New 5 Series Touring 'available from spring 2024'
BMW still isn't quite ready to show us the latest 5 Series wagon - but it sure is excited about it
BMW can’t seem to stop banging on about what it’s got in store on the new 5 Series Touring front. Back in June, it announced that an M5 wagon would be (at long last) returning to dealerships next year with its all-new, XM-donated powertrain; now, off the back of the European market launch of the saloon, the manufacturer has taken the opportunity to remind us that the regular 5 Series estate is inbound, too - confirming that it will be available from next spring with ‘the same range of drives’.
What it means by that, of course, is that you will be able to get the full engine lineup already made available in saloon format - and the significant thing there is that you’ll be able to buy an i5 Touring, BMW’s first dedicated all-electric estate car. Granted, the thought of a 550e xDrive Touring (i.e. the 489hp plug-in hybrid version furnished with a 3.0-litre straight six petrol and 50ish miles of electric range) might fit more conveniently into your life - and that’s if an entry-level 208hp 520i doesn’t - but rest assured it’ll be the exclusively battery-powered model that will steal all the limelight when the covers do finally come off.
Not just because you’ll be able to buy it in two derivatives - though you will, starting at the rear-drive eDrive40 and ending with the 601hp i5 M60 - but because everything is now primed for the Touring to go mano a mano with the incoming all-electric A6 E-tron, the car that Audi has tasked with propelling it back to the head of the stylish wagon market. Early indications are that it has launched itself at this design task with considerable gusto; based on the teaser pic (and some additional leakage elsewhere on the internet), early indications are that BMW has made the i5 Touring look like an i5, which may be a harder sell.
But there’s everything to play for as we hit the home stretch. Particularly as BMW is at pains to remind us that the new 5 Series Touring is the first ‘premium car of its kind’ to be offered with a choice of powertrains that include 48-volt assisted combustion engines, plug-in hybrids and all-electric drive. Which reflects the supreme flexibility of its Cluster Architecture (CLAR) platform if nothing else. Of course, if this all sounds like gravy with a yet-to-be-seen M5 Touring inbound, we’re with you. And with the Geneva Motor Show pencilled in for the end of February, BMW apparently has every intention of making it a happy new year for fast estate fans. Which is all of us.
The 530d was the perfect car in the range previously, a superb balance of performance and economy. The perfect car for a higher mileage trip.
50 miles of EV range still doesn’t cut it from the latest hybrid “e” models.
The 530d was the perfect car in the range previously, a superb balance of performance and economy. The perfect car for a higher mileage trip.
50 miles of EV range still doesn’t cut it from the latest hybrid “e” models.
i am interested to see the looks of this vehicle when it comes out.....i fear it will be hideous but maybe the M5 Estate is something to drool over....
That gunmetal grey e39 M5 that’s been up for £20k flirts with me on a weekly basis. Why hasn’t anyone else bought it?!
They're awful machines that cause the worst pollution possible. The large influx of chavs who map the nuts off Diesels and blast absolute SOOT into the air, at pedestrians, cyclists, drivers with their windows open, into your gardens with your children playing, is offensive. Has it not been proven to be one of the largest factors to the increase of cancer, or am I mistaken?
Ill stick to my petrol engines as always - when the time comes I suppose I've no option but to go EV with the rest of them.
Cant wait to see the new Touring range and the M5 included. The E61 M5 is one of my dream cars if I could afford the obvious upkeep of them these days.
They're awful machines that cause the worst pollution possible. The large influx of chavs who map the nuts off Diesels and blast absolute SOOT into the air, at pedestrians, cyclists, drivers with their windows open, into your gardens with your children playing, is offensive. Has it not been proven to be one of the largest factors to the increase of cancer, or am I mistaken?
Ill stick to my petrol engines as always - when the time comes I suppose I've no option but to go EV with the rest of them.
Bit worrying that BMW appear a bit scared to reveal how this new one looks - I hope I am proved wrong.
Btw, 30k in miles is a lot per year! Assume the majority is work related?In the last gen of the 5, the diesel variants felt loads better than the petrol equivalents which in my eyes just didn't suit the nature of the car at all. 540i excepted of course. The 520i and 530i 2.0 petrols needed revving more to get meaningful progress, probably due to the lack of comparative peak torque compared to the diesel equivalents, and it ruins the laid-back effortless cruising nature of these barges.
The 20d and 30d engines are also ridiculously frugal and clean with all the dpf/adblue stuff etc. The 30d is close to perfection. Both will do 700 miles to a tank. The 530e had a tiny fuel tank on G30/G31, not sure if they fixed that in the G60. Unless you do little mileage, the diesels just make so much more sense.
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