Motoring Middle East: Car news, Reviews and Buying guides

We drive the hybrid version of the BMW 5-series
By Shahzad Sheikh

I’m hard on the brakes, it’s a blind corner with a drop on one side and unforgiving rock on the other, I’ve got to scrub off speed or I have nowhere to go but down, should I misjudged the corner or there be nasty surprises lurking round it. And ending up upside down at the bottom of the lush Lisbon forest is not on my ‘to-do’ list today. But that doesn’t mean I’m letting up the pace.

As the brakes firmly but smoothly restrain momentum, my left hand is flicking a small paddle by the steering wheel, the engine note peaks, the rev needle does a little jig as the response to my action initiates a perfectly throttle-synched and quickly-executed gearchange, with a ferocity you’d expect of a car more highly strung.

But I’ve got it all turned up to 10; ‘Sports Plus’ mode has the engine response, steering, gearbox and active suspension pumped with adrenalin – just like the driver. I fire in another downshift just as we discover the apex, get off the brakes and sharply tug the wheel in the new trajectory. Then I absolutely mash the throttle into the carpet.

The torque overwhelms the rear differential, and the ever alert electronic aids are caught napping just for a moment. The back end arcs around – I would have said almost imperceptibly, but the squealing tyres confirm the substantive rear rubber is struggling.

My foot stays planted though and the situation is managed through a combination of unintrusive traction systems, a chassis engineered by drivers that don’t dawdle and confident inputs to the steering wheel (the confidence coming more from the car’s abilities than my own).

It’s not only deliciously delightful but superbly satisfying, so much so that I do it again, and again… Each time the car settles then bounds forward eager to shrink the distance to the next corner.

However, I am not in a sports car.

The happy Hybrid

It’s a luxury saloon. Of a decent size that, nonetheless, only becomes apparent when the passage narrows as it’s often wont to do at the launch location of Portugal, or a dog/bicycle/tractor suddenly becomes a potential obstacle.

Yet it’s happily taking the abuse of my aggressive inputs and clumsy direction changes, It’s also happy to throw down big torque at my behest and I’d even swear that despite its driver nannies, despite its sober persona, despite its grown-up appeal, it’s rather enjoying itself.

Clearly you might have surmised that I’m at the wheel of a BMW 5-series. But what might surprise you is that this is the ActiveHybrid Five. A car that is playing the green card with lithium-ion batteries behind the rear seat (reducing boot space by 145 litres) and featuring a 40kW electric motor integrated, unusually, directly into the gearbox.

And yet a car that fundamentally at its core remains a BMW. A 535i in fact – with a twin-turbo silky smooth petrol straight-six producing 302bhp and 295lb ft or torque. Combine that with the leccy motor and you have 335bhp and 332lb ft giving you a 0-100kph time of a hardly tardy 5.9seconds and a typically limited top speed of 250kph, despite weighing in at 1850kg.

But figures mean nothing in the real world, and I can tell you that apart from the engine cutting out sometimes and the car going into silent mode, you’d never really be able to tell you’re driving a hybrid.

Unless you use the ‘coasting feature’ that shuts down and decouples the engine in Eco Pro and Comfort modes (up to 160kph for Eco Pro mode, and 80kph in Comfort and Comfort Plus modes – though not at all in Sport or Sport+).

Honestly speaking though the difference between Eco Pro and the ‘regular’ modes is stark – hit that button and it suddenly feels like a luxurious milk float, slow, sluggish, light numb steering, no confidence when trying to overtake, although floor it and it will reengage the petrol engine again, but there’s a hesitation.

Frankly this is just a party trick which you’ll use to show your friends, but never actually drive in, because it feels very un-BMW like. Things improve a lot in Comfort and Comfort Plus though, and most owners will probably drive it in those modes. The ride is good, response still good, oomph still there.

Verdict

However turn it into Sport and particularly Sports Plus – which dials back the traction control – and we’re talking about that beast we started off with at the beginning of this essay. So what you get here is the best of both worlds and a something in between depending on which button you press.

This sort of application of the technology makes Hybrids both the logical and desirable choice – save the planet, but don’t compromise on the fun. Trouble is, in our market at least, if this ever came here, it could cost considerably more than the regular 535i, more than the extra power and torque could justify.

Despite the fact that it has useful systems like electric power to pre-cool the interior BEFORE you get in the car and start it (wouldn’t that be a boon for our region?), this car is not likely to come here, as part of BMW’s recognition that there’s a complete lack of acceptance of these type of cars in the region at the moment.

However, it’s inevitable that one day, Hybrids will flourish here, and it’s good to know that, based on the evidence of the ActiveHybrid 5, they’ll be good, very good indeed.