BMW 5-series – engine, gearbox and technical highlights
The new 5-series range is versatile, with ICE, hybrid and all-electric offerings.
In the UK, the only combustion-only (but still MHEV) BMW 5-series is now the 205bhp 520i, which is where the range begins, using the ubiquitous B48 2-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine. Want more power and performance? Of course you do, but it comes thanks to electrification in the plug-in hybrid 530e, where the four-banger is electrically augmented up to 295bhp thanks to a 183bhp electric motor that’s integrated into the transmission. As a result, the 530e jumps in weight from the 520i’s 1800kg, to almost 2100kg.
Can you simply not live without six cylinders? Understandable and expected, if you’re a longer-serving member of the 5-series faithful. Only the PHEV 550e features the B58 six for now, which is combined with a 194bhp electric motor for a sturdy 482bhp maximum system output. The downside of course, as with the 530e, is the added weight, with the 550e xDrive jumping up to over 2200kg. The rise can in part be put down to the non-negotiable xDrive all-wheel-drive system.
Want all electric? The i5 is ready and waiting in 335bhp i5 eDrive40-form and the ballistic 592bhp i5 M60 xDrive, that BMW lists in its configurator as a full-on M model. The added punch comes courtesy of an additional 257bhp motor on the front axle to accompany the 335bhp mill on the rear axle that it shares with the eDrive40. The electric i5s are as you’d expect, quite porky, with the eDrive40 weighing upwards of 2200kg and the i5 M60 clocking in at a honking 2380kg. Still lighter than the M5, mind… A pair of diesels, as well as a pure-ICE six-cylinder, have been teased but as yet, have not reached the UK market.
All 5-series models ride on the latest BMW Cluster Architecture that underpins everything from the 2-series Coupe to the X7. CLAR II specifically, as it’s known, underpins the growing range of partially and fully electric 5-series models as well as the new plug-in hybrid M5. It’s also the platform on which the iX, X3 and the latest 7-series are based.
Famously, the new M5 is much heavier than the car it replaces, with obvious blame aimed at the addition of a hybrid system. That said, the new 5-series family as a whole is heavier, to varying degrees, by comparison to direct predecessors. How BMW has gone about managing that weight will determine whether CLAR II is seen as an achievement in terms of versatility, or a compromise with superfluous mass leading to a hindered execution. The proof will be in the driving.
All ICE and hybrid BMW 5-series models utilise the now ubiquitous eight-speed ZF torque converter automatic transmission, that you can shift manually using steering wheel paddles. On the PHEV models, the single electric motor is integrated into the transmission rather than having motors on either of the axles.
