BMW 530i TOURING LONG TERM TEST UPDATE

CarPoint has lived with BMW's top-of-the-range wagon for over six months. Last instalment we introduced the 530i Touring, this time we're getting to know it just a little better...

GETTING TO KNOW YOU
How do you go about living with a $150K wagon? Carefully -- at least at first. Pristine paintwork, acres of perforated beige Nasca leather, matching light-coloured carpet, and high gloss timber -- the list of potential casualties goes on.

Well, after a lecture to the crew about the requirements to wipe their feet and remove the screwdrivers from their back pockets before getting onboard, our 530i Touring was pushed into day-to-day service. And soon it was business as usual: grubby kids in the seats; pushbikes in the back; oversize gearbags of mud-encrusted offroad motorcycle gear… You get the idea.

In reality, the light-coloured interior of our 530i Touring has been only a little more work to keep clean than the sporty sinister black stuff we'd normally specify. The Nasca leather though soft and supple to sit on, is remarkably hardy.

Part of the reason is canny placement of materials. Unlike some manufacturers, BMW tends to keep 'touch points' dark. For example the front centre armrest and console surfaces. It's these sorts of areas that start to look 'old' early in light-coloured interiors -- not the seats.

There's no doubt we've taken a little more care, but the interior vacuums up as well as a 'dark' car and never fails to impress first timers. Just watch dark soled shoes when you are getting in and out. The beige-coloured kick panels in and around the door openings are an exception -- they mark easily and are a pain to clean up.

As noted in our intro, we were impressed with the Touring back at its launch last June. Not long after we were able to grab a diesel-powered left-hand drive 530d Touring during a wonderful four-weeks in Italy last European summer. Unlike the local Tourings that car was barely optioned. Navigation featured and aircon (thank you BMW on both counts) but the car was without Active Steering and nice-to-have goodies such as the Comfort seats, electric tailgate and Panorama glass roof fitted to our long-term Touring.

I mention this because it's important to note the capabilities of the basic car. The 'standard' Touring is no 'stripper' when it arrives Down Under but it's easy to get distracted from the raw talent or otherwise of a vehicle when the marketing department in question throws a million options at it.

Make no mistake, underneath all the bells and whistles, the 530i Touring is a class act. The inline six-cylinder 3.0-litre fuel-injected powerplant is a willing and able powerplant that seems just as happy schlepping around town as it does singing to the redline on the open road. It's viceless in terms of power delivery and at 190kW no slouch even when housed in the big and relatively heavy 5 Series body.

Same can be said of the ZF-sourced six-speed Steptronic gearbox. The only transmission offered matched to this engine in both 3 and 5 Series ranges, the box has three modes including the standard 'set and forget' auto and tip-up, tip-down manual approximation. What some drivers miss, however, is the Sport mode -- 'accessed' by moving the lever across into the manual gate.

In this auto mode the transmission changes up (and down) more readily and is less likely to select sixth. In fact, around town it rarely goes above fourth.

While you will not win any economy competitions -- especially mated to this rev-happy six -- in this mode the 530i Touring lefts its skirts and is remarkably responsive. No, not a sportscar but it is as wieldy as any sporting saloon and extremely satisfying to punt along.

There has been criticism in some quarters about the steering feel of the latest BMWs -- especially those fitted with Active Steering. This system provides a variable ratio to the steering so that at low speeds (ie: parking) lock-to-lock manoeuvres require just -1.7 turns while at higher road speeds more conventional steering gearing (number of turns lock-to-lock) is provided.

Our Italian 5 was sans (senza?) Active Steering and though it's hard to compare without jumping car to car, my impression is that it did offer marginally better steering feel. However, given the choice I'd still opt for the Active-equipped car. Once you are used to the system the convenience it offers around town is worth the trade-off.

One trade-off I'm less enamoured with, even today, is the ride runflat tyres bestowed on the 530i. Again this is a subject about which chapter and verse have been written -- a trade-off between safety and convenience and ride and amenity.

As part of their requirement to support the car, uninflated, runflat tyres (the only type of tyre fitted to 5 Series in Oz) need to have very stiff sidewalls. This manifests itself in a ride that frankly at times is harsh and more often than not is what I would describe as 'brittle.'

What brought the disappointing quality of the ride home to roost were two drives: one in a previous generation 5 and the other in a new Australian-built V6 sedan. After jumping from the first I lamented the change to the new technology. After the second... Well, I actually stopped to see if the Touring had a flat tyre.

The good news is that BMW seems to have sorted out the equation on the latest 3 Series. As the engineers learn to tune and develop suspension systems to accommodate the tyre technology it will improve. We hear tell also that the next generation of runflat tyres will themselves further address the issue of ride comfort.

BMW talks long and hard about the convenience and safety of the new rubber and in a high-speed catastrophic loss of tyre pressure there is no doubt runflats are a safer option. That the tyres are more expensive and in most case cannot be repaired is, it seems, a fact of life.

So too is the low pressure warning system required to warn drivers of low tyre pressures. This system has false alarmed on a number of the BMWs I have driven over the last two years. It occurred twice on the Touring requiring a trip to the servo to check the pressures. Resetting is a simple procedure but does require you to stop the car and turn off the ignition.

The other criticism of the new 5 Series (and 3 for that matter) is lack of incidental storage.

Though the Touring has one of the best configured rear load area in the business (more on that in a future update), it's no better off than the sedan up front.

As our notes read: "Always an issue for incidental stuff up front... Mobile phones, wallets, etc. In the end the mobiles live in the front door packers. Ladies report the large centre tunnel also makes it hard to find a spot for handbag. Centre console armrest bin useless..."

In the end, the 'shelf' created by the iDrive screen became a favourite for small items -- as long as going was sedate. Hard cornering sent anything here flying.

While we have learned to love the organic flow of the 5 Series dash and its elegant simplicity, BMW needs to look at swapping the simplicity of the centre console for something with an oddment bin.

Nitpicking? That is exactly the sort of thing long-term tests are all about.