This is how BMW's new 5-series saloon is shaping up, three years ahead of its 2009 launch. The sixth-generation 5-series (codenamed F10) is bigger yet lighter, and it should be even better to drive. Most significantly, the design should be far less provocative than the current model's.

Inside information leaked to CAR suggests that the flame surfaces, eagle-eye headlamps and eccentric cutlines of today's BMWs won't appear on the 5-series Mk6. The Munich mid-ranger will be a modern-looking and elegant car, wider, with a longer wheelbase and a more dynamic, ground-kissing stance.

The 5-series has BMW's typical wheel at each corner-look, and the glasshouse looks more coupe-like. The rear end is currently looking a little too close to the Hyundai Sonata's for comfort, however.

Under the skin
Despite being bigger, the base Five will weigh less than the outgoing model, thanks to the use of more exotic, lighter materials. But the rear-drive chassis can be loaded up with clever (and heavy) gadgets.

The 5-series will pioneer active rear suspension kinematics capable of coping with higher g-forces, stability-enhancing active yaw control and the next-generation electronic damper control (EDC) which acts on each wheel individually. Active steering and Dynamic Drive (adjustable anti-roll bars) are familiar options.

The base model will be shod with 17-inch wheels, with fatter 18 and 19in rims optional.

BMW hasn't forgotten about environmental initiatives, though. The diesel engines should get urea injection – as Mercedes is pioneering – to cut nitrogen oxide emissions. A stop/start system and upshift indicator for six-speed manual versions will help reduce fuel consumption, and the engines should be biofuel- and synfuel-compatible. Brake energy-regeneration, in combination with adaptive alternator control, should also save up to 10 percent more fuel too.

The new Five is longer and wider but sits lower than the current saloon. And with the longer wheelbase, there's more room for rear passengers' legs and heads.

Inside, BMW returns to the driver-oriented cockpit. The centre console is angled towards the person in charge, while the new X5's handsome new joystick gear selector should figure. Instead of a conventional handbrake, F10 features an electro-hydraulic parking brake.

Major changes include a brand-new instrument panel with optional head-up display, improved iDrive with a more intuitive feel and a more logical menu structure. A new draught-free four-zone air conditioning system, dubbed Airwave, is standard on all models, sources say.

And the M5…?
The next M5 supersaloon is scheduled to arrive in late 2010, some six months after the Touring (codenamed F11). It should feature an even more potent 5.5-litre 550bhp version of the awesome V10, and it will definitely get a six- or seven-speed derivative of the twin-clutch transmission that's on the way. That means the sequential SMG cogworks as fitted to today's M5 bite the dust.

Words: Georg Kacher
Images: Huckfeldt