2005 BMW 530 Test Drives

The 5 Series: Mighty but Flawed

Get over the redesign already! This is a fantastic sports sedan.

Should You Buy This Car?

Of the reasons not to buy the 530i, style is the least of our worries. To our eye the new look of the 5 is more than acceptable -- in every color but black and red this car looks attractive. Again, though, that's a matter of taste.

What does make us hesitate is price. Not that you get a better deal from Mercedes, mind you, but a Cadillac CTS or Infiniti G35 give you comparable front and backseat knee room, excellent handling, and $10,000 off the price of the BMW 530i.

The Audi A6 can also be had for under $40,000, by the way.

Meanwhile, add the $1,275 automatic gearbox to the $3,300 sport package and the base price of the 530i jumps from $44,995 to nearly $50,000. Hardly small potatoes.

Does that make this a less wonderful package? It probably depends on how your finances are holding up. We'd be thrilled to have this car in our garage, but that doesn't mean we'd turn our noses up at any of what the competition offers, either. The key thing about the BMW, however, is that it raises the bar once again.

And if you hate the styling? Then shop elsewhere. But be warned, everyone else in this industry is going out on their own styling tangents now, too, all thanks to BMW.