BMW 5 Series E60/E61

The E60/E61 is the BMW 5 Series generation our specification records cover for US model years 2005–2010. Across that run EPA certified 74 versions of it for sale in America, under 17 trim names. It was sold as a sedan and Touring.

Dimensions are the figures the panel above does not carry. The E60/E61 measures 190.9 in · 4,849 mm to 191.7 in · 4,869 mm long, sits on a wheelbase of 113.8 in · 2,891 mm to 114.2 in · 2,901 mm and weighs 3,395 lb · 1,540 kg to 4,101 lb · 1,860 kg. Length and wheelbase come from Transport Canada, which measures every vehicle sold in North America; curb weight from the same source.

The generation did not stand still: the strongest version rose from 325 hp in 2005 to 400 hp in 2010. An E60/E61 from the first model year and one from the last are not the same proposition, which is worth remembering when a listing gives only the chassis code.

Set against the E39 that preceded it, the E60/E61 is 2.7 inches longer at the shortest version and 55 lb · 25 kg lighter at the lightest. Both figures are taken from the lightest and shortest version we hold for each, so they compare like with like rather than setting a base car against a loaded one.

Of the 74 versions we hold under this code, 43 are rear-wheel drive and 31 all-wheel drive. That matters on the used market more than it looks: which axles are driven changes the weight, the service list and the price, and the badge does not always say which you are looking at.

This archive holds 10 original US brochures covering the E60/E61, with the text of each one searchable. They are the source of the figures no government record collects — torque, acceleration and the equipment lists — and they are what BMW told American buyers at the time rather than what is said about the car now.

Gaps are left as gaps. We do not hold curb weight for 16 of the 74 and horsepower for 12, because Transport Canada does not publish a weight for every model and EPA began recording certified output usefully only in the late 1990s. A dash on this site means the figure is not in a source we can name, never that it is roughly the same as the row above.