NarutoRamen
Kraftwagen König
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Ok, so I was invited by BMW's email to go to the Ultimate Driving Event. So, I signed up and of course got my point and shoot ready to go, since I don't have a DSLR.
When I get there, I had to check in and saw the 535i for the very first time. Wow! That's all I could think of. The first car I saw was in white and fully loaded. And it looked mouthwatering good in the flesh, err, metal. So, I got a chance to check the car out on my own and snapped a few pics. Finally, it was our turn and the BMW corporate folks did a in-depth walk around of the car explaining every little detail: how the new iDrive works, front-side cameras, backup camera, engine, etc. Though I had to remind him about the "Efficinet Dynamics" that are always being touted on here, and he thanked me for reminding him since there was a old and VERY picky couple in my group who only cared about MPG and nothing else.
Then after the details the BMW corporate folks went back to treating me like they usually do, a nobody. I tried talking to them a bit about my interests in working for BMW, since I have dealership experience, and they just kind of ignored me and said "Go online, all the info is there" and were only paying attention to the older customers. Very bad attitude I must say.
While still waiting for my chance to drive the car, a very nice salesperson named Ken came to talk to me and see if I needed any help. I told him that I'm not interested in getting a car yet, but my father is interested in a used BMW hopefully by winter. Both of those are absolutely no lies, we can’t afford a new one but my dad does want to replace one of our cars with a certified used BMW if he can get a good deal. He liked my honesty and we talked about cars and my track experience with my previous M3 and various other tuned cars. I told him that I always wanted to test drive an M3 but his dealership always just kind of smirks and basically says “hell no”, which he said is a problem. So he says “Have you driven the new 135i with DCT?” I said no I haven’t and would love to test it out. He said he’ll get the keys and after my test of the 535i we can drive that, and an M3 convert for me to compare. More on that later.
My turn finally arrives and someone took the 535i out, but there is nice E350 for me to drive and compare it too. Now begins the test.
Interior:
The materials used in both W212 E350 and F10 535i are superb. None of the plastics felt cheap to me, and mind you this is after going to the dealership in an S430. I’ve used the command before and it was quite easy enough to use. The iDrive, I was certainly impressed by. It has become SO much easier to use than before, and I love the gigantic screen. It’s very clear and isn’t a distraction from the road. I liked the center console of the 5er more than the E though. While the E makes many of the simple things right there, the 5er does that too, but by the command knob, so the center ends up being far less cluttered looking and more pleasing to my eyes. Though, my main issue with the 5 was the damn volume knob. May be it’s just that it was my first time in the car, but I constantly was messing with the AC knob, when I was trying to reach for the volume. It just felt ergonomically wrong. Even so, I have to give the less cluttered 5 a marginal win.
Exterior:
This is where I think MB let me down a bit. While I love the W212 E’s exterior, the thing that bothers me the most about them is that unless it has the AMG kit, it just doesn’t look that great. To be fair, the 535i supplied to me was pretty much bare bones, it didn’t even have a “sport” button like the E did. The E I was given was the base model with equivalent features, minus the AMG kit. In other words, it was the dual-fog one. Comparing the dual-fog kitted E-class with the new 5er, it was a hands down win for the 5. It just looked far better, and even classier I might say. If the E-had the AMG-kit, then I might have something to think about, but apples for apples, the 5 wins this without a second thought.
*Note* The pic of the 5er, is actually the 550i. But, that is EXACTLY how my 535i looked. I couldn't snap a pic of the car I drove due to the BMW personnel moving me out and sending someone else very quickly.
Driving:
First I got into the E350. There was a pre set-up route for me which was a mix of city streets and a really awesome turn and dash towards the highway. The highway run is where you could really test out the car’s handling and acceleration, though I was able to test out the acceleration on the streets as well. I was very impressed by the E-class’s driving. I’ve driven, and even pushed, the C350 and I must say that I actually preferred the E more now. I put the E in sport more for the whole ride, remembering that the BMW rep told me that you should drive both cars equally, and the 535i we did a walk-through of had sport settings as well. I did a few acceleration tests from a roll and few from stop-light to stop-light. My favorite test came from the highway run. I had to cut off a few cars and find an opening to gun-it in. In that opening I got to test out the cornering abilities of the E, and I was actually impressed. In sport mode, it doesn’t have much roll while cornering and the ride wasn’t harsh as well. There was more feedback desired of the steering. For most people though, it would be just fine. Then I came back and they had a 535i just waiting for me.
This is where the problem comes. I was quite impressed by the sportiness of the E and the linear response from the throttle. When I got into the 535i and got out on the road, the problem came straight away. And that problem was the E. In all honesty, I was impressed by the E, but absolutely blown away by the 5. The car is just so much damn quicker than the E. The throttle response is right away, due to the torque being available from only 1200 rpms. As I state, the problem was with the E, and that problem is that the E impressed me in sport mode. The 5er that I had, there was no sport mode. I can barely imagine what the car would be like if I had driven the one inside the dealership with the “Sport” and even the “Sport+” settings. I had so much fun in the 5er that my smile was splitting my face in half, and I was contemplating just going home with the damn thing and dealing with the cops later. Of course, that was a bad idea that I didn’t act on. I did the same from-a-roll, stop light, and highway run acceleration tests, but it didn’t take me long to declare the 5er the winner here. The ride wasn’t any different than the E, but I actually preferred the seats a lot more in the 5. They gave me that reassuring feel during cornering, unlike the ones in the E, which are more focused on comfort. The seats weren’t any less comfortable in the 5er, mind you. That’s why I preferred them because they were just as comfy but more supportive.
Overall:
The 5er did everything that the E-series can do, and it did it better in many cases. The 5er even got the comfort right. While the E did well with taking away the “sporty driving” advantage of the 5er, the 5er just did a far better job of the “comfortable driving” of the E. Even the exterior was a win for BMW because both were base models, and unfortunately the E needs the AMG kit to put up any threat to the 5er in looks. So, hands down win for the new 535i. BMW CM correctly hyped this car.
Thanks for taking the time out to read my review.
-Raman Banwait
When I get there, I had to check in and saw the 535i for the very first time. Wow! That's all I could think of. The first car I saw was in white and fully loaded. And it looked mouthwatering good in the flesh, err, metal. So, I got a chance to check the car out on my own and snapped a few pics. Finally, it was our turn and the BMW corporate folks did a in-depth walk around of the car explaining every little detail: how the new iDrive works, front-side cameras, backup camera, engine, etc. Though I had to remind him about the "Efficinet Dynamics" that are always being touted on here, and he thanked me for reminding him since there was a old and VERY picky couple in my group who only cared about MPG and nothing else.
Then after the details the BMW corporate folks went back to treating me like they usually do, a nobody. I tried talking to them a bit about my interests in working for BMW, since I have dealership experience, and they just kind of ignored me and said "Go online, all the info is there" and were only paying attention to the older customers. Very bad attitude I must say.
While still waiting for my chance to drive the car, a very nice salesperson named Ken came to talk to me and see if I needed any help. I told him that I'm not interested in getting a car yet, but my father is interested in a used BMW hopefully by winter. Both of those are absolutely no lies, we can’t afford a new one but my dad does want to replace one of our cars with a certified used BMW if he can get a good deal. He liked my honesty and we talked about cars and my track experience with my previous M3 and various other tuned cars. I told him that I always wanted to test drive an M3 but his dealership always just kind of smirks and basically says “hell no”, which he said is a problem. So he says “Have you driven the new 135i with DCT?” I said no I haven’t and would love to test it out. He said he’ll get the keys and after my test of the 535i we can drive that, and an M3 convert for me to compare. More on that later.
My turn finally arrives and someone took the 535i out, but there is nice E350 for me to drive and compare it too. Now begins the test.
Interior:
The materials used in both W212 E350 and F10 535i are superb. None of the plastics felt cheap to me, and mind you this is after going to the dealership in an S430. I’ve used the command before and it was quite easy enough to use. The iDrive, I was certainly impressed by. It has become SO much easier to use than before, and I love the gigantic screen. It’s very clear and isn’t a distraction from the road. I liked the center console of the 5er more than the E though. While the E makes many of the simple things right there, the 5er does that too, but by the command knob, so the center ends up being far less cluttered looking and more pleasing to my eyes. Though, my main issue with the 5 was the damn volume knob. May be it’s just that it was my first time in the car, but I constantly was messing with the AC knob, when I was trying to reach for the volume. It just felt ergonomically wrong. Even so, I have to give the less cluttered 5 a marginal win.
Exterior:
This is where I think MB let me down a bit. While I love the W212 E’s exterior, the thing that bothers me the most about them is that unless it has the AMG kit, it just doesn’t look that great. To be fair, the 535i supplied to me was pretty much bare bones, it didn’t even have a “sport” button like the E did. The E I was given was the base model with equivalent features, minus the AMG kit. In other words, it was the dual-fog one. Comparing the dual-fog kitted E-class with the new 5er, it was a hands down win for the 5. It just looked far better, and even classier I might say. If the E-had the AMG-kit, then I might have something to think about, but apples for apples, the 5 wins this without a second thought.
*Note* The pic of the 5er, is actually the 550i. But, that is EXACTLY how my 535i looked. I couldn't snap a pic of the car I drove due to the BMW personnel moving me out and sending someone else very quickly.
Driving:
First I got into the E350. There was a pre set-up route for me which was a mix of city streets and a really awesome turn and dash towards the highway. The highway run is where you could really test out the car’s handling and acceleration, though I was able to test out the acceleration on the streets as well. I was very impressed by the E-class’s driving. I’ve driven, and even pushed, the C350 and I must say that I actually preferred the E more now. I put the E in sport more for the whole ride, remembering that the BMW rep told me that you should drive both cars equally, and the 535i we did a walk-through of had sport settings as well. I did a few acceleration tests from a roll and few from stop-light to stop-light. My favorite test came from the highway run. I had to cut off a few cars and find an opening to gun-it in. In that opening I got to test out the cornering abilities of the E, and I was actually impressed. In sport mode, it doesn’t have much roll while cornering and the ride wasn’t harsh as well. There was more feedback desired of the steering. For most people though, it would be just fine. Then I came back and they had a 535i just waiting for me.
This is where the problem comes. I was quite impressed by the sportiness of the E and the linear response from the throttle. When I got into the 535i and got out on the road, the problem came straight away. And that problem was the E. In all honesty, I was impressed by the E, but absolutely blown away by the 5. The car is just so much damn quicker than the E. The throttle response is right away, due to the torque being available from only 1200 rpms. As I state, the problem was with the E, and that problem is that the E impressed me in sport mode. The 5er that I had, there was no sport mode. I can barely imagine what the car would be like if I had driven the one inside the dealership with the “Sport” and even the “Sport+” settings. I had so much fun in the 5er that my smile was splitting my face in half, and I was contemplating just going home with the damn thing and dealing with the cops later. Of course, that was a bad idea that I didn’t act on. I did the same from-a-roll, stop light, and highway run acceleration tests, but it didn’t take me long to declare the 5er the winner here. The ride wasn’t any different than the E, but I actually preferred the seats a lot more in the 5. They gave me that reassuring feel during cornering, unlike the ones in the E, which are more focused on comfort. The seats weren’t any less comfortable in the 5er, mind you. That’s why I preferred them because they were just as comfy but more supportive.
Overall:
The 5er did everything that the E-series can do, and it did it better in many cases. The 5er even got the comfort right. While the E did well with taking away the “sporty driving” advantage of the 5er, the 5er just did a far better job of the “comfortable driving” of the E. Even the exterior was a win for BMW because both were base models, and unfortunately the E needs the AMG kit to put up any threat to the 5er in looks. So, hands down win for the new 535i. BMW CM correctly hyped this car.
Thanks for taking the time out to read my review.
-Raman Banwait
...and the exterior is perfect..IF you're a sedan guy that is
