Interior Review: BMW 5-Series

[giagastormer]

Over the last month, I've had the oppertunity to see the inside of just about every brand there is out there, with my new job and all, which requires me to carry stuff to people's "ride".

Anyway. So the other day, an older woman bought this large iron decoration for her garden (why? I don't understand women! :p ). It was basically a big chunk of curved iron, that some how is supposed to look nice. It was pretty big.

When we were walking to her BMW 545i, I couldn't help but grin, for 2 reasons. 1st off, I was going to get hands on experience with a $60,000 car, and 2nd, I knew this thing wasn't going to fit in her car.

1st thing we do is pop the trunk, and I asked her if the rear seats fold down, she gave me this look that said "Hell if I know!". So I opened the rear door, to discover the rear seats DO NOT fold down.

She then opens the front passenger door, plays around with the seat controls (Woah! Power headrests!). What a useless, but luxurious feature. How lazy are people these days to have power headrests?

I put my hand down on the rear seat, trying to squeeze this monstrosity in the Bimmer. My hands were resting on very soft leather, but with a roughness to it that turned me off completely. The leather in the Lucerne CXS I test drove had softer, more expensive feeling leather. Before you ask, this is not my bias poking through.

The carpet in the 5'er was nice, but I can't help saying this without a huge grin on my face, the carpet in my Buick is THICKER. But, then again, my car pretty much has shagg carpet.

After taking a gander at the door panels, they have leather inserts on them, with very nice stitching that adds a warmth of luxury to the car. I was impressed, and the leather was the exact same that can be found on the seats. But, the Lucerne has this same quality with its door panels, while retaining the softer, higher quality leather.

The window switch on the door is surrounded by a chunk of hard (think TB), ungrained plastic that didn't have an even seem. Eeeeeeeeeek, not good in a $60,000 car! That was a huge turnoff to me. Maybe I'm just picky?

Ahhh, on to the front seats. Same leather, basically the same door panel, yada yada yada.

Even though I didn't get a chance to touch the dash, it looked to be high quality, with a grain similar to that of the new Yukon Denali. No, I'm not kidding. Good thing of course!

The center console (IMO) looked CHEAP, and put together with lots of different pieces of plastic, like my mom's Sunfire. Although the top portion of each piece was covered in leather. Nice touch, I guess.

I LOVED the grain of the wood. I don't care if it's real or not, it looked good. Way to go BMW!

All the switch gear looked to be of high quality. The window switches remind me of the new GMT-900's, they look identical.

Anyway, the big chunk of iron didn't fit. No surprise. I jokingly said to the woman "Darn, you should have bought a 7-series." Her reply "My husband has one! And if he knew what I was trying to put in this car, he would kill me!"

On the way back into the green house, we were talking about the car, and she was going on and on about this new technology. She was talking about the back up sensors, and how they beep if you get too close to something. Too funny 'eh? :p

Is the interior of the 545i overrated? IMO, I think so. Is it better than the STS? Of course, without a doubt. Am I disappointed overall? Yes, very much so. But the Buick lover inside me is proud to know the Lucerne, in some aspects, is nicer than a 545i.

[mgescuro]

Power headrests... a necessity in this class. Something Cadillac doesn't bother with. Problem with BMW is that the power seat switches make no ergonomic sense. Rest your head on the headrest... it's soft, unlike those at Cadillac. They use hard headrests. There is a difference and a touch of class with th esofter headrests.

There is no ungrained plastic on the new 5-series. Look again.

The dash material in the 5-series is more similar to the 9-7X.

The wood is nice. I have no problem with center console. My problem is with center stack

Not exactly the most thorough review, if you never sat in the car and just glanced around it.

[giagastormer]

Not exactly the most thorough review, if you never sat in the car and just glanced around it.

Well I'm sorry. When I can afford a car of that price, I will go out and look at it, and poke and prod at every little aspect like you love to do.

If there is grain, you need a microscope to look at it.

[Bravada]

Now I have no problem adjusting my seat for fore-aft, I actually prefer to be able to do it manually. Same goes for height. But headrests and to some extent lumbar support are very uncomfortable to adjust, and I would appreciate power support here much more than in the aforementioned areas.

[Canuck]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

There is no ungrained plastic on the new 5-series. Look again.

Isn't it interesting he did not notice the grain. Which means other people see the same thing. This is about perception. If this was Cadillac being defended about plastics I imagine GM would be getting grilled over how the plastic looks cheap.

[Ach]

Power headrests are nothing new in these cars. My '85 635CSi has them, and they still work