I am really looking forward to your review of the 550e. I believe that hybrid with the 6 in line will prove to be the best of both worlds. I am already waiting ‘for ages’ until I can order the 550e touring in the Netherlands. 😩Thanks for your helpful reviews. I remember your positive review of the g30 530d at the time which helped me to choose my current car the g30 530d touring. 🙋🏼♂️
Like they ruined E65 745i Bangle butt twenty years ago, aka 1st time they outsold Mercedes & now Lexus sedans have Bangle butt. BMW moving upmarket, 7er only available as lwb. 3 ton stretch limo & so now 5er full size. BMW sold record #s last year on 60 years of growth while making record # of trolls miserable, so obviously they know what they're doing.
Joe, as an aside will you be revisiting the new 330e tourer as that too has the new 19.5Kw/h battery fitted. You were a bit disappointed with the last one, would be good to see if you feel the improvements are worth it? (Price of new cars is crazy though). I have found that my commute means I fell in the Goldilocks zone of the older 330e so an updated review would be welcome. As was your thoughts on this 530e.
We have an i5 xDrive40 and even though it is big and heavy, it hides it extremely well. Also the 4-wheel steering makes it incredibly easy to maneuver, easier than a G20 3-series and i'm not kidding you. Sure you can notice the weight if you start pushing the car to corners, it ain't no 3-series, but damn it hides the weight otherwise incredibly well. The only things i don't like about it is that i can't turn on parking lights when the car is in ready-to-drive and it always turns itself "off" when you open the driver's side door. Also the Continental Ecocontact 6Q 245/45/R19 tires it comes with are noisy, but otherwise good.
This 530e is the car id have over an i5. Its half price but you get the benefits of the engine and electric which makes it more i think DOUBLE the car of an i5.
I think this car looks stunning I was not sure at first looking at it but after seeing it on the roads it looks really good. Looking forward to the 550e review thanks Joe
Great review Joe. You said all BMWs have the curved display. The 1 series still doesn’t have this. I wonder if it will get a facelift and the curved display added.
Pretty obvious Joe is anti-EV Complains about the higher cost of the EV’s (e.g.The £100k i5 M60) yet the £140k+ X5M and likely the new M5 also coming around this price is fine 🤷🏼♂️ Is the M5 at more than 2x the cost of this 530e, with effectively the same interior, really worth it 🤔- time will tell.
@@SDK2006bThe M cars are much more special inside and out than the EV. The bodywork is totally different and the interior looks very special. Not even talking about the engine. The EV looks like a normal 5 series.
Joe, is it xdrive or 2 wheel? Nice car, like the colour. Drop the pan roof and have a light colour leather. Given the great b58 will disappear in 2027 this may be an option. Great video
Have a 2020 520 from new only 43,000 miles. Can’t make my mind up if I should get this as a business lease through my company. Hard decision, drives a bit nicer than my 520d and the seats are better.
You asked "what do you think", I answer: Nice test, but proves clearly that 15 min is just not enough to get real impression about (this) car. It looses a lot in closer review. I agree, that plug in is very good engine option, and this is what I really love. My score is up to 85% e-drive monthly, still with option for long-haul trips without annoying charging time. now, the real live: 1. Maybe that is only about my 530e, but hadling of this car is just horrible by higher speed. Highway driving (>140km/h) is nightmare in that car. I switched from W213 e-class, and that BMW is so much worse. I claim to dealer, they try to fix problem, but no result. Extremely bad lane keeping, car is bouncing left to right all time, non stop. I have never experienced anything like that in any car I had, and belive me, I had a few already... Passengers are about to vomit, can not use smartfon during trip. Extra bonus- all car is shaking from 95km/h up. New, complete wheels: no change. 2. Closing door - worse than 20 years old Opel Vectra or so... Eveybody, absolute everybody, closes doors twice, as nobody expects, you must just slam the doors to close them at 530e! Forget about closing door like any premium class, or even compact cars. (and no soft-closing option available) 3. E-key - APP is forcing you to "install e-key", but once it comes to set up "your smartfon is not compatible"- check more redirects you to... "configure your BMW". Somebody said- iPhone is working. I checked with Samsung S22, S23, S24 Ultra. No way. Now the best: BMW can not give you compatibilty list. Not available. Scammed: paid for option, can not use it. 4. Try to fold rear sits... The sound is just funny. 5. Not funny- wireless charging station will give you something like 2% battery/hour. Really. You need to spend 2 days and nights to charge your phone. Good luck! 6. Audio Bowers and Wilkins (highest option)- yeah not bad, but nothing to compare to Bowers&Wilkins in Volvo. Or mid Meridian (380W option) in RR Velar. Shame. 7. KeyLess- if you choose option "comfortable" - no option to switch temporary key off (as easy to do as double click in Mercedes). if you disabled auto-opening when coming close to car, and use it as classic "key less" - only front door has sensors. Rear- not. 8. Right seat belt bangs on the door/B saule. Hard plastic around, no prevetntion for unfastened belts. Annoying as f... 9. ... fuel filling. Everytime when you need to fill petrol, first, you need to unlock fuell filler by button. Hidden beside of steering wheel, not by the doors as user manual says, ignore it. 10. buttons at steering wheel... just crazy. Volume by buttons, while "f... knows what function" - at scroll wheel. Mindfuck. 11. Automatic tempomat- distance to car in front of you? As easy as dig it deep from menu each time you want to change it! Why not at steering wheel? That is the most important option at highway... 12. I like interior materials (except of plastic dashboard top), screen, seats, motor. Many thanks for skipping over games at entertainment system. Maybe if would be fun 30 years ago... I preferred my car to go straight on, not as snake at highway.
I m actually just waiting for the Passat long range run :p... found a good vid about a car I find extremely ugly and in which I m not remotely interested in, still a good review ;).
The fact that these cars depreciate at the rate that they do, at the amount that they do let's you know they are absolutely not good value for money, we've just become accustomed to this throw away lifestyle where everything thing regardless of how great becomes dated after just twelve months, lunacy really
New car depreciation has always been around 50% after 3 years, since I can remember : 40+ years. The only blip to this was the 2 years of COVID, but that was a break from normal.
The sculpting of the side skirts doesnt sit well with me.....the car looks like its had skirts thrown on from another car....they just dont look right.
530d for 60k and touring, now ya talking. That saloon looks like that crap Saab produced 15 years ago( the one with odd looking sloped back) just before they went bust.
It's A Good Looking Car But It's Just Been Made To Look Ugly With That Half Black Bumper & Big Black Grill. It's Like A Good Looking Woman That's Had Botox When She Really Did Not Need It At All.
5 series is ruined by BMW unfortunately in terms of quality and design including incoming M5. Mark my words so you won’t be extremely disappointed. We don’t want stupidly heavy and pointless plug in hybrids. BMW wake the @#€& up.
@@JoeAchilles1 hi Joe. Mercedes does it better so can be done. They keep producing V8 with mild hybrid which is completely different without stupid plug-in. I had every five series for last 25 years in different engines and still have a few left as classic cars. I have no BMW cars to buy now because they are so bad. I am always invited to pre-launch show and was no difference this time with 5 series and i was shocked and confused how bad this car is overall.
About as good a review as it is possible to get from a 15-20 minute drive. Great job Joe. I wouldn't mind one of the new 5 hyrbids to run around in, if someone forced to do so! 😁
Very good one take. Seriously considering a 550e touring when they arrive. Please can you full review one or at least the saloon. Thanks very much in advance
I love bmw. Iv had several fantastic cars from them over the years but I fail to understand how bmw has created a larger 5 series yet somehow it’s got next to no rear leg room if the driver is over 6ft .
Joe is tall, so in his driving position there will be much less rear legroom. I’m 187cm (6.1 ft) and when I had my new 2017 5 Series Touring the rear space behind my seat was tight for adults and larger children.
Why Don't Car Manufacturers Make A Simple Hybrid Which Regenerates The Batteries By Itself Like A Toyota Prius Or Other Hybrids That Charge Themselves While Driving ? Insead Of These Plug In Hybrids Which Require A Person To Have A Home Charging Plug Fitted Aswell As Charging The Car Manually Every Day Which Costs You Money In Electricity Bills & Time Which Is Not Practical & Is Time Consuming & A Inconvenience ? So You Are Paying For Fuel Aswell As Electricity Absolute Geniuses.
All hybrids and full electric vehicles charge themselves on regen - that’s been happening for years already. My new 2017 BMW 520d did that What Toyota are doing is nothing special - they just advertise it more. Regen charging is slow and you need to be driving to charge it up. Having the option to plug in to charge means you can add range to the battery quicker, and whilst it’s parked up.
Hybrid suits more drivers, friend traded her SL for Prius, electric commute during the week & gas weekend trips to the cottage. BMW EV market share>ICE for years now, ever since they sold half million PHEV.
I’ve had a 2023 530e as an everyday driver for about a month , it’s now gone back to enterprise,here’s my thoughts as a first time user of a hybrid/electric car. As a mode of Transport it’s a very good car very quiet very smooth , it transmits power between motors and engine seamlessly. But the problem with 530e for me is when you put your foot down the tiny four-cylinder engine in a car that big sounds laboured,also sounds awful. It sounds like it’s being thrashed as soon as you try any type of heavy hard acceleration. The trouble with it I thought was when being driven with any type of enthusiasm although felt quick enough, it just sounded awful . There was just no theatre to it , it drives totally emotionless . Then again I’ve never been a fan of small engines in big cars, and this pretty much seals the deal for me , that being said if you’re not an enthusiastic driver, this probably wouldn’t bother you, it drove fantastically. I’m not being a 530e hater,It is a terrific car to drive slow, it feels like you’re riding on a flying carpet, it’s so smooth but so smooth at first it sometimes make you feel sick, but I did get used to it. If I do consider getting a hybrid next, I’m probably thinking about BMW 545e , the one with the six cylinder engine , anybody got one and what they drive/sound like ?
the weight and overall size kills the 530e for me, if they added the 30i engine with 242ps it would be way better, but then the 550e would be almost senseless for most people.
BMW only care about sales of new cars. Across the last 2 years sales of new diesels have dropped off a cliff, to virtually nothing now. So why would BMW regret dropping diesels, which aren’t selling 🤔🤣
iam willing to leasw the 530e g60 , cause it has the bigger fiel tank for longer trips, slightly better engine performance then the new g20 2024 and the trunk is way better. in Germany urs range is far to low with just 40l ... the adaptiv suspenaion with rear wheel steering brings it to the same level then my 330xd.
A plug-in hybrid in 2024 with only 7,4 kW AC charging an no DC charging is a joke, especially in that price class. VW has 50 kW DC on all their new phevs, that makes the phev truly electric on shorter trips but retains the benefits of gasoline on long rage…
Thumbnail made me think it's Chris Harris - with the hat and the silver beard. After watching the video, not actually disappointed but rather found a new creator that I like :)
i would like to see x7 with this powertrain and to keep it noot too heavy i would skip air ride, electric 2nd and 3rd row and glass roof. That could be great big family suv for big family.
im starting to warm up to the G60. no doubt they cost cut a bit on the interior to spend more money on the electric stuff and tech but overall its still a great package. will say the M sport does wonders for the looks.
Isnt the exhaust tailpipe hidden vertically underneath the car on this one? The cool thing with bmw is that theres always been real exhaust exits. Now they too have gone for this crap
The difference in width between this BMW and a Bentley Mulsanne is the width of a U.S. quarter coin. Combine its monstrous size with the featureless interior and obsession with touch screens - not to mention the model you actually want costing £75K - and they can get stuffed.
Great video Joe. My opinion is it’s a good car etc but as a BMW nut all my life I feel this car in particular has lost that special BMW feeling. I won’t even discuss the 7 as it’s such a poor exterior design.
Thank you Joe for the vid, you have done really well! Regarding the new 5, still not convinced at all. Exterior is still a massive no for me and the interior does not feel right (I know it sounds quite dumb), but g60 just somehow does not feel right as a package. I am sure that from technology point of view it will probably be great for the first owner. g30 is already a big car tbh, specially for UK roads so if g60 is even bigger, then its just getting too much. Since space inside g30 has never crossed my mind as an issue. The pricing for a 5 series with 4cyl engine in combination with electric giving 6.5s acceleration (if I am not mistaken?) is also kinda on a slowish side and to gain back 0-60 at around 5-5.5 as it is on g30 3.0 diesel as example, you probably will need to pay at around 75k - 85k.... And it is a 5 series.... Yeh the prices currently are stupid, but still, I just cant justify the overall package for myself. P.S. My 5 cents of a subjective opinion.