Test drive BMW 5 series E60 2007 - 2009 sedan

60 000 cu UNDER WATER

The weather was catastrophically unlucky. The cars had to be driven on the car wash twice, and all the same to carry out all the photography in the pouring rain. But we learned why the Cadillac CTS body washing costs as much as four hundred and fifty rubles, this red car goes along the luxury tariff, and BMW, like you, like an ordinary sedan. The arguments that an ordinary sedan costs one and a half times more expensive than Cadillac has not impressed the washers. At first they just did not believe it. Then they steamed: well, these are your problems. But, indeed, this is a problem. In U.E. The price is the same, different in rubles. How to compare such cars?
Strong euro. Modern five are in stable demand, despite the high cost of the European currency and the not too humane cost of additional equipment (the prices of the basic BMW bad landmark: well, who needs a business class car in an empty form, and even with a pen?). But the Bavarian sedan no longer needs to prove anything. The current generation (E60 body) appeared in 2003 and, unlike the seven with its controversial appearance, was found without heart -rending criticism. Yes, fans of the previous E39 skeptically looked at a new aggressive design flowing to the hood of optics and an unusual interior, but over time, everything was settled. Motorists tried the new 5th episode appreciated its revolutionary electronic bells and whistles, an excellent range of engines and a general layout, which provided the perfect 50/50 weight and good handling.
In 2009, the current five will complete its life cycle and give way to the new model, but more recently, E60 has undergone a thorough renewal that goes beyond conventional restyling. The car received not only another frontal and rear optics, by which the novelty can be accurately identified in the city stream. The list of additional equipment has expanded, the automatic transmission of the STEPTRONIC acquired a new rocking selector, like the X5 of the latest generation, began to install modernized and more powerful 2.5- and 3.0-liter gasoline engines on the car. And for lovers of true BMW, the company made a version of 550i and filled this model with an empty niche between ordinary five and a 500-horsepower M5 supercar.
In general, looking at this car and thinking that you should still say it, you just shrug. You yourself know this solid, convenient, fast sedan built by smart engineers for people who understand something in the drive. Even those who do not like the design of the five or the sports and aggressive image of the BMW are forced to agree this one of the best cars in our time. Direct competitors Audi A6 and Mercedes-Benz E-Klasse have separate advantages in terms of decoration or comfort, but in combination of the main qualities (brakes, dynamics, controllability, economy, reliability), BMW most often wins. Here, Munich outplayed both Stuttgart and Ingolstadt, and the next opponent is generally obliged to erase the nanoparticles highly to the very nanoparticles ...
  Andrey Kostomarov, What Car magazine?
Many sadly recall the BMW in the body of the E39. How do you feel about the old and current five?
It depends on what to talk about. I really like all the previous BMW. The thirty -ninth body was very beautiful and became the last in the classic series. What else ... The dashboard in E60 is annoying. There were always four devices. Eastern headlights ...
But does the sixtieth have advantages?
Of course. More space behind. And I fit normally, and passengers. The engines have become better. All diesel engines, in my opinion, are generally magnificent. It is a pity that 550i has not yet tested the top version, but I can imagine what a shell it is.
By the way, what do you imagine the new five that leaves in a year?
I want BMW to take a step towards traditional design. They shook the market with the Banglovsky style, showed themselves on the other hand, attracted a new public to achieve the goal. Now I want to see a car with a calm slender appearance. After all, the bulk of buyers are those who are under forty or forty. They will appreciate.
Sweet dollar. About 15 years ago, to have an American car in Russia, it was damn prestigiously remembering which Lincolnes and Tauras then wheeled in the capital. Now tell someone that some Chrysler New Yorker could be bought even in the children's world in Lubyanka, no one will believe. It was worth the US currency after the 1998 crisis galloped to rush up towards the ruble, everyone forgot about cars from the States. They remained only on the secondary.
Now the conditions for the return of American brands are ideal. Take, for example, Cadillac CTS. The price of a test car, in which there is literally well, everything finally (all three packages of additional equipment) is 1.45 million rubles. For BMW comparable equipment, 2.1 million will have to be laid out if you take 525i, or 2.3 million, if 530i, take a more suitable for the base. The price of a copy that was received for testing generally goes off scale for 2.5 million. To feel the difference, imagine that in the photo next to each cadillac is worth another, smaller BLS, and not in the poor performance. You will receive it instead of delivery, if for some reason the suitcase with money does not get to the BMW dealer, but to Cadillac sellers.

Dmitry Lazo, Automir magazine
I know you have recently tested CTS. Did you have to ride on the model of the previous generation?
No. But I went to even more ancient CTS. True, it was in the mid -nineties.
The difference is probably huge ...
CTS has lost Americanisms. The chassis is in sporting, there are almost no rolls. This was very surprised. His suspension is optimal for our roads. You feel great, although you are not deprived of comfort.
If you look at CTS as a luxury car, does it live up to expectations?
It does not apply to the Luxury segment. And on premium barely pulls. A car of this class should not creak. The back row is cramped. At high speeds, the motor is buzzing like a boat, although it is rather a branded highlight.
Strange, in our car, the salon was silent.
This indicates the instability of quality. We rolled two models of all -wheel drive CTS and ordinary. They creaked in both.
Who will buy CTS?
Originals. Maybe even a clan of cadillac lovers will appear. But this is not a corporate car, for sure.
Nevertheless, the luxury segment machines from behind the ocean have not yet scattered in Russia like hot pies. There is an internal reason for the inertia of customer thinking. And the external autods from the USA missed the moment when the tastes of the consumers changed. The interiors, which used to be pathoed as an American style, now look wretched. Both Europe and Japan have already switched to a new level of quality and stylistics of the performance of car salons, and America is only now approaching this. One of the high GM managers at the table somehow mentioned that Cadillac interiors were ordered to focus on ... Audi. CTS 2008 is the result of global rethinking of values. And before it, the Cadillac SRX of the 2007 model year was hidden in the European Lad, and this immediately made the model much more attractive to buyers.
The exterior of CTS can not be commented at all. This footura is torn with shining faces of road gray so that even dogs lose the gift to bark and turn after. The new body panels visually lengthened CTS, but it retained all the features of the predecessor of the same one that frolic about five minutes in the most spectacular scene of the matrix.
Lithers against Gallons. In our test, BMW showed what an excellent ergonomics should have shown, good for the sedan, exemplary acceleration from any speed, clear maneuverability. This machine gives the driver the right sensation of the road and allows you to correctly evaluate his own capabilities. The moment is perfectly felt when the five reaches the limit in corners, and therefore it is pleasant to ride it even with disconnected stabilization. Braking on the floor on dry asphalt gives such a sharp load on the neck that the vertebrae respond with crunch.
At first, the American is slightly annoyed by massive front racks, but gives luxury comfort. With normal movement, it rolls softer and does not let the road noise into the salon at all. But the most interesting thing is that according to the tests in which the BMW is most sometimes on the head, the loss of CTS is not so great. At the first 200 meters of distance, while starting, it is inferior to the opponent less than the corps and only then begins to seriously lag behind the 2.8-liter V6, although it is twisted with all his might (and makes noise louder than the in-line six BMW), but with the further increase in the speed of adequate Accelerations cannot be provided even in the sports gearbox (by the way, BMW and Cadillac machines are almost identical, they get them from General Motors). And the handling of the American car did not disappoint. She is not stupid. The steering wheel is stronger, but has a clear zero and is also endowed with unobtrusive transparent feedback. Many European brands do not give such a subtle sensation of drive as Cadillac CTS. In vihi, the American does not allow excessive rolls (it enters our market only with sportswalling the suspension), and with sharp braking on uneven asphalt, this car seemed even more tenacious than a German with a more rigid chassis. There are two things that you need to get used to when you transplant from behind the BMW steering wheel in CTS. First: the brake pedal requires great effort. The second: a light back of the harsh maneuvers is ready for a breakdown. Fortunately, electronics are always suppressed on a check without consequences.
And what do you think, who was more voracious in the city? BMW, and significantly 16.9 versus 14.2 liters per hundred on the same route. However, the one who decided to buy BMW will certainly not listen to this argument. And in a dispute about the profitability of the purchase, if this suddenly arises, he can always remind the opponent that Cadillac washing is fifty dollars more expensive.
Here BMW manages to take brutal forms, rude textures and contrasting plastics for the interior and at the same time to achieve the opposite effect of the fifth interior looks cozy and welcoming. It's all about harmony. A massive elongated wooden insert in the entire width of the dashboard does not look elaborate here. The door panels of a black soft polymer literally flow in a dashboard. A convenient three -spoke steering wheel looks like a strictly functional thing of a single extra detail. This machine does not need instruction instructions at all. Everything in its place, each button and pen have strictly its purpose and does not perform any other part-time functions. Even if you first saw a new automatic transmission lever, just look at it for exactly a second and will become clear forever, how to pull it.
In the BMW salon, only the seats cause a slight disappointment. The profile, height, softness, wealth of settings cannot be held, everything is exclusively, the headrests are generally super. But the skills, which sewed up the upholstery of the seats from the skin, obviously did not bother the packing, the material is not pulled. And if on a brand new car the skin looks decent, then after a year of driving, persistent untidy folds appear on it.
Heaven and Earth are so different from a modern CTS salon from the previous one. The falling design of the central console with the climate system with the climate system, the solution is fresh and elegant. The seats are well tailored: the boutovekin v is beaten everywhere, on the seat and back there are inserts made of perforated leather, the range and the choice of settings are sufficient. In CTS, you are conveniently sitting in both a driver’s place and on a chic anatomical sofa. Another luxury part lined with the skin of torpedo. It has a light brown tint and exactly selected to plastics of the same color. I found only one evidence of the American origin of the interior. Over the old habit, they selected beige skin not pastel colors, but a bright, rich color. However, this does not spoil the salon. All materials are pleasant to the touch, do not have a bad smell. Designers did not stint on decorations to make the interior as spectacular as possible, but resisted Kitch. The well rings framed by chrome rings, flirty varnish wooden inserts, shiny watches on a dashboard, vertical ducts, even a cluser -shaped insert on the door everything looks to the place.
BMW 530i
Gasoline engine, 6 in a row
Working volume (cubic cub) 2996
Power (L.S. at rpm) 272 at 6650
Moment (nm at rpm) 320 at 275
The rear drive
Gearbox automatic, 6-speed
Length/width/height (mm) 4841/1846/1482
Equipped mass (kg) 1540
Maximum speed (km/h) 250
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 6.5
Fuel consumption, funny. (l/100 km) 8.8
Price in Moscow
From 1 816 200 rubles.

Cadillac CTS 2.8
Gasoline engine, v6
Working volume (cubic cub) 2792
Power (L.S. at rpm) 210 at 6500
Moment (nm at rpm) 262 at 3300
The rear drive
Gearbox automatic, 6-speed
Length/width/height (mm) 4860/1840/1465
Equipped mass (kg) 1618
Maximum speed (km/h) 205
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 9.0
Fuel consumption, funny. (l/100 km), suburban/city cycle9/13
The price in Moscow is 1,207,000 rubles.

We thank for help in organizing the shooting company BMW Group Russia, 8 (800) 200-3269 and General Motors CIS, 8 (800) 100-1011
Text: Ruslan Tarasov
Photo: Andrey Danilov
 

Source: "Autopilot"