BMW 530i Engine, Performance, Handling

At the start of this review I had mentioned that there is a big difference in the E60 530i that was on sale long ago and this 530i. You no longer get the naturally aspirated 3.0 six cylinder motor but what you get instead is a 2.0 litre four cylinder turbo charged petrol engine. Well, downsizing and forced induction is the trend and the way to go now in today’s times. This is the same engine that also does duty in the 330i that we reviewed earlier. It puts out a healthy 252 horsepower at 5,200 rpm and 350 Nm of maximum torque. There’s a difference in how the power feels here though. While in the 330i, you immediately felt the rush on tapping the accelerator, here the power delivery feels more linear. You really don’t feel any turbo lag in the initial rpms and the ZF 8 speed automatic gearbox has very smooth shifts. Mid-range is also puncchy and the good part is the motor doesn’t feel strained and doesn’t get loud at the higher end of the power band. The engine sounds nice too. Even though a six cylinder is missed, this four pot motor gives you more than enough juice.

BMWs have always known to come with a stiff suspension set up and the 530i is no different. Still the ride quality is good and road undulations and bad patches are not a worry at all. It also comes with dynamic dampers as standard and they work well. The steering feels light but still feels communicative. It gets better as you go up the drive mode ladder. Body roll is well controlled around corners and high speed stability is great too.

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