BMW 5 Series Review

The exterior looks spot-on, especially the M Sport design that this model comes in. Previous models seemed to be a little more rounded, but this looks more aggressive overall. The best way to describe the aesthetics of the car is ‘understated without being bland’.

The interior is standard BMW. This isn’t a negative as you get modern touchpoints, and multiple control modes by using either the wheel on the central console, touch screen or the steering wheel. Overall it’s ergonomic and personally, I think it looks better than the E-Class inside. You can read our E-Class review here.

The infotainment is through BMW’s idrive system. BMW state that the system offers drivers a tailored experience based on a natural dialogue between you and the car. The overall system was really intuitive and easy to use to find apps, maps and media systems. This being said the GPS maps were helpful but did not have as in-depth traffic updates as I would have liked and were nowhere near as on par with Google Maps.

The standard speakers and sound system were enjoyable. If you do want a better experience then these can be upgraded, but in our opinion, it doesn’t feel necessary.

The driver’s digital display changes with drive modes (for example ‘sport’ makes it more aggressive). I found it wasn’t as customisable as the Audi system where you can see features such as the maps behind the steering wheel.

Overall the BMW 5 series is very comfortable both on short commutes and longer drives. It’s unbelievably quiet, especially when running on fully electric. When switching between the internal combustion engine (ICE) and the battery (EV) it was very smooth; you didn’t notice the change.

As it’s a hybrid the gearbox is automatic, but it’s very smooth without any jolts. The car is quick, accelerating in 6.1 seconds, but manages to stay comfortable and not too punchy and playful.

With only 410 litres of boot space (120 litres less than the non-hybrid version) it makes life slightly difficult for general purposes such as going on holiday when you have young children, or playing golf. This is due to the battery pack taking up the space. However, there are plenty of cubby holes and gaps for smaller bags/paperwork boxes, so as a business car the boot space is adequate.

The charging of a PHEV may not be that practical for most. I was fortunate that I had both a charging point at home and at the office; many people may not have options to charge their car, therefore running it purely on the ICE engine and not getting the benefits from the EV batteries. 

When driving in hybrid mode I averaged around 90mpg, however, this dropped substantially to 31.5mpg when the battery was flat and the car just ran off the internal combustion engine (ICE).

Out of my daily commute of 42 miles a day I could get around 15-17 miles on full electric (EV). It’s also relatively cheap to charge, costing just £47 throughout January.