Cars & Life | Cars Fashion Lifestyle Blog: 5-Series

Mercedes E180 and BMW 520i with 1.6-lt engine. If you are thinking, I made a typo you are wrong. Mercedes E180 is powered by a 1.6-lt engine and BMW 520i is available with 1.6-lt engine but in Turkey. Most of the EU countries do no experience the same high level of custom duties and taxation of import cars. However, countries like Turkey impose high level of taxation on larger engines and this shrinks the automotive market.

So the best solution to save your market is to introduce 1.6-lt engines. Mercedes E180 features the 1.6-lt available on C-Class with 156 HP and 250 Nm of torque. Engine is coupled with a transmission 7G-Tronic that is also available to see at British Museum. Thanks to heavy weight of E 180 (1.6-tonne) this car needs 9.7 seconds to 100 km/h or try not to reach. On the other hand, E180 does not have a limited top speed of 250 km/h, because it runs out of breathe at 220 km/h. Despite my critism, I would definitely buy one. E-Class safety and technology packed with a smaller engine and this creates a room to avoid high taxation.

The story is the same with BMW 520i. 520i with 1.6-lt petrol is designed for Turkish market. The engine produces 180 HP and 250 Nm of torque and coupled with 8-speed automatic. And only needs 8.7 seconds to reach 100 km/h. However, Mercedes E180 offers the torque at lower ranges and it improves the feeling of acceleration. The 520i needs more rpm to reach its maximum torque. Top speed of BMW 520i is 226 km/h and interestingly BMW 520i is heavier than E180, 1690kg!

Literally, Mercedes E180 and BMW 520i with 1.6-lt are more or less the same cars. Mercedes has less horse and less weight, BMW has more fat and more horse. They both offer the highest technology of their brands and you will never ever suffer from the lack of performance. And the room for paying less tax is a big plus!

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BMW announced the facelift version of the 5-Series. Even though, the 5-Series is at the right time for a facelift but it doesn’t look that old! With the facelift, BMW 5-Series resembles more to present 3-Series. Especially from the front-end! You will not notice a radical change in exterior and interior design. Even though, the interior of BMW 5-Series does not receive any serious touch, the quality of the materials is improved for premium quality feel.

BMW 5-Series now offers 518d entry model with 143 HP, 350 Nm from 2-lt turbo diesel engine. Unfortunately, 518d does not offer any tax advantage to emerging markets due to 2-lt engine displacement. The rest of engines options are; 520d and 525d are both based on 2-lt turbo diesel with 184 HP (380 Nm) / 218 HP (450 Nm). 530d and 535d are both based on 6-cylinder turbo diesel with 258 HP (540 Nm) / 313 (630 Nm). Petrol engines are; 520i and 528i are based on 2-lt with 184 HP (270 Nm) / 245 HP (350 Nm). 535i is a 6-cylinder with 306 HP (400 Nm) and 550i a V8 with 450 HP (650 Nm). All engines are TwinPower turbo powered! No natural aspire for BMW anymore.

One of the ground-breaking technology for facelift 5-series is the Traffic Jam Assistant. BMW 5-Series is now capable of driving by itself in rush hour traffic by controlling the speeding and the steering wheel. As usual, 8-speed automatic and xDrive all wheel drive technologies are available. And now full LED headlight option is available!

My personal opinion, facelift BMW 5-Series is really good!