Epic drive in possibly the world’s best car
Arriving back from holidays, I found a little gem of a book on my desk.
Drive Ireland, by well-known car enthusiast and motoring columnist Bob Montgomery, is a personal guide to some of his favourite roads and places across the country — some known, some off the beaten track.
It’s full of tips and nuggets of wisdom for anyone planning to get behind the wheel and away from it all for a few days.
Bob was a consultant during the establishment of the Wild Atlantic Way and no doubt his latest guide draws inspiration from the very successful tourist initiative and the renewed interest in our stunning coastline.
The timing of the book couldn’t be better, with the Wild Atlantic Way — which stretches 2,750km from Kinsale, Co Cork to Malin in Donegal — being listed as one of the 50 Epic Drives of the World by the influential Lonely Planet, which is sure to drive up traffic numbers.
I must admit, I’ve been hooked by the hype and starting embarking on a few road trips to see what all the fuss was about. Two years ago, we spent a few days driving and camping in the West — from Clarinbridge
to Ballyvaughan, Lisdoonvarna, Doolin, and on to
Lahinch. Last year, we switched sides and did a
section of the Gold Coast — rebranded as the Ancient East — stopping for a few nights in Dunmore East.
This year it was back on the Wild Atlantic Way, for a few days around Doonbeg, Kilkee, and the spectacular Loop Head lighthouse.
Spending 51 weeks of the year driving in the city — stop, start; same faces, same places — or on the motorway —head down, foot down — it was nice to get the head up for a few days and take in some of the surroundings. The challenges of towering dunes and blind dips, wayward sheep, snaking stone walls, pink thatched cottages, and scattergun road signs flush with fake information.
What better way to experience it than in the new BMW 5 series, the seventh generation of the trendsetter.
The new 5-series is a virtual tech-fest, one of the most advanced cars on the road. The danger with all this
wizardry is that the driver
is lost in a sea of knobs, buttons, and countless options.
Take the famed BMW
infotainment system, which can be accessed five ways,
including the iDrive knob, touchscreen, voice control, touch input, and gesture
control, which allows you to change the volume, radio stations, and music tracks by waving and moving your hands and fingers. All well and good, once the driver stopped at the lights across from you isn’t watching.
You could spend a week trying the find the right ride configuration and a further week messing around with the ride options — not to mention your own personal seating and steering options.
The good news is that you find your way easily and get down very quickly to the most important task of driving the damn thing. And once you get motoring, you begin to realise how good it actually is.
The 5-series is lighter, more agile, and quicker than its predecessor. The steering is sharp and very responsive and the eight-speed automatic transmission seamless as it works its way up through the ratios. The excellent 2.0 litre diesel should prove a big seller in Ireland, but the more adventurous can choose from the 260bhp 530d, the 249bhp 530i, and the 523bhp 540i petrol options.
To be honest, I didn’t have enough time in the few days I had the 5 series to mess too much with the endless array of options, but the one I found a little unsettling was lane assist, which, given the roads driven, I found safer to turn off.
Inside you get the kind of luxury you’d expect from a high-class cruiser — leather seats, walnut inlays, and an uncluttered dash dominated by the free-standing 10.5” display taken directly from the 7 series. The €3,000 extra for the so-called Comfort pack is a little cheeky.
Prices start at just under €57,000, but when you add the bells and whistles, it quickly jumps to over €70,000. Standard options
include aluminium and chrome package, Professional navigation system, run flat tyres, ambient lighting, and parking assist (front and back).
The so-called Visibility package, which includes adaptive LED headlights, costs an extra €2,000. The Technology pack, which includes a head-up display, gesture controls, and the very cool digital key fob adds another €2,200. You can tack on another €3,000 for the compulsory M Sport Plus pack, which includes the 19” double spoke alloys and
surround sound speaker
system.
Then again, greatness doesn’t come cheap and when it comes to classic cars and roads, you got to take the rough with the smooth.
At a glance
