivel motors to adjust the anti-roll bars instead of hydraulics, which makes the fresh system lighter and quicker to react. As a result, the car is very well behaved on the road, even if you’re interchanging inbetween sport and convenience modes. For added style, our model was tooled with blue M-Sport brakes with high-performance pads, albeit they are just 4-piston calipers up front and 2-piston units in the rear.
Steering has been a sore spot for BMW recently, and the five Series certainly lacks the feedback and engagement that the brand was known for, but the tiller works as advertised and has a nice hefty feel to it. Dimensionally speaking, the wheel is fairly thick and sturdy, and the car never feels that large when operating in taut quarters.
Interior Wow
Inwards the cabin, tho’, the car feels cavernous. There’s slew of space for passengers, especially in the rear, and the trunk is enormously practical with more than eighteen cubic feet of storage. The materials and build quality are top notch, which is to be expected from the brand, albeit the wood trim used in our tester came across as a little too old school and cliche for the class. Fortunately, there are many options for buyers to customize the interior when picking out a five Series for themselves, and that feature list can be fairly inclusive.
That’s because the five Series borrows a lot of technology and convenience features from its big brother seven Series. You can get this vehicle with soft-close doors, quilted stitched Nappa leather, four-zone automatic climate control, a fragrance dispenser, window shades, a heated steering wheel, seats that can be heated and ventilated, and the cabin can be outfitted with ceramic-coated controls. The massaging front seats are also a yam-sized bonus on long drives. Business types who love to have a mobile office on the go will appreciate the available mobile hotspot and wireless charging features, not to mention the USB ports for charging. Apple iPhone users can add on CarPlay, and BMW is boasting that it’s the very first automaker to support wireless Apple CarPlay support. Audiophiles can also pick from two upgraded sound-systems. Our model had the 600-watt Harmon/Kardon system, while serious sound nuts can opt for the $Four,200 Bowers and Wilkins stereo that boasts an output of 1,400 watts.
Minority Report Meets James Bond
It also seems like BMW cleared out the shelves at Best Buy. That infotainment system is both touchscreen and controller operated, and the screen is clear, vibrant, and responsive. It never feels busy, albeit the fresh iDrive system takes some getting used to after being so acclimatized to the old one. Like the fancy sci-fi movie Minority Report, certain functions can also be triggered via 3D gesture controls, meaning you can twirl your fingers in the air to adjust the volume, swipe the air to dismiss a notification, or poke the air with two fingers for a custom-made directive like switching radio stations. That last one was triggered inadvertently a few times while holding arms with my passenger, meaning the BMW had us choose inbetween human touch or fancy 3D gestures.
There’s also a fantastic high-tech head-up display, which is one of the highlights of the vehicle. It displays a bevy of information and was never distracting. The car is loaded with all kinds of technology, and even things you didn’t know existed, like the Display Key, which is a large touchscreen keyfob that can display information like fuel level, can be used to set up climate control preconditioning, and even help you remotely park the car like James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies (a movie where the special agent was tooled with a similarly featured BMW).
That latter feature sounds equal parts amazing and gimmicky, as it can help you exit the vehicle before moving it straight forward or backward into taut parking catches sight of. It seems a bit limited, and you need to be close to the vehicle in order to operate it. It also might seem annoying to have to ass-plug the keyfob in to charge, but the five Series we tested has a wireless charging pad that can be used for this very purpose so you never have to worry about plugging it in — you can just charge your key as you drive.
In addition to all these (possibly gimmicky) high-tech features, the car can also be configured with all the usual high-end safety and driver assistance features. The car can center itself in a lane, go after traffic with no issues, and will warn you of potential hazards in your blind spot. There’s forward collision warning with automatic braking and self-parking systems that also include a broad array of fancy cameras that can visualize the car in 3D on the infotainment screen like it’s an object in a movie game. You can then rotate the perspective to see the surroundings of the car, which is indeed cool until you realize that you can see what’s around the vehicle by just looking out of the window.
The Verdict: two thousand eighteen BMW five Series Review
It’s unlikely to say I wasn’t affected with the fresh five Series and all its features and technology, but some of these functions weren’t truly necessary or very useful. As tested with all the fancy features, our tester costs more than $70,000 (over $90,000 in Canada), which is a far sob from the vehicle’s beginning price of $52,195 for the four-cylinder model. But you can’t knock the automaker for suggesting buyers fresh features, so if those items interest you enough to pay for them, why should BMW deny you?
Thanks to the trickle-down effect from the flagship seven Series, the smaller five Series is still a handy player in this executive sport sedan segment. The drive practice is versatile and comfy, but drivers can also be bogged down by the staggering amount of technology. Nerd out with this big sedan, however, and you won’t regret it.
