carmudgeons.com - 528 1500 mile review

In the spirit of cars no one likes, I'm posting a 1500 mile update on my 528. My newborn is asleep, and I'm too tired to do anything constructive so here goes. Maybe someone here will find it useful and if not it will provide a venue for more tesla talk.

Even on the 5 series forums, the 528 incites vitriol. The heresy of putting a 4 cylinder in a 5 makes the die hards foam at the mouth. You'd think it had the power and sound of a lawn mower from some of the comments. It's "inappropriate" in a 5 series. I should've "bought a Lexus" apparently. The 535 is the best car ever made while the 528 is the worst. 528 owners themselves seen quite pleased though.

Overall, I like this car more than I thought I would. It rides much better than my 335 without feeling like a boat. Steering feel is decent as long as you leave it in "sport" mode (more on that later). Seems to be able to take corners quite well. I actually prefer driving it on windy roads since the steering feels better that way. Going straight on the highway it feels kind of vague on center. Actually sort of reminds me of the recirculating ball steering in the e39 m5 I drove recently. Not great but fine.

I'm learning how much cr*p you have to lug around when traveling with a baby. Which makes the huge trunk nice to have. Managed to get a crib, bassinet, stroller, multiple bags, and other random things in there with room to spare on a recent trip to visit the inlaws. Of course, this makes the lack of a spare tire well even more galling. The battery is gigantic and sits underneath the center of the trunk floor though.

Looked at the back of my mom's Focus recently and was relieved that I didn't choose the "hot batch" route this time around. Just wouldn't have worked. In car storage is ok but could be better. It's amazing how small the door pockets are for such a big car. But I like the driver side glove box, larger cupholders and split center console lid compared to the e92. It's possible to pickup 2 large coffees and transport them without spillage.

The infant seat fits easily - one bonus of the multicontour seats is that they tilt in the middle which gives more room for infant seat (and better shoulder support).

It's certainly a comfortable cruiser-- I ended up having to spend about 7 hours in the car recently (long story), and had no soreness in by back or shoulders. The AC seems to work better than on my previous 3 series-- even on a 95 degree day its cool. And having full dual controls is very nice (fan, temp, direction) But I sometimes worry that the rear vents aren't enough for the baby-- kind of wish I'd spent $500 and gotten the rear climate control (didn't even think of it at the time). One nice thing on the 5 is the ability to adjust how much seat heating goes on your back vs butt. Nice if you want the heat on your back only.

The electronics all work vwell- and its great to have built-in Google voice search. We end up using that all the time. The nav seems to work much better than the one in my 335 did (though it still has its moments of dementia). And its useful to be able to summon Siri from the steering wheel on occasion. Even the built in voice control works very well though.

Power is unobtrusive. Basically, the engine doesn't define the car as it did with my 335. It goes about its job, revs smoothly, sounds pretty good, and never seems to be out of breath. I've passed people in 8th gear with the engine spinning at 2k. My only complaint is that sometimes you feel vibrations at idle. Then again, my 335 always idled roughly despite its "perfectly balanced" inline 6. I recently discovered that this goes away if you switch to "Eco Pro" mode so I'm assuming it has something to do with the AC compressor. And I tend to use Auto Start/Stop anyway. It's almost comical how small the engine looks in the engine bay. It probably almost qualifies as a mid engine car given how far back it is with the front edge well behind the front wheels)

As for build quality, the car feels very solid with no squeaks or rattles (unlike my previous cars). It's so quiet that I often end up doing 90 without realizing it.

That being said, I'm not convinced that the materials are any better than what's on a 3 series as some of the fanboys claim. The overall design is nicer, but if you look around its all the same plastics. And some of the buttons don't feel as solid as they did on my e92. The biggest upgrade is the Nappa leather on my car-- which is much nicer than what's used on the 3 series and the standard 5 series. The msport wheel looks cool, but I really miss the old cruise control stalk in my e92. Also, the aluminum hex trim isn't as nice as it was on my e92 in terms of color and texture. But still better than wood. My wife's only complaint is that the seatbelts don't adjust for height. A strange omission.

In terns of looks, I happen to think the 5 is the best looking of its ilk. I still turn back and look at it when I park it - the dark graphite paint combined with all the surface details are very pleasing. Proportions are spot on. Amongst 4 door cars only the tesla and s4 look better to me. But I'd prefer the non msport front bumper..the msport is a bit overdone and cartoony IMO.

My biggest complaint has to do with all of the modes. There are 4: sport+, sport, comfort and eco pro. Plus D and DS for the transmission. And yet there's no way to customize them. Eco pro has 2 settings you can play with but that's about it. Thought I could enable a config screen for sport mode but it didn't work (in past years it had it apparently which is strange). I do sometimes play with ecopro on long highway drives - it will drop the trans into neutral allowing the car to coast further. Kind of weird to see the tach at 800 rpm while doing 75.

I find it annoying that the transmission always starts in 1st regardless of mode and is very eager to downshift as you're coming to a stop. I end up leaving it in sport mode for the steering but don't love the touchy throttle, high shift points, 8th gear lock out and disabling of auto start/stop. It also like to show off how aggressively it can shift which gets a bit old with passengers. So I've basically decided to shift it manually with the paddles all the time. Since I've started doing that I've been much happier.

I can force it to start in 2nd which mitigates the touchier throttle. Used to do this in my 335 too but was trying to drive this car like an automatic. Yes tesla fans, I can see how having no transmission is nice. And I think Audi lets you customize this type of stuff.

Even leaving it in sport and shifting manually I've been averaging about 27 mpg (compared with about 23 on my 335). The combo of better gas mileage, cheaper insurance and a cheaper lease saves about a $100/month which is nice.

So would I do it again? Definitely. I'd like an s4 or tesla as much as everyone else here but at 1/3 to 1/2 the cost this car serves me well. I just wish I'd spent $40 more on the lease and gotten HK, HUD, 4 zone climate control and active cruise. A regular a4 might have addressed some of my gripes as well but at a higher cost and with less room. Or a 535 manual. I'm glad I didn't get anything smaller. But it's nice to know that there's no reason to get something larger either. Seems like there will be some interesting options on the market when this lease is up in 3 years.