BMW 5-Series

New-look 5-series caught out on the town in most revealing costume yet. These exclusive shots captured by our spies in Europe show BMW’s class-leading saloon, carrying out some preliminary tests in the run up to its 2009 release.

Codenamed the “F10”, BMW’s E-Class rival can be seen here with softer lines than the current model and much more conventional-looking headlights with an all-round cleaner front-end design.

New European pedestrian safety standards are expected to drastically alter the design of many European cars for the worse, but BMW have managed to maintain its classic twin-kidney grille and these images begin to reveal the German manufacturers latest interpretation of the popular design.

A typical trait in recent BMW redesigns has been to widen the car between the wheels, this 5-series is no exception, extending the wheelbase by nearly 100mm. The overall length will grow by less than 20mm, while its height will be reduced slightly too. And the luxury saloon will include 17-inch alloys as standard with 18- and 19-inch optional extras.

Under the hood, this 5-series is expected to use variations of existing engines in BMW's line-up. Base power will likely come from a 2.5-litre straight-6 while top-range models will use the current 4.8-litre V8. A wild card could be thrown into the mix if BMW attempts to combine its latest turbo technology with a V8 of slightly smaller displacement. And there’s also a more powerful version of the M5's 5.0-litre V10 in the works.

We've also got an exclusive spy video of new saloon in the later stages of testing.