Magus Cars India

ALL THOSE PURISTS WHO loved BMW’s outlook on all things automotive can take a hike. If change is a way of life, the Munich carmaker sure is living it up. And making sure more buyers step in with an aim to enjoy motoring.

But this is not a complaint. It would be wrong to write off the new 5 series because it is no longer a limo that lets its hair down and parties at the drop of the proverbial hat. The typical city businessman might buy a BMW and yearn for weekend drives to the mountains; not because of the beautiful destination but because of those tricky roads that bring every ounce of driver and car capability to the fore. Thankfully, all is not lost yet.

The 5 series has been one of the major success stories for BMW about 55 lakh units have been sold worldwide ever since the name first surfaced in 1972. And the German carmaker continues to bank on the 5 for raking in the moolah to stay at the head of the premium car market race. It’s an ‘economic necessity’ for the company, said one of the top bosses of BMW Germany while unveiling the car prior to its official launch this March. That’s in Germany. It is slated to reach India later this year, probably by July.

The last time we drove a 5 series, the smile was plastered on our faces even before we set out. BMW has a reputation of making driver-centric cars, and their owners have traditionally been the kinds who are willing to sacrifice comfort for handling. Bur as we mentioned earlier, change was imminent. And the change we were expecting was a mushy limo that will make the owner hand over the keys to his chauffeur. Thankfully, it’s not come to that yet.

However, the luxury saloon market has been leaning towards comfort over outright sporty. It’s like the soft-roading effect with traditional SUV designs. We guess there’s no point playing techno when the mood says lounge. As is the trend, the new 5 is bigger than the earlier car. Overall length has been increased by about 5.Bcm but wheelbase has gone up by Bern. So clearly, it takes the 5 away from the 3 series and more towards the 7 in terms of sheer street presence.

The front is where all the action is. And unfortunately, much of the ‘mean’ look of the current 5 has given way to more maturity with the kidney grille getting wider and lower. Thankfully, the twin ring headlamps add some sharpness. The eyebrows on the headlamps try to give it sharper eyes but isn’t as effective as the current one. Just as in the 7 series, the grille and BMW badge now protrude ahead of the bonnet line. There’s a seam line running throughout the length of the car, which adds to the long limo look.

The rear is more acceptable, with flatter tail lamps to keep in sync with the design and the eats’ overall wider stance. BMW claims to have run through a total of 128 designs for the new 5 before settling on this one.

The chassis is all-new and makes judicious use of steel with the aluminum bits restricted to the bonnet and doors. Surprisingly

Weight is down by roughly 50kg compared to the earlier model. The front has a double wishbone setup and the rear gets an integral V axle, which improves the ride substantially. Typically the chassis is designed in such a way that it isn’t overly hampered by transverse forces while cornering.

BMW had the guts to let us loose with the car on Portugal’s Estoril racetrack. It’s not a very tricky circuit except for Turn 3. The 5 is one of the few exec limos that give you the confidence to push it around corners. The optional eight-speed auto transmission
effortlessly prances through the slots to put each of the 306 horses to good use when called upon.

The new 5 will debut globally with three diesels and four petrol variants. So the line-up goes like this: 550i (V8 petrol), 535i, 528i and 523i (inline 6cy!), 530d and 520d (inline 6) and 520d (inline 4). The petrol flagship has been ruled out for India, but the rest are scheduled - although in a phased manner. The higher-end 535i and 530d are most likely to be part of the initial lot to come here.

The 3-litre twin-turbo unit of the 535i is a sweet little machine. It’s got a nice throaty note on the boil, with the piston and exhaust note complementing each other for an aural delight. The steering is uncharacteristically light but there’s enough feedback to keep you interested. Active electromechanical steering is now carried over from the 7, which ensures minimal steering effort. There are other 7 series gimmicks too, such as rear wheels that turn slightly in the opposite direction of the front wheels to aid maneuverability. This alone reduces turning radius by 0.5m. At speeds of over 60kph, however, the rear wheels turn in the same direction to help you go through a corner quickly.

The longish bonnet and smooth ride almost fool you into believing that you are in a 7. The classy interior layout has to be one of the best ever in a 5. There are a few hundred buttons to play around with, but nothing that can count as clutter.

There are four drive settings to choose from. Sport+ is the most punishing, with BMW insisting that it cancels all driver aids. But don’t try this on a public road because the 5 can be a handful around a tight corner. But if you have the space it is easy to get it back in line with help from the active steering - which makes you wonder if the driving aids are really off.

The Sport mode has to be more fun then, with just the right amount of aid to make you feel like a driving god. Perfect for the time when you’re alone in the car. And of course, there’s no golf bag in the boot.

Thanks to the twin turbo, peak torque hits the roof as early as 1200rpm. And it stays in the limelight till 5000rpm before easing off. But by then, the horses come into action and quickly hit top form with just another 800rpm more. It all makes for an impressive 0-100kph in G.l seconds. The variables are all quite usable on the move with 80-120kph coming in 5.9 seconds even while in fourth gear. Top speed is electronically limited to 250kph.

There is an impressive list of equipment as well. But prices are expected to go up - reasonably - with the 535i pegged at an estimated Rs 55 lakh (ex-showroom). The base 520d should start at around Rs 42 lakh. Which means the new 5 will remain a desirable saloon when it hits BMW’s Indian showrooms by mid-20 1 o. There’s an intentional shift to a more user-friendly steering and a more passenger-friendly ride which might take it slightly away from what hardcore BMW fans would love. But at the same time, it makes the 5 even more appealing to a chunk of people who have so far been avoiding it because it was not considered plush enough. We hear that’s a more sizeable chunk. And no carmaker can avoid the prospect. Not even BMW.

CALIFORNIA, ESPECIAlLY me northern bit, is purpose-built for driving romantics. Out here, you’rethe star in your own private movie. It’s happening right now, though we might have inadvertentlycast ourselves in the wrong film. We’re on the edge of the Sierra de Salinas mountain range, near Carmel Valley, where Clint Eastwood used to be the mayor. There are vast tracts of farmland either side of us, with one long, bendy road spearing through me middle. We’re in Porsches new flyweight Boxster Spyder, which weighs ],275kg. This isn’t just 80kg lighter man the regular Boxster S, it makes it the lightest model in the current Porsche range. With 320bhp on tap, the power-to-weight ratio is what you might call promising.

There’s a big, blue sky above us, and an orangey winter sun. We’re following another Boxster Spyder, whose exhaust emits a fruity Porsche parp as its driver works his way through me ‘box. Its back tyres kick up little curlicues of dust as it runs momentarily wide. Romantic, see?

Overtaking out here isn’t the teeth- gnashing lottery that is, say, junction 19 of the M25 on a wet Wednesday evening. In fact, in 20 minutes we see just one other vehicle. Unfortunately, it’s a vehicle that happens to be about 60ft long, and has mad Jack McMad behind the wheel with only his shotgun and whatever the US version of the Yorkie bar is for company.

Porsche no. 1 blasts past. Porsche no.2 finds a 32-tonne artic in the middle o/the road to be something of an impediment. We hang back, and layoff the fruity parping for a bit. He moves back over. But we’ve seen Duel enough times to wonder what’s next. Do we really want to play chicken with a big rig? Maybe this guy’s more of a 91 ] fan …

Porsche takes the business of saving weight pretty seriously. For example, the gudgeon pins on the 91 1 GT3’s pistons are ]80g lighter than standard, and making its connecting rods out of titanium saves another 150g. But mat’s the race-spec GT3, and though the Boxster Spyder shares some of its DNA, its role is completely different. This Porsche reboots a model line that goes right back to the company’s roots, to cars like the ‘53 356 America Roadster but more significantly 1954’s 550 Spyder (me one James Dean christened ‘little bastard’, with good reason as it turned out). Rummage through me history books a bit further, and it’s clear that the Spyder name is reserved for racing cars. Should we care that this latest one absolutely isn’t)

It’s also not an RS. Or a Clubsport, This is the third official and unlimited edition Boxster variant, the most powerful and, at £44,643 (Rs 33 lakh), the most expensive. And in the time-honoured tradition, what that extra money buys you is … less. Specifically, less roof. In exchange for
the standard car’s perfectly useful electric folding roof, you now get a ‘thing’, to fiddle into place above your head. They’re geniuses, these people, they really are.

Mind you, ‘thing’ or not, me Boxster Spyder looks fantastic, like a distilled Carrera GT. If not quite as rakish as some previous open-topped Porsche specials, me fairings on me newly extended rear deck are striking, and the body-side graphics are coolly retro (Google the 909 Bergspyder for proof). [fit looks meaner and less effeminate than usual, that’s because it’s 20mm lower, with narrower, lighter side windows.

There’s new engineering here too. While most of the Spyder is steel, the doors and single-piece rear deck are now made of aluminium, saving a total of 18kg. The new roof - which Porsche variously refers to as a sunsail or cap, which is why I will continue to call it ‘thing’ - weighs less than 6kg, while the carbon-fibre frame that holds it in position is just 5kg.

There are new 1 O-spoke alloy wheels, which weigh less than 10kg each, qualifying them as the lightest 19in rims in Porsche’s range. Inside, there are new lightweight carbon-fibre sportS sears, which trim another 12kg from the overall kerbweight. There’s a front bumper with LED day-time
running lights, black plastic mesh inserts on the side air intakes, and a black double exhaust pipe. The standard Boxster Spyder does without a stereo system or air-conditioning, though tellingly every test car I looked at featured both items. There are fabric door-pulls, there’s no cowl over the main instrument binnacle (how much weight must that have saved?), and the wind-deflector’s plastic. The centre console and dash facings are finished in the exterior body colour, and the gear lever shift pattern and searbelts are red. This isn’t the place for modern life’s rubbish, either; the cup-holders and door pockets have been deleted.

Modern life being what it is, most of these things are still available as options. As are things like Porsche’s Sport Chrono pack, which buys you the dash-mounted stopwatch, and a button on the centre console that sharpens up throttle response. Go for the dual-shift PDK transmission, and
you’ll get a Sport Plus button, that speeds up shift times and oversees a launch-control system. That’ll be a total of £1,920 (Rs 1.4Iakh).

And that’s just the tip of one expensive iceberg. The fact is, the whole options thing is a bit of a conundrum. What looks at first glance like a Boxster unplugged has the potential to be anything but. You can have regular leather seats and the full audio system as a no-cost option, or the full-on PCM ‘communication module’ with the touchscreen. Order that and aircon, and a good chunk of the 80kg weight-saving must surely pile straight back on.

Ceramic brakes are another pricey option, but more in keeping with the car’s lightweight ethos because they reduce its unsprung mass. The sportS exhaust, for £1,249 (Rs 93,500), which gives the Boxster a rasping character boost, is another option that should surely be standard here, but isn’t. In other words, an idiot Spyder buyer could easily send this supposedly 10-ca1 Porsche to the a11- you-can-eat buffet, or simply tick the wrong boxes, and ruin it. In fact, a fat idiot Spyder buyer would ruin it simply by getting into it.

Though ruin in this context is a relative term. Because even a poorly specified Boxster Spyder is still a very, very good thing. The Spyder gets Porsche’s brilliant direct injection 3.4-litre Bat-six power unit, with Variocam Plus variable valve timing. It’s almost identical to the Boxster S
but for a few important differences. With 320bhp to calion, it’s 10bhp more powerful. Peak power is at 7,200rpm, 950rpm higher than in the regular car. It has more grunt too, and a slightly Batter torque curve.

This means it laps the ‘Ring seven seconds faster than the standard car. It also means our time exposed to mental trucker man is pretty minimal, thank God. We head deeper into the valley, and by now we’re having so much fun I honestly ::-can’t think of anything that would work better out here. As much power as any sane individual could ever need, magnificent drivetrain, easily exploitable chassis … It’s quite a thing, this car - especially with the roofy ‘thing’ stowed away and the breeze aerating us.

Porsche doesn’t just do great engineering, it knows how to plug the driver right into the heart of the machine. So your relationship with all the major controls is perfect, the level of tactility not far adrift from what’s available in a decent racing car. It’s an intuitive, instinctive car to drive. (All the more intuitive and instinctive if you order the Alcantara trim for the wheel, gear lever and hand brake, and short-throw shift, both optional.)

But although it has terrific responses, it also rides surprisingly sweetly, especially for a supposedly stripped car. The UK have many hopeless road surfaces, but America’s infrastructure is piss-poor too. The Boxster Spyder has stiffer, fixed-rate dampers rather than an active system, shorter and harder springs, firmer anti-roll bars and a 74 TopGear more aggressive, negative camber on the wheels. On these satisfyingly twisty but broken roads, it could be horribly compromised. But though firm, it’s also wonderfully compliant and manages to find a Lotus-like
suspension sweet spot which preserves body control without destroying your dentistry.

Traction or grip aren’t issues either. The Spyder has a limited- slip diff, and the Boxster’s chassis has always been unflappable. Even on tight, slippery second-gear corners, where overhanging trees have kept things interesting, it doesn’t bite. Great brakes too, steel or ceramic. It’s an exceptionally good car. But not perfect. The roof is a bit silly, and we prove this by taking so long to fasten it on - it hooks over two exposed clasps on the rear deck - that Yorkie man actually manages to catch us up in the middle of a super-twisty forest section (what the hell is he doing up here?).

Imaginations working overtime, we make good our escape just before he can blast us with his 12-bore. Then there’s the small matter of how much a judiciously specced Spyder would actually cost. Working off the regular Boxster’s options price list, I manage to get my optimum Spyder up ro a rather worrying £54,353 (Rs 40 lakh) without trying too hard. Which takes it perilously close to used 997 GT3 money, and that’s a whole different ball-game.

Make no mistake, this is a sublime car. It has an abundance of all the things I treasure most in a sports car - performance, agility, linearity, character. But there’s a whiff of opportunism about it, and I suspect that Porsche’s people - the princes of lightweight gudgeon pins - could strip a bit more than 80kg out of this thing, to make it even more focused.

As it is, the Spyder’s marketing message has become entangled with the engineering one. It clearly fancies itself as a successor to Jimmy Dean’s infamous 550 Spyder, but instead of being too hard to handle, it’s possibly just a bit too easy. It’s no bastard, little or otherwise.