With cars getting larger and heavier, the fun element begins to fade away as vehicle dynamics are greatly impacted. Automakers do their best to minimize these downsides through chassis tweaks, advanced suspensions, rear-wheel steering, and software trickery. It would seem BMW’s engineers have found a good compromise with the new 5 Series Sedan.
Seen here in the fully electric i5 flavor, the luxury saloon was subjected to slalom and moose tests. We’re dealing with the lesser eDrive40 model with a single motor, rear-wheel drive, and the optional M Sport Package. This G60-generation model is an exceptionally large car, stretching at 5060 mm long, 1900 mm wide, and 1515 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2995 mm and a curb weight of 2,130 kg. That doesn’t sound like a recipe for a car that would excel in handling tests, right?
The Spanish journalists at Km77 tested this Brooklyn Grey i5 with its large 21-inch wheels wrapped in 255/35 R21 front and 285/30 R21 rear Continental EcoContact 6Q tires. The 5 Series EV impressed in the slalom test as the driver says the luxury sedan behaved like a smaller, lighter car. The body roll was moderate and the i5’s overall behavior was “almost like a sports car.”
It completed the run in 23.9 seconds, matching the time of the iX1 xDrive30 while being a tenth of a second quicker than the i4 eDrive40. However, the Porsche Taycan GTS fared much better since it did the slalom test in only 21.5 seconds. We reckon the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive i5 M60 might perform better but it’s unlikely that it’ll get close to the performance achieved by the Porsche.
In the subsequent moose test, the driver failed to complete the run at the initial entrance speed of 79 km/h. He had to go slower to avoid taking down any of those blue cones, and it was only when the entrance speed dropped to 73 km/h that the i5 finished the course without making any casualties. The electric 5 Series Sedan was traveling at speeds of 60 km/h in the middle of the course and had an exit speed of 45 km/h.
The electronic stability control system barely intervened while the driver was navigating through the cones, indicating the car remained stable despite the sudden maneuvers. The trick suspension reduced body roll while the sharp steering quickly responded to the driver’s inputs. However, the reviewer says the i5 eDrive40 performed significantly better in the slalom test than in the moose test that followed.
The sportiest 5 Series is yet to come as we’re certain the hotly anticipated M5 G90 debuting in the coming months will do better in both tests.
Source: km77.com / YouTube
