2014 BMW 530d First Drive

Edmunds.com

2014 BMW 530d First Drive

BMW's 5 sedan gets a light makeover and a diesel option for 2014. Will it be enough to hold off its competitors for another few years?

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canddmeyer

You folks ever plan on testing poor people's cars? I can buy 3 nicely equipped Camry's for one of these.

agentorange

Good news we are getting the diesel. Otherwise.. must try.. to.. stay.. a..w..a..k..e.... THUD! Zzzzzzz.

quadricycle

@canddmeyer: I'm not sure exactly what you consider poor people's cars but here are some more affordable cars Edmunds tested in the past month... Mazda 3, Ford Focus, Mitsu Outlander, Nissan Murano, Fiat 500L, Sierra/Silverado, Toyota Corrola, Nissan Juke

joefrompa

I love that they put the diesel in this and THAT diesel in particular. I've driven a 535xi fairly extensively and it's a total luxury car - it's no longer a sports sedan.

I'm very excited to drive the diesel engine at some point, but I'm just not as excited until it's in a more engaging driver such as the 3-series.

quadricycle

@joefrompa: Well remember the 335d? That's a sweet car, too bad people didn't buy it.

fortstring

You know it's bad when you can't bloody tell the difference between the new 3 series' and the 5 series' rumps. Why is this cloning trend seeping out from Audi to the other luxury makes?

wiiz

Have any of the drivers noticed this notorious pull to the right as pre LCI models had? A lot of 5-series' were lemoned all over the word. What are the real sale numbers after you subtract the returned to manufacturer ones. I myself went through an ordeal of returning the car through lemon law arbitration. Let me tell you: BMW of NA will not see my hard earned money in their sales numbers for quite a while.

davidnj

A few problems here. First, the 5.3sec 0-60 is for the European 535d. The US 535d is the European 530d, shown in the pictures. The time for it is 5.8sec.

Second, the car pictures is a Luxury model, a $2100 option with 19" wheels and Nappa leather upholstery. For some reason, the Nappa upholstery is only available in brown (shown) of ivory (impossible to keep clean).

The pictures shows BMW Adaptive LEDs, but doesn't talk about their main feature, the Adaptive High Beam. Or whether we get the Adaptive High Beam in the US. MB and Porsche have already brought it to the US, but will BMW?

Also Night Vision Assist with Dynamic Spot Light. Do we get it in the US? They could do a whole feature on that alone. For 2014 it recognizes people AND large animals. Afterall, most of us get night vision to find deer; not to hunt, just to avoid.

Finally, Traffic Assist isn't clear if its coming to the US, not available to November, and both Traffic Assist and Park Assist (and Integral Active Steering) are only available in RWD 5-series models. Apparently the xDrive models have hydraulic steering which is not compatible with those features.

bcambas

"Each setting adjusts the steering feel, throttle sensitivity, transmission and, if they're fitted, the firmness of the electronic dampers. It works to good effect, though you quite often find yourself wanting a combination of softer suspension, say, and a sharper throttle. Configuring these settings individually, Audi-style, would be better."

It is possible to do this. One must export their driver profile to USB, then upload the profile to BMW's website. The driver profile can then be edited. One of the options allows only changes to the suspension settings when using the driving selector. Save the profile back to the USB drive, import the newly modified profile back into the car, select the desired setting (eg. comfort), then push the shift selector to the left to enable sport transmission settings. Now, you have sport transmission settings with "comfort" chassis settings.

bcambas

"Each setting adjusts the steering feel, throttle sensitivity, transmission and, if they're fitted, the firmness of the electronic dampers. It works to good effect, though you quite often find yourself wanting a combination of softer suspension, say, and a sharper throttle. Configuring these settings individually, Audi-style, would be better."

The suspension settings can be separated from the throttle settings. Export the driver profile to USB stick. Upload file to BMW website. Configure settings to separate the two, and save the new driver profile back to the USB stick. Import the driver profile created on the website. Put the car into "comfort" mode and push shift selector to left. You now have sport shifting with "comfort" suspension.