BMW 5-series GT 550i

 

What‘s it? This is actually the car which you never knew you needed, unless you’ve always hankered following a BMW 5-series GT 550i saloon, estate and X5 all rolled into one. The 5-series GT has, consistent with BMW, no direct competitors and if you feel the 535 petrol and 530 diesel versions are niche products, then this range-topping 550 ought to be much more exclusive. Actually amounts to is really a halfway house between executive car and SUV. It‘s 8cm above most saloons, having a coupe-like roofline and side window graphic, X5 rear headroom and 7-series legroom, but having a twin-turbocharged V8 engine mounted inside the front. It’s a heady mixture, and all sorts of things it partly skirts all around the “social acceptability” issue that clings onto large SUVs.

The V8 is mated for an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox that actually weighs lower than the previous six-cog auto, and everything power is (perhaps unusually, checking mild SUV styling ) channeled through the 2 19-inch wheels behind from the car. Four-wheel drive Isn‘t an option. What’s it like? When it comes to comfort and space, the BMW 5-series nails it. Impressively for any BMW, there‘s a very high degree of standard kit, with items such as the panoramic roof and leather seats all thrown in. The car we drove is at Executive trim, which curiously offers fewer seats for about two grand more. A minimum of the rear X6-style chairs are electrically operated. The 550 has got the potential as being most GT-like from the 5-series GT range. As is proved with cars such as the X6 and X5, BMW includes a knack of defying physics with big SUVs. In several ways It‘s worked its magic using the 550i. Beneath the bonnet is identical 402bhp V8 as inside the X6 xDrive50i. It features a healthy 443lb ft from 1750rpm, meaning lots of low-end grunt. It is best described as deceptively quick ; the numbers upon the head-up display always register far above you anticipate, and also the V8 is silky smooth throughout towards the red line.

Actually, the engine and gearbox really certainly can be a sublime combination, delivering both a mixture of linear shove and almost seamless shifts. It may be much more impressive when the eight-cylinder soundtrack were slightly more audible, but BMW has clearly worked towards cabin refinement, and that is top drawer., / pThere’s no denying that, at over two tonnes, the GT is really a big car and it really is constantly evident in the quantity of inertia associated with moving it. It isn‘t the foremost incisive drive, never feeling particularly agile, then it‘s more suited to flowing through bends instead of attacking them. Using the standard ‘Drive Dynamic Control’ in comfort mode the GT wafts along, but place it in Sport or Sport+ and also the throttle, steering, suspension and gearchange speed are sharpened. The car becomes tauter however the ride, especially upon the bumpy Scottish backroads where we tested the car, becomes too harsh to really make it a mile-munching GT. The overall exerience is just like that inside an SUV such as the X5 or X6 ; the levels of capability are deeply impressive for that scale car but they are never that near anything you‘d call truly sporty. Should I buy one? If you would like an X6 but can’t stand the thought of buying one, then absolutely. Which suggests BMW has pretty much achieved actually began related to the 5-series GT. Oliver StallwoodMore BMW 5-series GT pictures.