BMW’s new 5-Series sedan is expected to land in New Zealand around the middle of next year and sporting a new engine line-up, an “unbeatable line-up of assistance systems, and unmatched degree of connectivity and a new and innovative operating system”.
Chief among the technology will be wireless Apple CarPlay, which does away with the need for a cable. It works with carmakers’ applications, in short allowing the driver to control aspects of the car without leaving the CarPlay interface.
The 5-Series is the first production car with the wireless technology. It came about through the development of Apple’s iOS 9 operating system and remains compatible with the iPhone 4S, now five years old. The 5-Series also features wireless phone charging and Android Auto.
These are the first official photos of the seventh-generation model. At 4936mm long, 1868mm wide, and 1479mm tall it is 37mm longer, 8mm wider, and 15mm taller than the outgoing 5-Series.
But it is around 100kg lighter, thanks to the increased use in its architecture of lightweight materials including aluminium and high-strength steels. Buyers will have the choice of rear-drive or all-wheel xDrive.
Under the bonnet will a range of turbocharged engines, the petrol units including a 185kW/350Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit and a 250kW/450Nm 3.0-litre six. The diesel offerings are a 140kW/400Nm 2.0-litre and 195kW/620Nm 3.0-litre.
BMW has focused details of the 5-Series mostly on technology. It says the new Active Cruise Control (ACC) and its safety systems is another step toward autonomous driving. The car can accelerate, brake and steer itself from zero to 210km/h.
ConnectedDrive adds new features, including ParkNow, which can reserve and pay for parking spaces from a distance. It also has a separate function to search for parking, along with one that detects vacant spaces and parks the vehicle automatically.
There’s a full-colour head-up display, which projects information over the 70 per cent larger area. This includes traffic signs, phone listings, radio stations, music tracks, navigation prompts and warnings from assistance systems.
The 5-Series gets a WiFi hotspot for up to ten devices, and a remote 3D function where owners can remotely keep tabs via smartphones on where they have parked the car, for instance.
