2017 BMW five Series saloon and estate – latest spy pictures
The fresh, seventh-generation BMW five Series has entered the final phase of engineering development and durability testing ahead of its unveiling in the 2nd half of 2016.
It’s set to reach UK showrooms in early two thousand seventeen and go head to head with the upcoming fresh Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the Jaguar XF and the Audi A6. It will suggest a broader range of powertrain options than today’s record-selling model. These will include a fresh plug-in petrol-electric hybrid with, BMW insiders confirm, a zero-emissions range of more than twenty miles.
The decision to fit the fresh five Series with a contemporary 48-volt electrical architecture enables it to feature advanced autonomous driving systems. It can have hands-off operation up to a pre-determined speed, a sophisticated anti-collision system and fully autonomous braking, among other features.
The enhancing importance of connectivity means the fresh five Series will be tooled with a fifth-generation iDrive system, as used by the fresh seven Series. It supports fresh touchpad and touchscreen functions, permitting you to operate the various features in a similar style to that o f a smartphone, with familiar pinch, point and swipe directions, or alternatively via an updated rotary dial mounted on the car’s broad centre console.
The fresh model will also suggest optional gesture control, with a three-dimensional sensor mounted within the headlining to detect up to five different forearm movements. BMW will also make available its latest voice recognition system, providing the fresh iDrive system with four different operating options in total.
As with today’s seven-year-old model, the fresh five Series will be produced in three distinct bodystyles: saloon (codenamed G30), Touring (G31) and GT (G32). The GT will proceed to feature a large liftback but in what one high-ranking BMW insider has described to Autocar as a “much more elegant form”.
The saloon is scheduled to make its public debut at the Paris motor display during the third quarter of 2016. Dates for the launch of the Touring and GT are yet to be finalised, albeit sources with skill of the planned production schedule suggest they will emerge at the Geneva and Frankfurt shows in 2017.
Latest prototypes photographed testing on public roads in Germany expose that the fresh five Series has gained an evolutionary exterior styling update, with cues lifted from the Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé concept car very first shown at the two thousand thirteen Villa d’Este Concours d’Elegance in Italy. Its traditional three-box silhouette is retained. However, a more strongly raked rear window and sloping boot deck provide it with a sleeker profile and more shapely rear end than today’s model.
As part of efforts to significantly improve its aerodynamics, the fresh five Series adopts a more prominent kidney grille with louvres that open when the engine requires cooling and close again to improve airflow around the front end. The headlights, available with optional lasers for the high-beam function, also extend into the chrome surround of the grille in a bid to provide the car with greater visual width.
Along the flanks, there is a more pronounced shoulder, added tumblehome to the glass area and an air breather element behind the front wheel arches. The rear gets a shapely fresh C-pillar treatment, OLED tail-lights and, on the more upmarket models, tailpipes set within the lower section of the bumper. As with the seven Series, BMW plans five styling packages for the fresh five Series: Standard, Sport, Unspoiled Excellence, M Sport and Individual.
Underpinning the car is an advanced fresh platform codenamed OKL (Oberklasse, or ‘luxury class’). Very first used by the fresh seven Series, it has been conceived around a combination of materials, including carbonfibre, aluminium, magnesium and high-strength steel. The fresh five Series will shed up to 100kg compared with today’s model, which is a claimed 1595kg in its lightest form, the 520i.
The interior adopts a new-look dashboard that features high-resolution digital instruments and a free-standing infotainment monitor. The design is similar to that in the latest seven Series, with the same basic architecture, multi-function steering wheel, switchgear and materials.
The subtle increase in outer dimensions is reflected inwards, with added accommodation both front and rear. BMW has placed good emphasis on improving the convenience and refinement of the five Series. Fresh seats with softer cushioning are used up front. The bodyshell also receives fresh sound-deadening material.
From the outset of UK sales in early 2017, the engine line-up will include various versions of BMW’s latest B47 diesel and B48 petrol four-cylinder units – all in Two.0-litre form, as with today’s model.
They will be joined by BMW’s recently unveiled B57 diesel and B58 petrol six-cylinder engines, which also use a standardised 500cc individual cylinder capacity for an overall volume of Trio.0 litres.
The fresh five Series is also earmarked to receive a freshly upgraded 444bhp Four.4-litre V8 petrol engine, recently launched in the 750i.
Other engine options will include a quad-turbocharged version of the fresh six-cylinder B57 diesel, which will be a successor to the M550d. Set to substitute the existing tri-turbo N57 engine, this advanced Trio.0-litre unit is said to adopt electrically driven turbos to bolster reserves beyond the already stout 376bhp and 545lb ft of today’s model.
BMW also plans to suggest the fresh five Series with the plug-in petrol-electric powertrain used in the 330e, 740e and X5 xDrive40e. The hybrid set-up mates a Two.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with an electrical motor mounted within the gearbox and a lithium ion battery sited in the floor of the boot to provide an electric-only range of more than twenty miles.
The fresh five Series flagship will be the M5. Set to suggest a choice inbetween rear-wheel drive and optional four-wheel drive for the very first time, it is tentatively due to be unveiled at the two thousand seventeen Geneva motor display. It will feature a developed version of the Four.4-litre V8 petrol engine.
Standard five Series models will receive either a standard six-speed manual gearbox or a fresh nine-speed automatic. The M5 will proceed with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. As with the fresh M5, some models will be suggested with the choice of rear or optional four-wheel drive.
Comment: Matt Saunders – What the fresh BMW five Series must to do hammer Jaguar’s XF
The very first thing the fresh five Series will need to do is comeback BMW to the top of its class for fuel economy and emissions. The current car’s engines remain objectively competitive and subjectively very strong, but BMW buyers expect nothing brief of class-leading company car tax liability. The fresh car’s significant weight loss and nine-speed auto gearbox should produce on that front.
On quality, practicality, technology and cool-headed rational appeal, the five Series’ standards are already high, so any gains here will only consolidate outstanding selling points. An even more spacious cabin, fitted out with the seven Series’ excellent infotainment systems, will win the car a superb many fans.
But to dethrone Jaguar’s excellent fresh XF in Autocar’s estimations, the fresh five Series will have to display greater warmth of character than its predecessor – and crisper, more tender treating and a more fluent rail.
The inertness of the current BMW’s steering and initial looseness of its close bod control were disappointments when the car faced the XF recently.
But if BMW can integrate its latest active chassis and steering systems as discreetly as it did on the seven Series and give the fresh five Series a dash more dynamic piquancy than its thicker brother, it will be on a winning trajectory.