2010 BMW M5 Used Reviews
2010 BMW M5 Used Reviews
2010 BMW M5 Used Reviews
Some years ago I interviewed car designer Peter Stevens about the attributes of the perfect grand tourer. He mused about the best configuration (front engine, rear drive), suggested a fine balance of ride and handling and then addressed his thoughts to the size for his ideal transcontinental express.
“Space for four adults and luggage,” he mused. “But not too big, about the size of a BMW 5-series.”
How about a 5-series? I asked. He grinned and agreed that if such a gran turissimo was made, it might look very much like BMW’s 5-series. Strange that BMW has since launched a weird hatchback/saloon hybrid called the GT, because the market has already voted with its wallets. Since 1972 and through five generations, more than 5.5 million examples of the 5-series have been built. Along with the Mercedes-Benz E-class, the 5-series epitomises the big German saloon. It is also responsible for more than 50 per cent of BMW’s annual profits.
So the sixth-generation 5 has some wheel tracks to follow and when we arrived at the launch in Lisbon this week BMW had lined up more than 40 examples and very good they looked, too. While the 1987-1996 E34 5-series remains one of the most elegant examples of the breed, the new car manages that difficult trick of being visibly a 5-series while at the same time leaving all the previous models looking like prototypes for this shape.
Not that Adrian Van Hooydonk, BMW’s director of design, has forgotten the iconoclasm of his controversial predecessor, Chris Bangle. The previous model’s winged headlamps and high boot line might be consigned to the scrapyard of history, but this new 5-series now has a bonnet that looks as though the fat lady stopped singing and sat on it.
If the deliberately dented bonnet is plain odd, the concave side sculptures cleverly relieve the visual weight of the coachwork and the swage line along the side gives design coherence and elegance – this is a pretty handsome car. And while, at a smidge over 16 feet, it’s about 1.5 inches longer than the old model, the wheelbase has been increased by more than three inches, which tricks the eye into thinking the new car is more compact. The aluminium bonnet and doors save almost 110lb (50kg), but this 5 is slightly heavier than the old.
Source: telegraph
