If you can get past its looks and weight, though, there’s a lot to like about the 5-series Gran Turismo. First off, it drives much better than we ever imagined, even though it is almost three inches taller than a 5-series Touring, and it feels much lighter from behind the wheel than it actually is. Dynamically, it’s much closer to a 5-series Touring than to an X5, because it lacks the overwhelming feeling of heaviness that so characterizes both the X5 and the X6. So, although the 535i GTs that we drove in Portugal might have weighed close to two and a half tons, they didn’t feel like they did, thanks partly to light door swings (frameless windows do the trick) and light-effort but communicative steering.
Props also to the 5-series GT for its interior packaging, especially of rear-seat passengers and cargo. BMW’s goal was to provide rear-seat comfort on par with that of the short-wheelbase 7-series, since the two vehicles’ wheelbases are virtually identical, at just under 121 inches. To that end, even the standard three-position rear bench’s 60/40-split sections slide fore and aft, and the seatbacks recline. The optional rear captain’s chairs are electrically operated and flank a roomy center console, while the standard panoramic sunroof floods the rear compartment with sunlight. Add the optional DVD entertainment screens, and it’s hard to imagine anyone complaining about being relegated to the rear.
As for cargo, BMW decided that owners of the GT ought to have two ways of loading it and that they should be able to sequester it from passengers as thoroughly as you would in a normal sedan. A rigid vertical panel and a removable parcel shelf separate the passengers from the cargo area, which is sealed via a thick rubber gasket inside the hatch lid. The hatch itself has a smaller inset door that amounts to a flip-up trunk lid. When only that lid is opened, the passenger compartment remains immune to chilly gusts of wind or odorous cargo. Close the lid and depress a different hidden button, and the entire hatch rises and exposes the complete rear aperture. At this point, you can move the divider panel forward gradually, following the arc of the rear seatbacks, to expand cargo space from 15.5 cubic feet to 20.8 cubic feet. If the rear seats are folded forward (sadly, they don’t go completely flat) and the parcel shelf is stowed under the cargo floor, you have 63.6 cubic feet of cargo space to fill, a bit more than in the 5-series Touring but about 12 cubic feet less than in the X5. The two-part rear hatch is clever, but it undoubtedly added weight, and when only the smaller lid is open, the visual effect is a bit like a cat that has raised its tail. ...next page >>