BMW M5
Now In Fourth Generation Guise, BMWs M5 Is Back, Bigger And Brawnier Than Ever Before. Andy Enright Reports
Its all about the fives. This latest
BMW M5 is powered by an engine that features two banks of five cylinders, together developing over 500bhp and more than 500Nm of torque. You want more numbers? Itll accelerate to 60mph in comfortably less than five seconds and tops out at 155mph. Without the rev limiter it would run to 205mph.
Thats enough fives for now.
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How are you with eights? Redlined at 8,250rpm, this amazing piece of engineering will punt BMWs behemoth sport saloon around the Nordschleife circuit at the Nurburgring in eight minutes a time more usually associated with the cream of high performance supercar coupes. Pick a number and the M5 punches it out. A seven-speed gearbox is fitted with eleven different change patterns. The V10 engine generates over 100bhp per litre, 25 per cent more than its predecessor.
If you like jaw-dropping statistics, the £61,760 M5 delivers. Thats only to be expected. The M5 has long set the benchmark when it comes to ubersaloon excellence. Although rivals from
Audi and Mercedes latterly eclipsed it in the power stakes, the previous generation M5 was always the most focused sports car, always the class act.
The latest model just offers more much more - of the same. Few companies have succeeded in translating much Formula One experience and technology to the road but clear parallels can be drawn between BMWs V10 and the powerplant that drives the Williams F1 cars. Gerhard Richter,
BMW M divisions development chief nails the difference between the M5 and its current rivals. "We are coming from motorsport. Look at our engines; they are high specific output, high revving, normally aspirated. In this combination we are alone. The M5 is a sports car and a luxury sedan, both.
The others are in our point of view very powerful normal cars." You have to agree Herr Richter has a point.
"The four signature tailpipes at the rear give a distinct clue as to what has just blown you into the weeds"
Power is transmitted to the rear wheels via the worlds first production seven-speed sequential gearbox. The Drivelogic system changes gears around 20 per cent faster than the somewhat unsatisfying earlier iteration of the SMG gearbox as fitted to the M3. Eleven different change patterns are offered, six of which allow the drive to alter the speed and response characteristics of the gearchange in manual mode and five that govern the rules of the automatic mode. The sixth pattern in manual is reserved for the Launch Control function, giving the likes of you and I the opportunity to replicate BMW test drivers 0-60 times.
In theory at least. A revised DSC stability control system has also been developed specifically for the M5. This features three settings, the default mode offering the full safety net of electronic features. An M Dynamic mode allows the enthusiast driver to let it hang out a little, the system allowing a little sideslip and opposite lockery.
For the genuine hooligan and determined tyre fryer, a third press of the button disables the system completely although if youre confident enough to fling £62,000 worth of Munichs finest sideways at the scenery, I take my hat off to you. If you think thats impressive, try the Mdrive button mounted on the steering wheel, dubbed MadMode by colleagues. This button offers a one-touch function that changes the settings of the car to a predetermined sporting setting. Using the iDrive control knob, the owner can select the preferred SMG gearbox setting, electronic damper control and DSC modes and, if specified, can even boost the amount of support from the side bolsters of Active
Seat Control.
Therefore you can roll up to your favourite corner with the M5 in its most comfortable setting, hit the Mdrive button and the car will transform into something a whole lot more focused. Like all the best ideas, it makes one wonder why nobody had thought of it before. As seen on Chevrolets
Corvette, the M5 also features a Head-up Display projected onto the lower section of the windscreen. The default setting shows speed, sat nav instructions, check control information and cruise control data.
Press Mdrive and it switches to vehicle speed and a rev counter, the data flashing at the driver when the next gear needs to be selected. Its unlikely youll mistake the M5 for one of its humbler brethren, even if your retinas can resolve an image of extremely fast moving subjects. Modified front and rear aprons and side sills give it a subtly aggressive mien and subtle air ducts puncture the front wings. The big giveaway are the monster 19-inch wheels housed within the subtly flared wheel arches.
These deeply dished ten-spoked wheels are unique to the M5 and are finished in Chrome Shadow. The four signature tailpipes at the rear also give a distinct clue as to what has just blown you into the weeds. There has yet to be an M5 that was anything other than brilliant. The latest M5 looks set to raise the bar so high the rest will need binoculars to see it.
Its tough to see any sports saloon manufacturer topping this one for quite some time.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: BMW M5
PRICES: £61,760 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 20
CO2 EMISSIONS: tba g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 155mph / 0-60mph 4.5s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (Euro average) 19mpg [est]
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front, side and head airbags / ABS / DSC
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4841/2040/1450mm [est]
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