BMW 530i Touring 2005 Review

7 DAY TEST

What we liked
>> Auto spilt rear tailgate
>> Sedan-like performance and refinement
>> Best looking 5 Series

Not so much
>> No full-sized spare
>> Rear seats don't fold flat
>> More than $33,000 worth of options fitted!

BOTTOMLINE: It's a wagon Jim, but not as we know it...

At first glance you could be forgiven for pitting Mercedes' Estates and BMW's Tourings head-to-head. However, while they might share a two-box silhouette, there's always been a substantial difference in the philosophy between the German rivals wagons. It's no more clearly demonstrated than with the arrival of BMW's latest Touring, the E61 530i.

While its E Class 'rival' is all about prodigious space (and if necessary carrying a swag of passengers), the 530i is much more the boutique wagon. No third row seating option and in feel, somehow, different... Not quite a 5 Series hatchback, think of it, perhaps, as the world's biggest 1 Series. Indeed, the E61 is not unlike a big, stretched 1 in profile. The (in)famous flame surfaced flanks seem to take on more drama in the Touring -- even without the optional M Sport package's deeper skirts and front and rear diffusers -- and the D-pillar uses the same abbreviated Hoffmeister kink. If you're a fan of things Bavarian you can't help but like it.

That's not to say the E61 is short on space. Like the 5 Series sedan, the Touring has grown in comparison to the previous model. There's more space in the load area and, as is the case in the 'donor' sedan, more room for front and rear seat passengers.

According to BMW, loading capacity ranges from 500 to 1615lt with the aforementioned rear seats folded. This is 90lt more than on the last 5 Touring -- more if you consider the E61 still uses a space-saver spare tyre - the only current 5 Series to do so. So what does this translate to? Again quoting BMW, with the rear seat occupied there's room for two large and two medium-sized hard-shell suitcases plus two travel bags. Alternatively, the boffins reckon four golf bags will fit easily.

Though BMW claims the floor of the luggage compartment is completely flat from front to rear and one side to the other, there's some protrusion from the 60:40 spiltfold rear seat which doesn't quite lie flat. That said there's a genuinely usuable 1100 x 1800mm of floor space thanks to the Touring's bespoke rear suspension which ensures there's no intrusion beyond the wheel arches. If anything it's the height of the load space that will inhibit some loads -- at just 700mm high, you'll have to lay the new plasma on its side to get it home...

Owners will likely appreciate the convenience of the automatic, split rear tailgate. In keeping with BMW touring heritage, the rear window flips open to allows access to the load area for small items. If the shopping or the spoils of war are bulkier, hit the button on the key-fob and the tailgate opens automatically (retracting the load area cover to boot!). Auto soft close (courtesy of 7 Series DNA) is via a backlit button on the soffit of the tailgate itself.

And still the load area goodies continue. There's two 'laptop' shallow underfloor compartments; the rearmost lockable and via the optional pop-up 'Storage Compartment Package' it can be configured to accommodate bottles of plonk and the like. In addition, elastic straps on each flank and foldaway load hooks are standard.

Move forward and you'd be forgiven for struggling to pick the difference between sedan and wagon. The days of boomy wagons with mind-numbing wind noise and rattly rear suspension are long gone and the 5 Touring is no exception. A scant 2mm longer than the sedan, the Touring's even easier to park thanks to the combination of clear sight lines, standard front and rear Park Distance Control and BMW's Active Steering - standard across the 5 Series range (excluding the M5). Just 90kg heavier than the sedan at 1590kg, there's little if any dulling of the performance.

The 530i Touring debuts alongside the new N52 lightweight inline sixes. Available in two variants -- a 160kW 2.5lt and the 190kW 3.0lt unit -- the latter will be the only powerplant offered in the Touring Down Under. For the record BMW offers 525i, 545i and two diesel engined variants of the wagon in Europe. Not surprisingly, the torque rich oilers account for more than half of the Tourings sold on the continent.

The new 3.0lt petrol engine is lighter, more powerful (20kW) and more fuel efficient than the much admired six it replaces. Noteworthy is the powerplants' use of lightweight magnesium alloy crankcases and the adoption of an electric water pump which BMW claims saves power and contributes to fuel savings.

BMW claims the mag-alloy crankcase delivers a weight saving of 24 per cent over a conventional alloy unit. Weighing in at 161kg, the new 3.0-litre straight-six engine is 10kg (7 per cent) lighter than its predecessor, making it one of the lightest six-cylinder engines in the world says the maker.

The 3.0lt's 190kW at 6650rpm tops its predecessor by 20kW. Maximum torque, though unchanged at 300Nm, is now available between 2500 and 4000rpm. In the case of the 530i Sedan, BMW claims fuel consumption is reduced from 9.9 to 9.3lt/100km. The touring's EU combined fuel figure is 9.5lt/100km.

No slouch, the 530i Touring boasts an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h (same as the Sedan) while it dispatches 0-100km/h acceleration time is just 6.9sec. That's 0.2sec slower than its sedan equivalent. It'll take a better tuned rear end than this tester's to tell the difference in the twisties between the two -- especially when the wagon is fitted with BMW's optional Dynamic Drive (as was our tester). The hefty $4950 option features hydraulically-controlled anti-sway bars to control body roll in corners. The result is as wieldy and well behaved as any saloon.

Like its Sedan equivalent the 5 Touring comes equipped with a swag of standard equipment. Active Steering, Dynamic Stability Control and Dynamic Traction Control, Anti-lock Braking System, Dynamic Brake Control, eight airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners, Brake Force Display and Tyre Puncture Warning System are all standard. So is the sort of comfort and entertainment equipment you'd expect from a $110,000-plus vehicle -- full leather, cruise control, rain-sensing wipers, power everything, cruise control six-CD in-dash changer, climate control, and so on.

Our test Touring came even more lavishly equipped with optional extras to the tune of a staggering $33,475 -- bringing the 'as tested' price to nearly $150K

The list included: Head-Up Display, Active Cruise Control, Front Comfort seats with heating and ventilation, Dynamic Drive, navigation and television, Bi-Xenon Adaptive headlights with washers, Bluetooth phone prep, alarm system. Twin-tilt and sliding X5-style Panorama glass roof, side blinds and towbar. In fact about the only thing it didn't have was the $4000 M Sport package comprising M Aerodynamic Package, 15mm-lower sport suspension, 18-inch alloy and 245/40 runflats, M Sport steering wheel and dress-up trims. Hmmm, must talk to BMW about that oversight...

Just under 4000km at an average speed over 90km/h and consumption better than 10lt/100km... The numbers would be pretty impressive even if they'd been recorded in a small hatch. The fact that they are the stats yielded by a full-size wagon lugging four adults and their luggage and three weeks of fashion and souvenir shopping the length of Italy and back, speaks volumes for the pace and efficiency of the modern performance diesel.

With petrol prices predicted to top the $1.30/lt mark Down Under it's little wonder every manufacturer who can is reviewing its diesel options. Promising (and delivering) 50-100 per cent improvements in fuel economy compared to petrol, the current crop of diesels are starting to make serious sense from a dollar and cents viewpoint. However, to be lumping the attraction of these powerplants solely into the economy sack is selling the modern turbo-diesel short... Way short.

Europeans long ago moved to diesels because of the economy they offered. Such was the exorbitant price of fuel that at first the masses were happy to put up with the sluggard performance, sooty visage and aural agriculturalness. Not to mention the less than alluring aroma.

Then as manufacturers came to improve their offerings, the buyers voted with their feet - and liras, francs and marks et al. Performance was the first to improve, via the adoption of turbo-diesels. Then came refinement, then more performance, more refinement and more recently pressure to clean up the emissions - both gaseous and aural. Diesels were no longer just for wagons and taxis. Indeed, in a relatively short space of time Euro-wielding consumers have come accept and expect smart coupes and cabrios and performance saloons, small and large, being delivered with compression ignition engines with real get up and go.

Large SUVs aside, we remain behind the curve - partly because of the artificially high price of distillate Down Under - but the cars that will change this state of affairs are now arriving. While Mercedes has quietly offered conventional oilers in its sedan and estates for some time, the French marques kicked off the current round of 'high profile' high-performance arrivals and announcements followed by VW and Audi. The latest to jump on the direct-injection turbo-intercooled train is BMW with the announcement that it will now offer its 5 Series saloon with a 3.0lt diesel.

Our chariot for the abovementioned Roman holiday was so-equipped. Serendipitous? Hardly, more than 80 per cent of the Tourings sold in Italy and more than half worldwide are diesel. Though delivered via a Touring body, our 530d gave us a real taste of what diesel 5 Series buyers will get when the car arrives later this year. And in our humble, it's all good.

The stats quoted above are real world - albeit on fast forward when it came to the, er, creatively, policed Autostrade. Our journey took us north from Milan to Lake Como before heading south to Rome, Naples, Reggio and across the Straits of Messina by ferry (diesel, of course!) to Sicily. Then it was time to back track via Italy's best kept secret, the Basilcata coast, then Tuscany, Firenza and finally back to Milan -- the sales were on, dontchaknow… The roads ranged from the impossibly narrow city centres of Sorrento and Cefalu that had us folding the mirrors for steerage, to the challenging coastal and lakeside switchbacks near Sapri in the south and Varenna up north. And then there were the racetr... er, autostrade.

Much of our time was on rolling two-laners - surprisingly representative of the roads we strike in Oz, albeit complete with impossibly picturesque villages and much, much better roadside cuisine. While the average speed we logged might be hard to match in over-policed Oz, the fuel economy figures won't be.

That said, it's not the trip computer numbers that are the story of 530d, rather the quality of the drive. Far from being a dull-witted, lugging oiler, this is a powerplant that's lusty and on its toes, ready for flight.

For the record, the 530d's peak power is 30kW's short of its petrol equivalent at 160kW. But while you may not have the 3.0i N52 petrol's 7000rpm or 190kW to play with (the 3.0d is redlined at 5000rpm) well-chosen gearing and more torque than a 545i - or for that matter a Gen 2 5.7lt Holden V8 - (try 480Nm at 2000rpm!), mean that urge both off the line and in the gears is immediate. Literally just a tweak of the right foot away.

Yep, BMW's 3.0lt petrol engine is a free-spinning wundermill but the 3.0d's better by almost any real world measure. Muscular flexibility should be its catchcry. Whether we needed to use a spilt-second opportunity a pass a tomato-laden Piaggio Ape three-wheeler (Italian for bee) on the tight Sicilian mountain roads or play with the big-boys (read: M6, A8, S600 and implausibly quick government-plated Lancia Themas) at 200km/h plus on the A1, it delivered in spades. Even in this going, 600km to a tank was a doddle.

There's a rich baritone note to the mill that's part race engine, part high-tech marine diesel. Think offshore racer, not ferry! Thde timbre's there for the driver to savour but never obtrusive. And any diesel rattle is isolated from the cabin. Indeed, it was almost a shock to realize on winding down my window to ask directions (in very, very bad Italian) that the noise reflecting from the walls in the narrow cobbled street was in fact coming from 'our' Beemer. One wag has already suggested the M5 sounds more like a diesel at start-up than the 530d!

And the only diesel smell you're likely to strike is at the service station. Italian diesel pumps are as grubby as their Aussie equivalents it seems. At least they offer throwaway plastic gloves. We paid an extra 10 Euro cents a litre and went to the full-service pumps! Remember them...

The 530d Touring swallowed our party of four adults with four bulging bags and then some, in comfort. A mid-spec model it was lacking some of the extra creature comforts Aussie 5 buyers get as standard equipment (electric seats, tailgate, high-spec stereo and nav) but none of the must haves. On Sport suspension, with wide alloys and with tinted windows it looked the part. We had no trouble getting road room in Sicily.

Four was comfortable though given the amount of miles we were doing five might have been tight. If pressed, after one 720km day (Maratea to Mannaioni) I'd say the rear seats could use a little more under-tush padding for all day comfort.

The luggage blind gave us some security, initially, and once the shoe boxes and designer bags began to mount up the full height, the luggage net some piece of mind. There's nothing worse than copping a Ferragamo in the back of the scone when braking hard for the inevitable autostrade roadworks.

Given the natural pairing of the diesel's mile munching abilities and the Touring's versatility - it's definitely a match for the saloon in dynamics, yet gives you more usage options - it's puzzling that BMW has chosen the 5 Series sedan alone to spearhead its diesel endeavours. Scared of the 530d Touring eating into lucrative X5 3.0d sales perhaps? More likely a case of not want to mix messages - this engine deserves to be sampled in a proper sporting saloon.

Yet I'm still hopeful the lacking of Touring d is for another reason altogether. Could it be the boys and girls at BMW Oz are saving the wagon's engine bay for the marque's diesel performance flagship - the twin sequential turbo 535d. With more torque and faster in-gear acceleration than an M5, 14sec quarter mile and better than 35mpg, could we witness the arrival Down Under of the world's most practical supercar...