“The 5 Series, one of the most gifted cars to grace tarmac” That comment from a leading car magazine is I confirm, true I purchased a 523SE 2 years ago and have nothing but praise with it’s all round abilities. The quality of fit and finish is better than any other car I have ever owned. There is not a squeak or rattle anywhere, even travelling on rough rural roads.
The materials used in the cabin finish are of a very high standard. The whole dash area is driver orientated with the centre console angled slightly towards the driver. All the controls fall easily to hand and everything has a robust feel, the switches for example are solid and work in a defined manner. A nice touch is the Pin Light omitting a warm red glow down onto the centre console at night.
The boot is large enough for most and houses the spare under the floor. The
CD changer is also in the boot behind a removable panel, and a nice tool kit is fitted in the boot lid. The interior is spacious at the front; however, rear passengers are not catered for so well in the legroom department. Although legroom is forgotten when they sample the smoothness and quietness of this automobile.
The automatic gearbox changes without notice although sometimes it will go near the red line before changing up. My car has the steptronic version of auto box with the manual shift facility. I have to confess I hardly ever use it because there are only four gears in that mode, and the auto box achieves its task with so little effort.
Driving
BMW’s advert claim they are the “ultimate driving machines” and I would agree, This car is all about driving, one tends to take the long way around just to stay behind the wheel. The steering is just weighted enough to feel what the front wheels are doing. The car handles like a nimble sports car and is completely unaffected by bumps and bad road surfaces in fast corners. This car soaks up all road imperfections and tyre/road noise is negligible.
When you want, this car is a boulevard cruiser and the next minute, an out and out sports saloon. Why can’t other makers combine this outstanding compromise of ride quality and sportiness? When pushing hard on country roads you can feel the tyres gripping the tarmac even in the wet. The whole package inspires confidence and one finds oneself travelling around corners at speeds – well you know!
Costs
Surprisingly cheap, fuel consumption averages just over the 30-mpg mark, nil oil consumption. Tyre wear is amazingly slow. There is 27,000 miles on my current set of tyres and there is still 6mm of tread all round. My BMW is very kind to its tyres even after using its handling potential. Insurance is the one area where I was surprised. All the talk was of premiums running at the £700 to £800 mark. The fully comprehensive premium with the Halifax cost me £385 I could not believe it either!
Servicing
My 5 Series is reasonably cheap to live with. The servicing requirements depend on how the car is driven and my experience of mostly motorway and A road driving has led to service intervals of 13,000 miles or thereabouts. As the car calculates its own servicing needs I would expect town driving would require more frequent maintenance. An oil service costs about £120 and the car always come back washed and vacuumed.
The car requires an oil service, then an inspection 1, then an oil service and finally an inspection 2 in that order. The oil service is just that, a change of oil and filter and a general check over the whole car. The inspection 1 is a more thorough maintenance visit and inspection 2 is the big one. BMW dealers offer 4Plus servicing on cars over 4 years old and it offers a discount of 10%. For my own part I always use main dealers for servicing as they know the car and carry most spares.
Faults
It’s a sad fact of life that all things mechanical will have faults. My 5 Series has done 67,000 miles, in that time, a rear wheel bearing has been changed, a occupancy sensor for the front passenger seat has been renewed and the gearbox oil cooler has also been changed. My local dealer also renewed a rear suspension component because it had a worn bush. All the above items were done under BMW’s Excellent warrant scheme at no cost to me. I drive my car very hard and am totally satisfied with the reliability.
Summary
I am told by those in the know that if you buy a 5 series, it should have for this class of car at least air conditioning, leather interior and auto gearbox. The option list on any BMW is massive and no two cars will be the same. My car has park distance control, electric sunroof, electric seats and is dechromed Cosmos Black.
All such extras have their usefulness particularly, the Parking Sensors and will have them all on any new car. After my term with the 5 Series, there is no doubt I will stay with the brand and also another 5, possibly a diesel, the 530D look promising. This car is so easy to live with and use and I can see why the motoring press fell in love with it.
A colleague of mine had to move my car across our works car park, after which he commented “you nearly did not get yours keys back tonight” He was so impressed with the car he wanted to keep it. That sums the 5 Series up.
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