As a previous F10 535xi owner, I will also say that my new G30 is an amazing car. I've had the 540xi for almost a month now in Bluestone Metallic w Cognac interior. Overall, yes it's an amazing car and I love the fully digital TFT dashboard, the engine, the wireless carplay, new idrive software, parking assistants, soft close doors, rear sunshade and 20" wheels. I have a few (minor) issues:
- gas lid is plastic (yes, I'm sure it's for weight saving, but still!)
- the ashtray/coin holder is gone (where am I going to put my change??)
- the little driver's side cubby is cheap (the shape/size is not ideal for sunglasses anymore and the interior isn't even lined with felt like the F10. what's up with that? i had to DIY a felt lining by going to Michaels)
- the trunk's rear tool lid is gone (your tools are now stores in a hidden compartment)
- storage compartment underneath trunk floor is gone (again, i'm sure there's a reason?)
I'm happy with my purchase but it's the first time I've upgraded to a newer model and some minor, albeit convenient, features are gone :/
Quote:
Originally Posted by phennighausen
Well I took my F10 535i xDrive into the dealer for a repair and was lucky enough to receive one of their first G30 loaner cars. I thought I would write a little review with impressions on the differences/improvements from the F10 generation. Overall it’s a solid upgrade and don’t think anyone will be disappointed.
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Exterior
I really don’t have much to say here. It just looks like a newer 5-series. Nothing outlandish but a really nice refined piece of design. When seeing the G30 parked next to an F10 (wish I had taken a pic) you can really see the “newness” of the G30 and slightly wider stance. I feel that the design is best on the standard sport line trim, the M-sports lower air dam is a little too wide and short. My biggest complaint really is the selection of rims that BMW currently offers. I wish there was a simpler 5 spoke type design and most of the designs are a little too busy for me.
Interior
Wow! They have made some really great changes on the inside of this car. The overall feeling of space is increased. One of my passengers immediately commented that there was more legroom because the glovebox doesn’t hang down into the passenger footwell as much as the F10. I’m so excited that they have made the sport seats standard in the USA! Although, I fear that American’s of a certain type may not enjoy them so much, but I loved them. No need to upgrade to the multicontour. I cannot stress enough that the sensitec seats do not do the G30 justice, with the addition of the sport seats the rough texture makes it difficult to slide in and out of the car often resulting in an untucked shirt. I also do not like the odor that they provide to the interior. The steering wheel with paddles feels great to hold and has the usual buttons. I’m not sold on the partial bezel digital gauge cluster but the graphics look great and it has wonderful details. The upper dashboard trim doesn’t have the expensive dense feel of the F10’s and the sensitec stitching isn’t a big improvement, certainly doesn’t fool me into thinking it’s leather. The ambient lighting is a mega-crowd pleaser and is integrated beautifully to the trim lines of the interior.
Driving Experience
This is another area where the G30 takes a big step forward from the F10. I have to make sure I reiterate that I am coming from an F10 535i xDrive which has the hydraulic steering and is quite a bit heavier than a base G30 530i. I immediately noticed how they have decreased the amount of turns from lock to lock. Going around a cloverleaf that I take every day is much more pleasant now that I do not have to cross my arms as I do in the F10. The weighting is much lighter than my F10 but didn’t really bother me. The road feel is about the same. Overall the G30 just feels a lot more nimble and doesn’t roll in corners so much. The engine is astoundingly quiet (I thought the F10 528i was quiet!). It has more than enough power to give you some RWD fun and make quick work of my commute. For normal driving I see little reason to upgrade to the 540i. The transmission is just as quick here as the F10 and has no complaints from me. Glad the shift paddles are standard now! My loaner had the base 18” wheels and rode extremely smoothly, my F10 has 19’s so it’s hard for me to tell if the ride really is that much smoother. Either way it’s plush when you need it to be and can be flicked through corners with ease.
Infotainment
iDrive as before is simply the best. Audi has great graphics and a pretty interface but for ease of navigation I think iDrive is ahead. However I do have some gripes with the newest version. In an effort to simplify the experience and make it more accessible for touch I feel that they have created a few too many submenus. I liked how on NBT I could just go to Vehicle Info and scroll to the trip computers. Now I have to go to “My Vehicle” and then to “Driving Data” and then select “Trip Computer”. This is repeated throughout the system, it can easily be learned but was a little distracting at first. Also “Technology in Action” what does that have to do with the “Sport Displays”! Lastly, this may be something to do with this car not having Carplay or the wireless charging but when I plugged my iPhone in there is no shortcut to Podcasts or Audiobooks like on NBT and when I did switch from Bluetooth to USB I got the error like I used to get on my CIC that I can’t do both at the same time and I have to manually configure it instead of the seamless switch like with my NBT system.
Details
These are a few random observations that show some bigger changes BMW is making to its vehicles that I came across. After 15 years of BMW making stalks that always immediately return to center much to everyone's initial disdain they have brought back normal stalks just like in every other car. I actually missed the electronic ones since the stalk never snaps back into place as you went around a corner and the wipers reset every time you cycled the power to the car.
Next, for some reason they have decided to reinstate the coolant temp gauge instead of the oil temp gauge they've had for years. I'm not sure why they did this, I find the oil temp to be more useful than coolant temp. Finally, I REALLY miss the quick center vent fresh air adjuster. I know you can get to it by pushing the Menu button and then going to the adjustment menu but that's annoying seeing how I adjust that often. It's a feature only BMW’s have had and I've grown to really like it.
Summary
Overall, I think this new 5 is a great improvement over the last generation and the driving dynamics exceeded my expectations. I can see myself having one after my F10 ages and I can get it in Moonstone. A few things on the options that I would point out. Definitely get the leather seats the stitching detailing and comfort is worth it. I would not really bother with the “icon adaptive lights” because most likely they’ll be dumbed down for the US and the standard ones were great. I think the dynamic dampers would be worth it especially considering they are now a standalone option. I would pass on the sensitec dashboard and instead choose the ceramic controls which I feel make a bigger difference to the interior. The standard stereo actually sounded pretty good, better than the F10. I would want to try the HK system before I committed and totally go for the B&W system if I had money to burn. |
