Loaner Car Review #1: 2020 BMW 5-Series

Welcome to the first installment of the “Loaner Car Review” series which will kick off with a review of the 2020 BMW 5-Series. The dealership provides a loaner car when our vehicles go in for service or repairs, so it is a great opportunity to try out a new vehicle and writing up a review. Not long ago I had the opportunity to drive the 2020 2020 540 xDrive M Sport and a 2020 530 xDrive.

(DISCLAIMER: BMW did not provide the vehicles reviewed, nor did I solicit the vehicles for a review. These are service loaners provided while my car is in for service or repair. I’ll continue to use these opportunities and any other to review any car I can spend some quality time)

5-Series Overview

Starting in 2016, BMW launched the G30, or seventh generation, of their celebrated 5 Series sedan. Here in the US, it is bracketed by the legendary 3 series and the stately 7 series. Size wise, it is within two inches of the Toyota Camry in both length and width. The 2020 530 prices start at $53,900 US and the 540 starts at $61,300.

Exterior

My interest in BMW’s 5 Series started with the E90 generation produced between 1995 and 2003. A car considered one of BMW’s best looking and driving cars, even today. The M5 from this generation is legendary. The generation which followed…well…was simply a very unattractive car. The following generation improved, but traded polarizing looks for dull and unassuming. Fortunately the current G30 design is much better with a conservative, yet yet attractive take on the BMW family design.

Front View

The front is simple, clean and not fussy, which I like. Two lens headlight assemblies remain along with two normal sized kidney grills. BMW has not ruined the look of this car with oversized, cartoon-ish, kidney grills like they have on the 2021 4 Series, M3/4, the facelifted 2020 7 Series, or X7. This could be one of the last good looking BMWs we’ll see for a long time.

Side View

The side view carries on the clean, elegant, design theme without any unneeded hard edges or strangely placed creases.

Rear View

Nothing too exciting about the rear of the car either. I have to admit, I was hoping for something a little more creative for the taillights. Hopefully the facelift which will arrive late 2020 or early 2021 will spice things up.

Exterior Wrap up

Overall, I like the exterior design. It’s a clean, simple midsized sedan which carries on many of the tradition BMW design themes. The M Sport front end treatment (sadly not pictured here) really adds a nice touch of aggression to the design. I like it better overall than the current Mercedes E-class and the Audi A6. My one complaint is the wheels. Most automakers struggle with wheel design, and BMW is no different. I don’t seem to recall many wheels on non-M cars which are actually attractive. This generation of the 5 series carries on the sad tradition. The wheels pictured on this five series really don’t look very good and they would be really hard to clean. M Sport wheels on the 540 model are no better and actually more disappointing since they had did not look performance oriented at all.

Interior

BMW receives a good share of criticism for boring interior design and using lower quality materials compared to Mercedes, Audi, or even Lexus. When it comes to design I’m really not a fan of the media darling, Mercedes, but do really like what both BMW and Audi are doing with their interiors, even if they are nearly identical across their entire sedan model lines. Let’s take a look at this 5 Series.

Cockpit

First off, anyone who takes a look at the picture below may have a hard time trying to figure out which car in BMW’s line up I photographed. Previous generations of BMW cars all have nearly identical interiors, and the latest generation carries on the tradition. The picture below could just have easily been of a G20 3 Series and you may not have ever known. BMW’s audio and climate controls are nearly universal across the entire BMW vehicle line-up, both SUV’s and cars.

The cockpit of the car has a thoughtful lay-out with good ergonomics. The steering wheel is a comfortable size, though I would like for the rim to be a bit thicker. Buttons are all arranged in a nice layout that is easy to use and reachable with your thumbs in order to keep a good grip on the wheel and eyes on the road. A small improvement worth mention is the steering wheel heat button now sits up front below the horn and not hidden on the steering column. The shift lever and iDrive controls on the center console are standard fare we’ve seen across the BMW line for at least a couple generations. Climate and audio controls remain very similar to those seen across the BMW vehicle lines in previous generations.

Controls

The biggest update to the controls is small and barely noticeable. Previous generation BMW drive mode selection is carried out with a rocker switch. Today, a driver makes the selection with individual buttons for each mode, a much faster and efficient way to change the settings on the fly. Pressing the Sport mode button multiple times takes you through Sport, an all new Sport Individual (which allows you to individually set the throttle and steering feel), and in a car with the M Sport package, a Sport + mode.

Before moving on to the digital displays, I have one big complaint. Piano black surfaces. Whoever in the automotive design world thinks it is a good idea to slap glossy black plastic pieces all over interiors deserves a good flogging for unleashing the idea across the industry. They obviously never carried a family in a vehicle, nor did they ever maintain one themselves. A single touch leaves a highly visible finger print. In a few days, they are all over the interior and it looks terrible. To make matters worse, if you aren’t VERY careful in cleaning up all those lovely prints and smudges with a cleaner and soft micro fiber towel, you’ll end up with fine scratches everywhere. They will be nearly impossible to polish out and very time consuming to even try.

Digital Dash Display

No review will be complete without talking about the digital displays. Automakers everywhere seem to be ditching traditional dash displays with clean, easy to ready gauges and going with some form of screen to display the same information. The level of effort and success of these screens varies across the the industry. Some emulate traditional gauges with a modern design, others a totally new approach to displaying vital information. Audi offers some customization through multiple display choices, while Mercedes doesn’t even try with and “phoned in” their design with the most unimaginative gauge display possible. BMW designers decided to emulate gauges and add additional information. Take a look below.

When not horribly blown out by my terrible photography, the gauges look really good at face value. Sitting there in the car, I thought it was a really good looking design. However, while driving, the enthusiasm fades. Good emulated gauges resemble a physical dial which is easily readable with a quick glance or seeing the needle position in your peripheral vision. With this display, no matter which mode your in, you have to take you eyes off the road and either look at the numerical speed reading on the left, or try and find the needles as they work they way around the “dials”, which is not an easy task since they nearly disappear into the graphics.

I didn’t get an opportunity to test the navigation to see if the display in the center dash becomes more meaningful, but in routine driving it doesn’t show useful information and is a far cry from Audi’s design In the BMW you are far better off using the map display on the iDrive display.

Comfort and Materials

All of the touch surfaces in the 5 Series are much higher quality than the some older BMW’s I’ve driven recently. It makes sense for an automaker to put better quality products in their higher priced luxury vehicles, but these are noticeably better and on par with an M850 I drove last year. A far more expensive vehicle with a six-digit price tag. The leather is soft, yet feels heavy enough to be durable over the long haul. I will caution against the Ivory White leather in these pictures. It will show dirt, blue jean dye transfer, and stain very easily. Permanently banishing all food and drink is the only choice to keep this white leather looking good.

Seating in both the front and rear is really comfortable. I’m a huge fan of snug, well bolstered drivers seats and the 5 series delivers. However, depending on build and body shape, some people will be unhappy with the width of the seat. It is rather narrow between the thigh bolsters. Rear seating is comfortable and there is plenty of legroom.

The cabin has plenty of vents for good airflow to all passengers and number of cupholders is adequate. Another nice touch is a 12v charge port and two USB ports on the backside of the center console for use by the rear seat passengers.

Driving Dynamics

Great looks and a comfortable interior are meaningless if a car doesn’t drive well. So how does this generation of 5-series drive? I can happily say the answer is, “very good” for both.

Engines

One of the easiest topics to discuss when reviewing most BMW vehicles is the engines. BMW continues to develop great engines and use them successfully across their model line.

The 530 comes equipped with BMW’s B48 generation turbocharged engine good for 248 horsepower and 257 ft/lbs of torque. Before driving away, I was really wondering if the four-cylinder engine would be adequate for a car weighing a little over 3700 pounds. Turns out, the engine is quite adequate. It won’t set your hair on fire and leave you laughing like a kid at recess, but it does keep you from yelling at the steering wheel when you can’t merge around a Honda Odyssey blocking you out on the on-ramp. To be honest, the B48 surprised me compared to its predecessor, the N20, which I feel is rough and lazy in it’s power delivery

BMW’s B58 turbocharged in-line six cylinder engine under the hood of the 540 is a real gem. Their in-line sixes are legendary for their smooth power and torque delivery and efficiency. Each generation seems to get better. I have the previous generation, the N55 under the hood of my own car. It’s a great engine as well, but the B58 is a big improvement in every way. The 335 horsepower and 331 lb/ft of torque of the B58 are what a car the size of the 5-series really needs and should be the base engine. The car is not a rocket, even with this great engine under the hood, but it’s no slouch either. Acceleration is swift and the great ZF 8-speed transmission always keeps you in the engines power band.

Handling

For decades, great engines and stellar handling is what set BMW’s cars apart from the rest of the market. However, over the last a generation or two, the handling prowess faded. Crisp steering, great body control, and were replaced by numb steering and floaty, under damped suspensions. I’m happy to report the current generation of 5-Series seems to be coming back around to what made past BMW’s great.

Both the 530 and the 540 demonstrate a balance and composure not found in many sedans today. Where some of the better cars feel heavy and glued to the ground, the 5-Series sedans feel nimble and light despite their weight. The ride isn’t harsh or brittle, but yet the body structure of the car feels very stiff, and light. Also, despite both cars being all wheel drive, neither demonstrate the slightly nose-heavy and extra numb steering feel usually associated with all wheel drive BMW’s. Any type of maneuver was immediate and from the driver’s seat doesn’t feel like you are piloting a small, nimble car and not a heavy, full sized sedan. The way the car drives like a smaller one is quite remarkable.

Bashing BMW’s numb steering feel is a tired exercise at this point. Yes, their electronic steering is numb compared to what it used to be, but in today’s automotive environment no-one makes a car with communicative hydraulic steering most enthusiasts remember. At this point I appreciate tight accurate steering which allows you to place the car exactly where you want it.

Summary

BMW’s 530 and 540 sedans are the perfect companion for every day life for anyone shopping a car in this price range and an excellent alternative to the herds of boring, soggy, numbs SUVs roaming our roads today. Think of the 5 Series as an anti-SUV. The car is spacious, comfortable, has great trunk space, drives great with road manners, and is perfectly sized to transport four adult-sized passengers. Very few, if any, SUV’s will deliver the same enjoyable driving experience. It is a car perfectly suited for the daily slog to work, or a road trip of any length.

Many die-hard auto enthusiasts will scoff at large sedans like the 5 Series saying it’s too large, too soft, too boring, under powered, etc. You get the idea. However, not everyone can live every day in a two-seat sports car. Larger sedans like this one and those made by Honda, Acura, Mazda, Audi, Mercedes, Hyundai, and others offer a vehicle able to haul multiple adult-sized passengers and their cargo over longer distances with satisfying road manners which won’t bore you into a stupor like most SUVs. Put a large sedan in your garage for when you NEED to drive and save the two seat sports car for when you WANT to drive.