At school, my usual response to a bored teacher's call for the class to draw something ("and be quiet about it") was to make further refinements to my Car of the Future design. Various items of standard equipment came and went as the concept was endlessly reworked. There was one-way glass, I remember, and sequential gear shifting, at least in concept - back then I had no idea how it would work, or even how an ordinary gearbox worked, or where it was, or what it did.One thing never changed: every car I drew had a television set. Nothing could be more desirable. It was the ultimate luxury. And yet the BMW 530d has one on the options list! If my eight-year old self could only be here now.If he were, he would be totally devastated by the fact that the BMW also knows exactly where it is through sending and receiving signals to little space ships, and can tell you how to get to granny's house if you ask it nicely.In 2000, of course, this is all pretty standard stuff (sounds like a caption from an old science fiction comic, doesn't it?). TVs and satellite navigation are normal fitments to an increasing number of cars, including most BMWs. But the 530d has something which I knew about back in the Car of the Future days but would never have dreamed of including. In fact, I would have been laughed out of class if I had.It has a diesel engine. A very good one, in fact - a six-cylinder turbocharged three-litre which is entirely suited to a high-speed luxury car like the BMW. Its performance is remarkable, as a quick glance at the power output immediately suggests.Normally, maximum power figures are not to be trusted as guides to performance, and especially not with diesels. Since bhp is a combination of torque and engine speed, diesels are hampered from the start by the fact that they do not rev to any great extent. On the other hand, when you note that the 530d produces a peak figure of 184bhp, you know it just has to have monstrous ability at low engine speeds.Indeed, there is quite enough to make this big car shift along very rapidly. Standing-start acceleration does not take the breath away, but the reaction to an extra inch of throttle travel at mid-revs very nearly does.It's a smooth unit, too, though perhaps not as quiet as it might be. Sound levels inside are probably about the same as they would have been for a petrol 530 ten years ago. However, the amount of work that has gone into keeping the interior free of decibels becomes clear when you open a window - from the outside, this is quite a noisy car for its type.If you can ignore this (and the spirited sound the engine makes when pushed means it is easy to do so), the 530d is just possibly the best car in the range. Current 5-Series BMWs in general are fine machines, and the others are all either slower or more frenetic than this one. If you give it a body swerve for no better reason than "just because it's a diesel", you are missing out big time.So there it is: now that we're in the future, and the cars are solid and real, not just scribbles on paper, who would have thought that a diesel engine would be more interesting than a TV? Oh, brave new world.Second opinion: The 530d is a superb long-distance cruiser, and it has the ambience of all BMWs close to the top level. But the most important point is that it manages to combine image, performance, and phenomenal fuel economy for a saloon of this size. Look at that urban cycle figure of just over 50mpg, as remarkable in its way as the £1945 monitor-with-TV option. Ross Finlay. Engine 2926cc, 6cylinders Power 184bhp @4000rpm Torque 288ib/ft @1750rpm Transmission 5 speed manual Fuel/CO2 39.8mpg / 189g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 8sec Top speed 140mph Price From £28746.00 approx Release date 21/08/1998
