You see, that is the one thing I didn't like on my 535d sport touring, the interior, it was pants and had lost the driver focus of BMWs.
I am glad to see a return to the dash that wraps around the driver.
And, we have a new 5 series and I think the interior is sublime, far nicer than the current E Class imho, think the Merc has it beat everywhere else, but the interior on the Merc, which is available in any colour as long as it is black, is just not up to scratch imho.
And at night it just gets better, feels more like a private jet than a car!
That 1 series is pretty dire though, although, BMW do have a habit of bringing out shapes that shock at first and then after a while they look great and everything else look dated. So I will hold on before deciding.
But right now it looks like a face only a mother could love.
Shame as I love the original 1 series, had two of them and they are fantastic cars to drive and own. There is a reason they sell so well.
My wife drives an X5 and that has the almost exact same interior as the new 5 series. I truly can't stand being in there, driver or passenger. Passenger wise, I feel secluded and left out, Driver wise, I feel too "wrapped", and I just don't like the shape.
Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to stay on with BMW, and would have possibly traded in the X5 and current 525d in order to get a Merc. E350 CDI and a BMW 530d ... but it's just that interior and rear end ... it looks too "compacted" in my mind. BMW are great cars, brilliant machines, but I'm sorry to any die hard BMW fan, you just really don't get that first class feel as you do from Mercedes. I await with excitement to be the proud of owner of one, soon.
