BMW 530i Reviews

The BMW 530i Touring is quietly spacious rather than in-your-face enormous.

It takes a lot of money to make an eco-friendly car look good, apparently, because Teslas are expensive, and no one's calling a Prius pretty. But there is another way; behold BMW's 530e iPerformance.

With the new 540i BMW knew it had to bring its A-game. And using the 7 Series as inspiration, that is exactly what it did.

The seventh-gen version of the evergreen 5 Series arrived here in March, offering a choice of four and six cylinder petrol and diesel models. The 530d is a diesel; the higher spec of two in the range.

The BMW 530e has landed in Australia three months after the launch of the new generation 5 Series sedan and takes its place alongside its hybrid siblings the 330e, X5 xDrive40e, and 740e.

While BMW's 7 Series acts as a techno-flagship for the brand, it's the Five Series where new technologies reach the mass market.

Andrew Chesterton road tests and reviews the new BMW 5 Series 520d, 530i, 530d and 540i sedans with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at its Australian launch in Victoria.

The 540i ($136,900) sits atop the 5 Series tree in Australia, at least for now, and is powered by 3.0-litre straight-six good for a healthy 250kW at 5,500rpm and 450Nm from 1,380rpm.

Wagons, or more specifically Touring in Munich language, are still in fashion despite the assorted SUV raiders including BMW's own X3 and X5.The 5-series touring still wins friends because of its flexibility, practicality and genuine car-like handling for those who want a driver's package to boot.There are arguments that the SUV's of this world can do the job but as the saying goes, once a truck always a truck.A long-time owner of a 5-series Touring, who had the M-sport package kitted out on his vehicle, had a dog and a young child and yet wanted a vehicle, which could also offer driver enjoyment whenever his family and dog were not being ferried around. He didn't believe the X5 could do that, something that can be debated until the cows come home.In any case the overall message is that Touring wagons have survived the onslaught of SUVS in this country because of the aforementioned reason.In the CARSguide garage for a week was a 530i Touring, which did some weekend haulage work between the usual obligatory visits to the normal retail outlets.Short of carrying a queen-size bed home with the rear-seats folded down, it is possible to stash a good payload into a Touring.It's practicality is unquestioned and by virtue of its run-flat tyres, like them or lump them, there is no spare so there are a whole heap of individual compartments where you can stash stuff underneath the cargo floor.Hmm, run-flats. They have never been CARSguide's cup of tea. They might now be in their third or fourth generation but it doesn't matter.By the nature of their construction with almost bullet-proof sidewalls, the ride quality is compromised.A Volvo S80, set on the comfort setting admittedly, was in the shed at the time the 5 Series Touring was around and the big Swede played it off a break.In the owner's manual (very unmanly of us to even contemplate a look, we know) the recommendation from the manufacturer is that new tyres be fitted after not more than six years regardless of wear.Why?Because most tyres, run-flats are no different, become brittle with age and the run-flats must be replaced rather than repaired is the message.Furthermore there is also a recommendation you do not rotate the tyres between the front and the rear because, the manufacturer advises, it might impair handling.Maybe, maybe not.It might be more of a case of trying to coax drivers into shelling out for tyres before they otherwise should.The 530i Touring needs a bit of urge down low but once it's spinning the luxury wagon is agile and responsive.Vision is excellent and the seats are firm, supportive and can easily be set to a position to suit all shapes and sizes of occupants.On this drive of more than 800km average fuel consumption stood at just under 13litres/100km.This wagon has a lot of virtues and still carries plenty of on-road presence.And obviously there is still demand for such body styles from luxury car makers despite the seemingly insatiable appetite for SUVs.

There's a pattern forming here. Two years ago, almost to the day, we extended our sympathies to all who had recently bought a BMW 530i.At that point, two years into the life cycle of the E60 5 Series, the fine 170kW 3.0-inline six that had been carried over from the E39 was chucked for an even better unit.The all-new magnesium-aluminium composite unit was good for 190kW at 6600rpm with peak torque remaining 300Nm between 2500 and 4000rpm.Well, wouldn't you know it, 24 months down the line mainstay 530i sedan (and wagon variant) gets another 10 kilowatts and 15 extra Newton metres for a 200kW/315Nm total.Seldom has the wisdom of awaiting a model cycle's mid-life before signing the lease been so crystalline. Not that there's anything new in that notion. As to what's new within the 530i, two innovations vie for the most welcome.First seen in the X5 SUV, the new six-speed automatic transmission is claimed to have 40 per cent faster reaction times and swifter gearshifts. This is controlled  not by a conventional gearstick but an electronic selector lever.This follows the usual shift pattern, but returns to its initial position once the gear selected is in mesh. Smarter yet, the transmission itself is masterminded not by the usual mechanical process, but via electrical signals.To fully appreciate its efficacy, you'd really want to run it alongside the just-superseded 530i with its already excellent six-speed ZF auto set up. Suffice to say, it's seamless. And 'sad' to say it also works so slickly in manual mode that another nail has been hammered into the coffin of the conventional manual.The revised 530i reaches 100km/h from standing one-tenth quicker at 6.6 seconds (fast feats are augmented by revised Dynamic Stability Control with extra brake functions to battle fade and wet weather).And it does so for the same combined fuel claim as before, 9.3 litres per 100km.The other innovation adds desperately needed facility to the enigma that is the i-Drive multi-media system.Also foreshadowed in the X5, this version of i-Drive receives favourite buttons so that preferred functions — be they audio, navigational or telephonic — can be activated by fingertip rather than via the distracting fiddling required to enter and operate this supremely geekish and pointlessly complex system.The E60's cockpit-rather-than-cabin interior has earned it as many gripes as the body styling.Chrome finish on the controls, padding on the door armrests and twin-tone panels address ambience rather than essence, though with the slightly bigger door pockets and a niche to stow your mobile, you've finally got adequate oddment storage.Upholstery and trim options are numerous and such wood grain options as these include are mercifully low-key.While BMW is among the few marquees that bother placing the handbrake for right-hand-drive, the wipers on our car stayed in Europe — they're supposed to go flush against the driver's side of the windshield.Outward embellishments run to mild modifications of the double kidney grille, new tech glass over the lights and LED blinkers, plus an extra light contour on the sills.The options list now includes lane change warning system ($1200), thermal imaging night vision ($4000), active cruise control ($4500) and high-end audio (up to $4000) on top of the up-front $113,500 plus on-roads.The range starts at $84,900 with the 523i sedan with its 130kW 2.5 inline six, up to $231,500 for the weapons-grade V10-powered M5.The 530i remains the 'volume seller' if such a term can be used in this segment and with reason.CARSguide secured the first Australian drive of the revised series, selecting a sedan for a 320km solo test loop from outer Melbourne through rural Victoria to Lake Eildon and circuitously to Tullamarine.If this little jaunt failed to fling us any surprises, it served as a timely clarity reinforcer.If this segment has never been so competitive, then no other entrant will so flatter your driving as a 5 Series.If cruising is effortless, B-road hustling and rapid overtaking are almost too easy.The speed readout on that heads-up display, the item from the optional $2500 Professional Pack that comes closest to being indispensable, seldom seems to have any relation to reality.A brilliantly sorted car, the 530i just doesn't seem to be working hard especially when it is.Tuned less rigidly than a $4000 M-Sport variant (the standard 17-inch tyres are rubber enough, especially when the rubber is of the run flat variety), the 5 remains by some way the most dynamically adroit in its class.It's about time we developed shorthand for handling verities that stem from 50:50 weight distribution and rear-wheel-drive. We're almost as sick of writing them in full as you are of reading them.But these are always there, despite steering that wants for weight to complement its accuracy. The other perennial is price.As ever, as with every BMW, the 530i costs too bloody much. But while sales have taken a hit this year, it's not because of the asking price.They can get away with charging this sort of loot because when it comes to what happens when you get behind the wheel.