2010 BMW 5-Series: First Drive

Let's not get muddled about the sixth Five here. In what has to be the second biggest sales earner for the Munich-based car maker (after the 3-series), the latest, sixth generation 5-series has come out fighting for BMW. Not that BMW had much to worry about given that the previous generation 5 had done itself loads of good in the executive saloon segment all over the world. The Chris Bangle effect might have made many sit up and take notice but once behind the wheel it was evident that the somewhat perceived visual shock wave translated into one of sheer dynamic pleasure.

The latest 5-series, which I got to experience over a day driving across some great roads around the Portuguese seaside town of Cascais with a few fast laps thrown in for good measure at the Estoril race track, is different from the all-out 'handling over-all-else' dynamic approach which has made BMW the first word in affordable driving excitement in the automotive world.

As the very same baby boomers who adopted it in the first place now reckoning with the mid-life, the new 5-series has also evolved. It is very difficult to balance handling with ride quality, that quintessential waft-ability that many luxury sedans do, and have to, encompass but in the new 5-series this has happened, in a big way, without compromising on the fun-to-drive approach which has always been a BMW-hallmark.

We had two cars to sample in Portugal, the 530d and the 535i but the new 5-series will come with a choice of petrol and diesel powerplants when it goes on sale in the coming month in Europe and hopefully by the third quarter in India. The F10 5-series comes with a 4.4-litre 407bhp, 600Nm V8 petrol engine in the form of the 550i as the top of the line version. No less than three six-cylinder inline petrol engines are next up in the form of the 535i, 528i and 523i. There is no M5 version of the F10 as yet but sure enough there will be one pretty soon. Given that diesels account for a majority of 5-series sales worldwide, the new F10 has three diesel-engined options from start. The entry level 520d comes with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine before moving up with the 525d and the 530d models which feature 3.0-litre straight-six units.

The 530d was the first of the two cars BMW had kept ready for us to drive and what marked it out was the fact that the driver centric layout was much more moderner and even better oriented in keeping in sync with the brand character but what was notable was the amount of cabin space, far more than in any 5-series to date and surely a signal that BMW was beginning to inch closer to expansive Mercedes E-class confines. The controls fall naturally to hand and with quite a bit of top class trim as OE, the new 5 wouldn't be found lacking in creature comforts to cosset its occupants.

Diesel vs petrol!

The 530d is a pretty special automobile which should surely be the top selling version in India when it goes on sale around August-September this year. This car with its 2993cc straight six comes with an aluminium crankcase, a turbocharger with VGT and the latest generation common rail direct fuel injection. With 245bhp on call (at 4000rpm) backed up with a massive 540Nm of torque from as low as 1750 rpm and holding forth till 3000rpm, this is one hell of a muscle machine masquerading as a gentleman's express. The torque is so thick and strong as you bury the throttle pedal into the rich thick carpeted floor that keeping the transmission in manual over-ride mode is superfluous.

It is not a car which will make you revel in tyre shredding performance burn-outs but a zero to 100km/h acceleration time of 6.3 seconds means it is seriously quick. And with all 5-series cars already EU5 compliant, this is going to present a serious challenge to the brilliant E350CDI Mercedes-Benz which we rate so highly. Thanks to a raft of EfficientDynamics tweaks, the shattering forward thrust and electronically limited 250km/h top whack is also matched by a 6.3litre per 100km fuel efficiency figure! Not bad for a car weighing 1715kg plus!

Of course if it is the strong testosterone type of motoring you prefer, then the 535i is the one to have. This 3.0-litre inline six makes 306bhp at 5800rpm and develops 400Nm of torque from 1200 to 5000rpm! A twin-scroll single turbocharger does the business here but BMW's famed Valvetronic helps the car to spring to 100km/h front standstill in 6.0 seconds flat if the 6-speed manual transmission is used. The 8-speed automatic is a second slower but is much the charmer of the duo and helps get the machine humming across the board. Factor in the Integral Active Steering plus the whole host of optional chassis options and this is a car which makes many others sweat to keep up without giving its pilot sweaty palms or its occupants a headache. The glorious note as the engine goes through to its red line is awesome but yet not ear drum shredding and the poise with which the car darts through the tight sections on the Estoril course speaks of a revelation with which the new 5-series has been served up.

It is now so very close to a Mercedes-Benz in the luxury comfort arena that Stuttgart needs to be wary of. On the flip-side, if ever we can term it that, the car has been made softer though more manageable and while BMW yet insists on keeping faith with its RunFlat tyre technology, the car has every thing going for it in the right measure. Long, wide and heavy it might be but make no mistake, this is a car which won't take prisoners.