Mar 5th, 2010
While this editorial has been in the works since late last year, I have refrained from publishing it until now- to better coincide with the official public unveiling of the the 2011 F10 BMW 5 Series.
BMW since the 1970’s has had separate classes of sedans based mainly on size and the level of luxury. This was even true through the late 80’s and 90’s when BMW was accused of producing “the same sausage at different lengths”. The 3 Series has always been the smaller sportier car with less luxury and available options while the flagship sedan was the posh 7 Series. The 7 exuded class and luxury. It was loaded with latest exclusive technologies and ultra premium materials while providing its clientele with copious quantities of space both in the passenger compartment and luggage area. The 5 Series has always been somewhere in the middle in terms of size, luxury and available technology.
Looking at the current 3 series (E90: 2005- current), the current 5 (E60: 2003- until this June), and the last generation 7 series (E65: 2002-2009) it is hard for most to discern the shared design language let alone shared components. Chris Bangle led the revolution to change the look of BMWs, “We were making sausages at different lengths and management at that time and especially Chairman Eberhard von Kuenheim and technical director Wolfgang Reitzle felt we needed to break away and chart a new course for the company and the brand,” Bangle said in David Kiley’s book Driven: Inside BMW, the Most Admired Car Company in the World. Under his leadership (he did not pen the designs) each model had its own style and enough exclusive bits and pieces to make each standout as an individual. Engines, transmissions and other mechanicals were shared throughout the lineup but for the most part things went their separate ways, especially once you openned the doors and gazed at the interior.
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Feb 8th, 2010
BMWNA is substantially extending the maintenance plan on all 3, 5 and 7 Series 2007 cars to boost sales over the next two months according to a report from Automotive News. The plan will run a full 6 years or 100,000 miles according to the report. Here’s an excerpt from the Automotive News:
“The intent is to attract additional customers to BMW’s used car business who still have reservations about the reliability and overall value of certified pre-owned cars,” BMW said in a statement.
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Nov 20th, 2009
For some of our readers that have been on the fence with what to do for their next vehicle since the X3 has been delayed and the next 5 is not to hit the US until late April early May, have no fear BMW FS has a solution.
BMW Financial services is granting lease extensions for maturing X3 and 5 Series vehicles.
It is for leases expiring before 12/31/09 but may be applied to others on case-by-case basis. It is a 12-18 month lease extension term. It is a minimum 1 year extension with a month to month until 18 months. Contact BMWFS lease end agents for full terms and qualification requirements.
This option will also help lessen the effects of leasing a new to market vehicle for those that can utilize this option.
Oct 28th, 2009
This morning at BMW’s prototype compound outside the Nurburgring the M Division took the wraps off of a special CSL version of the M5 meant to celebrate the sedan’s 25th anniversary. In fact M division’s head of development, Albert Biermann, is describing it as the “M5 CSL we never built”.
According to Autocar, the biggest changes lie under the hood with the standard 5 litre V10 being bored out to 5.5 litres. Elsewhere the M Division created a carbon fiber manifold with an increase air box capacity and an additional oil cooler. You can see evidence of this with the new air intake where you’d expect a front license plate to be. Unofficially power should be around 580 bhp with torque close to 400 lb ft. That’s up from 507 and 338 respectively. Those substantial gains make this the most power M engine ever in a BMW.
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Oct 27th, 2009
It’s 5 Series week on the BimmerCast. Along with the normal news of the week we spend some time walking through the range from the E12 to the upcoming F10. Does the E34 look better than the E39? Are the seat controls as ridiculous in the E28 as we remember? We cover it all in our longest show to date.
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Oct 2nd, 2009
Several sources are reporting that the current 5 series will cease to be built after this coming December. BMW usually closes factories for several weeks during the holiday season so a December cutoff makes perfect sense as tooling for the F10/11 would begin after the hiatus. We have conflicting reports of when the production of the F10 will begin; us speculating puts the new models in showroom sometime in March.
What this means now is that dealers have been told to only take SPECIAL ORDERS until 10/09/09 for 5 Series models. The remainder of the production run will more than likely be common specced cars for dealer inventory.
