BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo due March

BMW is bringing its 5 Series Gran Turismo to market at the end of next month. The new model is a car providing some of the virtues of an SUV without the compromises of that type of vehicle. Those virtues include ease of entry/exit and 'semi-command' driving position, as well as useful luggage-carrying capacity.

Due to go on sale locally March 27, the new model fills a barely visible gap in BMW's local range between the 5 Series, the larger 7 Series and the X5/X6 SUVs.

The 5 Series Gran Turismo -- rear-wheel drive-only -- is built on a short-wheelbase 7 Series platform, yet is arguably a model range in its own right. In length, it's 16cm longer than the current (E60 generation) 5 Series and 7cm shorter than the F01/02 7 Series. In height, it's 8cm higher than the '7', but 21cm lower than the X5. Despite that difference in height, the 5 Series Gran Turismo offers headroom identical to the X5's, BMW claims.

BMW thus appears to be positioning the car as an upmarket alternative to the conventional 5 Series range, also offering more versatility and 7 Series-style presence on the road and around town. In addition to common BMW styling cues, the 5 Series Gran Turismo is unique in adopting frameless windows and a 'reinterpreted' Hofmeister kink.

The 'Gran Turismo' moniker is intended by BMW to promote the new car's power, combined with more space and comfort for long-distance journeys -- to distinguish it from a sports car. Probably the four passenger doors, the higher ground clearance and the large, tailgate-equipped luggage compartment serve that purpose also.

"At first glance, BMW's model range may appear to be complete as it is," said Toni Andreevski, BMW's PR & Corporate Communications Manager, introducing the new car to the local press. But he wasn't finished there. His following remarks addressed the company's purpose in developing the 5 Series Gran Turismo.

"BMW's breaking new ground, establishing a new segment -- and just as importantly, showing entrepreneurial courage. BMW's leading the way in our industry. We have no doubt that there is a market for this kind of vehicle concept."

How much of a market is unassessed, of course. BMW doesn't really want to talk numbers, but anticipates as few as 120 to 140 units to be imported and put up for sale in the first year. Without a direct competitor in the market already, BMW is unable to draw upon a rival's experience with demography to suggest who will be buying the 5 Series Gran Turismo. However, the suspicion is that buyers will be those who are no longer enchanted by larger SUVs and the kids that prompted the move to a larger vehicle in the first place may have moved out.

"There are customers who desire a vehicle which can adapt to their various needs, in their different life situations -- a vehicle which is both elegant and presentable for business purposes, whilst fulfilling all travel and leisure needs," says Andreevski.

The Carsales Network asked the BMW spokesman whether, given the car's 7 Series influences, the temptation was there to associate the car more closely with the flagship model, rather than the 5 Series.

"That's something people will have to decide for themselves," he responded. "If you look at the product -- the substance of the car -- it's somewhere in between 5 and 7. It was decided to call it '5 Series Gran Turismo', just to help customers get their head around where it sat in the model lineup."

"The car clearly sits between both."

And BMW is running out of numbers, as one wag put it.

With Audi expected to introduce the A7 at Geneva next month, the 5 Series GT, a very similar type of vehicle, has a head start on the Audi. It also has a head start on BMW's own F10-platform 5 Series range due here around mid-year. The 'low 5' and the 'high 5' will share some engine options.

BMW's 'progressive activity sedan', as the 5 Series GT is known internally, will reach us in a three-level range comprising the base 530d diesel model priced at $143,400, the 535i mid-ranger at $151,400 and the flagship 550i at $192,900.

Andreevski conceded that if a prospective buyer wanted a diesel-engined GT with all the accoutrements fitted as standard in the 550i, BMW would endeavour to provide the buyer such a car.

"If a customer walked in and said 'I want a diesel, but I would like to have anything that a 550 buyer can have', we're not in a position to be saying 'no' to our customers."

The customer should be aware though, that anything ordered and built specifically by the factory, could take as long as three to four months to deliver.

As the base model, the 530d GT is powered by the same 3.0-litre turbodiesel six from the 730d, developing 180kW of power, 540Nm of torque and peeling off a 0-100km/h time in 6.9 seconds. In combined-cycle testing, the 530d GT uses 6.9L/100km of fuel.

Also an inline six, the petrol engine powering the 535i GT is claimed by BMW to be a world first, combining turbocharging with direct injection and the company's own Valvetronic control system. It is making its Aussie debut in the 535i GT, but will also be offered in the upcoming 5 Series, due around June.

Unlike the twin-turbo 3.0-litre six in current model BMWs, the new turbo six makes do with just the one turbo, but with twin-scroll induction. Power and torque (225kW and 400Nm) are the same as for the older engine, but torque peaks at 1200rpm -- barely off idle. Fuel consumption is also improved as a consequence of the Valvetronic system. The combined-cycle figure is 8.9L/100km, but the car also has the grunt to reach 100km/h from a standing start in 6.3 seconds. Confusingly, this engine is still classified as a 'TwinPower' unit, but is not a twin-turbo engine.

The V8 fitted to the 550i is the same engine already introduced with the current 7 Series. It develops 300kW of power and 600Nm of torque, for an acceleration time of 5.5 seconds to 100km/h and a combined-cycle fuel consumption figure of 11.2L/100km. All engines are Euro V-compliant and feature High-Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI).

In Germany, there is a lean-burn six with HPDI, but our market, with its relatively high level of sulphur content is unsuitable for such an engine, but BMW advises that the turbocharging of the HPDI engines with Valvetronic in this market make that issue academic anyway.

The engines all drive through ZF's new eight-speed automatic transmission, which features overdrive ratios for 7th and 8th, a direct drive ratio in 6th and underdriven ratios for the other gears. From the auto box, torque is transferred to the rear wheels, suspended by a multi-link IRS system featuring aluminium members and air springs.

At the front, the suspension is a double-wishbone system with steel springs and aluminium components. Steering in standard form is a Servotronic (computer-controlled) hydraulic-assisted rack-and-pinion set-up. BMW has specified single-piston calipers front and rear, acting on vented discs all around. The rotors fitted to the 530d and 535i measure 348x36mm at the front and 345x24mm at the rear, whereas the V8-engined 550i features rotors measuring 374x36mm at the front and 370x24mm at the rear.

Comfort and convenience features fitted as standard across the range include: Cruise control with braking, High-beam Assistant, front/rear Park Distance Control, rear-view camera, fog lights, trip computer, panoramic glass sunroof, electric front seat adjustment (incl. lumbar), leather-bound multi-function steering wheel, four-zone climate control, powered tailgate, iDrive with favourites buttons, six-disc DVD changer, USB-compatible audio and Bluetooth connectivity.

Over the 530d, the 535i also gains the following standard features: electro-chromatic (anti-glare) external/internal mirrors with fold-in function, front-seat heating, 10.2-inch centre fascia LCD screen (7-inch only for 530d) and voice control system.

The 550i adds to that: front-seat ventilation, front Comfort seats, electrically-powered sunblinds for the rear side windows, remote control alarm, 'Professional' audio system and analogue/digital TV tuner.

Safety features and driver's aids comprise: active front headrests, dual front airbags, side-impact airbags for front passengers, curtain airbags, Dynamic Braking Lights, stability control, traction control, ABS, Brake Assist, run-flat tyres, front seatbelt pretensioners/load limiters, cruise control with braking function, High-Beam Assistant, Head-Up Display, front/rear Park Distance Control, reversing camera, adaptive xenon headlights and rain-sensing wipers.

Adaptive Cruise Control is not available on the first cars shipped to Australia (from December/January production), but will be available in due course.

Radiator grille louvers in the famed 'kidneys' are black and chrome for the 530d GT and 535i GT or argent and chrome for the 550i GT. Other than the badging, the other way of distinguishing the different variants is the standard alloy wheel fitted: 18-inch for the 530d, 19-inch for the 535i (8.5Jx19 front, 9.5Jx19 rear) and 20-inch for the 550i (8.5Jx20 front, 10Jx20 rear).

The standard three-position rear seating can be manually adjusted up to 10cm fore and aft, also providing up to 33 degrees' recline. This configuration of seating is also available with seat-heating as an option. Buyers may choose to opt for the Comfort seating feature, which reduces the rear accommodation from three occupants to two, but with electric motor-drive adjustment (also operable from within the luggage compartment) and a recline angle of up to 40 degrees.

With the rear seats slid aft as far as they'll go, legroom is commensurate with that of the 7 Series and luggage capacity totals 440 litres. When positioned as far forward as possible, the rear seats still leave the same legroom as in a current model E60-generation 5 Series sedan, but the luggage capacity is expanded to 590 litres. The seats will also fold flat (without removing or readjusting the headrests), to provide 1700 litres of luggage volume in all.

BMW builds the 5 Series GT with a three-part folding partition, which seals the cabin from heat, sound and smells emanating from the boot. In this respect, the 5 Series GT is more like a sedan than a liftback.

Like Skoda's Superb and its twindoor facility -- but more of a "premium execution", says Andreevski -- the 5 Series GT features a two-mode tailgate, which opens as either a boot lid alone, or a full-length tailgate for the loading of bulkier items.

The "premium execution" bit lies in the BMW's two-button operation. Users can press the middle button under the logo for the boot lid alone to open (manually), or the button on the right side will open the whole tailgate (electrically powered).

As well as being powered, the tailgate's opening height can be adjusted to any one of five different settings through the iDrive controller, to allow for low-roofed garages, but that set height can also be manually overridden by pressing the 'max height' button on the tailgate itself if extra opening height is required at any stage.

If unlocked from the remote central locking key fob, only the boot lid will open with a short push, not the whole tailgate, but holding the button down will open the tailgate itself. Similarly, holding the close button down will resecure the tailgate. And what more fitting way to end a news article on any new car than with a literal sense of closure?

Keep a watch out for our launch review of the 5 Series Gran Turismo in the next few days.

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