Can anything topple the 5-Series? The all-conquering BMW has now won this award four years running – and shows no sign of being usurped any time soon.

BMW isn’t resting on its laurels though. Earlier this year, it made a raft of changes to keep the 5 ahead of the game. As part of the firm’s Efficient Dynamics programme – which focuses on weight reduction, engineering and consumption – all nine powerplants are either new, or have been enhanced to boost performance and economy.

Inside, criticisms of the somewhat fiddly iDrive system have been addressed with eight programmable ‘favourite’ buttons that access frequent functions such as a top sat-nav destination.