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Giant shadows appraise small BMW
When BMW invited us up to a photographic studio somewhere in the Midlands for a sneak preview of the new 'F10' BMW 5-series, it was an offer we could hardly refuse. It's almost four months before the car is to be officially unveiled to the public at next March's Geneva motor show, after all.
But we're a caring, sharing lot here at PH Towers, so we thought we'd chance our arm and ask if we could bring along a few PHers for a poke and prod at the new 5-series.
After an hour and a half of sitting, opening, closing, inspecting and tea drinking, our impromptu focus group had come up with some firm opinions on the car, in this case a 530d SE. Here's what they thought:

FourWheelDrift likes the purposeful looks
PHer: FourWheelDrift
Drives: Audi, and a pair of TVRs (Cerbera and Griffith)
Favourite BMW: E39 M5
"I like it. Certainly more than the previous model. This is an SE, but it already looks purposeful. You'd have to really go to the higher levels of the current E60 5-series, maybe even to the M5, to get it looking like that.
"Spec-wise, it's very impressive. I mean, leather for all versions - I can't think of anybody outside of a performance manufacturer who does that. The levels of equipment seem very good, too, although it's still got the iDrive and I'm still not sure about that. I like the head-up display, though.
"It's a long car, but it doesn't look massive. The smaller front end, especially, makes it look kind of like a long-wheelbase 3-series.
"There's nothing that I don't like about it. It's definitely a step forward. This will still cater for the tastes of people who liked the previous model, but I think it might also bring back those who might have gone to Audi or Mercedes."

jeremyc: it would be better if it wasn't a diesel
PHer: jeremyc
Drives: Audi RS2 Porsche GT3 and a Caterham R400
Favourite BMW: Probably E46 M3
It's fairly handsome. I think it does what it has to do for the senior executive sector, and they've certainly updated it nicely. Mind you, if you're being cruel you could say it's a little anonymous around the rear: Is it a Honda? Is it a Lexus? Actually no, looking at it from the back it's a Mitsubishi Carisma!
For me it's a little slab-sided - the window depth compared with the depth of the sides is slightly out of proportions. And, erm, I'm probably the least likely person to buy one ever...at least not until they build a UK-spec M5 Touring with a manual gearbox.

jeremyc: not a fan of the headlight 'eyebrows'
Mind you, I despair at the addition of all the electronic gubbins and all the human - or rather non-human - assistance to do us out of a job as drivers. But that's what the market demands. I worry about the amount of people who are going to start falling asleep, because they don't have to think about anything or pay attention to anything when driving.
I mean it's got 'pedestrian recognition' for goodness sake - it beeps at you when you're about to run somebody over! I would much rather drivers were taught to look out for pedestrians rather than relying on their BMW to go "bing! There's a pedestrian in the way."
Still, it's a good-enough looking car. I'm sure BMW will do well with it. There's the new family look - all very Z4-ish at the front. It's Bangle-ish but without being overtly Bangly.
It's undoubtedly a very competent car, and I've no doubt they'll sell loads of automatic diesels...


Havoc attempts to test pedestrian recognition system
PHer: Havoc
Drives: Honda NSX, Integra Type R
Favourite BMW: E46 M3 or E30 M3 Cecotto
The new 5-series is very derivative of previous BMWs, especially the current crop. In fact, it looks exactly like BMW has merged a current 3-series and 7-series to creat the new car.
That said, I've always liked BMW's 'cab-backward' stance to their saloons, and the side profile and low front quarter of the new car look particularly good. The bonnet's got too much detail in it, but the sides are refreshingly clean.
There's a lot of bonnet in front of you, though, and it feels like a big car from inside. You'd certainly need to be comfortable about placing the car on the road, because unless you've got the seat base set really high up it's difficult to see where the corners of the car are.

MattOz works out just how big the new 5 is
PHer: MattOz
Drives: E46 M3
Favourite BMW:E39 M5
The F10 looks a little generic, but it's a very handsome car. Nowhere near as stylized or futuristic as the E60 was when it first came out, so I don't think it's going to cause quite as much of a stir.
Again, it's not small, though. You only realise how big the car is when you start looking at the 19-inch wheels and thinking that they're not that big in the arches.
I'm looking forward to seeing one with M Sport bumpers, though...