BMW 530e 2017 Review - International

Whether you consider plug-in technology no more than a stop gap or scorn the driving characteristics, there’s no denying that electric vehicles with their own on-board power generation are sophisticated and fascinating examples of necessity mothering invention.

It’s why I never hold back from driving a plug-in, even though the driving can be anodyne unless you get off on the ‘winky-blinky’ dashboard telemetry and the strategy of driving for optimal energy efficiency.

For the international launch of the BMW 5 Series plug-in – officially named the 530e iPerformance – the manufacturer proffered test vehicles for a route that took us from Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, back to Munich via the picturesque Chiemsee.

Once again this drive program proved that I am destined to be paired with drivers who show no respect for a manufacturer's best plug-in hybrid engineering efforts.

Rather than drive the 530e in an anally-retentive, energy-saving way that early adopters who buy the 530e will likely do for the first week of ownership before becoming bored, we drove the 530e like 'typical dumb Aussies' who don't give much of a damn for the last word in German eco-engineering magic.

We set it to 'Auto e-Drive' in BMW's parlance, leaving the 530e to its own devices for the optimal use of battery power and (petrol) engine performance.

The peaks and troughs of elevation

The drive program took us up a steep Bavarian mountain about 500 metres above our starting point. By the time the 530e reached the top about 5km of our EV range had already been squandered, since my co-driver harboured no qualms about calling on the petrol engine for added torque on the steeper grades.

We had been told that the 530e would reach the summit in 'Max e-Drive' – electric-only drive that resorts to petrol power for events like emergency overtaking. Our BMW adviser also informed us that Max e-Drive all the way to the summit would be a pretty time-consuming way of getting there, since the car's speed on some grades would drop back to 60 or 70km/h.

So we went with the one-size-fits-all auto mode. On the way down the other side, the 530e's regenerative braking recovered a lot of the electrical energy lost during the climb. According to the sophisticated instrumentation, the car had started with 38km battery range, which fell back to 33km at the top of the mountain, but recovered and improved to 42km by the time we'd reached the base of the mountain.

The 530e was quiet on the open roads and autobahns, topping speeds of up to 140km/h without any drama, occasionally even dropping back into electric/regenerative modes for lower fuel consumption while 'coasting'. On country roads it overtook with little difficulty when the petrol engine supplemented the electric motor's torque. At no stage did overtaking call for more than about half 'throttle',

By the time we stopped for lunch, the 530e had covered 130km in total, of which 60.1km was travelled solely by means of flowing electrons. Despite those couple of occasions blasting past slower cars during the drive program the 530e finished up using just 5.8L/100km: six-cylinder performance from a sub-six (litres per 100km) car.

Refined integration of petrol engine

The petrol engine is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder with a twin-scroll turbocharger. It generally restarts and cuts out with little aural or tactile evidence. The restarting is seamlessly free of vibration. From the driver's seat you'll hear the engine running under load rather than feel it. With a sporty four-cylinder tone to it, the engine only becomes noticeably audible when it's working harder and higher in the rev range. Mostly it sits between 1000 and 2000rpm, subtly keeping the battery pack charged.

The 530e provides a generally good driving position, although I found the seat shaping less than ideal for me. BMW is nothing if not committed to keeping the driver fully informed of what the 530e is doing when you select different driving modes – or more usually, when the car selects its own driving modes and lets you know after the fact. Like other hybrids in the market, the 530e has a graphic display that shows you the energy flow in different driving circumstances.

The instrumentation in front of the driver changes with different driving modes, and in the standard Auto e-Drive mode the tachometer display changes to indicate when the petrol engine is generating electric power on the overrun. This is apparent by the tacho needle sitting in a light blue range up to 2000rpm when the engine is contributing to regenerative braking. As soon as the driver pushes down on the pedal, the blue range fades out to indicate the engine is consuming fuel once more.

The 530e is full of tricky little telemetric features like that.

Endless drive programs

A 530e owner could spend 15 minutes in the driveway optimising the car's drivetrain before setting off. As with other BMWs, the 530e offers an Eco-Pro mode, which was actually more impressive in the plug-in application than I've found it to be in conventional four-cylinder BMWs.

There are also (customisable) Sport and normal Driving Experience modes, plus the three plug-in drivetrain modes: Auto e-Drive, Max e-Drive and Battery Control. The first of these modes is the default; a mode that keeps it simple for the driver and lets the machine take all the hassle out of driving for maximum efficiency.

Max e-Drive keeps the car running in an electric-only state until the battery charge is depleted. And Battery Control brings in the petrol engine as the sole source of motive power, simultaneously charging the battery. The driver can elect a 'battery charge target' – up to 100 per cent in anticipation of a long drive home on battery power, or less than 100 per cent to conserve fuel.

The old switcheroo for fuel tank and battery pack

That bugbear of hybrids, boot capacity, looks a bit stingy in the 530e. But it is golf bag-compatible, boasting 410 litres. The smaller-capacity fuel tank (just 46 litres in the 530e) resides further forward in the boot, and the battery pack is located under the back seat where the fuel tank is located in conventional 5 Series variants. Little wonder the 530e boasts a weight distribution of 48:52.

BMW has cleverly configured the boot with a flat floor that can be lowered in one section towards the rear for added boot space. It's very easy to use and provides a perfectly flat floor for manhandling bulkier and heavier items into place, or, by lowering the floor, the boot can accommodate a larger volume of smaller items – and not necessarily have them rolling around the boot completely unrestrained. The concealed section also features two smaller subsections, one at each side with nets to hold really small items in place.

Steering was as light as one might expect of a large, luxury sedan, but the 530e was still enjoyably driveable.

The quiet Continental tyres were not runflats. Ride comfort in any Driving Experience setting was pleasing, and it's easy to arrive at the conclusion that the winter tyres contribute to that.

For the drive program, BMW also supplied an M550i xDrive – a car that isn't coming to Australia.

Basically BMW's equivalent to the Mercedes-AMG E 43, the M550i is the very archetype of a velvet sledgehammer. Silky smooth and more than powerful enough for most buyers, it's a wonderful, utterly anti-green addition to the motoring landscape. And we won't see it here in Australia. It's built in left-hand drive only.

As good as the 530e is, it's not as strikingly satisfying as the M550i. But it is a completely functional luxury sedan for the environmentally-aware buyers of the 21st Century.

2017 BMW 530e iPerformance pricing and specifications:
Price: TBC
On sale: July
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Motor: Synchronous with lithium-ion battery
Output: 185kW/420Nm (combined)
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 1.9L/100km (NEDC Combined)
CO2: 44g/km (NEDC Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2014)

Related reading:
>> BMW 330e 2016 Review
>> BMW X5 xDrive40e 2016 Review