2025 BMW 540d xDrive review

BMW has made the 5 Series for more than 50 years, making it the brand’s oldest nameplate still in production. 

There aren’t all that many current models from any car maker that can claim to have that kind of lineage.

But in a market now dominated by SUVs and dual-cab utes, does a traditional five-metre-long executive sedan still have a place, and what is BMW doing to keep it alive and relevant?

Last year, BMW re-added a diesel variant to the 5 Series range in the form of the 540d xDrive sedan, joining the petrol and electric versions of the new eighth-generation model that arrived in 2023.

The 540d takes the place of the previous 530d, offering more power, all-wheel drive, and support from a 48-volt hybrid setup, but for a higher price.

There are two grades in the core 5 Series line-up, the entry 520i M Sport 2.0L RWD turbo-petrol or the 540d xDrive 3.0L AWD turbo-diesel, the latter of which I had here.

The 540d is powered by a 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder turbo-diesel engine with 48-volt mild-hybrid assistance, and mated to an eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission driving all four wheels.

Pricing starts from $134,900 before on-road costs and options, with just a single M Sport grade available.

There are nine paint colours, of which four are a costed extra. Alternatively, for $7307 you can also choose your own colour through the BMW Individual special request program.

My test car was finished in Oxide Grey, which is one of the standard choices.

There are two 20-inch wheel choices on offer, but the test car I had here was fitted with the optional 21-inch BMW Individual aerodynamic 954 wheels in Bicolour Jet Black, which cost an extra $2200.

As standard, the 540d features a powered tailgate, interior camera, ambient lighting, panoramic sunroof, sport seats, heated front seats, adaptive LED headlights, an 18-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system, wireless charger, DAB radio, M Leather steering wheel, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, dual-zone climate control and more.

It also has access to BMW’s ConnectedDrive Services, which provides features such as real-time traffic information, remote vehicle access, and emergency assistance, as well as things like pre-heating or cooling the cabin and remote start.

In the low-volume $70K-plus large passenger car segment, the 5 Series leads the sales race, with its closest rivals made up of the likes of the Audi A6, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Genesis G80.

Comparatively, the Audi A6 is offered in a single 45 TFSI S line specification, which costs $123,600 plus on-road costs, while a mid-spec Genesis G80 3.5T AWD Luxury can be had for $121,200 (plus ORCs).

For similar money, $132,000 (plus ORCs) to be exact, you can get a mid-spec Mercedes-Benz E300, though in this guise only the rear wheels are driven, as to get AWD you’d have to move up to the top-of-the-line E53 AMG that has a plug-in hybrid powertrain and costs $199,900 (plus ORCs).

It’s worth noting that all three of its main rivals only come with petrol (or petrol-hybrid) power, with the BMW 540d offering a distinct point of difference by offering a diesel alternative.

Find your nearest BMW dealer here to check the 540d out in real life and go for a test drive yourself.

The BMW 540d is 5060mm long, 1900mm wide, and 1515mm high, with a 2995mm wheelbase.

That makes it longer and higher than its competitors, with a larger wheelbase too, but 25mm slimmer than the Genesis G80, with which it is the most closely matched.

It feels its length too. It is a large vehicle at five metres, which can make it tricky to park at times in tight supermarket car parks.

It is a beautiful thing to behold, though, and exudes class, but the Oxide Grey colour I had is a little dull. One of the metallic blue hues, or even the red or a dark grey would give it so much more presence.

The overall look is sleek and sharp thanks to the M Sport Package the 540d comes with as standard. Everything from the front and lower air intakes to the lines on the bonnet help to give it a muscular aesthetic.

The nose is divisive, but I don’t mind it, though personally I could live without the chrome grille and surrounds that draw particular attention to it. And I would be happy with a pared-back black instead to match the other gloss black highlights that can be found on the intakes, window sills and wheels.

The dark blue metallic brake calipers are a nice touch, though, and I like how they match the blue highlights in the matrix LED headlights to give the otherwise sedate paint a splash of colour.

On the inside, the cabin is luxurious and comfortable, particularly in this specification.

While sub-variants come with 'Veganza' leather, my car had the BMW Individual Merino leather in the Silverstone II/Atlas Grey colour combination which – with the help of the enormous panoramic sunroof – helps the interior feel bright and airy. The leather is soft to the touch and the seats are incredibly comfortable to sit in. 

Despite being sports seats, they are not firm and the bolstering is equally supportive rather than stiff. The overall seating position is good too, helped by electrically adjustable front seats with lumbar support and memory.

The light leather also strikes a nice balance with the Dark Silver M accent trim, which combines a mix of light grey leather, dark grey leather, and dark grey plastics on the doors. This is further complemented by a strap of carbon-fibre and high-gloss silver thread encased in plastic that runs across the width of the vehicle beneath the dash.

The high quality of the upholstery and trim, however, is at odds with some other aspects of the fit and finish that feel overlooked, such as the indicator stalk, which flicks on and off with a plasticky snap, a cheap-feeling plastic button to close the power tailgate, and doors that clunk shut rather than close softly.

For $135,000, it’s also odd that the BMW 540d doesn’t come with a heated steering wheel or ventilated seats.

In terms of space, there isn’t much in the front. The driver’s position is low and sporty, and you’re nicely ensconced ready to get going, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for stuff.

The centre console bin is tiny, and though there’s room in the doors for a standard one-litre drink bottle, the opening is wide, not high, so larger vessels won’t fit.

In the second row there is a generous amount of leg room and head room, with more than a hand’s length behind my driving position and above my head, and I’m roughly 167cm tall, so for your average-sized person there’s plenty. 

Even with the front passenger’s seat set most of the way back, I also still had a good few inches of leg room to spare on the left.

Room for your feet, however, is restricted if you’re in the middle seat, with a high transmission tunnel robbing space. And though the middle position is as well padded as the outboard seats, it also sits higher and might not be as comfortable for longer journeys.

There is enough on offer in the back row to keep everyone happy, with rear air vents that can be adjusted for direction or opened/closed, a space to put your phone, and four USB-C ports, as well as two cupholders in the central fold-down armrest. There are no map pockets.  

There is, however, a gap on each seat back for an accessory to slot into that holds an iPad, which you can option for an extra $439.

Despite being the largest amongst its competition, its boot is smaller than you’d find in the Audi A6 or Mercedes-Benz E-Class, with 520 litres on offer versus 530L and 540L respectively.

It’s much larger than the available space in the G80, however, which is just 424L.

That 520L gives you a lot to play with. Even though the opening is tighter because it’s a sedan, you could easily still use it to move large items that are also long, such as boxes of flat-pack furniture.

In my day-to-day it fit a pram, five large grocery shopping bags, and three backpacks, while the two deep cubbies proved useful for smaller items, like just grabbing something for dinner you’d forgotten to get earlier.

Fitting child seats if you’ve got young children, though, is a tall order. 

Because it’s a sedan, the top tether points are on the plastic shelf between the second-row headrests and rear window, making them very difficult to adjust tightly enough. Working with a low roof line trying to pull the straps up just makes things that much harder. 

On the plus side, the ISOFIX anchors are easy to get to behind little plastic flaps on each outboard seat.

The 540d uses BMW’s latest 8.5 operating system, which is delivered through a 14.9-inch infotainment screen and a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster.

Both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto can be accessed wirelessly.

The display of the large screen is of a high quality, it’s responsive, crisp and the general layout makes sense, but there are far too many apps in the app drawer – 38 in fact – in alphabetical order, which leaves it looking cluttered, and frankly, just overwhelming.

There’s an ‘automate habits’ function that reorders them based on your preference or most used, which would be more useful and save the awkward and distracting task of scrolling to find the one you want on the go, but you need a BMW ID profile to do so. 

That BMW ID is also required to use many other things, such as the ‘comfort exit’ feature for the seats, Amazon Alexa, the interior camera, BMW’s own range of ‘AirConsole’ games that are streamed via the central display, and other useful additions like YouTube, or Spotify, for example.

The climate controls are accessible solely within the infotainment system. There’s no button on the steering wheel or other shortcut, which is annoying as you end up prodding the screen pretty regularly. 

You can adjust the vents via a little touch-sensitive slider underneath that is easy to use, but to open and close them there are separate rubber toggles, which is a strange contrast of high and low tech.

To control the volume of the Bowers & Wilkins sound system, which is excellent, there is a scroller on the centre console. It’s nicer to use than the plus and minus haptic touch buttons on the steering wheel, which need a harder push.

There’s also a rotary dial to help move through the infotainment if the touchscreen isn’t your thing, which is okay, if a little awkward to push up or down between different sections of the layout.

As well as having all the apps you can think of, the infotainment also contains seven ‘My Modes’. Some of these are drive modes, Sport and Efficient, while others are just superficial, changing the colour/theme of the screen and instrument cluster, as well as a crystal-look ambient light bar that runs along the dash and doors.

Personal mode, which is the default, turns the ambient lighting purple, which seems like an odd choice as it’s quite feminine and doesn’t feel in keeping with the rest of the interior and exterior look. Some of the other hues, such as the blue, green and yellow combo that comes with Expressive mode, are nicer but still don’t really fit right.

One mode that really just seems a bit pointless is ‘Digital Art’, which has an artist talking about the piece of work that is displayed on the screen. It’s almost like the designers wanted to make a statement just for the sake of it.

Modes like Silent, which turns off any music, audiobooks or podcasts, and pares back the visuals on the cluster and head-up, as well as closes the sunroof cover, are more practical.

The head-up and cluster are highly customisable, and you can have simple layouts, or more performance-focused ones showing the revs, how much fuel you’re using, or even an augmented view showing the road ahead.

But there are lots of little things that frustrate because they should be easy and intuitive when they’re not. Such as having to check the digital owner’s manual to learn how to adjust the automatic headlight settings, open the bonnet or to turn off the loud beep that occurs when locking/unlocking the car. 

Similarly, it required another search in the manual to work out how to adjust the traction control, steering and damper settings in Sport mode (it’s a separate Settings option within the Sport mode itself). While it’s arguably a small gripe, it’s at odds with BMW’s ‘ultimate driving machine’ remit and the lack of a physical button for the stability control feels like a miss.

The BMW 5 Series has a ANCAP five-star safety rating dating back to when it was tested in 2023. This includes all variants, such as this diesel 540d, that arrived later in Australia than its petrol and electric counterparts.

The 5 Series performed well across all categories, with an 89 per cent score in adult occupant protection, 87 per cent in child occupant protection, 86 per cent for vulnerable road users, and 81 per cent for its safety assist technology.

As you’d expect for a luxury tourer, the BMW 540d has a healthy list of safety equipment at its disposal.

As standard, this includes things like: intelligent adaptive cruise control with the road sign recognition system, a blind-spot sensor, blind-spot with active assist, front rear and side cameras, front and rear collision warning, pedestrian avoidance with braking, and front and rear cross-traffic alert.

It also has adaptive cruise control, driver attention detection, lane-departure warning, and lane-keeping assist.

The driver monitoring is not direct, which is actually a good thing in practice, because it will warn you if you’re genuinely distracted, rather than going off at the blink of an eye, as it does in something like the Genesis GV70, for example.

The adaptive cruise control works well, too. It’s easy to use and performs well, adjusting to the speed and sudden movements of other cars around you, and the lane-assist is good in its lower settings, with just a gentle tug and vibration of the wheel to bring you back to centre.

There are some pitfalls, however. There’s no child detection warning to alert you to kids left in the back seats when you turn off the car, and the parking sensors are also incredibly dramatic, with a chorus of bongs going off like crazy as you attempt to slip into a space when in reality you’re just not that close to anything around you. 

And the automatic parking assistant doesn't do the best job. While it will get you within the lines of the space, sometimes it can put you closer than you’d like to another vehicle, which is perhaps parked too far over to one side, and is so reluctant not to hit anything behind you that it can leave the bonnet half hanging out.

On the flip side, the picture offered by the cameras is very clear, and you can select each side, or the top, front, or rear to get a better look via the infotainment screen, and there’s even a function that cleans the cameras too.

The BMW 5 Series comes with a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, which matches that of its closest competitors as the industry standard for premium vehicles.

Unlike its rivals, though, which set servicing at every 12 months or 15,000-25,000km depending on the brand, BMW has condition-based servicing for the 5 Series in line with requirements for its other models.

Over the course of five years, however, owners can expect to pay around $3775 to service their car. And BMW also offers three years of free roadside assistance.

The BMW 540d will cost $4102.75 to comprehensively insure based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male, living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

While driving something with diesel power these days is largely confined to utes and trucks, one oft-forgotten detail is how good they are on fuel.

BMW claims the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel in this 540d offers a combined fuel economy figure of 6.5 litres per 100 kilometres, and in real-world driving I found that estimate not to be far off.

I achieved 6.7L/100km through a mix of town driving and long freeway commutes, as well as a fair chunk of time spent in Sport mode enjoying some twisty journeys through Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges.

Interestingly, the 5 Series shows you how many more kilometres are gained by moving from Sport to Efficient mode, which is not a feature I’ve seen in a non-electric car. Sometimes the switch to Efficient added up to 32km extra range. 

In comparison to its rivals, all of which are petrol-powered, the BMW uses less fuel on paper, with the Audi claiming 7.3L, Mercedes 7.2L and G80 a whopping 11.0L/100km.

The total driving range available is mightily impressive too – with almost 900km possible from one tankful in my time with it.

The 540d uses a 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder turbo-diesel engine for outputs of 223kW/670Nm. This is mated to an eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission.

The diesel engine is also supported by a 48-volt mild-hybrid system, which serves as the starter motor as well as delivering a boost of up to 13kW/200Nm, and recuperating the kinetic energy from braking. The former is available for 10 seconds if you hold the left paddle in. 

There’s no doubt about it, this four-door sedan is quick, and on paper able to go from 0–100km/h in just 5.2 seconds.

While adding a diesel engine back into the 5 Series line-up in 2025 is an interesting choice, this particular unit is so impressive and suits the platform really well. It’s smooth, gutsy, with power and torque available in all gears and at all revs.

The 3.0-litre is just as happy to accelerate briskly in Efficiency as it is in Sport, and it doesn’t feel held back in any mode.

The same applies to the gearbox, which is never confused, always in the right gear at the right time. The two work incredibly well together.

The rear-biased xDrive AWD just grips and goes, there’s no fuss or drama. It will move about more in Sport on a damp surface, but still feels solid and dependable, not like it’s going to kick out on you. It’s really confidence-inspiring. 

Steering is on the lighter side but very responsive and intuitive, and it helps, alongside the four-wheel steering, to make it feel really dynamic and agile in corners. The four-wheel steering also gives the 5er a turning circle that feels tiny for a car this big.

The ride is fantastic, and feels like the 540d has the smoothness of air suspension even though it’s ‘just’ adaptive. It occasionally is caught out by sudden bumps where it takes a moment to catch up and sends a bit of a jolt through the interior, but the times this does happen are few and far between.

You can’t even really hear the diesel engine most of the time, it just gently purrs away unless you really put your foot down, or ramp things up in Sport to produce a growl. It’s never loud or gravelly no matter what you do.

Ninety per cent of the time this tourer is supremely quiet and refined, only ruffled on the rarest of occasions by noise from the 275/30 R21 Continental EcoContact 6 rubber on rough patches of road. Most noticeably I found this to be the case on some small sections of the Monash Freeway, inbound to the city.

Yes. The BMW 540d is rated to tow 2000kg braked and 750kg unbraked.

While this luxury, executive sedan is not your obvious towing vehicle, its capable diesel engine gives it plenty of grunt to tow smaller items, such as a trailer.

For an executive sedan, the BMW 540d is a delight. If you don’t want or need an SUV and want something that is capable, refined and a pleasure to drive, this is it.

In some ways, BMW has nailed its product to suit its buyers. The driver’s cluster is simple and aesthetically pleasing, the steering wheel layout and functionality are pared back to the essentials too, and the ADAS doesn’t overstep the mark.

But dig a little deeper and there are also things that grate unnecessarily – like the infotainment system that is trying so hard to be ultra-modern and ‘arty’ it makes the experience too complicated, sometimes overwhelming and even a little chintzy, and the overall package is left feeling confused. 

These elements make more sense in the all-electric BMW i5, which shares the same interior and is likely to appeal more to early adopters and technophiles. But not so much in a traditional three-box sedan that is renowned for its focus on supreme driving dynamics and everyday comfort. 

If you can bypass the try-hard elements inside, though, it’s still a fantastic daily driver that’s made even better by the ultra-refined diesel engine it’s matched to. 

A born-and-bred newshound, Kathryn has worked her way up through the ranks reporting for, and later editing, two renowned UK regional newspapers and websites, before moving on to join the digital newsdesk of one of the world’s most popular newspapers – The Sun. More recently, she’s done a short stint in PR in the not-for-profit sector, and led the news team at Wheels Media.

Read more about Kathryn Fisk