Sunday, February 7, 2010

BMW 5 Series - getting heavier and heavier

BMW has recently presented its new 5 Series sedan. The BMW 5 Series is very important for BMW as this is the car that is widely used as company car, not just in Germany but often also in the UK, Switzerland and other countries. Failing to meet the requirements and taste of potential buyers would mean to put the company on risk basically. Well, if you look at the new car, BMW has done a good job and didn't take any risks really. Of course the car got bigger as it has over the last series too, but it also got quite a bit heavier, basically 100 kg more than its predecessor. Having owned a number of these cars myself (E60, E39 and E34) I am not too pleased with this weight gain. Already the E60 was quite heavy, especially with the Diesel 6 cylinder engine and 4x4 set-up, it actually felt a bit like a truck to drive. Previous series were lighter and also smaller, my E39 had a petrol 6 cylinder 3.5 engine and the E34 came even with the small 8 cylinder engine. All the cars I owned were showing quite well what was possible in their period and the new one will continue this story. What once more is impressive with the new car is how fuel efficient even such a heavy car can be, at least when you apply the official standards (i.e. ECE standards). And as always the 5 Series opens the world of luxury to (rich) drivers with the accessories and goodies coming from the 7 Series, but all at a price. The fact that a well equipped BMW 5 Series scratches 70 to 100'000 € is probably not really fitting to the recession times we just try to overcome.

3 comments:

lupoch said...

Series are migrating upward size- and equipment-wise.
So the current Audi A4 (B8) has roughly the same size, inner space (and weight) as an A6 of two generations ago (C5). Likewise, the new 5-series is very much comparable to the E38 7-series (also price-wise...).
So if someone is looking for the same "category" as a E34 5-series, it's probably the current 3-series to look at...

Bruno von Rotz said...

Well, it's true that the lines migrate upwards, but I am not sure it's what customers want. And, I hope you don't want to sell me a 1 Series BMW as a replacement for my 3 Series ...

lupoch said...

Well, you tell me:
3-series E36 (1991-2000) had a wheelbase of 270 cm (1-series: 266), a length of 443 cm (1-series: 424), a boot of 435 l (330), and the 318i had a weight of 1'240 kg (118i: 1'265 kg)...
To match your current 3-series I fear you'll have to wait until the next or over-next 1-series generations...