| 2010 BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo vs 2011 BMW 5 Series Sedan | February 6, 2010 | AUTORIVALS.NET |
| Share |
|
|
|
| BMW has a knack for inventing
things that no one wanted, i.e., iDrive,
X6, but
somehow sells it. The newest monster creation straight from
Munich is the new BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo. Don't be fooled by
its name. Where automakers usually favor the Gran Turismo
designation for performance-oriented vehicles, BMW chose it for
versatility. The GT It's a little bit of
5 Series
plus X6
with the added weight of an elephant. When will the madness
stop. BMW seems to be trying too hard to create a new niche every year. Either that or someone at BMW must be bored and should've been an artist rather than a car designer. Nevertheless, the 5 Series GT is here to stay... for now at least. We'll have to see how America responds to it. Looking at the path BMW is going though, it seems they are moving farther away from fuel efficient cars toward inefficient car mutations. The GT (and X6) combine reduced cargo space with the weight and fuel inefficiency of an SUV. Take that mother nature. The most ironic thing is that BMW was just named 'Greenest Manufacturer of the Year.' |
||
| 2010 BMW 5 Series GT | vs | 2011 BMW 5 Series Sedan |
 |
 |
|
| Although the GT is part of the 5 Series line, it resembles the 7 Series a little more than the 5 even though both look nearly identical. The twin-kidney grille and bi-xenon adaptive headlights are taller and bigger like on the 7, most likely to fit the taller body of the GT. The only resemblance to the 5 is the lower grille. The rest looks mutated as if it were exposed to gamma rays, or injected with radioactive ooze, or what have you. | ||
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
| The GT sits in no man's land of categories. With a height of 61.4 inches, it's not a car, not an SUV, and not quite sensible. It's 4 inches taller than the 5 Series, 8 inches shorter than an X5, and has a silhouette similar to an X6. I wonder if Acura will try to copy this one too. | ||
 |
 |
|
| The upright front grille of the 5 Series sedan is even more pronounced with the GT. What you get with the GT are 18-inch wheels, a panorama roof, frameless windows, and a 1000 extra pounds. BMW seems to be going against the trend of lighter weight, more fuel-efficient cars with every new model they create. The 5 Series sedan already weighs up to 400 pounds more than its predecessor, what's another 1000? | ||
 |
 |
|
| The GT is built for those that like to live (and are) large. With an extra 4 inches in length, the GT has as much legroom as the 7 Series and as much headroom as an X5. Cargo space is anywhere from 15.4 cu ft. to 20.7 cu ft. with the seats up and 59.5 cu ft. with the seats down, about the same as the X6. Aside from giving potential customers a new body style and different (but questionable) styling, it begs the question what's the point of the GT when the X6 (which is also preposterous) already exists. Cargo space? Nope. Fuel economy? Barely. Performance? Isn't that what the 5 Series sedan, M5, X5M, X6M, and other BMWs are for? | ||
 |
 |
|
| The one (and perhaps only) piece of innovation that you can find in the GT is the two-piece tailgate (see notes). It does provide customers with the versatility of having a trunk and liftgate in one. A regular one-piece tailgate probably could've sufficed but BMW touts the two-piece configuration as reducing "any unpleasant noise, draughts, or changes in temperature within the passenger compartment." It all sounds a little frivolous but innovative nonetheless. | ||
 |
 |
|
| The resemblance is harder to spot in the rear than the front, which is already very dissimilar. The GT gets L-shaped tail lights like the sedan but with a design that resembles the 7 Series more. That's where the resemblance stops and the GT takes on its own shape and form. Rear driver visibility takes a backseat to form with the added height and tailgate. A window slit, which is a growing trend among hatchbacks such as the ZDX, Prius, Insight, Volt, etc., would've been nice but probably would've distorted the design even more so than it already is. Luckily a backup camera is available. | ||
 |
 |
|
| The GT gets an interior that differs from the sedan which makes me wonder why they decided to badge the GT as part of the 5 Series line rather than a whole new model. Inside you'll find traditional BMW luxuries such as navigation, an 80 GB hard drive, DVD entertainment, etc. Optional features include parking sensors, a lane-departure warning system, high-beam assist, speed limit info, night vision, and a host of other BMW systems. | ||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RECAP | RECAP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
PROS +Cargo space +Two-piece tailgate CONS -It's alive. It's alive... It's aliiiiiivvvvve! -Weighs more than some SUVs, most crossovers -Worse fuel economy than some SUVs, most crossovers |
PROS +It's not irrational like the GT +Looks tremendously better than the GT CONS -Weighs more than its predecssor -Unoriginal design |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Video Source: What Car? via YouTube | Video Source: Motor Trend via YouTube |
|
|