The BMW 5 Series has received its mid-life facelift with improved styling, powertrains and tech. BMW hope the improvements will extend the 5 Series’ lead at the top of its range.
Cosmetic changes are subtle as you’d expect on a model that is already as highly regarded as the 5 Series. The headlights are now slightly slimmer to contrast the wider, deeper chrome grille. There’s a new LED taillight design as well as updated front and rear bumpers and new wheel designs for M Sport variants.
Standard equipment has been improved across the range. The SE trim, which is the entry-level model, gets 17-inch alloys, heated leather seats and an upgraded Parking Assistant which can control the vehicle’s steering while reversing up to a distance of 50 metres. The SE Touring now gets an electric tailgate as standard, too.
Spend the extra few quid on a 5 Series M Sport and you get sports seats, an updated instrument panel design, an M Sport steering wheel and 18-inch alloys as standard. The suspension is refined on all but the 530e.
Go one step further and you have the M Sport Edition, the highest trim available in the UK. This offers rear privacy glass, red brake calipers, adaptive LED headlights, 20-inch alloys and a spoiler on the saloon models.
Other improvements to the interior equipment include a 12.3-inch (previously 10.25) infotainment screen which now comes with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as standard.
The list of upgrades grows longer again when you open up the bonnet. All four and six-cylinder models will now adopt either full plug-in hybrid or 48V mild-hybrid setups.
The aforementioned 48V mild-hybrid system is basically a small, additional battery with an integrated starter motor that produces an extra 11bhp to aid overtaking, off-the-line acceleration to make stop.start operation smoother. It’s been used on the 520d since 2019 but is now being rolled out across the range for the first time.
From November, the 530e PHEV will be offered as a Touring estate for the first time. BMW has added to its PHEV range with a 545e performance model. This is a six-cylinder petrol PHEV and it’s only offered as a 4WD saloon.
The 545e isn’t the only new BMW 5 Series coming to the UK. There’s now a V8-powered M550i xDrive model – you can find out more about this exciting development here.
The previous entry-level 5 Series, the 518d, has been dropped from the line-up.
Prices start at £37,480 for the 520i and £38,500 for the 520d in saloon form. The new 545e PHEV starts from £54,945. The quickest estate available is the six-cylinder 540i xDrive for which pricing starts at just under £52k in SE trim or £59k for an M Sport.
I’m a big fan of the current 5 Series and it appears BMW has done a good job of bringing it up to date. What do you think of the 2020 BMW 5 Series? Let us know in the comments section below or via our Facebook and Twitter pages.
For more BMW news and pictures, click here.
Leave a Reply