WEBVTT

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- Hey folks, how's it going?

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I'm here today in the BMW 530i xDrive.

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It's 255-horsepower, turbo-charged,
four-cylinder engine.

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Pretty much BMW's ubiquitous
two-liter four popper,

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all-wheel drive, and the M Sport package,

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which gives you some niceties
on the interior and exterior.

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Base 5 series is gonna start 57 grand-ish.

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xDrive is gonna pump that up to 60.

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This one here with all
its options and nice stuff

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is about 73, which is a lot of money

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for a car with a four-cylinder engine.

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BMW talks a lot about how
good this car is to drive,

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so we're gonna put it to the
test today on some back roads

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in, somewhere in South
Carolina, near the BMW plant.

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You know it, you love it,

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(upbeat music)

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(engine revving)

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Okay.

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(engine revving)

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I mean, it's not the
quickest car in the world,

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but you weren't really expect it to be.

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It is the base 5 series pretty much,

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(engine revving)

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but it's not slow.

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I mean, 255 horsepower.

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I'm not sure exactly how much it weighs.

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I'll put it right here, and
by I, I mean my video editor,

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who's a very nice man,

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but it weighs a lot, you know?

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It's a big, executive sedan

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and that's gonna carry some heft with it.

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There's no way around that.

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As always, like all BMW 5 series,

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it's got a ZF eight-speed
transmission in the middle.

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(engine revving)

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It's a great transmission.
Responds quickly to your shifts.

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It's smooth,

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you almost don't feel the
shifts, it's so smooth,

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which is what you want
in the car like this,

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'cause if you're at the 530, you know,

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sure, you get the NS4
package for the looks,

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but really you're looking
for an executive car,

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a car to commute in that'll,
you know, give you some status

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as you waft along to your
business job doing business.

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(engine revving)

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The engine doesn't sound awesome.

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I mean, I've got a lot of experience

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with this two-liter, four-cylinder.

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It's in a lot of BMWs that are sold today

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and it's actually the
same engine that powers

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my mother's 2014 BMW X3,

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so BMW's pretty much perfected
this engine at this point.

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It's definitely smoother
than it used to be.

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It makes just about the
same amount of power,

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which has been enough
for this kind of car.

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This is probably the volume seller,

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I would assume, for the 5 series.

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(upbeat music)

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Which way, Western man?

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Let's go right.

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(engine revving)

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You get a little rotation, you know?

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Not a ton, especially in
this all-wheel drive model,

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which if you can find a base 5 series

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with rear-wheel drive only,
that's achievement in itself.

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They don't make a ton of them

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because there isn't a
ton of demand for 'em.

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Most of 'em are xDrive
model at this point,

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and xDrive's is fantastic.

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Obviously it's bone dry where I am today,

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but I'd hazard a guess using
xDrive many a time in my life

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that it feels pretty good in the rain.

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In terms of 5 series-ishness,
it's pretty good.

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I mean, this one specked the way it is,

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you know, you get a lot of nice stuff.

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The seats are incredibly comfortable.

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I wish they were cooled, but
you know, can't win 'em all.

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All the materials are pretty nice.

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There's some,

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(knocking)

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there's some plastic around,

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and honestly, it's not
quite as well insulated

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as I was hoping it would be.

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You hear a lot of road
noise, a lot of engine noise,

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a lot of wind noise too.

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Well, not too much wind noise,

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but a lot of road and engine noise.

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I mean, I honestly put it
on par with some of the,

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you know, like a Honda Accord,

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you're probably gonna get similar amounts

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of road noise into the cabin,
but that car's also 35 grand

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and this is 70 something or other.

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That's a lot of money.

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Let's go, let's do a little
highway acceleration.

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No one's coming.

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Okay.

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First gear, no one's coming, it's fine.

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And let's go!

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(engine revving)

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Ugh.

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If you miss a shift,

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it bogs down like nothing
else, and there's 60.

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So it's no slouch, it's not a slow car.

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It's just our sense of what a fast car is

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is so warped these days

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that if it doesn't do zero
to 60 in under four seconds,

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you're like, oh, it's kind of sluggish.

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It's not, and for what people are gonna do

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with a car like this, it's great.

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That being said, what people are gonna do

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with a car like this is just
cruise around and go to work

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and all that stuff.

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It should feel a little bit nicer.

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Not that it feels bad, like it feels good,

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it feels like a premium car,
but there's some plastic

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and some kind of hard touch
materials that just leave a,

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you know, that doesn't sound right.

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Just leave a little bit to be desired.