High taxes on large-displacement engines are not exactly breaking news, forcing automakers to downsize their powertrains to lure in buyers that otherwise would not be able to cope with the exorbitant costs. It’s for this very reason you might have heard of the four-cylinder 7 Series in Turkey, but did you know there’s also a downgraded 5 Series available in the same country?
Even though it carries the 520i badge, it’s not the 2.0-liter engine we’re all familiar with. Instead, the entry-level 5 Series sold by BMW Turkey has to make do with a 1.6-liter unit that pushes out only 170 horsepower and 250 Newton-meters (184 lb-ft) of torque. That’s not to say the base 5er is underpowered as it will still do 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 7.9 seconds and top out at 146 mph (235 km/h).
Sure, it’s no M5 CS, but for someone who is not chasing Nürburgring records, it delivers more than adequate performance. Turkey isn’t the only country where BMW is selling a 1.6-liter 520i since you can also order one in Greece. More disturbing is the asking price considering the midsize luxury sedan with the lesser engine retails from 1,498,100 Turkish lira, which at current exchange rates, translates to a whopping €95,239 or $107,361.
To put that sum into perspective, the 520i sold in domestic market Germany with the “full” engine begins at €51,500. In the United States where the range kick off with the beefier inline-six 530i, BMW is asking $54,200 before options. Since we mentioned Greece earlier, the regional branch wants €63,150, which is still quite a lot compared to the price tag in Deutschland but still a relative bargain compared to Turkey.
This isn’t just some rare case that impacts only the 520i as cars in Turkey are generally quite expensive. Why is that the case? It has to do with a Special Consumption Tax based on the vehicle’s engine displacement and pre-tax price. In other words, the bigger the engine is and the more expensive the car is, the more the buyer has to fork out money just to pay the one-time tax.
The local regulators recently made some tweaks to the Özel Tüketim Vergisi” (ÖTV) as it’s locally known since its introduction in 2002 to make some of the mainstream cars more affordable, but the luxury BMW 520i is anything but that. People with disabilities as well as war veterans and relatives of those killed in war are exempt from tax.
As a final and rather shocking note, the 7 Series in the 740Ld xDrive specification retails from an eye-watering 5,482,800 Turkish lira or about €352,800 / $396,000.
[Source: BMW]
Keyword: BMW 520i in Turkey has 1.6-liter engine with 170 hp, costs 95,000 euros