We review the BMW 5 series to see if it deserves the top gong at the What Car Awards
IMAGINE turning up for your first day at a new job, having already been given the "employee of the month" prize.
That is more or less what the latest BMW 5 Series has done.
In January it was handed top gong at the What Car? Car of the Year Awards.
But only a handful of journalists had been in it and certainly no members of the public.
This week, two months after being labelled Car of the Year, the full crop of British Press got to play with the big Beamer on the roads of Spain.
I was as suspicious of the 5 Series as I would be of the new guy in the office who has already got the Amazon vouchers for being an outstanding geezer without doing a day graft. But, to my utter annoyance, the award is deserved.
The new 5 Series has hit a sweet spot which other executive motors just can't reach.
The main blight of smana large, travelling salesmantype motors is, like a lot of travelling salesmen, they are bloody bland.
All the swathes of babybum soft leather, lightningfast conn-ectivity and adaptive cruise control can't mask the fact that the driving experience is about as exhilarating as a bar crawl with Dot Cotton.
Not the 520d. No, sir. BMW calls this the "business athlete" and as pretentious as that is, it is fitting.
Key facts: BMW 520D
- Price: £36,025 Engine: 2.0 litre diesel
- Economy: 68.8mpg 0-62mph: 7.5 seconds
- Top speed: 146mph
- Length: 4.9m
- CO2: 108g/km
- Tap-dancing grasshopper
It handles with the intensity of a much lighter car, turning in crisply on bends and flicking out of the apex as light-footed as a tap-dancing grasshopper.
The lighter nose of the 520d gives it an advantage over its beefier brother, the 530d, in this area.
But if it is off-the-line punch that gets you hot and bothered, the 530d is the better option.
The improved handling is down to a 100kg weight loss over the outgoing model, making it the lightest in its class. Hours spent in the wind tunnel has also reduced drag by ten per cent.
BMW is proud of how quiet it is as a result but I beg to differ.
The wind noise from the wing mirrors at high speed is annoyingly profound, although road rumble is kept to a minimum — especially if you paid three grand extra for the M Sport kit, boosting the alloys to 18in and adding fancy suspension.
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The shorter springs and stiffer dampers on the M Sport are also responsible for the sublime handling.
Then there's that 190bhp 2.0-litre diesel engine. It purrs along with the raspy hiss of a much more powerful petrol lump, with bundles of midrange power at the tip of your toes, thanks to the 400NM of torque. Sixth gear in the eight-speed 'box feels like fourth and overtaking the Spanish combine harvesters was a true thrill.
New BMWs are now very focused on autonomous driving but only if you are prepared to dig deep in the optional extras pack.
Think about how much you need your car to do before being tempted to start hiking the price tag.
This car is fun to drive, so why would you want it to drive for you?