Car of the Year 2010 - BMW 535i

Obviously, if money is no objection, the 535i is the model of choice. Underneath that long and bulging bonnet in the 535i is a new TwinPower Turbo turbocharged 3-litre straight-six shared with the 5 Series GT and facelifted 335i coupe and convertible. The single turbo force aspirated straight-six makes 306bhp and 400Nm, the same numbers as the twin turbocharged unit in the Z4 and X5. With a quoted 0-100km/h time of 6.5 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h, the 535i is pretty quick for a 1.8 tonne saloon. The 535i is quicker off the line than its closest Merc rival, the 272bhp E350 but a tad slower than the stonking 290bhp Audi A6 3.0 TFSI quattro.

On the road, the motor's linear power delivery and lag free nature makes it feel like a normally aspirated motor. With its maximum torque available from just 1200rpm, the motor pulls strongly from really low speeds. There's always sufficient performance on tap whenever you need it at any speed. BMW EfficientDynamics technologies are featured such as Brake Energy Regeneration and on- demand operation of ancillary units including a detachable a/c compressor.

Hooked up to the engine is a brand new eight-speed automatic gearbox. BMW's first eight-speeder is brilliantly good - it is lightning fast with its shifts, almost instantaneous to the point that it feels faster, if not as fast as a twin clutch box. Its shift points are also spot on as the box upshifts when you expect it to and goes to a lower gear when you demand it to. Unlike Mercedes' 7G-Tronic box, it doesn't hunt for gears but instead is quite intuitive in choosing the right gear for the right conditions.

The 535i's well-balanced dynamics offer a good compromise between ride and handling but it has lost a tad of its predecessor's more dynamic nature and some might say that it will be harder to differentiate itself from the E-Class.

The all-new interior is far superior in perceived luxury and build quality over the E60's when it was first launched. In addition, the 5's generous proportions means it offers more space and utility than any previous 5.

The 535i offers a list of luxury kit that would shame even a full-sized luxury limo. These include luxuries like an electrically operated tailgate, navigation, parallel parking assistance, electrically adjustable steering column, four-zone climate control and so on.

In the readers' polls, the 535i faced an especially tough challenge from the Audi S4 but with so much going for it, there's really little to fault the 535i and the judges agreed that it is quite possibly the most well-rounded car and thus, just one of the many reasons that the BMW 535i is oneshift's Car of the Year 2010.

Credits: Story and Photos by Raymond Lai