BMW springs surprise as all-new 5 Series released
While the 3 Series has consistently been the company’s worldwide bestseller, the 5 Series has, over six generations and cumulative sales of 7.6m units, become a vital part of BMW’s ambitious expansion plans.
And, with its arrival on the marketplace — BMW says the new 520d will go on sale here later this month with an on-the-road price tag of €52,800 — it is going to scare the pants off its main rivals from Audi, Mercedes, Volvo, Jaguar, and Lexus.
With the Mercedes E-Class having received universal praise as a technological colossus when it was launched earlier this year, Volvo’s return to form being underlined by the new S90, a revamped Jaguar XF selling well, a new Lexus GS model gaining market share and a new Audi A6 expected in 2018, the executive car market has never been more competitive.
On Wednesday night, BMW upped the ante even further with the sudden reveal of a car which it believes will boost sales across the board and underscore the company’s primacy in a massively important market segment.
Described by BMW as “the epitome of the business sedan” the new 5 Series is said to utilise up-to-the-minute technologies — many of which were only previously seen in the luxobarge 7 Series — to create a car which has “an unsurpassed blend of driving dynamics, comfort and functionality”.
BMW says the seventh generation 5 Series is more refined than ever before, significantly lighter, safer, and more fuel efficient.
On the engine front, the company boasts a new powerplants sourced from the new generation family of modular TwinPower Turbo units which provide impressive performance gains, but also show major advances in reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
The company is also — like Mercedes with the E-Class — pitching the new 5 Series as a major step along the road towards autonomous driving with what it describes as “an extensive suite of driver assistance technologies” which are said to reduce the driver’s workload like never before.
“With the new BMW 5 Series Saloon, every single facet of the large business saloon has been examined and developed to create the ultimate vehicle of its type,” BMW claims, adding that the new range will launch with an impressive line-up of engines, from the benchmark 520d to the all new flagship 540i.
Notably, BMW’s ‘xDrive’ all-wheel drive system will be offered for the first time on a 5 Series on the Irish market, and will be available from launch on the 520d, 530d, and 540i.
In terms of the look of the car, BMW says that, at the front, twin circular headlights that now have glass headlight covers which connect seamlessly with the familiar BMW kidney grille. LED headlights are standard, while the adaptive LED headlights alter the light graphic and can be specified as an option with BMW selective beam anti-dazzle high beam with a range of up to 500 metres.
Inside, BMW claim to have struck a fine balance between sporty driver focus and sophisticated elegance. That aside, the new machine has more rear headroom — despite the flowing roofline — as well as an increased boot capacity of 530 litres.
The boot sill has been lowered compared to its predecessor, which combines with the larger boot opening and the substantial increase in width to ensure that even bulky items can be loaded more easily than ever before.
BMW’s optional ‘Gesture Control’ for key functions was premiered last year in the BMW 7 Series, and the new 5 Series now features the latest version of this system.
Professional Navigation, RTTI, telephone, entertainment features and vehicle functions can be visualised on the standard high-resolution 10.25- inch screen and controlled not just in the usual manner using the iDrive Controller, but also by means of gestures, voice commands or simply touching the buttons on the touch-sensitive display.
On the engine front, the ubiquitous two-litre turbodiesel, which has been the mainstay of 5 Series sales, will remain as the big seller here in Ireland. Outputting 190bhp at 4,000rpm and 400Nm of torque, it will be mated to the standard eight-speed Steptronic gearbox. Fuel consumption comes in at 4.1l/100km, resulting in CO2 emissions of 108g/km.
Finally, for now at least, the most potent diesel is the 250km/h BMW 530d, producing 265bhp and 620Nm. Along with these impressive performance figures, the BMW 530d achieves 4.7l/100km, equating to CO2 emissions of 124g/km.
A plug-in hybrid version of the BMW 5 Series Saloon will also be launched in March in the form of the BMW 530e iPerformance model.
The BMW eDrive system and a four cylinder petrol engine work in perfect unison to achieve ultra-low CO2 emissions of just 49g/km, while generating overall output of 252 bhp. Fuel consumption is a remarkable 2.1l/100km.
We will have much more on the new 5 Series in due course, but suffice to say for now that this new range is probably going to be the one everyone else in the executive segment will have to beat.
