2018 BMW 520d Review
Car Tested: 2018 BMW 520d; Road Test No. 884
Price OTR Mumbai: Rs. 62.68 – 67.26 lakhs
The new BMW 5-Series has so many USPs and it scores really high on desirability
As usual, I was getting late for work and as I hurried towards my parking, I realised that some bugger had parked his car so close to mine, there was just not enough space for me to open the driver side door and get inside. A large wall on the other side worsened matters. On an ordinary day, I would have gone looking for the person who wrongly parked, but this time, I wasn’t fretting because all I had to do was to take out the touchscreen remote key of my car, activate the R/C Parking mode and reverse the car out of the slot. Yes, ladies & gentlemen, I’m talking about the all-new G30 BMW 5-Series.
Motor Quest: BMW cars have always been known for their sheer driving pleasure and the E60 5-Series was super fun to drive. When BMW came out with the F10, not many were happy because the car didn’t feel very interesting to drive in comparison but this time the automaker has brought back the fun-to-drive factor and how.
The G30 5-Series looks gorgeous and how!
Exteriors – I have a lot of interest in the evolution of styling that you see on these premium cars. The 5-Series used to have a squarish design from the E12 to E34 series and then the E39 model added a small tinge of modernity to the styling. Post that came the infamous E60 which was also known as the Bangled 5-Series and that still remains my favourite 5. Then came the F10 which made the 5-Series grow much larger in size with generous dimensions and now the G30 is here, which combines just the perfect balance of luxury, technology and style.
The new 5-Series looks like a mini 7-Series of sorts
The front face is reminiscent of the new 7-Series and if you’re looking at both the cars from far, you’re likely to not find any difference. The highlights of the front are the striking LED headlamps and the large kidney grille. Since we have the 520 Luxuryline here, it doesn’t come with the M-Sport kit but it does get some neat chrome outlines on the body. The side profile is pretty much simple save for the chrome trim at the bottom of the fenders. The design of the rear is straight forward derived from the previous generation and many styling elements are similar, though the new car does look sleeker in comparison.
The dashboard is well sculpted and feels very premium with its materials
Interiors – To say that the cabin of the new BMW 5-Series feels modern would be an under-statement. There is so much attention-to-detail on the inside and the top-class materials that have been used everywhere right from the dashboard to the seats to the door pads lend a high sense of richness. The design of the dashboard is driver-centric in true BMW sense.The new steering wheel feels very upmarket and so does the redesigned instrument cluster. The iDrive knob also gets a new design finally too. The front seats come with electric adjustment and they are splendid in terms of comfort and support. The seats are large in size suiting well-built people too, but the driving position is set quite low.
The 5-Series has excellent seats but they are set low
The interior of the new 5-Series feels so much plusher and pleasant now
The doors have a very wide opening but since the the seats are set low, getting into the rear seat could be an issue for elder people. The rear feels plush too, with the rich leather giving a very pleasant feel. The rear seat again has decent space for 2 people but 3 people could be a tight squeeze. Leg room is good but definitely not the best-in-class because we all know which rival takes the cake here, while headroom and shoulder space are fairly decent. Even the boot is well-shaped but the India-spec car gets a cavity made to house the spare wheel and hence the usable boot space is just 400-litres compared to 530-litres on the European trims.
BMW has crammed the sedan with all possible equipment
The BMW 520d Luxuryline comes with a lot of features on offer. The best party trick is the remote-controlled parking feature. In this, you need to activate the R/C mode using the touchscreen key by standing in close proximity of the car. Once it is connected, you can reverse the car or take it forward. However, the car can be moved for a distance of only around 10 feet, post which it asks you to drive it. Also, while you cannot turn the car using the remote, the car will automatically take small turns if there are any obstacles or other cars parked close by. The remote also has some other cool features like it shows the DTE, car status, AC status, etc. The key also needs to be charged regularly using the wireless charging port in the centre console. Another cool feature is the gesture volume control for the audio system. With this, you can control the volume by simply rotating your finger clockwise or anti-clockwise in front of the screen.
With different driving modes on offer, choose what suits you best
Performance – Under the very long bonnet is the familiar 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder diesel engine. It unleashes 188 horses at 4000 RPM along with a torque rating of 400 Nm from 1750-2000 RPM, mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox. The oil-burner feels quiet and refined when you fire up the 520d. Get going and the diesel motor continues to impress with its driveability. In the city, the 5 feels very easy to drive with good low-end torque and power delivery coming up smoothly. Eco Pro mode works very well on our congested roads because power delivery feels much more controlled in this and the sedan doesn’t feel too aggressive. This mode also helps you extract better fuel efficiency.
The 2.0-litre engine feels much more refined on the 5 than on the X1 and 3-Series
The 520d offers good performance and doesn’t disappoint on fuel efficiency too
The 20d has a very good mid-range with a very good wave of torque coming in as soon as the turbo kicks in at a notch below 2000 RPM and it goes smoothly beyond 4000 RPM. In City mode, the engine starts feeling much more livelier and responds to accelerator inputs in a better way, churning out more performance than the Eco Pro mode. The gearbox is excellent with its shifts and it kind of adapts to your driving styling after a few hundred kms. If you feel the need to drive aggressively, Sport mode comes in to be useful here because it improves engine response and also holds onto higher RPMs in lower gears so that you are always riding in the meat of the power band.
The 520d likes cruising too, and is very efficient
The BMW 520d offers very good driveability be it city roads or empty highways and is a car that won’t disappoint. Sure, it isn’t as quick or agile as the ferocious 530d M-Sport, but performance from this engine is going to suffice most people who aren’t looking for something as powerful as the 530d. Talking about the figures now, 100 km/hr comes up in top gear at around 1500 RPM, meaning that the car runs on really low RPMs when you’re cruising down on the highway, resulting in good fuel efficiency too. On our tests, we extracted around 10-11 km/l in a mix of driving at snail speeds and also exploiting the power band whenever we found a long empty stretch. If you’re wondering about 0-100 km/hr, our VBOX tests gave us a timing of 7.96 seconds.
The G30 feels more engaging to drive than the F10 5-Series
Driving Dynamics – When we talk about the fun-to-drive factor, the new 5-Series feels much better than the older model. The steering feels more precise, it gives a bit more feedback and weighs up nicely at high speeds too, offering a very confident drive. The 520d is extremely agile and the chassis suits perfectly whether you want to just cruise down the motorway or go around blasting the twisties. The 5-Series feels very stable all the time and passenger movement inside the cabin is also very controlled. The tyres have stupendous amount of grip and the brakes have excellent bite too. The new 5-Series just doesn’t disappoint on the driving pleasure front.
The sedan has been tuned for better comfort
It also feels much more comfortable than the outgoing model. The suspension gets a softer set-up which feels plush and is ready to tackle all sorts of potholes that our roads throw up and the 5 glides over most surfaces very smoothly. The long wheelbase leads to the sedan bottoming out slightly on some of the nastier speed breakers but otherwise there is no such concern of discomfort. Whether you’re driving at slow of high speeds, the 5-Series remains nicely glued to the tarmac. The Dynamic Damper Control is super useful, you can set it to Comfort when your chauffeur is at the wheel and you can change it to Sport when you’re driving it and it immediately transforms the car.
The 5-Series gets a ton of safety tech
Safety and After Sales Service – The G30 BMW 5-Series is packed with safety features like ABS with Brake Assist, Active Park Distance Control, Attentiveness Alert, Cornering Brake Control, Dynamic Stability Control with Dynamic Traction Control, Runflat Indicator, Crash Sensor and Side Impact Protection. The sedan also gets multiple airbags like front airbags for the driver and passenger, side airbags for the driver and front passenger and head airbags at the front and rear.
The BMW 5-Series can be termed as one of the best buys in its segment
Verdict – BMW knows how to make a solid product and they’ve shown it with the new 5-Series. It has improved over the older model on so many counts that it can be termed as a solid all-rounder because it excels in almost every department like styling, comfort, features, engines, fun-to-drive and finding a fault with this sedan is next to impossible. In fact, it even offers things that its immediate rivals don’t and that makes the new 5-Series stand out. For someone looking to buy a large luxury sedan, we don’t see any reason to not consider the all-new BMW 5-Series.
Oodles of luxury and technology on this car
What’s Cool
* The new styling philosophy is awesome
* The interiors have become all the more upmarket
* Some really cool bits of technology on offer
* Very good performance, comfort and driving dynamics
What’s Not So Cool
* Boot space is a bit limited with the spare wheel
Alternatives: Mercedes E-Class, Audi A6, Jaguar XF, Volvo S90
The engineers at BMW have done a splendid job with the new 5
2018 BMW 520d Specifications
* Engine: 1995cc, 4-Cyl, DOHC, Diesel
* Power: 188 HP @ 4000 RPM
* Torque: 400 Nm @ 1750-2000 RPM
* Transmission: 8-Speed AT
* 0-100 km/hr: 7.96 seconds (VBOX)
* Top Speed: 250 km/hr
* Fuel Consumption: 10.5-13 km/l
* Fuel Type: Diesel
* Suspension: Double Wishbone (Front), 5-Link (Rear), Dynamic Damper Control
* Tyres: 245/45/18
* Brakes: Discs (Front), Discs (Rear), ABS
* Safety: Airbags, ABS with BA,CBC, DSC, DTC, Crash Sensor, Active Front Seat Headrests, Attentiveness Alert
2018 BMW 520d Dimensions
* Overall length x width x height: 4936 mm X 1868 mm X 1479 mm
* Boot Space: 400-litres
* Wheelbase: 2975 mm
* Fuel Tank Capacity: 65-litres
What is your favourite luxury sedan?
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