Entry level is Quite a misleading term. Take an 'entry-level' room at the Burj al-Arab and you'll still be buried under gold fittings. The most proletarian yacht will still have a sumptuous cabin and take you ro Valencia, if not Monaco. The same applies here. The 520d is the 5-Series that other 5-Series will look down their noses at, but the pooh-bahing can only go so far. Because it's still a 5-Series. Which means it's still a heck of a car.

In fact although I'm saying this before I've driven the equally new 530d, so I may change my opinion the 520d may be the best BMW available in India. In basic terms, it's a 5-Series propelled by the 320d's engine. We know that this engine works very well in the lighter 3-Series, but there were fears it would be a bit underpowered in so large a car.

Not a bit of it. Given, it's no barnstormer, but how much performance is the average CEO likely to need? The 1 ,995cc turbo diesel has just a bit more muscle in the 5-Series (174bhp vs 170, 350Nm vs 340), and feels more than acceptably strong anywhere in the rev band. And it's quiet roo, unlike the old 525d. You can imagine that most 5-Series are on a leash that extends only to the city limits, and for that, the performance is perfectly fine. More than fine in fact, because it moves like a scalded cat through traffic. It won't hold up in direct acceleration charts against its more expensive brethren, but so what.

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Part of what I like about this car, of course, is the steering, the way the 'wheel moves heavily, sinuously, under your hands. BMW could fit four wheels and this steeri ng to a wooden crate and you'd still want to buy it. God, this thing handies Part Three of the case, milord, is that this is so much more a !UXUly car than the Three. The smaller car is sportier, sure, but the jagged ride (especially in rhe top-end 325i) takes a lot away from it.

What really seals it is the price. It's Rs 4 lakh less than the nexr-cheapest Five (the 525i), and there's another Rs 2.5 lakh to go before you get the 530d. All you lose is the NighrVision infra-red system, the TV thingummy on the iDrive and cruise control. Oh Holy Mother of God, how blighted your life would be without those. What you get instead is a true-blue 5-Series at considerably less. You get all the bragging rights (who'd know, after all?), you get the space and comfort of a Five, you get good performance, and you have money left over for a Caribbean holiday.