Tested: 2024 BMW 540i xDrive Plays the Dating Game (2024)

From the September/October 2024 issue of Car and Driver.

Every new car is a pretty good first date. It's the second and third dates when annoyances start to reveal themselves. Add in some competition, and it becomes easier to separate the one you want to settle down with from the rest.

When the BMW 540i xDrive visited our office, we were charmed by its incredible inline-six, an engine free of harshness or bad vibes. It's strong too, with 375 horsepower giving the 4365-pound 540i the ability to leap to 60 mph in 4.0 seconds. The powerful six has a good mate in its eight-speed automatic partner. Gear-changes are smooth, and downshifts come quickly. There's a slickness to the entire powertrain, as if friction does not apply. It pays dividends in fuel economy, with the 3.0-liter returning 37 mpg in our 75-mph highway test.

Sounds like love, right? Well, we were pretty smitten—until a 2024 Mercedes-Benz E450 rolled in like an attractive contestant number two. Next to the Benz, the 540i suddenly felt a size too big. There's a sense that there's less glass, and as a result, the cabin seems more confining. Drive the two back to back, and the BMW's reactions and feel-free steering make it seem heavier than the Benz, despite weighing 101 pounds less.

Both have a supple ride, though the Benz's optional adaptive dampers can go softer than our BMW's electronically controlled units, making them more suitable to Michigan roads. The 540i takes corners with ease, but there's an aloofness to the handling, largely due to the steering, which is light on both effort and feedback.

Still, we're grateful for the turbocharged six. We also like the look and finish of the 540i's interior, although the digital gauges could be easier to read—the cluster offers different display options, all terrible—and the infotainment system's menus are daunting at first. The rear seats are adult-ready, and front-seat comfort is excellent. You'll be fidget-free for the duration of a tank of gas, which at 37 mpg will last 580 miles.

Graced with charm and an engine so smooth that you'd think a V-12 might be under the hood, the 540i xDrive is more about luxury than sportiness. The 5-series used to be the mid-size sports sedan to beat, but the more dates we went on, the more it revealed itself to be less of a big 3-series and more of a smaller 7-series.