Design
Comfortably the Five’s weakest area in an all-round strong showing, it’s not that the F10/F11/F07 cars are ugly, just more that they’re a bit safe and anodyne after the daring angularity of the Chris Bangle era. The sixth iteration of 5 Series is the first generation of the car yet that hasn’t made its immediate predecessor instantly obsolete; to these eyes, the preceding 5 Series in M Sport specification still looks every bit as modern and attractive a car as the current model. In fact, it’s only really the M Sport sixth-gen cars that get you looking twice, as SEs and Luxury versions are plain to behold. Of course, they’re therefore less divisive than Bangle’s flame-surfaced creation, which means this 5 Series is less likely to offend anyone’s sensibilities. A mild facelift in 2013 brought in different lights, bumpers, kidney grilles and side indicators repositioned into the door mirrors; hardly drastic surgery for a shape that’s been around since 2010.
