Category: Executive 
Price Range: £27,430 to £65,330
Handling, refinement, comfort, quality.
Too much of the clever kit is confined to the options list.
Brilliant all-round package, impressively updated.
The chassis of the 5-Series has always been close to a perfect compromise. It's a big, comfortable car built for executives and their families, but it's also better to drive than rivals such as the Mercedes E-Class, Lexus GS and Audi A6. For all the excellence of the thrillingly quick and impressively clever M5, the most basic, least adorned of 5-Series is supremely well balanced. It's a car that's easy to drive well.
The 2007 changes include a new electric power steering system, which recently made its debut on the second-generation X5. It's an on-demand system, so there's no pump working away for no good reason when you're driving in a straight line. It works just fine: never too light, but providing unobtrusive assistance when you need it.
Some versions are fitted with new low rolling resistance tyres, and more models will get them soon. They're intended to reduce fuel consumption without any increase in noise or loss of grip, and - judging by the 523i Touring we drove shod with this miracle compound - it works.
The once-controversial iDrive multi-function system, which uses a big knob and a screen to control most of the audio, navigation and climate control functions, has been given yet another slight tweak. It now comes with eight 'favourites' buttons, so that you can go straight to your preferred radio stations, temperature settings or destinations at the touch of a single button, rather than having to scroll through layers of menus.
All the six-cylinder petrol engines used in the 5-Series have BMW's latest high-precision direct fuel injection system to improve consumption and emissions. It's all about efficient burning of fuel in the combustion chamber, so they're not just cleaner and leaner, they also have more power and/or torque, and their 0-62mph times are all improved.
The slowest 5-Series, the 520d, is also the most economical and cleanest, while the fastest, the 362bhp 550i, is also the dirtiest: its 0-62mph time of 5.2 seconds (or 5.3 for the estate) is 3.4 seconds quicker than the little diesel's, but its CO2 output of 260g/km (267 for the estate) is 102g/km worse than the 520d's.
The eight-cylinder petrol engines seem like a bit of an indulgence, and the 523i and 520d feel a little overwhelmed by the car's size and weight. But the 268bhp 530i, and the six-cylinder diesels, all strike a fantastic compromise between outstanding performance and decent economy.
We're spoilt for choice, but our pick of the range is the scorching 535d - 155mph, 6.4 seconds to 62mph - but if we wanted to save around £4,400 we'd be very happy with the 530d... or indeed any of the others.
