Every now and then, a vehicle comes along that does everything right.
The 2018 BMW 530E Xdrive is great-looking, it fit us as though tailored to our dimensions, its handling, acceleration and braking aren't too soft or too hard, and, in this case, it's a full-sized four-door plug-in hybrid sedan that gets a phenomenal 36 miles to the gallon under reasonable road and driving conditions. Eco Pro, Comfort and Sport modes are available at your fingertips. Total range when fully gassed and fully charged? Around 400 miles.
It's also a comparative T-Rex (okay, a baby T-Rex) when you need it; its rear drive blasts you from zero to 60 in something like 6 seconds. It starts at $53,700 and goes up to $68,760 with all the extras like a Premium package, a parking assist and more. That's a fair price indeed for what you get here, and it's a better deal than what was offered in years previous.
You also get an approximate $4,700 from Uncle Sam for picking this BMW.
The nav system's equally forward-looking; enter a destination and it'll incorporate topographical data into your journey and adjusting accordingly, such as using your battery in cities where speed isn't needed and using the engine for the highway where you'll need to enter, pass, change lanes and all the rest.
Plugging in is as easy as plugging in a blow dryer, and you're up to full charge in about three hours depending on what you're plugged into. A public charging station, for example, will be faster than the two-pronger in your garage. An 8-speed STEPTRONIC automatic transmission with Sport and Manual shift modes with Adaptive Transmission Control (ATC) and steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters are included as standard.
Your electric motor pumps out a healthy 111 horses, mated to a 2.4 litre BMW TwinPower Inline 4-cylinder, 16 valve engine with variable valve control, bringing your total horsepower to a healthy 248.
One especially compelling extra, too, is its wireless phone charging as well as “Gesture Control,” a $190 option allowing a driver or their seatmate to use their fingers in thin air to adjust volume. Advanced Vehicle & Key Memory includes most recently used climate-control temperature and air-distribution settings, exterior mirror and power seat settings, audio tone settings and radio presets, central-locking preferences and lighting preferences. That's top coddling right there, if that's what you're into.
Anything we didn't like? Well, the center console-mounted control wheel has always been a bit sensitive for our tastes. But we got used to it. At least it's rather large so we could find it in a pinch.
Gripes aside, this car is quiet, it's plush, it's everything a BMW should be, and it's one of our top favorites for 2017.
