Our Fleet Test Drive Review: BMW 520d Touring - 5th report
Date:
08 January 2010
|
Author: Tristan Young
iDrive
|
Category: | Executive | P11D price: | £34,790 | Key rival: | Audi A6 | |
|
When BMW first introduced its iDrive system to reduce the number of buttons in a car, it did not go down well because it wasn't intuitive. But BMW is now well into the second generation of the system and it's brilliant.Given the high level of kit and systems that come on our 520d Business Edition, without iDrive (essentially a big silver dial and five buttons - pictured) the car would be a mess of buttons to control these functions. But possibly best of all is that the buttons numbered one to eight below the CD player slot aren't just presets for the radio, you can preset them for anything you can find on iDrive. So for me, number eight brings up the map at 450 yards scale on the main screen.
Like I said, just brilliant.
BMW 520d Touring M-sport Business Edition 5dr auto | Mileage | 8109 | Claimed combined consumption | 48.7mpg | Our average consumption | 38.3mpg | P11D price | £34,790 | Model price range | £31,090-£67,905 | CO2 (tax) | 154g/km (21%) | BIK 20/40% per month | £121/£243 | Service interval | variable | Insurance | group 16 | Warranty | 3yrs/unlimited | Boot space (min/max) | 500/1650 litres | Engine size/power | 1995cc/177PS | Top speed/0-62mph | 139mph/8.6secs | Why we’re running it | To see if 520d Business Edition can match rivals | Positive | Excellent efficiency, great to drive, classy | Negative | Short life brake pads, ride |
|
FOLLOW BUSINESSCAR ON TWITTER
Subscribe