E60 review in today's Telegraph
01-31-2004, 10:14 AM
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I've pasted the whole thing here as you need a login to access the article on the web. I hope the idiots over on Roadfly get to see it.....and as a 530d owner, I have to agree with everything they say!
Car culture: High five
(Filed: 31/01/2004)
The transformation of BMW design as seen in the latest 5-series, may be compared to Bob Dylan going electric, says Stephen Bayley
Test drive archive: Family
Harald Quandt, one of the investors who saved BMW after its emergency re-financing in 1959, was a stepson of Joseph Goebbels. There! I have said it, so we can now go on, uncontaminated by tasteless slurs, to consider the phenomenon of the BMW 5-series.
Just as a newspaper's success may be defined by its closeness to its readers, so a car manufacturer's success may be judged in the same way. The BMW 5-series, more than any other car, both defines and projects the personality of its customers in a manner that is as unambiguously clear as the austere typography of Otl Aicher, which was a persuasive part of the company's iconography as its reputation was built through the 1960s to the present day.
The 1959 crisis occurred because, so very different to now, BMW was in those days making cars that no one in their right mind wanted to buy. Having re-acquired wealth during the Wirtschaftswunder, Germans no longer had any need for BMW's cute, 700cc Kleinwagen and three-wheelers. Only the police, possibly reluctantly, bought its motorbikes and the lumbering V8 "Baroque Angels", as its 1950s limos were known, were of antiquarian value only. So in 1961 BMW created the Neue Klasse, its first four-cylinder since it stopped making Austin side-valve engines in the 1930s. But the Neue Klasse was as much sociology as technology: a smart saloon aimed with ballistic precision at the new classless, middle-class "executive" emerging in his acrylic suits across Europe from the rubble of the Second World War.
Sharp technology complemented handsome styling, the latter, strange to say for so German a car, derived from Giovanni Michelotti during his Triumph Herald period, and the Neue Klasse soon evolved into an entire range with specifications as nicely nuanced as the humiliating management structure of a modern company.
This evolved into the first 5-series of 1972, the year of the calamitous Munich Olympics and also, significantly, the year BMW had acquired sufficient self-confidence to build its amazing headquarters in the same city: four massive round towers, deliberately evoking cylinders, punctuate the skyline in as despotic a manner as the Alte Pinakothek (1826-1836) confirmed the wealth and authority of the local Wittelsbach dynasty.
The first 5-series established a design language so nearly perfect (and now so very familiar) that successive generations in 1982, 1988 and 1995 developed Paul Bracq's original through a careful evolution whose refusal of frivolous change cleverly demonstrated BMW's essential belief in the rightness of its product. In this way, complemented by good advertising that acknowledged the customer's intelligence, BMW told its customers they were doing the right thing. Buying a BMW became more than choosing a car: it was joining an evangelical sect that worshipped the type of prestige brought about by styling that was as handsome as it was understated. Your BMW was a life coach as much as personal transport.
Then, last year, BMW decided on radical change with its fifth-generation 5-series. In the conservative world of car design, this may be compared to Picasso's creation of Cubism or Bob Dylan going electric. Chris Bangle's design direction has been controversial: in place of good proportions he has introduced imbalance; thoughtful details have been replaced by baroque flourishes; a sense of rationality has been usurped by wilful expressiveness; calm sobriety has been blinded and deafened by a reckless taste for unstable surfaces and graphic fidgetiness. And do you know what? I think he is right. The irrationality is logical because there was nowhere else to go. The old hierarchy of car design, with its predictable gradations and its executive career structure, is as worn out and irrelevant now as the petrol engine.
The very first new 5-series I saw was a 530d, whose distinctive twin tailpipes arcing to the pavement will become a new status symbol. It was travelling very fast and very squat and was very impressive. As if to confirm the world is now a different place, the diesel will be the defining version of this car. So this is what I have been driving.
Satisfyingly interesting to look at, subjectively it feels enormous. This is a good thing, except it robs the car of that psychologically gratifying sense of composure that used to define the BMW experience: it takes a while to acclimatise. Things do not quite fall into place they way they used to. Still, the 530d has about as much torque as the old M5 and mid-range acceleration brings the weekend closer. BMW's second generation i-Drive is still insanely exasperating to use, much inferior to the Volkswagen system, but the generalities of the interior are as fresh as the exterior design. Maybe the plastics feel a tad cheaper than the best, but the accommodation is superb, with a wonderful sense of commodity, firmness and enclosure.
Audi is finding that refinement may become boring while Mercedes-Benz is shedding valuable dignity, design-wise, without acquiring anything I am able to describe in return. BMW's oddness seems as right for the contemporary world as the Neue Klasse was for the more linear and symmetrical conditions of 1961. And when executives go bananas you know something interesting is going on. BMW Man now, like Bakunin the anarchist, says, "Die Lust der Zerst?rung ist zugleich eine schaffende Lust!" (Destruction is at the same time creative!)
Car culture: High five
(Filed: 31/01/2004)
The transformation of BMW design as seen in the latest 5-series, may be compared to Bob Dylan going electric, says Stephen Bayley
Test drive archive: Family
Harald Quandt, one of the investors who saved BMW after its emergency re-financing in 1959, was a stepson of Joseph Goebbels. There! I have said it, so we can now go on, uncontaminated by tasteless slurs, to consider the phenomenon of the BMW 5-series.
Just as a newspaper's success may be defined by its closeness to its readers, so a car manufacturer's success may be judged in the same way. The BMW 5-series, more than any other car, both defines and projects the personality of its customers in a manner that is as unambiguously clear as the austere typography of Otl Aicher, which was a persuasive part of the company's iconography as its reputation was built through the 1960s to the present day.
The 1959 crisis occurred because, so very different to now, BMW was in those days making cars that no one in their right mind wanted to buy. Having re-acquired wealth during the Wirtschaftswunder, Germans no longer had any need for BMW's cute, 700cc Kleinwagen and three-wheelers. Only the police, possibly reluctantly, bought its motorbikes and the lumbering V8 "Baroque Angels", as its 1950s limos were known, were of antiquarian value only. So in 1961 BMW created the Neue Klasse, its first four-cylinder since it stopped making Austin side-valve engines in the 1930s. But the Neue Klasse was as much sociology as technology: a smart saloon aimed with ballistic precision at the new classless, middle-class "executive" emerging in his acrylic suits across Europe from the rubble of the Second World War.
Sharp technology complemented handsome styling, the latter, strange to say for so German a car, derived from Giovanni Michelotti during his Triumph Herald period, and the Neue Klasse soon evolved into an entire range with specifications as nicely nuanced as the humiliating management structure of a modern company.
This evolved into the first 5-series of 1972, the year of the calamitous Munich Olympics and also, significantly, the year BMW had acquired sufficient self-confidence to build its amazing headquarters in the same city: four massive round towers, deliberately evoking cylinders, punctuate the skyline in as despotic a manner as the Alte Pinakothek (1826-1836) confirmed the wealth and authority of the local Wittelsbach dynasty.
The first 5-series established a design language so nearly perfect (and now so very familiar) that successive generations in 1982, 1988 and 1995 developed Paul Bracq's original through a careful evolution whose refusal of frivolous change cleverly demonstrated BMW's essential belief in the rightness of its product. In this way, complemented by good advertising that acknowledged the customer's intelligence, BMW told its customers they were doing the right thing. Buying a BMW became more than choosing a car: it was joining an evangelical sect that worshipped the type of prestige brought about by styling that was as handsome as it was understated. Your BMW was a life coach as much as personal transport.
Then, last year, BMW decided on radical change with its fifth-generation 5-series. In the conservative world of car design, this may be compared to Picasso's creation of Cubism or Bob Dylan going electric. Chris Bangle's design direction has been controversial: in place of good proportions he has introduced imbalance; thoughtful details have been replaced by baroque flourishes; a sense of rationality has been usurped by wilful expressiveness; calm sobriety has been blinded and deafened by a reckless taste for unstable surfaces and graphic fidgetiness. And do you know what? I think he is right. The irrationality is logical because there was nowhere else to go. The old hierarchy of car design, with its predictable gradations and its executive career structure, is as worn out and irrelevant now as the petrol engine.
The very first new 5-series I saw was a 530d, whose distinctive twin tailpipes arcing to the pavement will become a new status symbol. It was travelling very fast and very squat and was very impressive. As if to confirm the world is now a different place, the diesel will be the defining version of this car. So this is what I have been driving.
Satisfyingly interesting to look at, subjectively it feels enormous. This is a good thing, except it robs the car of that psychologically gratifying sense of composure that used to define the BMW experience: it takes a while to acclimatise. Things do not quite fall into place they way they used to. Still, the 530d has about as much torque as the old M5 and mid-range acceleration brings the weekend closer. BMW's second generation i-Drive is still insanely exasperating to use, much inferior to the Volkswagen system, but the generalities of the interior are as fresh as the exterior design. Maybe the plastics feel a tad cheaper than the best, but the accommodation is superb, with a wonderful sense of commodity, firmness and enclosure.
Audi is finding that refinement may become boring while Mercedes-Benz is shedding valuable dignity, design-wise, without acquiring anything I am able to describe in return. BMW's oddness seems as right for the contemporary world as the Neue Klasse was for the more linear and symmetrical conditions of 1961. And when executives go bananas you know something interesting is going on. BMW Man now, like Bakunin the anarchist, says, "Die Lust der Zerst?rung ist zugleich eine schaffende Lust!" (Destruction is at the same time creative!)
02-10-2004, 06:30 AM
#6
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Another 530d in London - Hi there .
If you have a minute - any chance you could tell us what options you have - and a few thoughts on your car. There are a few of us here who have ordered 530's and are awaiting delivery in March. It's always interesting to read about other people's experiences. For me it will be my first diesel and first automatic, for example and I'm a bit anxious about whether I've made the right choice.
If you have a minute - any chance you could tell us what options you have - and a few thoughts on your car. There are a few of us here who have ordered 530's and are awaiting delivery in March. It's always interesting to read about other people's experiences. For me it will be my first diesel and first automatic, for example and I'm a bit anxious about whether I've made the right choice.
02-10-2004, 09:18 AM
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Guest,
I've had my 530D auto since October. It was my first diesel but my second BMW with steptronic. I was a great sceptic of the whole auto thing but once you've had it you won't want to go back to a manual ever again. It is particularly well mated to the torquey diesel engine and gives smooth shifts. It also gives a lot of engine breaking in lower gears when downshifting which I've found to be useful.
The diesel engine is fantastic. I opted for diesel for company car tax rules and for once I can say "thank you Gordon Brown!" I've just done a trip from Northants to Glasgow and back, averaged 80mph for most of the journey and enjoyed a range of 600(!) miles between visits to the derv pump. The torque of the engine is fantastic and makes real world overtaking between 50 and 70 mph a breeze. The engine also makes a powerful snarl from inside the car but is barely audible unless you gun it. This is one very quiet and relaxed car over long distances. You will love it I'm sure.
I've had my 530D auto since October. It was my first diesel but my second BMW with steptronic. I was a great sceptic of the whole auto thing but once you've had it you won't want to go back to a manual ever again. It is particularly well mated to the torquey diesel engine and gives smooth shifts. It also gives a lot of engine breaking in lower gears when downshifting which I've found to be useful.
The diesel engine is fantastic. I opted for diesel for company car tax rules and for once I can say "thank you Gordon Brown!" I've just done a trip from Northants to Glasgow and back, averaged 80mph for most of the journey and enjoyed a range of 600(!) miles between visits to the derv pump. The torque of the engine is fantastic and makes real world overtaking between 50 and 70 mph a breeze. The engine also makes a powerful snarl from inside the car but is barely audible unless you gun it. This is one very quiet and relaxed car over long distances. You will love it I'm sure.
02-24-2004, 04:11 AM
#8
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Originally Posted by Guest' date='Feb 10 2004, 09:30 AM
Another 530d in London - Hi there .
If you have a minute - any chance you could tell us what options you have - and a few thoughts on your car. There are a few of us here who have ordered 530's and are awaiting delivery in March. It's always interesting to read about other people's experiences. For me it will be my first diesel and first automatic, for example and I'm a bit anxious about whether I've made the right choice.
If you have a minute - any chance you could tell us what options you have - and a few thoughts on your car. There are a few of us here who have ordered 530's and are awaiting delivery in March. It's always interesting to read about other people's experiences. For me it will be my first diesel and first automatic, for example and I'm a bit anxious about whether I've made the right choice.
Anyway - I got my 530d in early January. It's got Dakota leather, heated seats, the electric rear blinds and manual side blinds, dynamic drive, active steering, business Nav, bluetooth, 6 CD changer, auto dimming mirrors, style 122 wheels with run flats, and some other stuff I can't remember.
Oh yes - and the auto gearbox.
This is my 2nd auto BMW - and after driving the first one and living in London, I really wouldn't go back to a manual. The auto box is superb - very smooth indeed and quite fast - even in D as opposed to the sportier DC programme.
Don't be anxious - you'll love the car when you get it.
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