The man-mobile: You don't buy a BMW 528i for its wood trim or leather seats; this midsize sedan is a driver's car

As published in The Daily Report:

Monday, May 18, 2009

By Karl W. Ritzler, Special to the Daily Report
“This is a man car,” said my wife shortly after sliding into the passenger seat of the BMW 528i.

I agree, starting with the six-speed manual transmission—in a $54,000 car—and the 3.0-liter, 230-horsepower inline six-cylinder engine. It has a manly feel, synchronizing your feet and hands to shift through the gears, giving it enough gas to push the needle on the tachometer and sound an exhaust note that you can't hear with an automatic.

From her preferred spot in the passenger seat, my wife assumes the job of pressing buttons, opening storage areas and assessing cupholders in test vehicles. The verdict on the 528i: acceptable, except for the cupholders. There are only two, and they pop out from the dash on the passenger side, offering not only a clumsy reach but also too many spilling opportunities. The elegant leather and wood trim were masculine, she said, but still appealed to her good taste and sense of style.

But you don't buy BMWs for the cupholders or the view from the passenger side. The 528i is a driver's car. From the outside, it has the classic sporty grille of a BMW—ready to leap down the road—and finishes off with twin chrome-tipped exhaust pipes. The shifts are as smooth or racy as you make them, and the engine responds with verve. Handling is taught, as you would expect in a sporty German car. There's barely any sway on sharp side-to-side maneuvers, just enough to cause your latte to slosh around.

An open freeway or mountain road ahead is a pure joy as you finally can upshift all the way to sixth gear. The 528i hums along in the left lane like it was on the Autobahn. Atlanta freeway traffic, however, puts a damper on straight-ahead driving and requires constant shifting as you stop and start and poke along Georgia 400 or the Perimeter.

One of the tricks is getting started. Unlike other high-end cars with keyless ignition where you just push a button to start the engine, it's a three-step process: key in the ignition, press your left foot down on the clutch, then press the starter. On the positive side, the 528i is equipped with a device they should have put on cars with stick shifts when I was learning to drive. When you're stopped heading uphill, just tap the brake, and it will hold while you hit the gas and release the clutch to take off—no fear of sliding into the car behind you.

The tachometer and speedometer are equal and side-by-side in this instrument cluster. And for the environmentally aware, there's even a small gauge showing how your miles per gallon react to your driving. The EPA estimates mileage at 18 mpg city and 28 mpg highway, a bit on the low side for midsize cars. There are lots of controls on the three stalks on the steering wheel: lights, wipers, cruise control, audio and phone.

The trunk is deep, and there's even a diagram showing how to stow four golf bags. In this car, the rear seats do not fold down to increase cargo space. You don't take a BMW to Home Depot to buy lumber.

It's not just the driver who can enjoy this ride. The optional multicontour seats are long-haul comfortable in soft leather. Even in the back seat, you sink slightly into a form-fitting bucket seat, and you can stretch your legs as well. A massive center console in the rear makes a fine separation for two people, but I wouldn't want to be the one stuck in the middle if five people need to ride.

The one advantage of shifting gears is that the driver can't take time to mess around with the still-annoying iDrive system that controls climate, audio, car information and, when equipped, a navigation system. Better to preset your air conditioning and radio station at home and leave it alone.

The test car's base price was $45,800, plus a $825 destination charge. A sport package of 18-inch wheels and performance tires, sport suspension and multicontour seats added $2,900. A package with garage door opener and auto-dimming mirrors added another $2,400. You even pay extra ($400) for an iPod and USB adapter, among other things, raising the sticker to $53,920. The car is virtually unchanged from 2008.

Standard equipment includes halogen headlights and foglights, antilock brakes, stability and traction control, AM/FM/CD/MP3 player and airbags all around. The car earned three of five stars for the driver's side in frontal crash tests, but five stars for the passenger and for both seats in a side crash.

Karl W. Ritzler is a freelance writer who contributes to the Daily Report.