BMW 5 Series

Rudolf Diesel to be much less dead, teleport to the 21 century, and take a quick tour of the BMW 535d, it would surely give themselves a pat on the back inventorly. This engine may be the largest demonstration yet of the creation of Diesel, a couple of terror stuffed with a set of vital statistics that defy logic, science, and probably a lot of other things too.

The 3.0-liter twin-turbo six-cylinder, redesigned large for the sixth generation of 5 series, now produces 295bhp and a whopping 442 foot pounds of torque, good for 0-62 mph time of 5.7 seconds - only one second behind BMW M5 own - but the economy of 45mpg and emissions of CO2 of just 162g/km. In a large heavy luxury car, it ... false. BMW is rolling a cheeky fiver to someone in the regulation of emissions from office, or one of its engineers have discovered some new law of physics.

It 'a strange thing. At least the big, high-speed diesel engines for some of the speed of sound warning accumulating. But the 535d, with eight reports box on the car '- the only transmission, and at least two of the new reports, if necessary - simply floats along the hole on the powerful torque at low revs, just topping 2000 rpm, all while throwing to the figures triple, and difficult to discuss Her Majesty the law enforcement community. Real world, the real driving on the road, raise the 535d (now discontinued) M5 very close indeed: you have to work with M5 V10 is hard to find the weak point, but the performance of the 535d is exactly where you want, in a terrible, a set of easy. Super Saloon with speed 40mpg economy? Why not?

But that does not exist, at least in the car, we tried, just out proper sports sedan. Our 535d is equipped with optional BMW adaptive dampers, which, despite their clear setting, yet offer the very best of pure passive from the beginning. It 'a problem aggravated by active control, which - although heavy - feels a bit' artificial. We have not yet tried passively damped 535d: It will be interesting to see if it offers a little honesty 'and more agility.

And then, "could do better" in the column. Yes, £ 45 000 discount on the price of our test machine is steep, especially when you can get a 530D - iteration of the engine 241bhp - £ 3500 less, working on a heavy 64 pounds more for horses. But is the update that changes the 54bhp 5-Series a big, fast car ... super-diesel. And to sweeten the deal, managed by the same emissions and 535d 530D economy. If you're vacillating between a fork in several of the largest in the history of motoring. What I would like Rudolph

Posted in: BMW 5 Series