BMW 550i Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: BMW 550i
Prices: £46,295 - £50,915 - on the road
Insurance Group: 18
Performance: 0-60mph 5.2s / Max Speed 155mph
Fuel Consumption: (combined) 25.9mpg
Safety: Twin front, side & window airbags / ABS / DSC
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height 4841/2035/1468mm

BMW WHEELS OUT THE HEAVY HITTER

Our Rating: 7.7 / 10

If You Want A Five Series That Can Really Punch Its Weight, The 550i Makes A Convincing Case For Itself. Andy Enright Reports…

Take it from me, 367bhp is a lot of wallop when bolted beneath the bonnet of a BMW 5 Series. If the 235bhp 530d feels pleasantly muscular, imagine what the benefit of an additional 132bhp will do for your overtaking ability. The 4.8-litre V8 engine used by the 550i is the same as used in the 6 Series range and it’s an exceptional powerplant. The rest of the package isn’t too shabby either.

Priced at £46,295 on the road or £48,355 for the estate (£48,855 and £50,915 in M Sport trim), the 550i costs roughly the same as the Mercedes E500 but is significantly more powerful and feels a more modern product. To get a more powerful Jaguar S-TYPE, you’d need to fork out £50,000 for the R version. Where the 550i really scores with keen drivers is the fitment as standard of a six-speed manual gearbox. This has a beautifully lithe action and alters the character of the car when compared to the optional automatic. Despite the excellence of the self-shifter, it can’t help but make the car feel like something of an outside lane mauler, whereas the manual car just feels that little bit lighter on its feet. Illogical, I know, but such impressions soon coalesce behind the wheel of a 550i and are tricky to shift.

You expect a car of this ilk to be swift but the 550i is, if anything, even quicker than you at first bargain for. Grip is superb - aided by a very good traction control system that allows the slightest chirrup of wheelspin upon getaway – and the car will rocket to 60mph in just 5.2 seconds. This sort of performance was once the preserve of Italian supercars but now you and a whole host of safety and entertainment features can be subjected to this sort of accelerative force and the 550i isn’t even marketed as a sports car. Astounding. The top speed is electronically limited to 155mph and it’s possible to run into this digital barrier in both fifth and sixth gears. Of course, do so in fifth and you’ll probably be drinking a prodigious amount of fuel, but drive in a more restrained fashion and you’ll be able to average 25.9mpg on the combined cycle. That’s better than a 3.2-litre Audi A6 quattro.

The 550i is offered in the well-appointed SE trim level or in M Sport form. It’s doubtful if you’ll find the SE wanting in terms of standard equipment provision but if you want those M5 looks, it has to be the M Sport. The sports suspension fitted here is very similar

The dashboard is a triumph of minimal design, the Munich company having built up a reputation for ergonomic excellence. The only possible gripe would be the inconveniently situated electric window switches but these are illuminated at night along with the mirror adjusters making them easy to locate. The improved iDrive system is a little easier to use than that first trialed on the 7 Series, but its nevertheless an interface that rewards a little learning. Customers on a typical hour-long test drive should remember this.

The once radical shape of the 5 Series has now matured nicely into a discreet but smart piece of design. In a bid to keep things fresh, BMW has made a few small changes to the latest car. At the front, the headlights and indicators are now clear glass while the kidney grille sits flush with the bumper. The air duct in the rear valance has been revised while the side sill gets an additional contour line and horizontal LEDs are used in the rear light cluster. Inside, the door panels and window switches have been redesigned and there’s now eight freely programmable ‘favourites’ buttons on the dashboard so that drivers don’t have to use the infernal iDrive control system quite so much. There’s also an optional Lane Departure warning system offered.

The 5 Series remains a big but not bulky car. The saloon gets decent space up front with slightly below average rear leg room and a 520-litre boot. Measuring 4.48m in length, the Touring estate features a 535-litre load capacity with the 60/40 split folding rear seats in place and a hefty 1,650 litres with the seats folded down. There’s also a split bootlid with the rear window opening separately for the easy loading of small items. Customers can also opt for a fully-automatic tailgate operation with a press on the key fob opening the hatch and simultaneously retracting the boot load cover.

Dynamic Drive, BMW’s active suspension system is available as an option, and Active Cruise Control, a system that au