2017 BMW 5-series India review, test drive

In the Balance

The new 5 is a massive leap forward in almost every area. It drives like a proper BMW to begin with. Performance is muscular, it handles with the fluency of a thoroughbred sports sedan, and control and feedback are so good, it constantly urges you to go faster and faster. And that’s a huge improvement over the earlier car, which, frankly, drove like anything but a BMW. The new 5 has also taken massive step forward on the inside. Quality levels are now easily best in class and it is lavishly kitted out, often as generously as cars from a class above, with some genuinely new bits of tech. Even the rear seat experience is good. 

The new 5, however, lacks the E-class’ single-minded focus on the rear seat and simply doesn’t have as much legroom. What the new 5 delivers though is a more rounded package. It successfully delivers the impression of being a barely shrunken-down 7-series, and that’s a huge accomplishment when you take a step back and look at just how far forward the new car has come. This brings us to the all-important question, which is the better car – the 5 or the E? Well, to know that we’ll have to get both cars on the road at the same time, price sheet and option lists in hand. And that can only happen once the new 5 is launched somewhere in June or July at an expected price of Rs 52-65 lakh. The battle of the titans is coming up.