Providing the best user experience is a priority with BMW, which believes in a combination of comfort, performance, and connectivity to deliver an excellent experience. Confirming that BMW is at least on the right path is WardsAuto, which named the 2017 BMW 540i to the Wards 10 Best User Experience (UX) List.
BMW is no stranger to the Wards 10 Best UX list. Last year—the first year of the Wards 10 Best UX list, by the way—the BMW 7 Series was named a 10 Best UX car, which surprised absolutely no one. The then-new 7 Series featured Gesture Control, an update iDrive, voice command, and a very, very comfortable cabin. Since much of the 7's technology has trickled down to the new G30 5 Series, WardsAuto couldn't help but take a good look. When the editors found similar—but newer—technology and connectivity in a car that was nearly as comfortable but cost almost $50,000 less that last year's 7 Series they tested, it became a slam dunk.
Saying the 2017 540i was almost 50 grand less than a 7 Series doesn't make the 5'er cheap. In fact, with an as-equipped price of $82,360, it was the most expensive of all the cars that made the Wards 10 Best UX list.
This year's list demonstrated that a great user experience could be enjoyed in down market, non-premium brand vehicles. BMW with its 540i, Audi with an S5 Sportback at $69,350, and a Lincoln Continental for $79,780 represented the luxury brands, but the other seven winners came from higher-volume manufacturers like Buick, Honda, Subaru, Ford, and Volkswagen. It would be a mistake to call many of those winners "cheap," however. The third-most expensive list member behind the BMW and the Lincoln was the Dodge Durango SRT clocking in at an amazing $74,950. Not far behind was the Ford F150 Raptor at $65,715. The least expensive car that made the list was the Subaru Impreza at $29,260, proving that you don't necessarily have to spend big bucks to get a great user experience.
Connectivity, especially using smartphones, is increasingly more prevalent, and more important, for the user experience. The more automotive and communications functions that can be integrated between the car and the smartphone, the better the user experience—provided the connections are easy and intuitive, or even better, invisible.
“The Wards 10 Best UX competition is meant to identify technologies that are smart, safe, and connected,” according to WardsAuto senior content director Drew Winter. He continued, “We started this competition one year ago, and in that short time we’ve seen tremendous progress on the part of automakers. These are small steps toward the world of autonomous vehicles, but big leaps in simplifying how drivers and passengers interact with vehicle technologies and features.”
The Wards 10 Best UX competition is a derivative of Wards 10 Best Interiors and tries to recognize user-friendly driver interfaces, easy-to-program navigation systems, collision-avoidance systems, and smartphone integration. Twenty-three light vehicles with all-new or significantly redesigned user experience features were evaluated by WardsAuto editors in July and August; ten out of 23 made the final list.
The 2017 BMW 540i made the cut because the editors liked the technology first seen on last year's 7 Series that is now in the new 5—Gesture Control, iDrive 6.0, and so on. What put it over the top were newer features like cable-free Apple CarPlay, real-time traffic and weather, a reliable voice command system, and the semi-autonomous capability to maintain lane position.
Here is the 2017 Wards 10 Best UX list in order of as-tested prices that include destination and handling fees:
BMW 540i ($82,360)
Lincoln Continental ($79,780)
Dodge Durango SRT ($74,950)
Audi S5 Sportback ($68,350)
Ford F-150 Raptor ($65,715)
Buick Enclave Avenir ($59,435)
Volkswagen Atlas ($49,415)
Honda Odyssey ($47,610)
Mazda CX-5 ($34,380)
Subaru Impreza ($29,260)
That's quite a disparate list. It's too bad that the vehicles on the top half of the list cost so much, including the BMW 540i. The optimists among us might note that just as the much lower-priced 2017 BMW 540i has great user experience features that trickled down from the much higher-price 7 Series, future BMW models in the lower price ranges like the 3 Series and the X1 through X4 will probably be getting some of the high-tech that convinced the WardsAuto editors to pick this year's 5 Series.—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
