Despite being the oldest car in its class, the current G30-generation BMW 5 Series is still highly competitive. Its performance, handling and luxury are still among the best in the segment, even though cars like the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Audi A6 are much newer. The one area where it does need some updating is its styling, though. It’s still a handsome car but it looks older than the rest of its newer competition. So it needs a light facelift to stay fresh, one that it’s about to receive quite soon and one that’s recently been caught doing some testing. (We don’t own the spy photos but check them out here)

In these new spy photos, the new 5 Series can be seen with some light camouflage and an M Sport package. It seems to look quite good, which maybe shouldn’t be shocking. Still, some of its updates seem to have worked well.

For instance, its new headlights look slick and more modern than those on the current, pre-facelift car. Also, maybe more importantly, its Kidney Grille seems to be the same as the one on the current car. Which means it won’t be getting the massive, gaping maw found on cars like the 7 Series and upcoming 4 Series.

On the inside, the new 5 Series really only gets two major updates and they’re both tech-related. The new iDrive found on all new models is now present on the the 5er. However, it still retains the old rotary controller, which is odd considering how good looking the new one is. It does get BMW’s new digital instrument panel, though, which makes it look and feel more modern than the sorta-digital gauges of the current car.

BMW doesn’t need to do much to the 5 Series to keep it competitive in the segment. These small improvements will do the job perfectly, as the 5er takes on its new competition from Audi and Mercedes-Benz.

[Source: Car Scoops]