[eelnoraa]

Took 45e in for instrument cluster issue and got 23 530e as loaner. Here is car spec:

Black Sapphire
Cognac sensatec
DAP
Convenient package

MSRP: $60,745

Car has about 2200 miles. Out of that about 450 eDrive miles. So practially, it is a brand new car. Here is a few initial impression

1. SensaTec. It is very soft for vinyl. At 2000 mile, it definitely feel softer than Venesca at 2000 miles. Even now I have 7500 miles, venesca is getting softer, it is still not same softness as SensaTec at 2000. But I also have to say, SensaTec does NOT look for feel like leather. I can tell it is imitation upon first hand touch. I noticed this before I check the Moroney for confirmation. Having that said, it is not a bad material choice. I would probably get this over leather because I have one infant and one toddler. Ease of maintenance is more important than a lot of things.

2. Cognac color. I was very surprise my wife actually like it. She usually hate yellowish brownish color. She gave very positive reaction when she first saw it. However, once she see seat back of 1st row, she said, black is the right choice. Reason is even with 2000ish mile, we see the seat back getting dirty. Most likely wipe with wet cloth will mitigate that, but one less thing to maintain is nicer.

3. The open pore grayish color, matte finish wood trim. Whatever it is called. It is absolutely beautiful. Another member here want to replace this with the glossy brown trim, please don't. This wood trim is so much better.

4. maybe this 530e has no premium or executive pkg, I found interior luxury touch and refinement is not as good as 45e, like center screen material, HVAC cluster, center console ... not as nice as 45e or X5 in general.

5. driving position. I think I am definitely a sedan/coupe kind of guy. I prefer 530e here by large margin. Sitting is lower with respect to the floor. My legs are in the foot well, as opposite to next to the foot well in x5.

6. driving impression. also no comparison here. 530e is a lot more BMW than 45e. It still feel light on the feet, sharp turn in, very minimal body roll. 45e feels like a boat comparison.

7. Interior leg room. here 530e is lacking. My rear facing infant seat just barely fit behind driver siting adjusted to me, 5'6". I hate to say it, but a Honda Civic does better for this usage case.

8. Trunk space. This is where 530e really fall short. Very small trunk space. Eve without kids, stuffs for 2 for typical road trip will not work. As you can see picture, one stroller for infant, and one bedding box from toddler pre-K school, one diaper bag, not much left. The shape of the trunk, even just 1 pack of Costco toilet paper won't fit.

9. Headlight. So the default LED in 530e isn't steering with the car. I did test in drive way, didn't see any movement of head light. This is a surprised in a bad way. Even my 1999 1 series (much older and lower series) has adaptive head light, and my father's Subaru at $35K has adaptive LED as standard. Whassup with this corner cutting at $60K

10. The "turn off vehicle after opening door", actually works literately. When I uncheck this, I can open driver drive, car won't shut off. This lead me to believe 45e should have behave like this, but its software has a bug.

11. The 1st to 2nd less than smooth shifting that I observed in 45e, it is in this car too. This lead me to believe this is normal.

12. backup illumination at night is so much better with 530e. 45e's back up light is really weak in comparison

Overall, we like how it drives. Even my son like how it rides better than 45e. However, due to lack of space as family car, it is not a car we will consider

[eelnoraa]

A few pictures.

If I get to keep this over the weekend, I will put it up on quiljack and take a few under body picture for suspension and engine components

[eelnoraa]

Also an update here

Total usage is from Friday afternoon to Wed afternoon of the following week. 2 weekend days and 3 commute (10 miles) dates by wife.

Wife’s feedback is similar to mine. She like the driving dynamic a lot better than X5. And she think 530e although has less leg room, but it is wider. She feels further away from passenger. And for about 1 hr she sat in the back between two child seat, she said space is wider.

I sont think we will get rid of x5. But this experience definitely trigger her to get back into smaller car.

[Jeff661]

I had a 2018 530e before my X5. The trunk just sucks. The bracing makes a lot of the trunk unusable. Suitcases don’t fit in a way to maximize storage.

[X5Guy]

I have a 530e and my wife has a G05 X5. Like you, I enjoy driving a car/sedan more. But yes, the trunk space is horrible. You have to get creative when taking a road trip with it. My kids enjoy riding in my car though because it’s lower, making it easier to get in and out, compared to the X5.

[eelnoraa]

Originally Posted by X5Guy

I have a 530e and my wife has a G05 X5. Like you, I enjoy driving a car/sedan more. But yes, the trunk space is horrible. You have to get creative when taking a road trip with it. My kids enjoy riding in my car though because it’s lower, making it easier to get in and out, compared to the X5.

yes, we also have a E82 1 series, its trunk fits equal or more stuffs.

[TexasBimmer89]

So my wife’s G05 has congac vernasc and the seat backs are black.

It definitely looks better than the congac color everywhere.