Sneak peek at new BMW 5-Series

Mid-range cruiser leaks onto the Web

By PH Staff / Wednesday, 20 September 2006 / Loading comments

2003 BMW 5-Series

Car magazine's Web site sports a sneak look at the new BMW 5-Series, which isn't due to launch until 2009 -- three years away.

It's lighter but bigger, reckons the report and is less controversial -- not so Bangled up, with fewer flame surfaces and weird-looking headlamps. The Hofmeister kink remains but the back looks more than a tad anonymous.

Weight loss comes courtesy of more exotic materials -- but it will of course go heavy on the gadgets, including active rear suspension kinematics, which enables all-electronic control of cornering forces and allows each wheel to react individually.

Motors will be a bit more powerful but with more green cred -- lower consumption plus bio-fuel compatibility. There'll be braking current regeneration too which, with adaptive alternator control, is said to result in 10 per cent fuel savings.

The range will top out initially with a 408bhp 550i, which will host a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 under the bonnet, according to the remarkably well-informed story. Then there'll be a Touring -- and an M5...

For more plus pics, see link below.