The All-Time BMW 5 Series Power Rankings

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By: Sergiu Tudose

I have a confession to make. I love sedans more than pretty much any other category of cars. It doesn’t even have to be a traditional three-box design. I’m just as drawn to fastback sedans, or even full fastbacks like the Audi A7 or the Tesla Model S.

I‘m not exactly sure what it is about them. Surely this dates back to my childhood, but it’s not just that. There’s something about the shape, first and foremost. A sedan won’t try to impress you with its bulk or height. It usually sits low, composed, and almost restrained to the point where fitting it with a sports appearance package completely changes the design.

It’s why people love M Sport, AMG Line and S line packages on Bimmers, Mercs and Audis.

Even if the lines get softer or harder, or if the rear end tapers off into a fastback, the idea stays mostly the same. Balance is sought over excess. And there’s also a kind of maturity and even discipline, in that. Because generation after generation, the recipe remains unchanged.

You can’t reinvent a sedan the same way you might reinvent an SUV or even a wagon. The latter you can jack up and all of a sudden, you have a crossover or a tweener. Meanwhile, SUVs now come in all shapes and sizes, coupe-styled, crossovers, etc. Sedans? You can’t really reinvent them, and with so many decades of success, you can’t retire them either.

Sure, you might point to how sedan sales have plummeted in the U.S. because of crossovers and SUVs in the past decade or so, but let’s be honest about the types of sedans that went extinct. They weren’t exactly cool, were they? Besides, you still have your Camrys and your Accords, and everything with a German badge is still going strong. Forget about it; they’re not going anywhere.

At most, I see them evolving into fastbacks, but that’s more or less a natural progression. The Audi A7 isn’t an A6 that got reinvented. It’s the A6 evolving into something more elegant and practical at the same time.

I’m sorry, this piece isn’t about Audi. It’s about that one executive sports sedan with a long hood, rear-biased stance, perfect driving position and incredible balance. It’s the BMW 5 Series. It’s the benchmark.

Now, what I’m about to do is rank them based on a variety of factors, and rest assured that I’ll be looking at all generations across upgraded and non-upgraded variants (pre-LCI vs LCI), and I’ll even throw in a rendering of the upcoming G60 5 Series in LCI form – we already have a solid idea regarding its appearance.

As for the deciding factors, I’ll focus on design, technology, and even cultural impact. What I won’t do is focus exclusively on M Sport variants or the flagship M5; nor will I value driving dynamics and overall performance that much, because of course newer cars are going to be better in that department.

Let’s build some tiers first and get this party started!

For the full article, please continue reading on our site.

By: Cristian Agatie

With every oil crisis, the fuel prices rise, making people reconsider buying electric cars. The Iran war is no different, with prices at the pump causing renewed interest in electric vehicles. However, instead of new EV sales, it's used EVs that sell in the largest numbers. This suggests that people still consider electric vehicles too expensive for their tastes.

The Iran war, and especially the closure of the Hormuz Strait, caused a shock in oil prices. The crude oil is almost $100 per barrel, regardless of who sells it. This trickled down to fuel prices at the pump, with the average price of Regular gasoline in the US surpassing $4.15 per gallon. Things are much more dramatic with diesel, which, at $5.68 per gallon on average, is very close to the all-time high of $5.816 on June 19, 2022.

You might think that just because the US is producing a lot of oil, it should be shielded from the Middle East drama. However, that's not how things work in a global economy. Even though the US oil companies extract (and, to some extent, export) oil, the US also imports huge quantities. Twice as much as it exports, in fact. The explanation is that the US exports inferior products, whereas its refineries are designed for higher-grade oil that must be imported.

There's another reason why fuel prices have increased substantially and continue to rise. Even if the US could produce enough fuel to meet domestic demand, oil companies would not sell it at the same prices as before. If oil and fuels are more expensive abroad, oil companies will either sell their products there, shunning the US market, or raise prices to match the prices abroad. That's how the economy works.

What can I do to lower travel costs?

Thankfully, there are ways around high fuel prices, unlike during previous oil crises. I'm talking about electric vehicles, which are largely unaffected by the fuel price fluctuations. Even though electricity prices have also seen an upward trend, they are much more stable than oil and gas prices.

However, there's another thing to consider: the costs of driving an EV can be almost zero if you have a house equipped with solar panels and a storage battery. No matter how high fuel prices rise, you will wake up every morning to a fully charged battery powered by solar energy. If you don't have solar panels, you can still charge cheaply during off-peak hours.

This is something more and more people notice during oil crises, even though normally, Americans despise electric vehicles with all their hearts. Sales of electric vehicles rise with the oil prices, something we will undoubtedly see when the second-quarter sales numbers are reported. The Iran war only started in March, and the gas pump shocks are only now felt, which is why the first-quarter EV sales seem largely unaffected.

For the full article, please continue reading on our site.

By: Aurel Niculescu

Since traditional venues like the Detroit Motor Show have lost a lot of steam in recent years, it's up to the 2026 New York International Auto Show to kick off the festive season – even if it does so a little later, in spring.

Over the past couple of months, in January and February especially, but also in March, I found myself staring blank across the office desk into the unknown. Well, I was staring outside through the window I have in front of it, placed strategically, but you get the point. I was almost ‘depressed’ by the lackluster string of novelties from automakers, which were feeling the brunt of the winter storms and also the pressure from rising prices and geopolitical unrest.

It felt like they were dormant, unwilling to show us too many novelties out of fear of getting ignored. Aside from the occasional 777-hp Ram 1500 SRT TRX or the 2027 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, there wasn’t much to write home about during the final months of winter, aside from the occasional new powertrain or special edition.

Luckily, things started to change with help from the winter thaw, and March looked a little brighter, with models from BMW, Mercedes, and even some of the brands active in North America. Now, though, I’m entering overload – the final week of March and the first days in April have been filled with tons of novelties, as if everyone suddenly relaxed and opened the tap at full speed to fill the pool of introductions.

Well, they surely don’t feel too relaxed because the Q1 results for the US automotive market are now in, and the overall sales have dropped compared to last year, and there’s ample pressure at the gas station due to the Middle East war, of course. But it’s clear that many automakers held back their novelties and now they need to blurt them out because others are coming in line in the coming months.

So, immediately after BMW revealed its all-new i3 sedan, the second model of the Neue Klasse EV series, things kicked off into a higher gear. The new C8 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport made a surprise debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring race and then came out with all the novelties: 2027 Stingray and Grand Sport have many updates and also a brand-new 6.7-liter (409ci) LS6 naturally aspirated V8 with 535 hp and 520 lb-ft of torque, plus the Grand Sport X replaces the E-Ray with 721 electrified ponies.

The 2027 Nissan Z sports car also debuted in the US with a quick nip and tuck for the Sport and Performance trims, as well as the manual gearbox promised for the Z Nismo. Mercedes-Benz decided to bring opulence to a new level with the upgraded Maybach S-Class, and Stellantis gifted fans the standard Dodge Durango R/T featuring the 475-hp 392 Hemi V8, while Jeep showcased no less than six concepts ahead of the annual Easter Jeep Safari gathering.

For the full article, please continue reading on our site.

By: Bogdan Popa

The Apple Car is dead. We've been hearing the same thing for over a year now. But this doesn’t mean Apple is ready to wave goodbye to cars. Not at all.

The Apple Car was Apple's big, and kind of unexpected, way of expanding the automotive world. The tech revolution happening behind the wheel brought tech companies closer to cars. Apple wanted this migration to happen at full speed and in ways that carmakers didn’t necessarily like.

Instead of just becoming a software and hardware provider for its automotive partners, Apple wanted to go all-in on cars. It wanted to develop a full car and compete against the companies that were expecting it to become a reliable partner. Apple turned from friend into foe, and it's no surprise that vehicle makers weren't pleased.

Although never confirmed officially, the Apple Car project ended up hitting several major roadblocks during its development. First, Apple downgraded its expectations because they looked too ambitious. Too ambitious meant the project needed more time, and there was a risk that Apple was late to the party.

Apple originally wanted the Apple Car to be a self-driving vehicle. A full autonomous vehicle with no steering wheel and pedals. It wanted the Apple Car to drive on its own from start to finish, and that's why it envisioned the vehicle as a living room on wheels.

Unsurprisingly, Apple eventually decided to scale down its expectations to a point where the Apple Car made no sense. The Apple Car first got a steering wheel and pedals, becoming just a regular electric vehicle. At one point, it was even envisioned with a petrol engine.

Apple's biggest challenge was to find someone to make the Apple Car. Because it didn’t have the know-how to make a car, Apple reached out to traditional carmakers for a manufacturing deal. Renault, BMW, and others said no to Apple, leaving the iPhone maker with just one option. Foxconn was eventually picked as the Apple Car maker, especially as it got involved more in the automotive manufacturing business.

It didn't work. After spending over $10 billion in one decade to make the Apple Car come true, Apple decided to abandon the project. The company never discussed the project, so killing it off was seen as the most convenient way to deal with a project that failed to reach fruition.

Apple was ready for plan B for its foray into the automotive space. Software and services were now supposed to spearhead its strategy. Apple Maps, CarPlay, and the newly-announced CarPlay Ultra are Apple's biggest long-term bets for an expansion in the automotive world.

For the full article, please continue reading on our site.

By: Mircea Panait

The 2027 model year will see Ford operate a much-deserved refresh on the body-on-frame Bronco. Confirmed to receive an electrified powertrain by none other than Ford chief executive officer Jim Farley, the facelift shows a finer mesh-style radiator grille.

Due to launch in the second half of 2026, the redesigned Bronco further sweetens the deal with different wheel designs, black-painted flares with a gloss finish, and posher cabin materials. The off-road specification caught by the carparazzi features double stitching on the top of the dashboard, akin to the outgoing Raptor and the Stroppe Edition.

Beyond the hybridized powertrain that Farley refused to detail, Ford is expected to continue offering four- and six-cylinder EcoBoost options in the Bronco. The manual is believed to soldier on exclusively in combination with the base 2.3-liter engine.

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Speaking of internal combustion, the 2027 BMW iX5 is edging closer to production reality. As implied by the "i" prefix, battery-electric options are in the offing. Heavily inspired by the Neue Klasse design language introduced by the iX3 and i3 Sedan, the iX5 spotted by our carparazzi appears to be the M70 version.

Rather than a proper M vehicle, the M70 is an M Performance model with serious go-faster credentials due to Neue Klasse motor, battery, and inverter technologies. Under the skin, however, the iX5 and the next-gen X5 ride on the Cluster Architecture.

To be joined by the 50 xDrive and 60 xDrive, the M70 could very well eclipse BMW's current M70 line of battery-electric vehicles with more than 650 horsepower and 811 pound-feet (1,100 Newton-meters) on tap. In the People's Republic of China, an extended-range iX5 Long Wheelbase is purportedly happening by the end of the decade.

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While on the subject of electric Bimmers, both Kelsonik Renders and X-Tomi Design came up with realistic takes on the forthcoming i3 Touring. Different from the four-door counterpart from the B-pillars rearward, the station wagon should enter series production at the Munich plant in July 2027.

That makes the i3 Touring a 2028 model by American standards, though BMW hasn't confirmed if there is a case to be made for such a vehicle in the United States market. Nevertheless, the Bavarian automaker wants to bring more wagons to this part of the world.

Considering the popularity of the M5 Touring in the US, the iM3 Touring and the M3 Touring could very well be modified to meet North American regulations. The i5 M60 xDrive Touring is another viable candidate, especially when you remember that BMW already certified the M5 Touring for North America.

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Inspired by the Hyundai Boulder concept from the New York Auto Show, two visual artists rendered Hyundai's future mid-size pickup that will replace the Santa Cruz in the brand's lineup for North America. Nikita Chuicko of Kelsonik Renders and Klever Silva of KDesign AG penned these pickups, and both integrate the concept's front and rear light clusters.

The rugged-looking front grille also carries over, and the South Korean automaker did a much better job in this respect compared to Kia with the poorly-selling Tasman. Coming with a body-on-frame design, the yet-unnamed Hyundai midsizer is anticipated to ship with a 2.5-liter turbo inline-four hybridized setup.

During the Hyundai 2025 CEO Investor Day, the company also revealed plans for extended-range powertrains. The only EREV truck available today in the US market is the repeatedly postponed Ram 1500 REV, whose total driving range is estimated at 690 miles (1,110 kilometers). The Hyundai system promises over 600 miles (965 kilometers).

By: Bogdan Popa

Forza 6 is coming. Playground Games has dropped more teasers this week, including the full map and a new gameplay video. Enjoy watching the full 6 minutes of racing awesomeness.

It's never easy to be an Android Auto user, and 2026 RAV4 owners learned this the hard way. The app has been broken for quite some time in their cars, and Google seemingly continues to ignore their calls for help. Controlling music playback in a new RAV4 is a struggle with steering wheel buttons, so some just give up on Android Auto and stick with Bluetooth instead. 

Google pressed the go-ahead button for Android Auto 16.6 this week, but this update doesn’t seem to resolve the RAV4 mess.

There's better news for those who paid a premium for a brand-new Samsung flagship. Google has shipped an emergency update for Galaxy S26 owners, so if you've been struggling with Android Auto in your car, this is the right time to update. You must update to at least Android Auto 16.4. 

Meanwhile, Waze has partnered with Waymo for automatic detection and reporting of potholes. You'll all see pothole reports submitted by driverless cars if you live in San Francisco and LA. Next step: making authorities care about these reports. 

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