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Message: <blockquote data-quote="vish" data-source="post: 424408" data-attributes="member: 18296">i went for the group test drive event today, it was a pleasant surprise to see bro albundy there as the driver of the lead car in our convoy. after some nice (but not filling) finger food, we were given a brief history lesson on the 5 from the E12 all the way to the E60. heres an interesting bit of info, to date more than 5.5 million 5s have been sold :top: and then the F10 535i was unveiled :rock: some time back when i first saw pics of it i didnt like it much, seemed like an E90 front end had been glued to an F01's butt, but seeing it in the flesh changed my mind; this is a seriously good looking hunk of metal. ok on to the fun bit, the test drive. a friend of mine and i were in car no1, which gave us the privilege of being right behind bro bundy (or mr wong as he is known professionally <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite6" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":cool:" /> ) and his heavy right foot. first impression was good, the key phrase here is sense of occasion. there wasnt the shadow of a doubt in my mind that i was in something other than a proper luxury saloon, the cabin is seriously miles ahead of the E60 (i hope my mum doesnt read this). so off we went, on the road where paws is on your left, all the way to the u-turn that slopes downwards in an S-bend. having test driven a 525i sport before, i decided not to touch the brakes but gently lift off the throttle. true to form, the 5 stayed in its lane and i got an opportunity to test the brakes ('test' is putting it mildly) when bro bundy slowed down to wait for the others to catch up while i was happily being a hooligan. a couple of seconds later i got chastised over the walkie-talkie :rofl: while i was braking i noticed a little bar at the bottom of my rev counter turn blue, this is the Brake Energy Regeneration system kicking in which harnesses the energy from the overrun to do 20% of the overall brake charging. when we got back on the straight, i heard the words "full throttle" cackle over the radio and stepped on it :burnout:. here, i was disappointed. the 523i is a tad underpowered to be honest, but the 8-speed transmission kept revs high and was unnaturally smooth and refined. i just hope that the forthcoming M5 doestnt have as many gears or it might suffer from the same problem as the Lexus ISF which continuously hunts for the right gear to use. we had been in comfort mode the entire time (E-class?what on earth is that?) and were now told to switch to sport mode. this four mode system (comfort, normal, sport, and sport plus) is a touch of brilliance on the part of bmw, hopefully the F30 has it as well. having said that, the gearbox upshifts on its own even in manual/sport mode. which doesnt make any sense and is HIGHLY ANNOYING. still, being able to control suspension stiffness is a welcome feature, something future M-sport variant owners will no doubt be thankful for. back to the test drive, we drove to subang airport for driver changeover and i noticed an E39 owner pointing with a huge grin on his face. overall, i was impressed. but would i buy the 523i?my answer is a resounding no. it simply isnt worth 400k. i would wait for SKD or CKD units to enter the market and they bloody well better include navigation.and now, time to compare it with the E60. (523i vs 523i)performance  : tie (same engine, but for some reason the E60 seems to pull slightly harder)comfort and refinement : F10, but only slightly exterior aesthetics : E60interior aesthetics : F10 (without a doubt)ergonomics : E60 (the i-drive controller is too far away from the driver and the electronic hand brake is                     annoying)cabin space : F10convenience : F10 (thanks in no small part to 4-wheel steering)pure unadulterated sex appeal : E60 (ill admit this is a biased view, after all my love affair with BMW                                                     started with the E60)the E60 was revolutionary, the F10 just took the formula and improved it.thank yew for reading, comments are welcome</blockquote>

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