By the CAR road test team
Long Term Tests
31 January 2011 10:14
Life with our new BMW 5-series long-termer â€" 31 January 2011
So our new long-termer has arrived, and it’s a rather fabulous looking 5-series Touring. A well equipped 530d Touring to be precise. In a rare break with tradition, I managed to persuade Ben Pulman, manager of our long-termers, to let me loose with the BMW estate â€" despite me running a similarly specced BMW 530d Grand Turismo last year.
You see, we normally try and mix up our long-termers to get fresh perspectives. But it somehow felt right to compare the 5-series in all its different manifestations. Especially when we never quite saw the point of the 5 GT. It was wonderful at many things, but my conclusion was that surely you’d just buy the 5 Touring rather than a compromised hatchaloon. Now we’re about to find out.
This 530d Touring is nabbed from BMW’s launch fleet, so we had no say in its spec. It’s in SE trim, and comes in a splendidly sober, classy Imperial Blue Xirallic, a sort of dark, squid inky blue metallic. Inside there’s Oyster Dakota Leather, which is basically cream and already showing up some denim blue. Which is why I’ve always preferred dark trim for my seats.
The SE spec comes well equipped already, but BMW has added a whopping £16,900 to this test car. Here’s a complete list of what’s on YG60 NCC:
• 19-inch V-spoke style 331 alloy wheels (no cost option)
• Adaptive Drive (£2220)
• Comfort seats, front (£1270)
• Dynamic package (£2820)
• Extended storage (£280)
• Exterior mirrors â€" folding, automatically dimming (£245)
• Exterior trim, matt aluminium (no cost option)
• Fineline Anthracite wood (£350)
• Head-up Display (£940)
• Loudspeaker system - BMW Business (£405)
• Media package - BMW Professional navigation system, multimedia interface, Bluetooth, BMW Assist, BMW Online and Voice Control. (£1960)
• Oyster/Black Exclusive Nappa Leather (£695)
• Panoramic glass sunroof (£1200)
• Park Assist (£560)
• Reversing Assist camera (£320)
• Seat heating, front (£300)
• Sport automatic transmission (£1605)
• Surround-view (£520)
• Visibility package â€" automatic adaptive xenon headlights, headlight wash, high-beam assistant (£1210)
So it’s one mightily high-equipped 5-series. We’ll find out over the next six months which of those options is worth having and which is a waste of money.
And in my next report, I’ll report just how fabulous the 5-series Touring is. I’d hate to predudice CAR Magazine’s long-term test review, but I already have a sneaking suspicion that this is one mighty fine executive estate!
By Tim Pollard
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