There is nothing better to humble you than growing older, when we were young we always wanted to be older just to find out that being an adult is a trap really. We believed that growing older came with independence therefore doing whatever you want but we forgot to read the terms and conditions. Basically the terms & conditions said that everything is on you (including things are that are not about you) and that is the essence of being an adult is hard.
When you get your first car, you get the car that your budget can afford so most of the time it’s a pre-owned car that has some mileage in them but its not like you have so much choice here. Your first car teaches you a lot about cars and yourself. As soon as you understand the rules of adulthood you begin to dream according to your budget. You forget about the Ferrari’s, Lamborghini and Rolls Royce’s, and you start to dream according to what the banks says you can afford. When you are a businessman and you always wanted the 7 series because really you deserve it but the budget says something else, there is a better alternative, the brand new 5 series.
I was in a group of car journalists and you can sense that everyone here knows each other and you are the odd one out. Everyone is speaking about the rich history of the 5 series and what each model represented. Personally I think BMW lost its edge with the last 3 designs. To me they didn’t make sense but I must say that this time, they might have got it right. I don’t know what the back of the new 5 series reminds me of but it will come to me one of these days. My driving partner is Jonathan Adam from Classic FM for this trip, so he starts driving the new BMW 520i. You can tell that Jonathan loves speed and I really prefer cruising because I am never in a rush. I get the chance to drive the 520i and I enjoyed the comfort of the car and the technology as well is impressive.
I was really tired from the travel so after freshening up we had dinner but before that we got a chance to hear Mr Edward Makwana speak about the new BMW 5 series. Edward demonstrated to us how you start the car while you are not in it and how you move the car with the key for 10 meters. The car even steers itself to avoid obstacles or anyone would jump in from of the car, it stops itself. Jonathan was eager to book the 540i for the next day so after breakfast he made sure we got the 540i. He said that it was a better drive than the 520i which makes sense because it had better specs as well. I was sitting at the back of the 540i and it was making calls and responding to emails pretending that Jonathan was my chuffer. It was comfortable at the back, even around the corners it handled me as the passenger with care.
We came to a destination where we had to switch cars, we ended up with the 530d. I am not for speed but I ended up doing about 220km per hour. I think out of all the models this is what makes sense, this is best of both worlds. It’s not the 520i and it’s not the 540i – it’s the 530d and its magnificent. Its fast, it handles the corners like it’s not big. It has 8 manual gears, you can feel the power when you move it to sport mode and its silent when you move it into the eco mode. The 530d is a perfect combination that makes sense to me and its diesel. I am starting to believe that carmakers go extra hard when they design their diesel models. This is not the first diesel model that I’m falling in love with.
When Edward kept on saying that this is the business athlete, I finally understood what he meant with the 530d. Its like the freak in the sheet and a lady in the streets. One thing I’m happy about with regards to this model is the new dashboard is better because I think BMW gets lazy when it comes to their interior and I don’t think a 5 series driver wants to have the same interior as the 1 series driver. The 5 series is not cheap therefore it makes sense that it doesn’t look like every other model.
Subtle changes on the outside, massive intelligence upgrades on the inside. The 2017 BMW 5 is set to continue a heritage that goes as far back as 1972, with over 7.6 million 5 Series cars sold, and that’s in the US alone. The new 5 Series is now available in South Africa. – SAVIBEZA