BMW 5-Series news - BMW 5-Serious - 2009

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The new BMW 5-Series has been revealed, and happily it looks a lot more elegant than the previous incarnation.

Basically, BMW has taken everything from the current 7-Series and stuck it all in this slightly more compact package – except it doesn’t get the V12.

The big seller is likely to be the 2.0-litre turbodiesel, with 184bhp, 56.5mpg and a CO2 figure of 132g/km. But even the 535i petrol is efficient enough for a combined average of 33.2mpg, and emissions are just 199g/km of CO2.

As you’d imagine with a BMW, there are load of options on offer, including an eight-speed auto ’box, a fancy hard drive-based multimedia set-up with integrated iDrive, and an electronic chassis that includes anti-roll and four-wheel-adaptive steering.

It’s all heavy stuff, and even with the lighter body, overall weight is significantly up over the old model. However, BMW’s chassis engineers say the Five will handle better than the 7-Series thanks to the better programming of all the complex electronic gubbins.

The proof will be in the driving, but for now you’ll have to make do with the pretty pictures and this bizarre promo video, which claims that the 5-Series is ‘charismatic but decent’.

What an odd claim…