More BMW 5-Series Details

[Bruce Nunnally]

Turbos Are Go

When the F10 5 Series sedan comes to North America in June 2010, the first two setups will be the gas-slaking marquee cars, the 2011 BMW 535i with its 302-horsepower turbocharged direct-injected 3.0-liter inline-6 with intake-side Valvetronic, and the 2011 BMW 550i with its recently developed, 402-hp twin-turbo direct-injected 4.4-liter V8.

Meanwhile, North American BMW reps also tell us that "pricing still hasn't been finalized, but we may see little or no price hike at all on the 535i." Ahh, yes, there are some bright sides to a Great Recession and total market collapse, aren't there? So, that theoretically would still be $51,100 for the 2011 BMW 535i with its optional eight-speed automatic transmission. If all true, wow.

For the 2011 BMW 550i, the ZF-built eight-speed is standard equipment and it comes attached to the TwinPower turbo V8 that replaces the last-gen car's 362-hp 4.8-liter naturally aspirated unit, and following the 8.6 percent price hike promised in Germany, we're looking at $65,600, more or less. Comparing the power and fuel usage between the current 550i's 4.8-liter V8 and new twin-turbo 4.4-liter, horsepower is up by 11 percent while fuel use drops by 5 percent. Acceleration to 60 mph for the 550i is pretty much as it was before at just under 5 seconds, and top speed on all cars in North America is limited to 130 mph, extendable up to 150 mph with the Sport package.

Once again BMW will be the only manufacturer in this segment to offer a manual transmission, so buyers of the 2011 BMW 535i can choose a newly designed, dry-sump six-speed manual, but so far this has represented just over 5 percent of 5 Series buyers in North America.

Read More: http://www.insideline.com/bmw/5-series/201...first-look.html

Not sure what segment they think the BMW 550i is in that the CTS-V is not in, but the CTS-V does/will offer a manual transmission as well.