BMW 520d SE Touring Review (2011)

The very good looking BMW 520d Touring

We have what is probably the pick of the new BMW 5 Series Estates – the BMW 520d SE Touring – in for review and road test.

It’s arguable that the BMW 5 Series Touring is the best estate you can buy. With a huge range of engine options there’s something for everybody, but perhaps the best choice for most is the car we have here for review and road test – the BMW 520d SE Touring.

The 520d Touring gets the baby diesel lump from BMW, but despite the small engine it does get 181bhp and a useful 280lb/ft of torque.

True, the frugal 2.0 litre diesel lump in this particular 5 Series Touring isn’t going to tear you face off as you roar away in the traffic light Grand Prix, but it’s no slouch either.

Not only is the 520d Touring no slouch, it’s got most of everything its more powerful, and more expensive, 5 Series Touring brethren boast – apart from bigger fuel bills.

But is the fact that the 520d Touring has decent performance despite its lowly underpinnings enough to really make this a really appealing BMW?

Despite the bigger proportions of the new 5 Series Touring, BMW has done a remarkably good job of making this quite commodious load lugger look like a sporty BMW. The line of the roof and the styling creases actually conspire to make the 5 Series Touring better looking than its saloon sibling.

And even in this lowly 520d SE, there’s plenty of equipment on offer. That said, BMW has managed to load our 5 Series Touring with all manner of goodies including an auto ‘box (£1495), posh AirCon (£300), Media Pack Pro (£1960), Sports Seats (£400), a heads up display (£940) and a host of other treats adding up to £9,400.

None of which you need, but much of which we’d take even if we were spending our own money. But the standard 520d SE Touring comes with stuff like Dynamic Stability Plus, ASC, Dynamic Brake Control, EBD and Hill Start.

There’s keyless, parking sensors, auto lights and wipers, Leather, AirCon, a decent radio and CD with AUX input, 7” Infotainment screen, iDrive and part electric seats amongst a comprehensive spec that makes you forget that there once was a time when all you got from BMW was an empty interior, with lots of blanking buttons and a plate where the stereo you didn’t spec would have been.

BMW 520d SE Touring Interior

As we’ve already pointed out, the 520d Touring has a lowly four-pot, 2.0 litre diesel under the bonnet, so you’d be right not to expect firework.  But despite that, the 520d does manage to be a very creditable performer.

With the excellent eight-speed auto ‘box BMW has fitted to this review car (£1495), performance is almost exactly the same as it would be if we’d had the standard manual six-speed.

That means a 0-62mph of 8.3 seconds and a top speed of 137mph. Which is more than half-way decent for a big, luxury estate car. But when you factor in that the 520d Touring actually manages to offer combined economy of 53.3 mpg and emissions of a lowly 139g/km – leading to a £110 VED and a BIK of 19 per cent – you start to realise just what a good buy the 520d is.

It’s true to say that we did manage to get that fuel consumption down in to the 20s after a spirited blat, but real world economy in the 40s from a car like the 520d is commendable.

And you really can chuck the 520d Touring around in exactly the way you would you’d be able to in any other BMW. True, it does seem a bit softer than the last 5 Series Touring, but it gets self-levelling suspension at the back to keep the Touring on the level whatever you’re carrying, and double wishbones at the front for some decent response.

Despite the over £9k of extras this particular 5 Series Touring has had bolted on, it didn’t come with the optional variable dampers. Those who’ve driven the Touring with the variable dampers do say it sharpens things up, but at the expense of the ride.

To be honest, much as we love to blat any car, the standard setup seems like a pretty good compromise to us. The slightly less harsh suspension on this 520d Touring – even with its optional 18” alloys – seems to offer the best balance between handling and comfort in what will either be a business workhorse or a family car. And you’ll save a few bob by leaving the suspension in standard trim too.

The impressive abilities of the BMW 520d Touring with just a 2.0 litre diesel lump has come as something of a shock to us.

We’d normally opt for the most powerful engine on offer, but so appealing is the 520d Touring, we think it may be a first for us to proclaim the economy version of a car the pick (we will give ourselves a get out of jail free card if BMW give us an M5 Touring – which is far from a certainty).

We managed to get 39mpg in a week of mixed use, some load lugging, some motorway cruising and more than a blat or two through country roads. Which is exceptional.

The power delivery is almost linear and you have to remind yourself at times that the 520d Touring is an oil-burner. The standard suspension offers a great compromise between comfort and handling and the big BMW will cruise all day at 85mph at just 2500rpm in a cosseting and calm way.

If we’re going to nit-pick, we’d perhaps complain that the 5 Series Touring isn’t as commodious as the E-Class Estate we reviewed a few months ago, so if out and out load-lugging is your primary reason to buy, the E-Class is the better bet.

Options aren’t exactly low-price either, but despite that we’d opt for the brilliant eight-speed auto. It suits the 5 Series Touring so well – and is just as economical and brisk as the manual – there seems no reason not to.

On balance, the new 520d Touring offers a much better blend of abilities than the old 5 Series – or any other comparable estate – with a more fluid ride, great performance, residuals and economy. Part of us yearns for the more edgy feel of the last 5 Series Touring, but the balance in this new 520d is almost sublime.

It really is very good indeed.

(46 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK