Test Drive: 2011 BMW 528i

By Kevin Harrison

Photography by Nick Rudnicki

As I start to get older, I start to notice certain changes. Mainly, I can’t eat a hamburger anymore without gaining 50 pounds. I also can’t seem to stay up past 2 am on a Saturday night as I’ll pass out from plain old fatigue rather than copious amounts of alcohol. I also caught myself in one of those ‘back-in-my-day’ moments wherein I was ridiculed by someone much younger than me for not having a twitter account.

“Back in my day…” I stopped short. I couldn’t believe those words came from my mouth.

Now I’m not old by any means, I’m in my mid twenties, but it’s definitely at this point in your life when you notice the changes. And they generally aren’t good ones.

The old adage ‘wine gets better with age’ doesn’t apply to humans. Cheese gets better with age though. So does scotch. But not human beings, I’m convinced of it.

Cars, on the other hand, are hard to figure. Do they get batter with age? The Chevrolet Impala, now into its ninth generation almost certainly has not. The Impala went from being an iconic tourer to a sleek coupe to a rapper’s wet dream to a hold-its-own sleeper to, well, the number one choice of car for people 70 and up. What the hell happened? The Impala used to be cool.

The BMW 5-Series is settling into middle age as well. Now into its seventh generation, is the 5-Series getting better with age? Or is it turning into an old grandpa mobile like the Impala?

I took the newest iteration for a spin to find out.

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