BMW 520i Luxury Line 2018 Review

In a market that is top-heavy with SUVs, large luxury sedans might not count for an awful lot in terms of sales. But they do contribute plenty – compared to less-expensive cars existing in ultra price-sensitive segments – in terms of unit profits.

BMW’s 5 Series, which has been with us since the early 1970s, doesn’t rate high on the Bavarian company’s top-seller list. In fact the seventh-generation G30 5 Series, on year-to-date figures, sits as the ninth best-selling BMW.

But with 473 examples sold so far this year (to July 2018), the large BMW is in second spot in the $70,000-plus large-car market segment, behind the Mercedes-Benz E-Class which recorded 905 sales during the same period. The 5 Series comes in ahead of Audi’s A6 (183 sales) and, perhaps surprisingly, Maserati’s fourth-ranked Ghibli which, at the time of writing, had scored 140 year-to-date sales.

As it stands, the BMW 5 Series is about as high-tech as you’ll find within the company portfolio. It builds off the same platform as the bigger 7 Series and takes on board a lot of the technology too, including the company’s newest semi-autonomous driving systems.

The latest BMW 5 Series to benefit from this technology is also the price-leader in the range: The 520i sedan launched locally in mid 2017 to unseat the 520d diesel as the entry-level 5 Series.

Currently tagged at $89,990 before on-road costs ($3000 less than the 520d), the 520i runs a 135kW/290Nm version of the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder employed in the 530i (185kW/350Nm), channelling it through BMW’s eight-speed auto gearbox.

The new platform means 5 Series measurements are stretched in all directions, though not by a lot. Overall length grows from 4899mm to 4936mm, the wheelbase is up from 2968mm to 2975mm and width increases from 1850mm to 1868mm, yet weight has dropped, by as much as 95kg depending on variant.

A lot of this has come about not just because of the new platform, but also through the use of aluminium for the bonnet, front side panels, roof, doors and boot lid. The 5 Series is way less porky – to the tune of almost 300kg – than its chief German rivals (the BMW 520i is quoted at 1486kg tare weight and the Mercedes-Benz E200 at 1780kg tare) and, though it might not look it, it’s also bigger in every dimension than the E-Class.

The 520i ticks most of the safety boxes: Autonomous emergency braking in forward and reverse, lane-departure warning and lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring with active assist, rear cross-traffic alert and all-round cameras that play a part in the also-standard self-parking capability. There’s more too, which will be mentioned a bit later.

Even though it’s the entry-level BMW 5 Series, the 520i presents appropriately for a ninety-grand sedan. It comes to Australia in Luxury Line form as the starting point – it can be optioned with the M Sport package – and is trimmed out in Dakota leather along with niceties such as power-adjusted front seats (and steering column), BMW’s

Professional sat-nav system, wireless phone charging, LED headlights, head-up display, a 12-speaker sound system, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and iDrive 6, which is the latest iteration of the company’s intuitive driver interface system. The only really notable omission is the lack of heating for the front seats.

The cabin is bigger than before too, generous with legroom up back – if a little tight on rear-seat footroom – and offering plenty of head and shoulder room on comfy, supportive seats. The boot offers a solid 530 litres of loading space that can be augmented by a 40:20:40 split-fold rear seat.

Whether it’s perceived as a good thing or not, the BMW 520i, especially in white, is not visually an eye-popper. The style is clean, non-challenging and tends to disappear into the background. That said, even the base 520i does exude an unmistakable air of class.

Choose a more dramatic colour, and option-up the wheels from the base 18-inch alloys and it would be something different altogether.

Inside it’s pretty much the same story, in some ways revealing the 5 Series’ home-country status as a family sedan, albeit an upmarket one. The dash is classy and clean to a fault, with tendencies towards minimalism.

One thing that’s immediately noticeable about the 5 Series is that it’s easy to learn.
From the iDrive controller in the centre console to the steering wheel switches looking after cruise control settings, phone operation, and menu-flicking, it’s all very intuitive and quickly understood.

BMW has invested a lot of time in honing its iDrive system (which has been around since 2001) and has it pretty well nailed today.

It’s a lesson in how best to enable auxiliary function operations without distracting driver attention away from the road. Operating the sat-nav, for example, is done via the easily-reached, ergonomically-tactile iDrive controller adjacent to the gearshift lever that identifies the chosen function by feel, rather than calling on target-practice skills.

The 520i subscribes to the small-capacity, turbo engine philosophy as an effective way of combining performance with economy and low emissions. Though many of us pine for the sweet six-cylinder drone that once characterised most BMWs, there’s no denying the actual abilities of the 2.0-litre turbo four.

Naturally not as smooth as the BMW sixes, it’s nevertheless pretty quiet and distant in the 5 Series, helped in power delivery by the car’s light weight and the early – 1350rpm – arrival of its 290Nm torque peak. It works well with the intuitively-shifting eight-speed auto gearbox which can be augmented by using the 520i’s standard shift paddles.

And it’s economical: Our reading of 7.2L/100km was short of the claimed 6.2L/100km but there aren’t too many large, luxury sedans – short of hybrids such as the BMW 530e – that would equal it. Interestingly, the significantly punchier 530i model is quoted with equal consumption and (141g/km) CO2 figures to the 520i.

Despite the lack of adaptive damping that comes a step up the ladder (530i), the 520i acquits itself well on the road with appropriately low cruising-speed noise levels, neat, sharp handling/roadholding and an excellent ride that’s helped by the extended wheelbase which, at 2975mm approaches a full three metres. This is longer than both the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (2939mm) and Audi A6 (2912mm) – and longer than a BMW 7 Series from 2001.

BMW’s latest semi-autonomous driving technology is notably effective too: With a combination of front-mounted and four side radar systems, plus a stereo camera, the 520i’s steering and lane control assistant will keep to the chosen lane with smooth accuracy, to the point that BMW claims it will hold its own for as long as 30sec without driver intervention. A potentially risky business, I reckon, but indicative of how well the system works.

The 520i also gets the all-speeds adaptive cruise control that will bring it to a full halt in traffic, as well as front cross-traffic and cross-roads warning. And it maintains the chosen cruise speed up hill and down dale through gentle intervention of the brakes when needed.

A well-refined, comfortable all-round luxury car, the BMW 520i, to many, is a lot more than initial appearances suggest – especially when you consider it’s actually slightly bigger than the 2001 BMW 7 Series in all dimensions except overall length (it’s 48mm shorter). Mid-level executives are today getting the same treatment as CEOs of the past.

Combine this with the astonishing safety and comfort technologies that are now included as standard, plus the dramatic improvements in fuel economy and exhaust emissions that have been achieved without sacrificing performance, and you come to realise just how good the bog-standard BMW 520i actually is. Especially if you order it in any colour other than basic white. Or at least specify a set of 19-inch alloy wheels.

How much does the 2018 BMW 520i Luxury Line cost?
Price: $89,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinderturbo-petrol
Output: 135kW/290Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 6.2L/100km (ADR Combined); 7.2L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 141g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP (2017)