The BMW 5 series is a family sized luxury vehicle that is suited to many when it comes to size and price. The new BMW 5 series is more athletic with its wider BMW grille and LED lights. Fancy technology such as the BMW hand gesture control and BMW intelligent personal makes it an exciting experience navigating the BMW 5 series. The digital instrument cluster found in the BMW is a sheer delight to the drivers eye and a wide touch screen display in the center enhances the experience in a big way inside the BMW 5 series.
The BMW 5 series starts at a price of AED 242,000(inclusive VAT) which is the 520i. The model you see in review is the BMW 530i with M-Sport package priced at AED 303,000 inclusive of 5% VAT. Both are 4 cylinder vehicles and fuel efficient. All BMW cars come with 5 years/100,000kms (whichever comes first) BMW Service Inclusive Package and 5 years/200,000kms (whichever comes first) BMW Repair Inclusive Package.
BMW 530i Sedan Specification:
- Four-cylinder in-line petrol engine
- Eight-speed Steptronic transmission
- Output: 185 kW/252 hp
- Torque: 350 Nm (258 lb-ft) at 1,450 – 4,800 rpm.
- Acceleration [0 – 100 km/h (62 mph)]: 6.4 seconds (6.3 seconds),
- Top speed: 250 km/h [155 mph] (250 km/h [155 mph]).
The first captivating item on the front would be it’s signature BMW kidney grille which is now wider. One of the specialty of the BMW grille would be the automatic opening and closing of the air vents inside it. So if you look carefully inside the chrome grille, you would find the air vents closing and opening while you switch on and off the vehicle. The LED lights are now slimmer and if you opt for the lazer technology then you will see a blue shade inside the front headlights. The rear lights have a black border which makes them stand out and absolutely love the red rear lights on this model.
The M sport package does make an impact with it’s badge and branding on the vehicle, you can very well see it inside and outside the vehicle.
Some of the visible highlights of M Sport package:
- 20-inch BMW Individual Aerodynamic Wheels in bi-colour design, Edition inlay with “M Sport Edition” lettering
- M Sport braking system incl. blue-painted callipers with M logo
- M leather steering wheel.
- M footrest.
- M-specific pedals.
- M door sill plates.
- Interior trim strips in aluminium Rhombicle Smoke Grey with accent trim strip in Pearl-effect Chrome.
- M badge for front side panel, on left and right in chrome.
Once you are inside the vehicle, you can literally smell leather. Be it seats, side of the door, the armrest or under the cockpit you, it’s all wrapped by thick leather. This particular nappa leather is highlighted on the inside and creates a great contrast with the existing glossy black interiors. The buttons available on the door are all aluminium finish with speakers covered in metal. The sound coming out of the speakers are excellent and you will enjoy every inch of music. Memory seats can also be set for 2 drivers. Every posture of the front seats can be electronically adjusted including the head rest. Although the seats are wrapped by thick leather, I wouldn’t call it the most comfortable seats. Felt the seat was lacking the ergonomic support for the back even after all the adjustments.
The leather steering wheel has a badge M imprint as part of the M sport theme. The steering wheel has a chunky feel to it. What catches the drivers eye would be the beautiful looking instrument cluster. It’s completely digital and the quality of display is commendable. The speedometer accents will also change based on the driving mode you choose. Between the two speedometer you have the real time map. The head up display is advanced and will show you navigation, speed and radio channels as you play them. Wireless charging come as standard and you don’t have to worry about slipping from the wireless sweet spot as the phone is tightly contained into the charging space, iphone 11 just made it so I doubt if a bigger phone like the max can be accommodated.
You can be a magician inside this BMW by impressing your passengers with hand gesture controls to change volume, stations, switch on/off media etc. It can also be used to pick calls and adjust rear view mirror. I personally prefer to use the shortcut buttons available on the steering wheel as it’s more precise and quicker. You can also integrate the screen with apple play or android. I tried with apply play and you can easily pair it with bluetooth. Using google maps has been easy and really a pleasure to have it available on this big center screen. All the other compatible apps will also appear from your phone to the center screen.
I found the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant to be more useful than the hand gesture feature. You can use Intelligent Personal Assistant to set navigation, climate control, vehicle condition, phone calls and entertainment by just speaking to the vehicle. For example I can change the ambient light in the car just by asking the Personal Assistant to change it for me. This way, the driver doesn’t need to visit or click different sub menus to change the ambient lighting, instead it all happens by simply asking the vehicle to do so. Similarly you can ask the Intelligent Personal Assistant when is the service due, time, tire pressure, change to a specific radio station etc. The BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant is initiated by either saying ‘hey, hi or hello BMW’. You can also change the name from BMW to some other name you want. It listens well and so it’s able to make changes as instructed. There is a slight delay for it to respond to your voice command, it should get quicker in the future.
There is lot of safety features. Parking is a piece of cake, with all cameras around the vehicle. I like how the camera automatically positions itself to show you the top view, side view, rear and front view. A real time 3d visualization of your car is displayed on screen when you are parking your vehicle which makes parking so easy and impressive to see the technology in complete use. The car is equipped with other safety features such as the lane departure warning and lane return function which actually pulls your steering wheel back into lane when it finds you drifting of the lane. The safety features can also be customized to individual preference, so you are not annoyed with uninterested warnings and interuptions while you drive.
The default illumination light for the controls by default is orange. There is also an ambient lighting in the vehicle which can be changed to different colors and also can have a combination of two different lights at the same time. You can use the BMW intelligent personal assistant to change these ambient lighting by just telling the vehicle.
There is space for 2 people in the rear. Being a rear wheel drive, there is a big hump on the back side so ideally it’s perfect for two people. The leather armrest can be folded down with 2 handy cup holders for the rear passengers. The drivers armrest will split open and has a decent space to store your handy accessories. There is also a usb port available inside the armrest. The boot space is quite good and is as expected. There is also 2 USB-C ports available for the rear passengers along with space provided to keep their phones while they charge their phones. The cords will be hanging around, there isn’t any efficient design for cord management. Love the M lining on the key fob which make it look cooler.
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