5 Series (F10/F11/F07/F18) BMW F10 5er - press drives & reviews

[martinbo]

^ I don't know where you've formed this opinion about EVO, EnI. Maybe only since some BMW's started getting a pasting for being the antithesis of what made their forebears great. Sure, we're all intelligent - we know that market forces dictate the need for a 5er GT or an overpowered cock-measuring yardstick of an SAV that does nothing to engage the spirited, talented driver.

Rest assured that EVO's core editorial team and consistency of opinion has not changed since I bought my first copy. I have a number of them:

You?

 

[Mr Robert]

Expected by whom?

EVO readers in general. But this could be a good thing. The car was not what should be expected from M but when journalists say this, other prospective customers might find their way to the BMW showrooms - those that have never liked the product before.

 

[EnI]

@martin

Yes, press can be very informative - especially when explaining tech, history, covering events etc - but today most of the suff can be found for free on then net. Not to mention the books.

Sure there is a method of learning here ... but ... When you're into something (eg. purchasing a product) you don't know - you rely on opinions & suggestions.

But how many times I read either negative or positive comments / reviews that proved to be completely off. Especially when it comes to tech - being that a car, a washing machine, LCD TV, notebook, cell phone, Mp3 player etc. And what it was completely frustrating for other was OK to me. Or vice versa.

Therefore I ask myself what I want & need - what attributes, characteristics & features are essential to me. And then you go and check the products & do some investigation: to find out the "most exposed problematic issues" and check them IRL if they are really present, and relevant to you.

Eg. how many times some interior was labeled as cheap (even in compact cars) but it was OK to me. Or the ride was too harsh, or the engine noise was too loud, the car wasn't dynamic enough, the seats were too soft / hard, steering too artificial etc etc. And I didn't noticing anything frustrating at all.

Yes, you can find a pattern (of exposed "issues") in various reviews - and then it's up to you to check it out IRL. If it's true at all, and relevant to you.

Eg. some journalists still find e-shifter & iDrive very frustrating - but to many it's a piece of cake. Sure it could be better - but far from being frustrating.

Sure you don't do & check all the products - just the ones you like / prefer. If you know what you want at all. And what product you are buying. And what for. since some people often do not know what to buy. They think they need something, and they buy it. Just for the sake of it.

I don't know if Ferrari 458 is a good car or not. And I - as a customer do not care - since I'm not into such car. It's not my target. Sure it's relevant to the Ferrari customers. The drivers. Not some collectors ala musicians, actors etc who buy such a car to brag not to drive.

As far as reviews are concerned: it would be very informative is the reviewers would list their expectations & preferences first. Or explain them in the article - so the reader would know the referential frame within the review is made.


****

As said: this guy is frustrated since the car is good "only because of the chassis gadgetry". Making this claim based on what? He hasn't driven regular 5er yet - so how is he able to make such claims? Out of the blue? Speculating? Is this what you call I good journalism? I certainly don't.

And since his reviews are harsh lately it would be nice to know why the guy is so frustrated. If he is eg. a hi-tech-hater / whatever-by-wire hater then that would explain all. Or if he is a car (tech) purist ... etc.

Or perhaps he has some personal issues. Since he tests such good cars every week, while he has to drive a base Astra in his private life. Or perhaps he is divorcing ... Or just getting older. I don't know. But I would like to know his frustrations better. It would certainly be informative & made me understand his reviews better. It would be more objective to know his referential frame ... Right now it's all up to believing. And as said many times: I'm not into believing very much. I want to be presented with physical evidences.

If eg. some BMW drives like a turd, and I'm experiencing that - I will not hesitate to say it loud & clear. Explaining that that's my PERSONAL OPINION (although I know cars well - at least as a products), and WHY I feel so. Perhaps also due to my svere lower back pains lately. Who knows.

 

[klier]

This thread has become completely horrible. Can't all this EVO conversation be taken out and put in it's own thread???

 

[bmwblog]

Followed the whole discussion....I am with EnI, simply because it's hard for most journalists / motoring press to be objective. Their will be true and trusted, reliable and objective car testers out there. Those ones that has been motoring journalists all their lives - most of them editors today. BUT most are only people with a diploma/degree in journalism that got the job and does not really have motoring and all that goes with it in their veins...IMO

Well, I have always made it clear...I just do not trust motoring journalist's opinions - NEVER have - NEVER will..

Good journalists these days will simply present you the facts, their findings and let you draw the conclusion. We've done this recently with our X5 M test drive and it turned out great.

Why? Because we simply showed the qualities of the X5 M, but stayed away from a comparison to other M products. We also decided not to draw a conclusion and let people decide based on what they read.

We simply said this: great on track, great as a daily and family driver, and stated what the demographic MIGHT be.

Is it for everyone? No.

And yes, we are slightly biased towards the brand, but believe me, we slammed the X3 and 5 GT several times in the past when it was needed.

And I agree, it is hard for any journalist out there to be completely unbiased, each one of us has a soft spot for a car, for a brand and inevitably we might do a comparison in our head already, before even laying it out on paper.

Btw, I am a huge fan of the Audi R8

 

[Betty Swollocks]

This thread has become completely horrible. Can't all this EVO conversation be taken out and put in it's own thread???

Why do you always try to do the mods job? How many threads do we have on here now where the debate isn't going how you like it, so you pipe up and say it should be moved?

Good journalists these days will simply present you the facts, their findings and let you draw the conclusion. We've done this recently with our X5 M test drive and it turned out great.

Why?

Because you are incredibly biased and come across as an in-house division of BMW?

And yes, we are slightly biased

 

[Bartek S.]

First Drive: 2011 BMW 5 Series Is A Smooth Operator

The outgoing BMW 5 Series may have ushered in a dramatic leap forward in terms of dynamics, technology, safety and creature comforts, but it's the previous generation -- the E39 -- that Bimmerphiles still speak of in hushed tones. The departing E60 may have been a more capable package, but it was also the source of much controversy and hand wringing. Blame Chris Bangle. Blame byzantine iDrive menu structures. Blame spirit-muffling layers of electronics. Hell, blame improved competition or hidebound brand loyalists who refuse to accept the new. No matter whose camp you point the finger at, the 2004-2010 5 Series was a polarizing creature, both aesthetically and from behind the wheel. Despite (or perhaps because of) all this, BMW enjoyed record-setting global sales of the Fiver, suggesting that that the traditionalists had it all wrong.
Still, one look at the new-for-2011 F10 model might reasonably lead you to believe that a bit of mulligan has occurred at the hand of Adrian van Hooydonk and his design team -- a toning down of the E60's most divisive elements. To be sure, the E60's Dame Edna spectacles have been consigned to a dusty drawer and the raised "Bangle Butt" has kept its date with Celebrity Fit Club. In the not-so-dearly departed's place is a handsome new sedan that appears simultaneously more in line with the 5 Series' lineage yet firmly set on the future. But to label the sixth-generation Fiver as an aesthetic or strategic regression would be incorrect, van Hooydonk tells us. As he points out, BMW design has a tendency to periodically muscle in with big, bold, design statements -- to knock down walls -- and in the follow-up model, its stylists can move about a bit more in the clean air made possible by its predecessor. Fair enough -- we prepared to check our Weltschmerz at the door and give this new Fiver a shot. Has it all been worked out for the better? BMW invited us to hop a couple of planes to Portugal in order to find out.

More: autos.aol.com

 

[EnI]

^^^^^

The new 5 Series is better looking, more luxurious and more capable -- yet it is also safer and cleaner. So is it ready to pick up the E39's torch anew? Well, not really. Without going so far as to suggest that that car was a primitive instrument of joy, BMW has moved too far down the field technologically to simply allow its engineers to pour old wine into new wineskins and call it a day. Besides, BMW's customers, competitors and various world governments have all gone and moved the segment's goalposts in the meantime. Having said all that, the 2011 5 Series is easier to use, easier on the eyes and far easier to find the magic in than its immediate predecessor. That might not be sufficient to proclaim it a neo-E39, but it might just be enough to move the Roundel to the head of the pack all over again.

At least some do understand ...

 

[tatoun]

This thread has become completely horrible. Can't all this EVO conversation be taken out and put in it's own thread???

Agreed, nothing more to do with F10

 

[bmwblog]

Because you are incredibly biased and come across as an in-house division of BMW?

I wouldn't say incredibly biased, I don't feel like digging out the "bad" articles, but one comes to mind: us praising the Audi Q5 against the X3.

I would call us enthusiasts that are here to report BMW news, both positive and negative towards the brand.

What really throws me off most of the time is why people read an article expecting to see something bad about a car or something extremely positive, 90% of the articles published there are simply news and not test drives.

 

[martinbo]

Agreed, nothing more to do with F10

This thread has become completely horrible. Can't all this EVO conversation be taken out and put in it's own thread???

C'mon people. This is the F10 5er press drives and reviews thread. Not the let's pour incessant adulation on the F10 thread.

We're debating the merit and credibility of the press reviews. Part of which is centric on the topic of the actual publication doing the review.

Sheesh...

If you don't like it don't post.

 

[Betty Swollocks]

C'mon people. This is the F10 5er press drives and reviews thread. Not the let's pour incessant adulation on the F10 thread.

We're debating the merit and credibility of the press reviews. Part of which is centric on the topic of the actual publication doing the review.

Sheesh...

If you don't like it don't post.

If the EVO review had been fantastic, would Klier be asking us to "move all the EVO conversation" then?

Not a chance.

 

[braaf]

If the EVO review had been fantastic, would Klier be asking us to "move all the EVO conversation" then?

Not a chance.

C'mon dude thats not cool. Klier has a right to ask to change topic just a Martin has a right say no.

 

[rollo]

C'mon dude thats not cool. Klier has a right to ask to change topic just a Martin has a right say no.

Betty also has the right to point out that his motivation may be more biased than balanced.

It's cool.

 

[Sunny]

lol, now it is really off topic.

 

[klier]

Betty also has the right to point out that his motivation may be more biased than balanced.

It's cool.

Yeah, and I would be asking for a very special spotlight EVO only review thread because I am biased? Sure I'm biased, but that had nothing to do with the question unlike some here make believe
Martin is making it sound as it was a weird question, but splitting a thread has been done numerous times in the past, and it brings even more attention to the subject. But whatever, don't split it if nobody wants it, lol

 

[K-A]

Not sure if this one has been posted. It's in Dutch so I have no idea what they're saying.
BMW 5 Serie 535i (2010) - ABHD auto video's

 

[klier]

Not sure if this one has been posted. It's in Dutch so I have no idea what they're saying.
BMW 5 Serie 535i (2010) - ABHD auto video's

Yeah, I was just about to post that video. Guys, if you want to see the F10 drifting like crazy, this is a good video to watch. Not your typical first drive!!

The guy is a BMW fan, but not biased and he has driven close to every high end car there is in his video reviews (AMGs/Ferraris/RS/Porsche/etc), and he really likes the car. Only the styling he finds to be a bit boring, but for the rest all is [retty much great for him, and a sporty ride is very important to this guy, as you can see in the video...

He is also saying that you can't go wrong either way when comparing the A6 to E to 5er, and that it comes down to personal preference....

Some quotes:

• Great feedback
• Perfectly balanced
• Steering is sublime
• Sometimes some trouble with the 8 speed for not being as responsive as he wants it to be, and feeling too electronical for his liking....

 

[Betty Swollocks]

Sometimes some trouble with the 8 speed for not being as responsive as he wants it to be, and feeling too electronical for his liking....

Strange comment considering it's an automatic gearbox. What does he expect it to feel like?

 

[klier]

I think he expects the shift speed and accuracy of a DCT gearbox when in paddle shif manual mode...

And I understand. If one has driven a DCT gearbox, there really is no going back to an automatic transmission if you're into sporty cars...