the BMW 5-series was named the 2013 car
buyer best large executive car however
BMW recently updated it to fend off the
restyled Mercedes e-class though to be
fair the updates and the BMW are far
less radical than on the heavily
restyled Merc round the back there are
some redesigned lights with LED strips
and a new crease in the apron there are
now indicator repeaters in the door
mirrors while at the front you get a new
grille surround redesigned lower intake
and xenon headlamps
as standard in fact that brings me on to
equipment because BMW has added some
more standard kit to the 5 Series so as
well as things like parking sensors
leather seats and dual zone climate
control you now also get satellite
navigation as standard with I Drive
control and the I Drive features this
little touch sensitive pad so you can
actually input destinations just by
squiggling your finger there and yeah
just makes it a lot easier to use other
changes to the cars cabin are restricted
to some shiny trim and the instrument
I'll leave you to try and spot exactly
where that is
in terms of how well screw together this
car is well the 5 Series came third for
build quality in the 2013 driver power
owner satisfaction survey if you want
you can write your car by visiting
driver power co uk or by clicking here
one of the great things about the
5-series has always been the way it
drives and yep there's no change there
thankfully it's got really good steering
the handling it's fun because it's a
rear-wheel drive chassis you got good
comfort and a motorway speeds it's nice
and quiet you can get the five series
with a wide range of engines including a
twin turbo v8 with over 500 horsepower
in the bonkers m5 version but most
people will go from the 2-liter Diesel's
the best one is the 520 D because it has
181 brake horsepower to do not just
sixteen just over eight seconds yet it
can return about 63 miles per gallon and
it emits under 120 grams per kilometer
of carbon dioxide if there is a problem
with the engine
it's that it's a bit rattling noisy at
low speeds also it's not quite as
efficient in the end sport model on
account of that course slightly
different from bumper design and larger
wheels they're a sport model also gets
this three spoke smart multifunction
steering wheel which I do like
however it also comes with lowered
stiffened suspension which I don't like
so much because it does impair the ride
however that's largely irrelevant
because you're going to want to go for
the optional adaptive dampers to cost
you an extra thousand pounds because
without them this five series doesn't
drive as well as it can it's rather
telling the BMW doesn't actually have a
car without the adaptive dampers on its
press fleet and I'm quite surprised
actually sent us a car with a manual
gearbox because well the 6-speed manual
is okay I finally the action a little
bit springy and the pedals are offset
and anyway this car is so much better
with the brilliant 8-speed automatic
thing is that's going to cost you extra
once again and in this time it's going
to cost you 1700 pounds extra BMW and
their must-have options a georgium
so too will the fact that you have to
pay extra for fold-down rear seats their
standard on an Audi a6 which
incidentally has a slightly bigger boot
though to be fair not very much in car
storage spaces aren't exactly great
either and the side door bins certainly
don't pass the car buy a big bottle test
and then there's the back seats now you
actually got plenty of room look ed
rooms D CERN lots of new room as well
but overall I don't think it's quite as
comfortable in the back here as it is in
a Mercedes e-class and so that's gonna
be ever so slightly better for carrying
passengers regularly also you've got
large transmission tunnel which does
reduce the usefulness of this middle
seat but that's a problem on all these
type of executive cars actually despite
a few negative points out of all the
executive cars the BMW 5-series is still
the boss though its rivals do run it
pretty close in fact you can see a
review of the new Mercedes e-class by
clicking here or review the Audi a6 by
clicking here and of course as you watch
those don't forget to click on our logo
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