BMW’s three best cars of 2023 are…

THE 520i might not be the year’s most exciting BMW, but it could well be the most important. To fans, the 5 Series is possibly the most BMW of all BMWs, taking some of the plushness of a 7 Series and mixing it with the playfulness of a 3 Series.

But to the company, it’s much more. For one thing, it sells like a Taylor Swift album; globally the 5 Series has led its class since 2010, and so far more than 10 million have found homes. Here, the base model is practically ubiquitous.

That gives the new 520i huge shoes to fill, so it’s just as well that it’s a huge car. On Singapore roads, its size is just about manageable, though it’s liable to stick out of a parking spot now and then. It has cameras all around it, and you’ll use them often.

Expectedly, it feels cavernous inside, and the back is so roomy you can imagine using a 520i with a chauffeur – it now starts at S$358,888 (including certificate of entitlement), so I presume the target customer can well afford to leave the driving to hired hands.

Yet, it feels as though BMW put more effort into the front of the cabin, where it’s avant-garde and visually delightful. It has a pair of screens for infotainment and driver displays, which is now nothing special, but it also boasts crystal controls and a light bar that changes colours at your whim, to alter the cabin’s ambience.

With different driving modes available, the 520i can feel like a different car at different times (I especially liked the toned-down “Relax” setting, which lived up to its name). But while it excels at pampering you, the 520i doesn’t quite have the sharp edge that made earlier 5 Series cars so remarkable.

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There’s a softness to its suspension that can make it seem reluctant about fast cornering, even though it has very well-balanced handling. The optional M Sport suspension pack ought to tighten things up there, although likely at the expense of some comfort.

The engine, an all-new concoction, really plays by the rules, too. With a mild hybrid system, it’s tuned for low emissions and fuel economy. But it does serve up urgent acceleration, and the electric part of the powertrain delivers a nice surge when you want it. The four-cylinder just lacks a nice soundtrack, even if there are digital rumbles in the background to enhance its voice.

If the 520i isn’t the athlete you were expecting, it’s still the best car in its class (with the caveat that an all-new Mercedes E-Class is due for launch here soon). It’s supremely comfortable and feels more modern than its rivals.

That said, it feels like BMW poured more effort into the pure electric i5 eDrive40, which feels like a different animal altogether. It’s faster, and its low-slung battery pack gives it much more composure through corners, so you can attack them with abandon.

But if you scale all that up, you have the i7 M70, which is not only the latest BMW to roll into Singapore, but also the most powerful. Its motors really make you think the combustion engine’s day is done. Without noise or any sense of effort, they biff out 660 horsepower, enough to send even the i7’s gigantic body to 100 kmh in only 3.7 seconds.

The “M70” badge tells you that the car was worked over by BMW’s high performance M (for “motorsport”) division, meaning that in addition to motors that could peel the crust off the earth, the souped-up i7 also has specially tuned air suspension, a reinforced bodyshell and beefier brakes.

Sure enough, the i7 M70 stomps around with tremendous authority. It does have sound generators to add a whirring soundtrack, but it feels more surreal to silence the speakers and indulge in a car that feels like part missile, part magic carpet. As fast as it is, you can even call up bursts of extra speed: pull the M Boost paddle behind the steering wheel, and it unleashes 1,100 Newton-metres of torque in a torrent that lasts 10 seconds.

The interior isn’t actually too different from a regular 7 Series’ cabin, but that’s a good thing: it mixes opulence with understatement to perfection. Its various screens and crystal surfaces delight the eye, but never threaten to overwhelm the senses.

There’s a softness to things in the sybaritic 7, as if every element of the car has a layer of velvet draped over it.

For all that, it’s tough to fully understand what the i7 M70 is for, which is ironic since it’s a car that can do everything. It’s frighteningly fast and, as long as you can deal with its battleship size, it’s easy to fling down a road so rapidly that everyone on board turns several shades of green. But it doesn’t drive like a sports car, in the sense that it feels more brutally efficient than fun.

The i7 M70 is also as opulent as the finest luxury hotel room, so much so that even though it costs an eye-watering S$803,888, it does manage to feel as cosseting as some cars that cost even more. Yet, the cheaper i7 xDrive60 comes very close in terms of pace while being just as comfortable. Buying that will save you as much as S$99,000, but perhaps that’s why the M70 exists: owning any 7 Series is a flex, but this one is a Schwarzenegger-level flex.

But one way to spend much less and still earn the oohs and aahs of BMW fans is to roll around in the M2 Coupe.

The boxy, compact four-seater feels like the sort of car BMW’s engineers built for themselves to enjoy. It’s even available with a manual gearbox.

The M2 is a mechanical sibling to the fearsome M4 Coupe, sharing an engine and its basic bones, yet it feels like a very different car. While the M4 has become well-mannered, the M2 feels like its wild and playful sister.

Some of that is down to its smaller size and shorter wheelbase, which make it feel more sprightly. Twisty roads bring out the best in the M2, and highlight just how sharp, alert and wieldy it is. And though the acceleration no longer counts as ferocious in this day and age, the little BMW is still quick enough to be a threat to some sports cars.

Even compared to the luxurious 520i and i7, the M2 Coupe doesn’t feel Spartan inside. Its dashboard is carried over from the larger 3 Series, so it has the same austere presentation and slightly drab design, but to properly set the tone you can have it in carbon fibre, the lightweight stuff that Formula 1 racing cars are made of.

You’ll have to live with a bumpy ride, some roar from the tyres and rear seats that a tall person would resent you for, but there is the sense that the M2 Coupe offers something that we’ll all miss when electric cars finally take over: a silky engine that snarls sonorously when revved, in a delicately compact package that is bound to be rare in the age of bulky batteries. The M2 might not be the year’s most important BMW, but it could well be the most exciting.

BMW 520i Engine 1,998 cc, turbocharged in-line four Power 190 hp from 4,400 to 6,500 rpm Torque 310 Nm from 1,500 to 4,000 rpm Gearbox 8-speed automatic 0-100 kmh 8.1 seconds Top speed 230 kmh Fuel efficiency 7 L/100 km Agent BMW Eurokars or Performance Motors Price S$358,888 with COE Available Now

BMW i7 M70 Motor power/torque 660 hp, 1,100 Nm Battery Lithium-ion, 101.7 kWh Charging time/type 5.5 hours (22kW AC), 34 minutes 10 to 80 per cent (195 kW DC) Range 488 km Top speed 250 kmh 0-100 kmh 3.7 seconds Efficiency 24.2 kWh/100 km Price S$803,888 with COE Agent BMW Eurokars or Performance Motors Available Now

BMW M2 Coupe Engine 2,993 cc, turbocharged in-line six Power 460 hp at 6,250 rpm Torque 550 Nm from 2,650 to 5,870 rpm Gearbox 8-speed automatic 0-100 kmh 4.1 seconds Top speed 250 kmh Fuel efficiency 9.7 L/100 km Agent BMW Eurokars or Performance Motors Price S$497,888 with COE Available Now