520d wagon rental

[dishdude]

I currently have this 5 series wagon as my rental. Appears to be a diesel hybrid (didn't know those existed) and very oddly equipped. It has nav, M badging (guessing that's just an appearance pack) but is missing some really basic stuff like heated seats, BSM, LKA, and I don't think it has FCW. The front seats are power up and down, recline and lumbar but the forward and back adjustment is manual, you have to pull a lever up and rock back and forth like it's some old car. It's a BMW so of course the ride, brakes, handling and steering are all excellent. Very comfortable as well, love the extendable thigh support.

The big negative? This thing is sloooooow, like one of the slowest vehicles I've driven in a long time. I'd say the acceleration is on par with the last Prius I drove. Range is incredible, I've driven over 250km and it's still telling me I have over 650km to empty.

 

[JavierH19]

Personally i wish we got the weaker downspec'd engines in other regions here in the US along with options for less features as i don't always use the power stuff in my trucks. They're more fuel efficient and for the regular person it's fine. Cheaper to buy and usually cheaper to maintain and own.

 

[skyactiv]

What are you doing in Poland? My parents are from Slupsk, Poland.

 

[CarDoc66]

BMW has some seriously unique option packages.

 

[GON]

I see BMW also markets like MB.

MB can sell a S-class sedan, without basic expectations for a "flagship" sedan, such as heated seats. Always caught me by surprise MB would have as options for its 100k sedan, that the Koreans provide as standard in their 35k sedans.

Great looking interior on the BMW wagon.

Thanks for posting the review!

 

[Oillover]

BMW has some seriously unique option packages.

Outside of NA, there's so many more option variations that we don't generally get.

Personally i wish we got the weaker downspec'd engines in other regions here in the US along with options for less features as i don't always use the power stuff in my trucks. They're more fuel efficient and for the regular person it's fine. Cheaper to buy and usually cheaper to maintain and own.

Yeah me too, but then companies like MB and BMW would lose their appeal as being an exclusively "luxury" car in the NA market.

 

[dishdude]

What are you doing in Poland? My parents are from Slupsk, Poland.

No where near Poland. Drove down to Lisbon from Porto this afternoon and took the picture in the middle of the trip during a stop at Aldi.

 

[miden851]

No where near Poland. Drove down to Lisbon from Porto this afternoon and took the picture in the middle of the trip during a stop at Aldi.

PL goes for Polska

 

[dishdude]

PL goes for Polska

go on...

 

[miden851]

and Yes BMW is more of an economy car in EU; only high end models with more options go overseas

Why? a disposable income of the EU middle class is generally lower in comparison to the middle class in US

 

[Carmudgeon]

BMW has some seriously unique option packages.

In general, while there are some packages, the overall sales model is closer to à la carte, even with the luxury marques.

It's possible to order a model with as much, or as little as one likes.

The old German price lists I have used to be separate, but check out a current Austrian brochure, and all the options listed, along with their prices, to get an idea.

How BMWs are sold here are pre-configured by BMW NA, in line with their, and the competition's expectations for the luxury market segment, with a higher set of base features, more bundles, and much shorter discrete option list.

I don't know if the practice is still possible, but in the distant past, it was possible to make deviations, and get special orders through the process and get them approved by NA, like cloth seats, sunroof deletes, or less common options not offered here.

For their part, the factory didn't care, and would build the car to whatever order spec, excluding market specific stuff like engines and things governed by regulations. But you had to have connections, or a dealer really willing to commit to doing it and pushing it through.

PL goes for Polska

The plate says P, not PL, and the instrutment cluster references a throughfare running along the waterfront in Lisbon.

That aside, can't the OP trusted to be where they say they are?

 

[dishdude]

The new Android Auto interface looks great on this wide display, Waze taking up the left 2/3 and my podcast the right 1/3.

 

[antonmnster]

My only complaint about that drive is that it’s short! we did it with an a3

 

[97prizm]

Outside of NA, there's so many more option variations that we don't generally get.

Yeah me too, but then companies like MB and BMW would lose their appeal as being an exclusively "luxury" car in the NA market.

Yeah. Years ago a co-worker told me that a friend of his was going to Germany for a vacation. She was excited when she told the travel agent that she wanted a Mercedes to drive while she was there. When she got to the rental car counter they handed her the keys. Not more than 5 minutes later she comes back in fuming that there is a mistake, that small car outside with a manual transmission isn't a Mercedes. It was an A class.