2009 BMW 535 Review by David Thomas

In the world of luxury station wagons, there isn't much sense in trying to justify the price tag. Normally, a wagon is a practical choice for families looking for utility with improved mileage versus a similarly sized SUV. If, however, you're shopping the all-wheel-drive 535i xDrive or its competitors — the Audi A6 Avant and Mercedes-Benz E-Class wagon — you clearly have an entirely different set of priorities.

Those probably include a high level of luxury, features, performance and, yes, some utility thrown in. BMW's 5 Series wagon provides plenty of each and elicited raves from our staff, my family and even me. It's hard to fathom why anyone would purchase a $55,000-$75,000 station wagon, but if you're going to, it would be hard to go wrong with this one.

The 5 Series wagon comes only in all-wheel-drive 535i xDrive form. Its sedan counterpart can be had in 528i, 535i or 550i configurations; the 528i and 550i are covered separately in Cars.com's Research section. Click here to compare the whole lineup.

See also:

Display on the Control Display
Display the computer or trip computer on the Control Display. 1. "Vehicle Info" 2. "Onboard info" or "Trip computer" Resetting the fuel consumption or speed 1. &q ...

Child restraint fixing system with a tether strap
Mounting points LATCH mounting eyes Only use the mounting eyes for the upper LATCH retaining strap to secure child restraint fixing systems; otherwise, the mounting eyes could be damaged. ...

Phone book
Displays The phone book accesses the contacts and shows all contacts for which a phone number has been stored. The entries can be selected to make a call. 1. "Telephone" 2. "Ph ...