Give me 5!
The Hindu : means lower costs but sadly, also a slower car that doesn’t perform as well as a petrol one. Well, for those of you who still delude yourselves into believing that diesels can’t perform, you need to get behind the steering wheel of the new BMW 5-series produced right here in India at a factory near Chennai. After the successful inning of the 3-series which is also produced at the same plant, BMW’s next plans for India include the 3-series’ big daddy — the BMW 525d. In fact, the variant that is on offer here is the same updated model of Europe, which recently got a face-lift. The car will be made available with four engine options; three petrols and one diesel. The diesel is the model we tested here and while this car can really save money in terms of fuel economy, its performance is good enough to compete with any petrol-powered car out there. Design and engineering
That the BMW 525d will get attention on the streets is a given owing to Chris Bangle’s awesome design lines. The designer’s work has always managed to get a reaction out of people whether it is love or hate. Though, for the 5-series, there are definitely more admirers than not. Appealing to look at, features like the scalpel-sharp detailing, eagle-eye headlamps and the strong tail only further enhance the street presence of the new BMW. Everything above and below the skin in this E60 platform is precision-engineered to reduce weight. There’s more aluminium used here than in a small aircraft. The chassis of this 5-series is largely carried over from the all-aluminium chassis of the 7-series and BMW has achieved a near-perfect 50:50 front/rear weight bias. And, to improve the car’s directional stability, the suspension is fully independent and is mounted on a separate subframe. There are safety features galore on the car as well…More
