Test drive BMW 5 series E39 2000 - 2003 sedan

Life was a success!

If things are going better, you don’t think of it, if the crises pass by the side, if there are more prospects for the future than memories of the past, then life has been a success. It's time to think about the image and convenience of movement. We modestly discard the thoughts of a long -playing membership with a personal driver and begin to look for ourselves just a large, comfortable and acceptable car in terms of status. What is the new in the market of prosperous sedans? New e-class? Yes. But he has very serious competitors. We try, compare, solve ...
 
The appearance of a new Mercedes always exam for classmates. From generation to generation, Stuttgart raises the bar with its new model so high that you do not seem to jump over, no matter how you try. However, with the same constancy, competitors solve the problem that is impossible at first glance and build cars worthy of their enemy. In a series of facies and updates of the gamma of engines with pendants, several years pass and again there is an occasion to talk about the end of the automobile light: now certainly nowhere to go further! But the free market dictates its laws and again the best engineers and designers go into battle, catching up with the star armored train, and sometimes spurring their horses in front of the steam locomotive.
After the presentation of E-class, we were looking forward to its appearance in Russia. I wanted to try a new car in our, far from greenhouse, conditions and choose the worthy sparring partners worthy of her eyes. BMW 530, Lexus GS 300 and Opel Omega with a 3.2 -liter engine did not have to go far for the competitors, look quite decent against the background of the new Russian Eshki. All four cars came to us for a test in rich, but far from complete trim levels of the list of options for an additional fee in each case can be ordered in three pages. However, the equipment that was quite enough for the most demanding and meticulous client. From his point of view, we will consider all four cars to make money such people know how, and therefore, they are used to spending it wisely.
Compared to the previous e-class, the new Mercedes has noticeably buried. It is amazing how little it was necessary for the stiff and inhospitable eyes to turn into a stunningly friendly, elegant and warm car! Closely studying the incident metamorphoses, you pay attention to the fact that there is no trace of the past model in the novelty. It seems that the designers drew the contours and details of the new machine in a completely different, raised and complacency, turning Mercedes face to man. And now, eyes in the eyes, the car looks at you with a smart good -natured look, giving hope if not love to the coffin, then at least for strong friendship.
 
BMW remains true traditions regardless of the mood or market conditions. The smooth contours of the body are not in doubt all the muscles of the machine are tense and collected together, like a predator before a jump. The aggressive gaze of four cold eyes, especially expressively illuminated from sunset to dawn, does not leave the strict Bavarian person for a reason: having felt such a concentration of will and energy even through the rearview mirror, any sensible driver without a hitch will accept the right on the car, on the metropolitan prospectus . From sin away, if a person is in a hurry and shy to sit ...
Lexus creates a sensation of a very harmoniously defined car. I would not in a hurry to loudly declare the obvious borrowing of the features of Mercedes in the end, the Italian car top designer Dzhujaro is not quite a Japanese, but he built Aristo model for Toyota, which later became Lexus GS, if with an eye on Mercedes, it was still on his own. A master of this level is unlikely to go down to compilation, no matter what money it will promise him much more. I am sure that many years of debate about what was before, as unpromising as an attempt to consolidate someone in the invention of radio communications. Our Popov and their Marconi simply went in their research along one path, and it is completely logical that they went together on one large road.
Opel Omega with each of our meetings causes me more and more respect. And if I were a respectable burgher, thinking not about status, but about maximum comfort and pleasure for reasonable money, I would not doubt my choice for a second. Moreover, the appearance of Opel, which deliberately does not allocate a car from the general flow, I like no less than elegant attempts to get into the center of attention from his rivals in the test. The features and forms of omega are fast and unobtrusive, they feel the taste and knowledge of the matter. And if you still carefully look at the price, then you begin to think about who has more rights to the title of leader in the classroom. And all this without the slightest economy on details and trifles!
 
If we talk about interiors, it is obvious that among specialists engaged in the salon were supporters of both German and Japanese ergonomics. The Germans are thorough, fundamental and simple. But the quality of materials and works that the owner meets this simplicity are impeccable. This is not an English concept of luxury and comfort, born at the gentleman sitting in the living room of the family castle by the centuries -old fireplace with a tube in the corner of his mouth. And not American ideas about the interior that appeared in those free times when the whole generation of Yankees was conceived on the back sofa of dad's cadillacs. In any of our Germans, it becomes clear that the car was done not for the next engine show in Frankfurt, but for centuries. As for Lexus, it seemed to me that the Japanese set themselves a completely different task to charm, make a person look back and stunned from what they saw. A very convenient, comfortable and correct car. But unlike the Germans, the concept in which the interior is executed will previously require a radical review in the spirit of new trends. Fashion is fleeting. The classic lives out of time.
Putting (more precisely sitting) myself in the place of the passenger, I would prefer E-class and omega, especially when it comes to a trip in the back seat. In the BMW of the fifth series, I was always perplexed by the volume of the internal space for the rear passengers. This, of course, is far from Mini One, but unlike two other Germans, for several reasons, it pulls much more to the driver's seat than the passenger. If you take the BMW 530 for a family or office, I would prefer the station wagon there and there is more space. Lexus, in my opinion, is designed for a company of not very tall people in this case, there is enough space for everyone. Those who can boast of high growth and craving for driving with the driver, I recommend LS if you are ready to buy Lexus, you are unlikely to look for an alternative among classmates, easier to pay a little and remain faithful to the emperor.
In sled qualities, the cars differ radically from each other. Mercedes in this regard clearly tried to achieve the optimal balance of running qualities. The car does not pull in some direction either in sport or in Olympic calm. Getting behind the wheel, you forget about reality, and only the eternal guiding star on the hood no, no, and it will move when the car jumps off the smooth asphalt to permanently repaired sections of the road. The smoothness of the course is amazing, you don’t think about the best. Acceleration is confident and even 315 Nm of torque from the bottom to the top without any tension do their job. The automatic box has three winter, sports and manual modes, but to switch to sports, and even more so to choose the right program for me for the whole test never again came to mind. The round -eyed perfectly copes with this task. And if necessary a little faster and aggressively, it is enough to put the leg on the gas pedal completely. Short thoughts and after incomplete eight seconds a heavy gelding turns into a small point on the horizon.
 
BMW did not even try to change the genetic code of the charged five. The most powerful, fast and aggressive car in our test. Even if you do not belong to the fans of Williams and Montaui, you can hardly resist, so as not to check what the Bavarian is capable of in the Hamburg account. And you are unlikely to regret that you dared to such a bold experiment. The 530th is controlled simply amazing! Gathered in a lump, not a drop of slaughter or thoughtfulness. He holds on to the road with a dead grip and perfectly feels on the trajectory, provided, of course, that the driver at least in theory understands that the boundaries of the rational still exist ... Bringing the matter to the extreme, you can not worry about the work for some time correctly , but a system of stabilization of the course stability is peremptory, and BMW remains within the limits of its lane. Disconnect DSC and, for the time being, enjoy the controlled slides in corners. True, I do not recommend going beyond the scope of the capacity of the machine, you can easily be in the roadside ditch. It is interesting, but dangerous to work as a steering wheel and dose traction under the hood of 231 horses. The first visit to the BMW school in Moscow convinced that among the traditionally ambitious drivers of this brand the necessary skills for passing turns by a fan has practically no one. Fortunately, they now have where and what to study ...
Lexus in the mentality of the alternative to both Mercedes and BMW. A comfortable airliner for sea cruises compared to it is a miserable fishing planewoman from Magellan circulation. Having grandmother and a little suspended from reality, as if he does not want to take a vanity around him close to heart. However, the GS 300 suspension is too sensitive to the deterioration of the roadbed onto pits and washing boards, which is so generous Russian, Lexus responds with a light trembling and working in the rejoice. I had to cover quite impressive distances on the same car along German roads. The picture was not overshadowed by anything. I am sure that if the experts offering this brand Russian consumer will take at least a little adapting the chassis to our highway, the result will be appreciated not only by numerous fans of the Japanese limousine, but their opponents are very good good GS on a good highway!
Opel I see the best riding offer from the point of view of ratio quality quality. In Rüsselhaim, they clearly did not set himself the goal of going out in full -time fights with Mercedes and BMW when measurements of dynamics or controllability evaluating. But engineers and testers turned out to be so logical, predictable and at the same time quite dynamic and obedient to the driver a car, which becomes unclear how it can cost half the cheaper than his classmates-competing. He never attributed himself to the fans of the children of Lieutenant Opel, but after last year’s acquaintance with the new omega, he strongly defended this car from unreasonable attacks from cynics and snobs. Maybe in our compatriots the name Omega still causes too stable associations with ancient vehicles distorted from time and bags that became the dream of a prosperous collective farmer and building a cottage on six catches of a townspeople after the fall of the iron curtain? In this case, allow you to express your sincere condolences to you with your own hands with your own ability to understand how the automotive industry is developing dynamically, and do not dream of dreaming of a diesel one hundred and forty with a w12 w12 nameplate and a grate for six strips ...
 
Text Alexey Mochanov, 2 hp
Photo Alexander Nozdrin
 
 
How do they look:
Nikita Rozanov
     
     
OUTSIDE:
If it were not for the Japanese Lexus GS 300 car, then with the participation of the rest it was possible to conduct a symposium how to equip a German sedan. After all, almost everyone who works most fruitfully in the sector of the European Three-Bo-Boil Room Class gathered. Well, as for Lexus, given his image as a Japanese Mercedes, he may well be present on the rights of the observer. So, let's start with the face. It should not be aggressive and even sophisticated, for example, like the new product of the year Mercedes E 320. And the breed, if lucky, may appear in the interpretation of the historical cladding of the radiator. In addition to this living classic, only BMW can afford this. In this sense, both Omega and, of course, Lexus are more cosmopolitan, and the expressiveness of their gaze depends only on the pattern of optics and the visibility of the emblem. The silhouettes of the whole four are very dynamic and, except BMW, have very close front profiles. In addition, everyone has similar angles of inclination of the windshield and the lines of the fall of the roof. But Mercedes has the most living and emotional lines of experience! At the back in character, Eshka and ... Lexus, which in the form of lighting equipment, clearly focusing on the Stuttgart canons, is even original. Omega and five aged, their style is morally outdated, and replacing, for example, BMW is the very near future.
Results
BMW 530 even impeccably executed design is subject to moral aging.
The Lexus GS 300 many years of experience pursuing the Mercedes style was not in vain, and there are more and more individuals of individuality in the design of the Japanese car.
Mercedes-Benz E 320 The next dress for the king is sewn. It slightly changed his image, but the main thing was introduced by the spirit of freshness, which is so necessary even to classics.
Opel Omega 3.2 verified and clear design in conjunction with high quality fully compensates for some dry style.
INSIDE:
Inside, the style of cars equalizes the smell of folded skin and gleaming decorative linings to valuable wood species. This rule, and there can be no exceptions, as they cannot be in the order of a tuxedo is required. But the architecture of the panel is different. So, Omega protrudes a wide American console, which, according to the abundance of buttons, can remind the home cinema control unit. Mercedes, in which the climate control unit, was forced to climb into the upper half of the panel, does not lag behind this. BMW strictly classic and noble is dry, and Lexus flaunts with deep wells of separate devices and the most elegant decoration of the door panels. The steering wheels are very different from the heavy-salt-salt four-spoke-spoke lamb Omega to the elegant three-spoke classics of BMW. The seats of all business class cars are quite frankly copying the style of elite office furniture, but given the speed capabilities of four, all the seats have a fairly pronounced bucket, central armrests and a headrest.
Results
The BMW 530 even a characteristic and very high -quality design does not save from an inexorable run of time. But still stylish.
Lexus GS 300 interior design is pretentious, but not even, and qualitatively executed individual fragments are reluctant to fold into a whole.
Mercedes-Benz E 320 has several disadvantages of qualitatively and holistically perceived: overloading small details and too carelessly due to the prevailing traditions used in the decoration.
Opel Omega 3.2 is a typical American composition of the instrument panel is conservative, but stylish. And even German thoroughness does not save from the sensation of a morally obsolete solution.

Source: Cars