2006 BMW 530i review: 2006 BMW 530i

2006 BMW 530i
The 530i is the Goldilocks BMW for people with a family. Like the 3, 6, or Z Series, it's not too small, and like the 7 Series or X Series, it's not big and bulky. It's the car that 3 Series owners often graduate to, and as a result, it needs to be like the 3--just more so. That's exactly what the 2006 BMW 530i delivers. It's important to point out that our test car is a lot like the 530i you might actually buy: not necessarily loaded but with all the pricey options. In fact, the only real tech gadget in our car was Sirius satellite radio. This helped keep the price at $51,540.

First impressions are important, and we just can't get around the car's sheet-metal styling. The high belt line that rises toward the rear is common in cars today, but the low side sills, large expanses that make up the car's flanks, and a prominent feature line high on those sides all conspire to make the 530i look portly from many angles.

Inside, the 2006 BMW 530i is a civilized yet athletic people-hauler with an outstanding quality of materials and a clean, solid look that will age well. BMW really leads the pack in stripping down the busy array of buttons and knobs that plague many cars today. The way the company does this is by moving controls into the iDrive knob and screen interface, which seems heavy-handed to us in a car that doesn't have any really complicated systems to control.

Our test car was rather sparsely equipped in the optional-technology department, lacking a GPS navigation system ($1,800), Active Cruise Control ($2,200), a Logic7 DSP audio system ($1,800), and a heads-up display ($1,000). Aside from the standard Bluetooth hands-free system, this car was basic in terms of technology options yet still burdened with the iDrive system, which uses an LCD and a multifunction knob. For the relatively basic technology systems found on this particular 2006 BMW 530i, we felt the iDrive control wheel and LCD were overkill and a hindrance. Just adding a new radio station preset takes up to five nonintuitive clicks and toggles.

The iDrive's LCD offers the only way to control the stereo--but not so for the climate control.

Since the iDrive display didn't have much to do in a car equipped like ours, we usually turned it off to get rid of the visual distraction. Unfortunately, the display never really turns off--it just gets blacked out. If you read our LCD reviews, you know that LCDs don't really show black well, translating it instead to a deep gray. The same goes for this BMW display; even when it's off, it shines brightly in a deep gray with brightish edges, and there is no way to get rid of that distraction.

The standard sound system in our car was something of a disappointment. We couldn't coax great sound out of it; it was merely good. It seemed to have limited dynamic range, and the AM radio--again, important to this car's 40-to-50-year-old demographic--applied a hollowness to voice frequencies. The optional Logic7 audio system adds more processing, more speakers, and more power--just get it. Regardless of which BMW sound system you select, you'll be on your own interfacing an MP3 player to it, since the new 530i, at least at the time of this writing, offers neither the famous BMW integrated iPod adapter nor the more pedestrian auxiliary input jack.

Long resistant to cup holders, BMW relents by making one that hides in the dash.

The car's climate system, happily, can still be dealt with in the traditional way by fiddling with dedicated knobs and buttons. When a 2006 BMW 530i is ordered with a rich array of technology options, iDrive is warranted, but all 5 Series cars have it standard. Make sure you take a good, long test-drive so that you know what you're marrying into.

It may seem like a small thing, but the placement of the remote trunk-release button down low by the dead pedal is just plain rude. Reaching it tests your lower vertebrae in a way that no car aimed at 40- and 50-somethings should. BMW did such a good job of stripping out all extraneous buttons on the dashboard that there is ample space for a conveniently placed trunk release.

We'd normally start this part of a CNET car review with the engine, but the clutch on our 2006 BMW 530i proved to be so annoying that it moved to the top of the page. Pedal actuation on our car had a very uneven resistance curve; it seemed to push back much harder right around the point where the clutch plates start to connect, making smooth engagement a chore. It also doesn't help that the six-speed manual transmission has a very pronounced detent getting in and out of each gear. We're sure that's by design, and we would even look forward to it mellowing with a few thousand miles, but this is a 2006 BMW--so well built that something like that might not wear away for 100,000 miles. Between the lumpy clutch pedal and the notchy shifter, our 530i was a handful in everyday urban driving.

The manual version comes with six gears, but you will have to fight the clutch to use them.

Once you do notch the 2006 BMW 530i into gear and wrestle the clutch pedal into submission, you are rewarded. The 24-valve, DOHC, 3.0-liter in-line six-cylinder engine pulls like a freight train hopped up on nitrous. Power delivery is immediate, in a way that many of this car's competitors can't seem to deliver through their morass of CPUs and electronically assisted drivetrain components. We didn't detect any flat spots in the car's 220 pound-feet of torque, which actually seems unremarkable on paper but feels like a lot more on the road. This engine is so smooth that we had to remind ourselves to go above fourth gear in freeway driving; nothing about this car's power train aurally or tactilely reminds you to use fifth or sixth.

Interestingly, the 2006 BMW 530i shares the same basic engine with the BMW 330i, which brings us to a point that will surprise many readers: The 530i is only 22 pounds heavier than a 330i with a manual gearbox and the Sport Package, yet the 530i presents itself as a substantially bigger car.

The 3.0-liter engine doesn't sound much different at 5,000rpm than at 2,000.

A clever indicator on the tachometer is the dynamic yellow line. This is a moving band of hash marks on the gauge face approaching the red line. When the car is cold, the hash marks reach all the way down to around 5,800rpm. By the time the engine warms up, hash marks rotate to move the yellow line up to 6,800, just a couple hundred revs short of the red line. This indicator is a clever way to remind drivers not to mash the accelerator when the car is cold.

Like most recent BMWs, the 2006 530i still includes a needle-based fuel-economy gauge. Such an instrument seemed appropriate in mid-'80s BMWs, especially E models, but today it seems to offer little more than a quaint guesstimate, especially compared with today's common digital fuel-economy displays.

BMW would correctly tell you that performance is one of its most important safety systems on its 2006 530i, and it gathers many forms of braking performance under its dynamic stability control system. Brake Fade Compensation senses brake fade and increases braking pressure without driver intervention to maintain an even level of braking performance. Brake Stand-By knows when you lift off the gas pedal in a hurry and anticipates a panic stop by snugging up the pads to the rotors. Brake Drying is tied to the standard rain-sensing wipers, and when it detects wet conditions, it will periodically kiss the brake pads to the rotors to wick away water. Start-Off Assistant is basically a hill-holder that keeps the car from rolling backward when starting up a steep street from a dead stop.

The 2006 BMW 530i also offers Brake Force Display brake lights. When you brake really hard, a second set of rear brake lights comes on to let the driver behind you know you're coming to a rapid stop. On top of all these brake-oriented features, the 530i adds Dynamic Traction Control, which increases wheel slip at the driven wheels when needed to deliver the best traction for nonoptimal road conditions.

Xenon adaptive headlights steer slightly to follow a significant turn of the steering wheel. The 2006 BMW 530i also comes with BMW Assist, a telematics service. Like OnStar, the system can connect you with a BMW service center that offers assistance in emergencies, driving directions (handy in a non-nav-equipped car like ours), and traffic information. The 2006 BMW 530i has a 4-year/50,000-mile warranty, and BMW's Full Maintenance Program means you also won't have to worry about normal factory-recommended maintenance for that same amount of time and mileage. Additionally, the car is protected against rust perforation for 12 years.