The FIRST BMW that can WIRELESSLY CHARGE | Shift Up

For those who find the 3 series too small but the 7 series too big, there is the BMW 5 series. A chic business car with a sporty edge. And for those who want to think about the environment and their own wallet, there is this variant, the BMW 530E.

From the front this BMW 5 series looks the same as a normal BMW 5 series, only when we look at the side the car immediately betrays what kind of engine variant we are dealing with. This is because behind this flap is the charging point for this BMW. So it is a car with a gasoline engine combined with an electric motor. And that is what we call the 530E for the 5 Series.

Before we go any further into what lies under the hood and how this hybrid drives, I would like to show you the most critical point of the car, so that we can get that over with right away. When we open the trunk we see that the space inside is about 100 liters smaller than in a 5 series sedan with only a gasoline or diesel engine. There is a small hatch with space underneath to store the charging cable. Behind it is the battery pack under the bottom of the trunk.

Inside

When you get into the back of this BMW you notice that there is enough legroom for a person like me. There is also plenty of headroom in the back. There is a center armrest containing cup holders, and optionally you can also get climate control with seat heating in the back. Only the middle passenger will be a little less roomy due to the typical elevation of the center tunnel.

Behind the wheel it is also really a typical BMW. A dashboard that in my opinion looks super nice and also radiates a lot of quality. The materials are very good and everything feels really solid which is to be expected in this segment of cars.

In the center of the dashboard we see the navigation professional screen that we can control with the familiar iDrive button or easily with touchscreen.

The counters are no longer analog but partly digital. There is also an option where you get to see a fully digital screen in front of you.

Because this car has an M-Sport package, there is also a nice thick M-Sport steering wheel in this car that also looks super cool in my opinion. Also included in that M-Sport package are sport seats whose seating area you can enlarge and tilt for even more support.

Before I show you how this hybrid drives, I want to show you what's under the hood.

Under the hood

Under the hood of this BMW hybrid is a 2 liter 4 cylinder gasoline engine that is good for 184 HP and in combination with the electric motor has a combined output of 252 HP. A sprint from 0 to 100 thus takes 6.2 seconds, making it just as fast as the 530i variant despite weighing almost 230 KG more.

While driving

While driving this 5 you really notice that it is almost the top in terms of BMW model. For example, it is well insulated inside and you have a very nice seating position. We start the drive in the car e-drive modes. In this mode, when you have the navigation on, the car will figure out for itself where it can best drive fully electric, where on the fuel engine and where combined.

When you press the e drive button one more time, the car goes fully electric, the mac eDrive mode. It then does this up to 135 km/h. Because the electric motor itself has only about 90 hp, you notice that while it can keep up with traffic just fine, it is not as fast as on the fuel engine alone or combined.

When we press the button one more time it goes into battery control mode where it does everything it can to recharge the car as quickly as possible through the recovery braking function.

Because both the fuel engine and the electric motor drive the rear wheels, this hybrid really does feel like a typical BMW when driving.

The way it responds to throttle response and also how heavily it steers can be adjusted with the sport, eco and comfort buttons. For example, in sport mode it will respond much more fiercely to throttle response than in comfort mode. In comfort mode it is still a nice and direct car to drive, only it does not really invite you to drive it very fast, which it does more in sport mode because of the fierce throttle response, among other things.

Finally, the car's range, because of course that is one of the most important reasons to buy this Hybrid. In practice it is between 25 and 32 kilometers, depending on use and outside temperature. For many people, I think this is ideal for commuting. In addition, of course, the electric motor ensures that on a distance of, say, 50 km, the total consumption is a lot more favorable than with the 530i, despite the fact that you can't drive that 50 km completely electrically.

This particular car

This particular example is finished in the color Bluestone Metallic combined with a black Dakota leather interior. In addition to the M-Sport package, this car has options like navigation professional, a hi-fi audio system, seat heating, steering wheel heating, parking sensors for and rear, reversing camera, electrically adjustable seats and 20" alloy BMW Individual rims. The car can also be remotely heated or cooled from an app on your phone.

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