Five for fighting

By the time a car’s been on the market for four years, I usually consider it quite old – by then the styling’s getting quite long in the tooth and seemingly begging for a rethink. That’s especially true when I never fancied the design to start with – the current 5-Series being a case in point. But I like it more than I did four years ago. I’m not exactly drooling over it yet, but I like the fact that its design doesn’t seem to have aged much, if at all – it’s even setting trends. Just look at the new Hyundai Genesis.

Hence the subtlety of this latest update comes as no surprise. It hardly looks any different, but perhaps a little fresher thanks to those chrome headlight surrounds and other minor details.

So what else could they have changed on a car already considered a benchmark so hard to beat? As far as we’re concerned, it already came with class leading performance and driving dynamics and hordes of hi-tech options. And now, in typical BMW style, they’ve added even more gizmos and increased the power on two models. Minor modifications in the cabin see increased storage space, a wider array of trim choices and they’ve even tinkered with that infamous iDrive control system. While not much easier to use in general, the this latest version now has what they call ‘favourite’ buttons that allow the front occupants to select, and then easily activate, eight of their most frequently used functions - which could be a radio station, phone number or sat-nav destination, for instance.

The 530i featured here benefits from the latest upgrades to BMW’s 3-litre straight-six, which ups the power by 10kW and torque by 15Nm. It’s also exceptionally smooth and responsive, and surprisingly economical too. Yet despite the 5 being relatively light for its size, the 530i’s still more adequate mid-ranger than outright racer.

At just over half a bar, it’s expensive, though in line with the opposition. And you can add a healthy chunk to the asking price by opting for some of the high-tech gadgets on offer. As before, you can opt for Active Steering, which increases the steering angle at low speeds for easy manoeuvrability and reduces it at higher speeds for a greater feeling of stability. There’s also head-up display and Adaptive Headlights that follow the curves in the road. Event the standard Xenon headlights on their own provide exceptional illumination at night, both to the front and to each side of the vehicle – that I can attest to after a stress-free long-distance journey at night.

There’s also some cool new stuff, like cruise control that actually uses the brakes to maintain the correct speed down hills and the traction/braking system to reduce speed in corners when deemed necessary. You could also opt up to the Active Cruise Control system with Stop & Go for auto models that not only maintains a set speed via radar, but can even operate in heavy stop/go traffic. Another new option is the Lane Change Warning system that uses cameras to recognise road lines and warn you that you’re crossing them through a mild steering vibration (when you’re not indicating, that is.)

With all this new stuff, 5-Series should maintain its dominance in the luxury sedan fighting ring, right until the all-new version arrives – and we believe that’s just two years away.