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BMW has introduced its all-new 5 Series to the world’s motoring press at a function based in Lisbon and which included track time on the Estoril racing circuit, the home of the Portuguese Grand Prix.
It's not unusual for cars that feel good on the road to become rather ordinary when subjected to the extremes of racetrack driving. But BMWs are a major exception to this rule. They feel as good in the harsh world of track driving, because they are set up to provide pleasure for the keen driver. Yet they do so without compromising on-road comfort.
At Estoril we found the 5 Series to be composed and controllable, even on a greasy uneven surface created by rain showers and intermittent sunshine. These are tough conditions at the best of times and the ability to cope with them in extreme circumstances show the Bimmer will be as safe as possible under all on-road conditions. Most impressive.
The number one talking point on the lips of all BMW enthusiasts is undoubtedly the styling of the new 5 Series. The just superseded model was something out of the ordinary and as many people disliked it as approved of the Chris Bangle penned shape. The new model is more mainstream in its lines. We like the elegance of the shape and the upmarket look it creates. Combined with the elegance there's a neat dash of sportiness – and the overall style could never be seen as anything but BMW, with its trademark ‘kidney’ grilles and C-pillar ‘Hoffmeister’ kink.
Inside, the new ‘5 is neat in execution; we particularly like the design of the dash area, where the large central screen for the satellite navigation and in-car monitoring complements the layout of the major instruments.
So important is the Australian market to BMW that our initial imports are coming off the assembly line within days of those destined for the European market. The new ‘5 goes on sale in Australia early in April and potential buyers are already enquiring of local dealers about specification details.
These specs have just been revealed to Australian motoring journalists by BMW Australia's newly-appointed product planning chief, Toni Andreevski. Over and above the features of the about to be superseded 5 Series, the new generation cars will have 18-inch alloy wheels (19 inches on the V8), an eight-speed automatic transmission, the safety of a head-up instrument display, ambient lighting in the cabin, bi-xenon headlights, and quite a few other detailed changes.
Additionally, the petrol engines will have the apparently contradictory features of higher power and lower fuel consumption. Capacities of the engines are 3.0 litres, either naturally aspirated (up from the 2.5 litres of the old model) or with twin turbochargers; and 4.4 litres with twin turbochargers. The latter engine is a V8, the other two are the latest BMW straight sixes.
This substantially increased specification list doesn't result in any real increase in price when you take the value of the equipment into account; with the 528i coming in at $99,900; the 535i being priced at $128,900 and the topline 550i carrying a tag of $178,900. Government and dealer charges need to be added to these figures.
Turbo-diesel engines with four cylinders will come later in 2010, with six-cylinder units expected to arrive in Australia early in 2011, their prices are yet to be calculated.
There's less legroom in the rear seats than we had anticipated given the size of the car. Headroom is good despite the sporty sloping of the roof as it approaches the stubby tail.
The 2010 BMW 5 Series four-door sedans are bigger than ever before, indeed they’re being built on a slightly scaled down platform of the latest 7 Series, the largest car in the range. In the interim BMW Australia will introduce the first variant of the new 5 Series, the interesting five-door hatchback GT to Australia midway through February. We will attend the local launch to report in detail on that car.
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