BMW 530d SE Touring review - price, specs and 0-60 time

Estate version of new BMW 5-Series, 3-litre turbodiesel engine, no shortage of options

Evo rating
Price
from £39,400
  • Thoroughly competent, practical and sensible
  • Ever so slightly dull. Pricey, too

Sensible car, the 530d Touring. All that space and versatility combined with a torquetastic yet thrifty 3-litre turbodiesel. And all for an on-the-road price of £39,400, which is reasonable enough for a large slice of premium BM wagon. Except that our test car came laden with more than £20,000 worth of extras, including the desirable Dynamic package (£2820) and Adaptive Drive (£2220), taking the total to a whisker under sixty grand. Bonkers.

The new 5 looks sober, smart, if perhaps just a tad dull. It feels more substantial, more refined, more grown-up than ever. The optional 19in alloys and stiff-sidewalled Bridgestone run-flats thump and bump over ridges and craters but generally the ride’s good, even in the sportiest of the Dynamic pack’s four settings. The trade-off for the cavernous load-space is a slightly echoey shell that exaggerates every thump.

What's it like to drive?

The steering’s meatier than you might imagine, accurate and nicely geared, but devoid of real feel. The eight-speed (eight!) paddle-shift auto is discreet and sharp-acting, and the performance is strong.

The Touring never quite throws off its size and weight, but it never gets unwieldy either. Can’t help feeling it’d be a bit more fluid on the standard 17in wheels, and better still with regular tyres rather than run-flats. Oh and a high-revving, petrol engine would be nice. But I suspect that would be missing the point.

Specifications

EngineIn-line 6-cyl, 2993cc, turbodiesel
Max power242bhp @ 4000rpm
Max torque398lb ft @ 1750rpm
0-606.4sec (claimed)
Top speed150mph (claimed)

Most Popular

Best car tyres 2023: evo performance tyre test
Best car tyres 2023
Features

Best car tyres 2023: evo performance tyre test

Which tyre should you choose for your performance car? This year’s evo tyre test puts eight strong contenders through their paces to find the very bes…
1 Dec 2023
Car pictures of the week: evo’s Car of the Year contenders
eCoty – the contenders
Features

Car pictures of the week: evo’s Car of the Year contenders

evo’s Car of the Year issue hits newsstands next week – here's a preview of what you can expect
2 Dec 2023
The Tesla Cybertruck has finally landed, but it’s more expensive than promised
Tesla Cybertruck
News

The Tesla Cybertruck has finally landed, but it’s more expensive than promised

After years of setbacks, Tesla has delivered the first production examples of its controversial Cybertruck pick-up
1 Dec 2023