German manufacturers, you may have noticed, don't tend to take big risks when it comes to re-styling their star products and the latest BMW 5 Series shows all the signs of that kind of philosophy. The revised 5 Series, which goes on sale with prices starting at €52,800, the quintessence of that description of something being evolutionary rather than revolutionary. But there again it has been a winning formula for BMW.
The styling is very close to the previous generation - this is the 7th incarnation for the 5 Series - and there are only minor changes to the overall styling. Pay close attention to the headlights and you will spot some small changes, but that is about it.
The entry-level 5 Series model, if it can be described as such, is the ever-popular 520 diesel with 190 horse power and this is followed by the 530 diesel (€65,710) and the 530 petrol three-litre. This starts at €60,750. Critically, the 2.0 litre diesel comes in at 108 grams of CO2 per kilometre, thus keeping it within the lower tax band. Another version of the 2.0 litre diesel to be launched shortly promises class-leading consumption figures and even lower CO2 emissions of just 102 g/km.
BMW is clearly making up for the conservative design changes with technology pluses, such as a 10.25 inch navigation and infotainment screen, An advance emergency braking system, which detects braking situations in advance, is also part of the equipment.
A four wheel drive version is also available and a plug-in hybrid version is to be launched next March.
