2017 BMW 5er (G30) - BMW 540i and BMW 530d xDrive Test

Today it's about the second highlight of 2016, the all-new BMW 5-Series 2017 BMW 5er (G30) Sadly there's not much time today, so this review will be a little shorter and quicker than usual - sorry for that But there's more information in the description box Let's start with the Design: in this case it's the BMW M sport package So the white paint with the black highlights looks a little more sporty To get to a detail already: the kidneys" (BMW grille) have active moving aero parts" They are closed now, because we drove a little slower than before, but if more fresh air is needed, they open up From an aerodynamics point of view it's better whenever they are closed.

Which gives the Efficient Dynamics base model an drag coefficient of 0.22 The all-new BMW 5-Series is equipped with LED-headlights as standard, however our car has the optional adaptive LED Headlights They are able to run at high beam all the time and are able to give you a active corning light Measuring 4.93 meters in length, the current 5-Series is bigger than the BMW E32, which is the 7-Series of the early 90s As the new 5-Series is closer to the 7-Series than ever before.

It has also nearly the same Air Breather" after the front wheels" The roofline is designed to give the 5-Series a classy but elegant new look As we do have the M sport package, this car runs on sportier 19inch rims At the rear the taillights go far into the side of the car which drops the rear even wider than it already is To get to the exhaust pipes there are three different types: such as round ones or trapeze formed ones like this or four squared pipes for the M550i In Case of the white BMW 5-Series it's the 540i That means a brilliant inline six mated to an 8-speed-auto Power is rated at 340hp and 450 Newtonmeters of torque It takes 5.1 seconds to 100 kph / 62mph with rear-wheel-drive However with the optional xDrive all-wheel-drive system it takes only 4.9 seconds to 100 kph/ 62mph Topspeed is limited to 250 kph Let's continue with the interior of the new 5-Series I need to start with this silly detail of a cupholder, because they are deeper now So it's still possible to control the air condition while a bottle or anything is fitted to the cupholder I like that small change because it was horrible before, especially in smaller BMWs But now let's get started with the all-new Interior I like the steering wheel in general.

However the heater button for the steering wheel looks ugly at that position On the left side are all controls for the driving assistance After all, the driver assistance works well expect one minor failure of the speed limit info And next up the big change in the 5-Series, the center console That by the way is possible to control by gestures like these The new infotainment system with the screen of 10.25 inch size In my opinion it's the only system that can be controlled in four different ways: Voice command, touch, iDrive Controller and gesture control To the main point: gesture controls. To his point there is not much you can do, but it's nice to play with By turning my finger in a circle I can control the volume of the media system There is a kind of pointer gesture, so you can take a call or a wipe gesture so the call is rejected But to the me the highlight is that you may set a command of the iDrive personally to the victory sign Further more there is a new head-up display that is 70% bigger than the one before To put it into real figures it's big! Really big! The head-up display itself displays a lot of information in front of the car and that is sharp like nothing before Such as the speed limit info, the current speed or navigation information or the driving assistance is displayed In the center console the drive mode select is no more of a button than a tumbler So Eco Pro, Comfort and Sport is directly selected such as the new adaptive mode Adaptive means the car is equipped with the body roll stabilizer that works by electric motors So the floor unevenness is reduced and the car is an even smoother ride And there is more such as the Integral-steering, but that's not about the steering itself Because that names the optional rear-wheel-steering that makes this long car more dynamic in tight corners Even if there is no time.

There is time to check out the rear of the 5-Series Behind my own driving position (1.80m height) there is enough headspace and room for me We do have the optional 4-zone-air condition which also gives the outer rear seats a seat heater Speaking of the seats this is a nice looking brown leather with grey-blue-stitching That suits the 5-Series very well Also the door panels look sporty as it should be with the M package However the optional Bowers&Wilkings sound system is to me not as good as the highest option in the biggest competitor But the main competence of BMW is into something completely different and that is driving dynamics! On the motorway we already tried every driving assistance feature - they all worked well E.g. the lane change assist was working well However let's change to the BMW 540i We're still driving in comfort mode and to me the steering has a nice weight to it Now let's change to sport in which case the driving characteristics should change a lot according to BMW The engine mapping changes, the gearbox as well such as the graphics that change to red By the way the inline six is a great engine It's not only smooth but also has a nice sound in the higher revs To me the steering didn't change a lot However the engine is more lively in the sport setting and more spontaneous than before Let's change to ECO Pro So the engine sometimes goes into coasting which should consume less fuel.

What in conclusion makes the inline six a little more green" if you know what I mean" In general I like the smooth inline six a lot However there are also great working four cylinder engines if the inline six it out of reach for you WE can't drive them right now, but there are available with the inline six engines from the beginning In comparison to the E-Class, the Mercedes is way more comfortable than the 5-Series In in the case of the 5-Series it is now more back to the roots the more dynamic Business Sedan that we used to know Now skip back to the driving assistance There is something like a speed limit preview, based on the navigation Sadly in Portugal it's not working perfectly however with this preview we do know the upcoming speed limit already without seeing it. E.g. driving 90kph on the road and there's city coming up with 50kph limit, there is a little grey graphic already showing us The speed limit info is also put into the adaptive cruise control however it's different than to those of Mercedes and Audi With Audi and Mercedes the take the info into account and speed down the cruise control immediately.

With BMW it recognizes the speed limit however let's the driver decide to adjust the cruise control with the touch of a button or not You may recognize that the steering wheel is now different, that means we're driving the Luxury Line And also the engine has changed to the BMW 530d xDrive inline six diesel with 265hp and 620 Newtonmeters of torque Speaking of characteristics it's completely different to the 540i However it's nearly as smooth as the 540i The reduced noise comes from a engine near insulation (in all cars) So in conclusion either 540i or 530d there is less engine noise in the cabin That is after all more comfortable for every day use When the M5 arrives this may change a little so that there is more recognizable engine noise in the cabin So in comparison the Diesel is louder in the cabin than the petrol 5-Series Let's get to the driving impression For starters this one is equipped with xDrive (all-wheel-drive) that can also channel 100% of torque to the front The 530d xDrive is setup more than just neutral It stays in line even when going into a corner a little too fast - it's more or less dummy proofed The inline six diesel itself is a strong torquey engine with loads of power in the lower revs To me there is more difference between the drive modes e.g. comfort, Eco Pro and Sport So in ECO Pro it feels like there is a stone blocking the accelerator Set to Sport.

However the engine really revs it all out and gets the thing going quite in a typical BMW matter Getting back to the steering wheel one last time - this has also the steering heater but it looks better fit into the luxury line wheel At the beginning I already sad it's the second big highlight of the year 2016 The other one was the Mercedes-Benz E-Class at early 2016 BMW advertises the driving pleasure And to be honest the BMW 540i with its inline six is a lot of this driving pleasure"" I think it's not that much fun with the smaller four cylinder engines Speaking of technology both cars are acting on a very high level - maybe the highest yet - For us that is a good example where the automotive industry will go into developing in the next five years Yet BMW is not perfect in every term, there are thing I like better in the E-Class such as the highest sound system However with BMW you may operate your infotainment system in four ways And that impressed my a lot and may also shut up the latest critics of future technology And that's it with the Review of the all-new BMW 5-Series I hope there was enough information packed.

BMW 5er 2017 Gallery