BMW 5 Series (2017-2024) review

Job’s a good ‘un in here, too. Compared to some techier rivals it feels like the BMW Festival of Buttons in here, despite the addition of a newly large 12.3in widescreen on every model. But if you’ve ever tried to adjust the air con on the Volvo S90’s portrait touchscreen, you’ll crave the twiddly climate knobs of the 5 Series like football fans currently crave a soggy, overpriced pie.

The balance between new- and old-school switchgear is pretty well managed, we reckon, even if it looks a bit dizzying on first acquaintance. And given BMW’s nailed the driving position basics – as it always does – you’ve plenty of brain capacity freed up to navigate it all. The gesture control stuff is gimmicky, but so was iDrive on first acquaintance, and now it’s about as good as infotainment setups get.

A first for the updated Five is the option of big, multifunction M seats in cars with regular amounts of power. They’re great to sit in but we’d politely suggest M-badged headrests (and tricolour seatbelts) in a company car diesel set a questionable precedent. If you’ve got those, you’ve probably also got those new M brake calipers on the outside, though. Meaning the precedent was set long before anyone clambered inside…