A yelp of pain and a stream of obscenities spews from the passenger seat, as my co-driver exits BMW's newly refreshed 5 Series sports sedan. He clutches his knee, rolls up his pants, and sees blood on his calf: The jagged underside of the dash-mounted cupholder has claimed another victim. That, however, is about all that's seriously wrong with the 5 Series, other than a price that can climb into the seventies and a half fix to the iDrive cockpit controller.

BMWs run seven years between new models, so this is the midpoint for the fifth generation of the 5 Series, which debuted in 2004. For the LCI (or life-cycle impulse, in BMW-speak), the Bavarian Motor Works added even more technology goodies to improve everyday driving safety and comfort. Most impressive is lane departure warning, which vibrates the steering wheel if you veer across the pavement markings. Active cruise control now has a stop-and-go feature, meaning it goes all the way down to 0 mph and back up to speed, rather than cutting out at 20 mph. And reconfigured engines mean that while prices are up ever so slightly, you can buy the cheapest model—if $45,075 (no accessories) is your idea of cheap—and get the same performance as we saw from last year's $50,000 model.

The 5 Series sedan is the starting point for the BMW X5 sport activity vehicle that is our Digital Drive Awards car of the year. Even with this partial makeover, the 5 Series has adopted many of the X5's best features.

When you're not at the race track attending a BMW car-club driving school, you may be stuck in traffic, and BMW has plenty of options to soothe you while you wait. The iPod adapter option ($400) is now a USB socket in the console that accepts nearly any music player or flash memory key, assuming you can see well enough into the black depths of the console to find and then insert the USB jack and the separate line-out adapter that sends the audio signal.

The iPod adapter may be a better deal than other music options: the enjoyable but wildly overpriced Sirius Satellite Radio ($595) and HD Radio ($500, and must be installed at the factory). Although, as BMW notes, for $595 you get a yearlong Sirius subscription, while most $200 satellite radio options only come with 3 months of service. See how the savings mount when you figure it out BMW's way? The Logic 7 surround-sound system ($1,200) is wonderfully neutral and provides excellent bass response, thanks to a pair of subwoofers molded into the underseat body cavity.

For the past year, BMW has been offering real-time traffic with its navigation systems ($1,900). BMW navigation is hard to configure because of the complexities of the Siemens VDO system and the iDrive controller, but once you've got your destination entered, it's smooth sailing. The wide screen can be split two-thirds and one-third for a map view and arrow view or for map and car information, but if you want the map/audio combo, the audio information gets the two-thirds and the map gets the one-third. Go figure.

Real-time traffic information (RTTI) comes via the Clear Channel radio network in partnership with a Microsoft spinoff, Inrix. If there's an accident or traffic jam up ahead, you're notified. While I was initially impressed, my second take is that RTTI is a promising work in progress. The list of traffic problems may show accidents behind you before it shows the ones upcoming, because it's distance-based. And while the system can reroute you onto side roads automatically, it has no clue currently as to whether the local roads are any better. Example: Traffic on the 65-mph highway is slowed down to 25 mph, so you're routed onto a four-lane local road that's posted at 45 mph (RTTI knows this), but the average speed there is 20 mph (RTTI doesn't know this). The bottom line is that I'd rather have a car with a traffic information display (say a BMW or an Acura) than without one (Mercedes). If real-time traffic were a marriage and not just a technology, however, I'd want a prenup.

The lane-departure-warning (LDW) system on BMWs is similar to that on a handful of other vehicles, including Infinitis. A camera in the rearview mirror looks down the road and feeds the display to a processor that identifies the lane markings, whether solid or dotted. If the car edges onto the markings, the steering wheel vibrates. This is not the same as Audi's blind-spot detection, which looks to the side and warns if you intend to cross over the pavement markings deliberately when there's a car off to the rear.

This iteration of active cruise control ($2,400) uses multiple radar sensors in the grille and paces you with cars up to 300 feet ahead, slowing when they slow, and even stopping and restarting. I tested this on mostly twisty country roads between Las Vegas and Monterey, California, which isn't the best place for ACC. Compared with the Mercedes-Benz Distronic Plus ($3,100) tested on interstates, I was more comfortable with Distronic—but that may be the testing scenario, too. Even after driving half a dozen ACC-equipped cars from Japan, the U.S., and Europe, I still find it difficult to recall if I've tapped the brakes, which disables ACC; no automaker offers an option that keeps ACC active after a slight brake tap. Even when ACC is disengaged, it does sound a warning if you're perilously close to another car; but by that time it's too late unless you panic-brake.

The head-up display ($1,200) projects onto the windshield only the most important information, such as speed, cruise control setting, the upcoming navigation instruction, and any engine warning. An HUD helps you keep your eyes on the road; the display appears to float just above the hood, and it's focused so people who need glasses to read the instrument panel don't need them to read the display.

Night vision ($2,200, and now you can see why a $45,000 list car can sell for $60,000 plus) uses a camera that measures infrared emissions (heat) from objects up to 300 meters (almost 1,000 feet) down the road. For people who drive on unlit country roads, night vision may be helpful. BMW uses passive night vision, meaning it reads the object's heat. Active night vision, as on a Mercedes, illuminates the road ahead, but it has half the range. There's a good case to be made for both technologies. The Mercedes version has more of a wow factor the first time you use it, and is located in a better place (the instrument panel is actually an LCD) than BMW's LCD (in the center console). They really need to be part of the head-up display, once HUD resolution improves.

BMW offers active steering ($1,400), a polarizing feature that makes the steering much quicker at low speed. A quarter turn of the wheel has more effect at 5 mph in a parking lot than at 60 mph on the highway. Driving enthusiasts say active steering hurts the steering feel on twisty roads. But there's no question it does make for easier parallel parking.

BMW says it made the interior more luxurious—for instance, it moved the leather trim even higher up on the door panels. Let's just say the cockpit is less severe than in the past. And the top-notch pebbled leather ($1,450) looked, to my eye, to be nothing special. As do other makers, BMW now offers the currently fashionable chocolate-brown, in addition to beige, gray, and black.

The iDrive controller resides in the center console and works in conjunction with the LCD that's on all cars, not just navigation-equipped cars. You slide (move left, right, forward, back), turn, and press the control to move among the settings for navigation, entertainment, communications, and HVAC. Because of ongoing complaints about iDrive since it first surfaced in 2002, BMW added six programmable buttons on the console of the 5 Series that let you enter presets for commonly repeated tasks, such as navigating back to home and dialing voicemail. It's a help, but it's still not up to the level of the Audi MMI controller, which offers function buttons that take you directly to the most common tasks. More likely you'll want to use voice on control, which BMW licenses from Nuance; it, too, has a learning curve, but you may find it friendlier than iDrive. I expect a true second-generation iDrive will be out in 2008 or 2009, when BMW renews the 7 Series sedan that started it all in 2001-2002.

To keep the center console clear for iDrive, the cupholders are slide-outs in the right side of the dash (right of center for the driver, far right for the passenger). They look insubstantial and don't hold tall water bottles very well; and the underside has a sharp edge that will maim your knee if you're not careful, as happened to both my passenger (it drew blood) and myself (it bruised me). When both cupholders are open, the passenger feels claustrophobic. (In the military, there used to be an offense called silent insubordination, meaning you complied with orders to the least of your abilities. Same thing here: Automakers know Americans want cupholders in the worst possible way, and BMW engineers have designed their cupholders in the worst way possible.)

BMW's sport package ($2,800 on most models), with bigger wheels and tires, may also provide the best ride for passengers. While the suspension is tauter, BMW also incorporates active roll stabilization. ARS actually counteracts the roll of the car in a turn, so the car feels less tippy. Airplanes bank into turns; ARS merely lessens the body lean. It would be possible to make a BMW bank into a turn (a bit) and might seem historically accurate given BMW's start as a maker of airplane engines, but engineers agree it shouldn't be done: If there's no sense of sideways gravity forces in turns, you'll drive faster and faster and eventually slide off the turn.

For these 2008 models, BMW reconfigured its entry-level engine in the 528i so that it produces 230 hp from its inline (not V6) configuration, about what the old 535i developed. The new 535i uses a twin-turbocharger six that produces 300 hp and performance nearly equal to the V8-powered 550i, which remains in the lineup but will be a bit player, given the power of the 535i. BMW still offers a six-speed manual transmission (one of the few manufacturers that does), but there's a new six-speed automatic that is perfectly matched to the car, and it's part of the base price, no longer a $1,200 option.

There's also a V10 M5, which runs smoothly and comfortably all the way up to its 155 mph top speed. But it's a limited-production vehicle starting at $82,000. It can be had with the automated mechanical gearbox called SMG, but that's a jerky transmission that lacks the social graces of Audi's DSG. BMW will probably move to a DSG-style gearbox in a year or two, at which point manual transmissions could be a thing of the past even for BMW.

Your garden-variety Toyota Camry has the same room as a 5 Series for about half the price. But it doesn't have that blue-and-white propeller emblem on the hood that impresses your neighbors, or the turbine-smooth engine under the hood that impresses you. Because they hold their value so well, BMWs make excellent lease cars; you're effectively paying interest on the difference between, say, the $50,000 list price and the $25,000 resale value three years later, rather than the $20,000 resale value of a lesser $50,000 car. BMW also is nearly alone in the industry in covering all maintenance for four years, which means the majority of buyers, who actually lease, have no disincentive to maintain their cars, which further pumps up their resale values.

For most buyers, the 528i will be all the car they need—either the rear-drive or all-wheel-drive version (add $2,200 for the latter). Go for the iPod adapter, upgraded audio, and premium package (excellent Bluetooth module, leather seats), and the cold weather package (heated seats and steering wheel) if you live in the north. Consider the sports package for both ride and handling. Satellite radio, lane departure warning, and xenon headlights ($800) may be useful if you drive lots of miles. Go for active cruise control if you drive lots of miles or if you find you have trouble concentrating on long trips. City dwellers should consider the front and rear parking sonar ($700). Finally, if you can make your peace with iDrive, you may appreciate the navigation system.

With so many good cars competing, including the Mercedes E-Class, Cadillac DTS, Audi A6, and Infiniti M35/M45, there's no one right answer. BMW is not the best choice if you want the most back-seat room. But if you value technology and love the satisfaction of driving an exquisitely designed driving machine, the 5 Series may snag your heart. Just make sure the cupholders don't snag your knee.

For our review of the BMW X5, click here.

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$45,075.00 - $74,275.00

EPA rating: 18 mpg city / 27 highway

The best sport sedan for drivers gets even more technological wizardry. iDrive gets a BandAid fix. Prices are up, but the entry model (so to speak) is as powerful as last year's midrange. Watch out for the front-seat cupholders.

Awesome performance, self-assured handling. Useful lane departure warning system, improved active cruise control. Improved iPod adapter.

Options can add 50 percent to selling price. Back seat is small versus those of competitors. Front-seat cupholders are potential assassins.