• Virtually identical to the saloon
• iDrive still better most other infotainment systems
• Fabulously comfortable seats

How is the quality and layout?

BMW interior design and quality has traditionally been half a step behind the masters at Audi. In comparison, BMW interiors looked a bit dour, and the materials used weren’t quite as nice. But Munich really stepped up its game with this generation of 5 Series Touring – it’s the most user-friendly car of this type.

The design is stylish and eye-catching, a strong horizontal sweep incorporating modern twists on classic BMW touches. At first glance, the forest of buttons for the climate control and other features looks rather confusing, but our testers found they quickly got used to it. It still lacks some of the Bauhaus-style cool of the Audi A6 Avant and the razzmatazz of the Mercedes E-Class, but it’s far less fiddly than the Volvo V90’s touchscreen-based control system – a template many other car manufacturers are now following.

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Early examples of this 5 Series Touring have exceptionally clear speedometer and rev counter dials, but they were later replaced by a digital screen, which we think is less effective. The speed and rev counter dials are placed at the outer edges of the screen and can be obscured by the steering wheel. At least the information available on the screen is extremely comprehensive and easy to navigate through.

Everything you regularly touch in the interior has a lovely tactile quality, as does the leather upholstery and aluminium or gloss black trim. Even the boot is beautifully finished. Everything feels like it’s built to last, as well.

Infotainment and tech 

The iDrive infotainment system is one of the most intuitive such systems to use. The graphics are high-resolution, the sat-nav easy to use and follow. Functions are controlled via the rotary controller and shortcut buttons located next to the gearstick, via the touchscreen, or with simple voice commands. The rotary controller also doubles as a touchpad that you can write postcodes on with your left hand.

The different control options can appear rather baffling, but our testers soon acclimatised to switching between them. The right-handed among them did struggle a bit with touchpad, though. Gesture control was available as an option, but it’s really just a novelty. You can use it to alter the stereo volume and answer calls, but we never found it particularly effective. We were also slightly irked that infotainment functions can’t be merged onto the digital instrument display, as you can with Audi’s Virtual Cockpit.

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Comfort

• Fabulously comfy, supportive seats
• Optional Comfort seats are even better
• Quiet and refined, especially on small wheels

We found the 5 Series Touring is a superbly quiet and comfortable car to travel in, whichever seat you’re sat in. Even the middle rear seat isn’t bad for short journeys. There’s a huge range of adjustment on the driver’s seat and steering wheel which allowed all of our testers to find a driving position that suited them.

All models have heated front seats. The optional Comfort seats are worth seeking out – they offer a plush, enveloping embrace that you sink into. Even the headrests have a pillowy plumpness. M Sport Edition models have sporty bucket seats that firmly hold you in place in corners.

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The ride is very refined and smooth in cars with 18- or 19-inch wheels. The ride can be crashier over lumps and bumps with bigger wheels, though the optional adaptive suspension mitigates that. Wind, road and engine noise are very subdued, as well, even at motorway speeds. Estates are often a bit noisier than they’re saloon counterparts, but we couldn’t detect that being the case, here.  

It’s worth noting there are very fine margins between the ride quality of the various big executive states but, for our tastes, the 5 Series Touring just nips ahead of the rest.