Zafiro
Supreme Roadmaster
You in the drivers seat..but lacks that something...
M5 The New BMW M5 (F90) Driven
- Thread starter TopspeedPT
- Start date
The BMW M5 is a high-performance variant of the BMW 5 Series marketed under the BMW M sub-brand. It is considered an iconic vehicle in the sports saloon category. The first M5 model was hand-built beginning in late 1984 on the E28 535i chassis with a modified engine from the M1 that made it the fastest production saloon at the time. M5 models have been produced for every generation of the 5 Series since 1984, with occasional gaps in production (1995 to 1998, 2023 to 2024). Official website: BMW M
hovabongZA
Tire Trailblazer
That’s a good one
CrunchSlaughtered
RPM Ruler
Not that anybody is asking me, but for the same money I would buy a new 530d and a second hand six cylinder boxter ( no flattering at martinbo intended). Even I would go down to G20 330d, which I find a better conceived car than the 5er.
hovabongZA
Tire Trailblazer
hovabongZA
Tire Trailblazer
BMW M5 vs. Cadillac CTS-V
BMW M5 vs. Cadillac CTS-V | PistonHeads
BMW M5 vs. Cadillac CTS-V | PistonHeads
hovabongZA
Tire Trailblazer
Frankie G
Premium
BMW M5 F90 long-term review: the final verdict
Ah, for six, brief, glorious months I have been the Lord of Realms, Master of All I Survey, the Sovereign Prince of Oversteer. Now my BMW M5 has gone and I’m feeling much reduced. To drive such a cult car – and, in the 2018 guise, one that’s back on top form – has been a real privilege. No exaggeration, I felt a little thrill inside every day, climbing into this car.
Of course, there have been plenty of boring journeys over the last six months – early-morning motorway slogs in gluey traffic, long hours listening to Radio 4, frustrated efforts to get home on a Friday night. In such situations, the M5 plays the role of executive saloon as well as you’d hope: quiet, comfortable, piled high with technology.
The only downside is the fuel economy of the 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8: on average I have filled up once a week, and over six months the price of a tank of fuel has gone up from £82 to £90 per fill. On a good week that would buy me 350 miles, but often it was a lot less. On our CAR long-term test car jaunt to Wales (as featured in the August issue), the M5 was thrashed mercilessly by the whole team, and we guzzled a tank in just 143 miles – achieving 10.5mpg.
Trouble is, the monstrous performance of the M5 proved so addictive, every time I urged myself ‘Come on, drive sensibly, think of the fuel…’ I’d last about five miles before cracking. I mean, what’s the point of an M5 if you drive like a granny? Next thing I know, I’d be pressing the red M2 button on the steering wheel, configuring the car to rear-wheel drive and traction control off, and the fuel tank would once again be drained like a bath with the plug pulled out.
My favourite trick was to slide the M5 all the way round a long, curving off-ramp, a 180-degree oversteer drift from slip road up to bridge, every night on my way home. That off-ramp will remind me of the BMW forever.
Interestingly, the way the M5 behaved mid-slide changed a lot towards the end of our time together. Normally I’m not the kind to get bogged down in nerdy tyre details, but after our rowdy shoot with stunt driver Matt Sherren last month, the M5’s tyres were down to the canvas. BMW had arranged for another set to be fitted so I could drive home safely, and the 20-inch Pirelli P-Zeros were replaced by Michelins.
I couldn’t believe the difference they made, at the limit of adhesion – the Michelins made the car more prone to understeer when initially provoked, and the rears didn’t break away as cleanly. The M5 would just glide on the Pirellis. If you want to drift your M5, make sure it’s fitted with the P Zeros.
Apart from that, I just know the M5 recalibrated my brain with its speed, its acceleration, and its astounding carbon brakes. Stealthy, sexy and supercar fast, it’s been an intense reaffirmation of the M5’s cult status. I’m beginning to realise: it wasn’t me that was King of the Road – it was always this mind-blowing car.
Price £89,705
As tested £102,825
Engine 4395cc 32v twin-turbo V8, 591bhp @ 5600rpm, 553lb ft @ 1800rpm
Transmission 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Performance 3.4sec 0-62mph, 155mph (limited), 241g/km CO2
Miles this month 1701
Total 9500
Our mpg 23.4
Official mpg 26.9
Fuel this month £444
Extra costs None
Cost new £102,825 (including £13,120 of extras)
Private sale price £82,379
Part-exchange price £78,854
Cost per mile 25p
Cost per mile including depreciation £3.35
By Mark Walton
BMW M5 F90 long-term review: the final verdict
Ah, for six, brief, glorious months I have been the Lord of Realms, Master of All I Survey, the Sovereign Prince of Oversteer. Now my BMW M5 has gone and I’m feeling much reduced. To drive such a cult car – and, in the 2018 guise, one that’s back on top form – has been a real privilege. No exaggeration, I felt a little thrill inside every day, climbing into this car.
Of course, there have been plenty of boring journeys over the last six months – early-morning motorway slogs in gluey traffic, long hours listening to Radio 4, frustrated efforts to get home on a Friday night. In such situations, the M5 plays the role of executive saloon as well as you’d hope: quiet, comfortable, piled high with technology.
The only downside is the fuel economy of the 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8: on average I have filled up once a week, and over six months the price of a tank of fuel has gone up from £82 to £90 per fill. On a good week that would buy me 350 miles, but often it was a lot less. On our CAR long-term test car jaunt to Wales (as featured in the August issue), the M5 was thrashed mercilessly by the whole team, and we guzzled a tank in just 143 miles – achieving 10.5mpg.
Trouble is, the monstrous performance of the M5 proved so addictive, every time I urged myself ‘Come on, drive sensibly, think of the fuel…’ I’d last about five miles before cracking. I mean, what’s the point of an M5 if you drive like a granny? Next thing I know, I’d be pressing the red M2 button on the steering wheel, configuring the car to rear-wheel drive and traction control off, and the fuel tank would once again be drained like a bath with the plug pulled out.
My favourite trick was to slide the M5 all the way round a long, curving off-ramp, a 180-degree oversteer drift from slip road up to bridge, every night on my way home. That off-ramp will remind me of the BMW forever.
Interestingly, the way the M5 behaved mid-slide changed a lot towards the end of our time together. Normally I’m not the kind to get bogged down in nerdy tyre details, but after our rowdy shoot with stunt driver Matt Sherren last month, the M5’s tyres were down to the canvas. BMW had arranged for another set to be fitted so I could drive home safely, and the 20-inch Pirelli P-Zeros were replaced by Michelins.
I couldn’t believe the difference they made, at the limit of adhesion – the Michelins made the car more prone to understeer when initially provoked, and the rears didn’t break away as cleanly. The M5 would just glide on the Pirellis. If you want to drift your M5, make sure it’s fitted with the P Zeros.
Apart from that, I just know the M5 recalibrated my brain with its speed, its acceleration, and its astounding carbon brakes. Stealthy, sexy and supercar fast, it’s been an intense reaffirmation of the M5’s cult status. I’m beginning to realise: it wasn’t me that was King of the Road – it was always this mind-blowing car.
Price £89,705
As tested £102,825
Engine 4395cc 32v twin-turbo V8, 591bhp @ 5600rpm, 553lb ft @ 1800rpm
Transmission 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Performance 3.4sec 0-62mph, 155mph (limited), 241g/km CO2
Miles this month 1701
Total 9500
Our mpg 23.4
Official mpg 26.9
Fuel this month £444
Extra costs None
Cost new £102,825 (including £13,120 of extras)
Private sale price £82,379
Part-exchange price £78,854
Cost per mile 25p
Cost per mile including depreciation £3.35
By Mark Walton
BMW M5 F90 long-term review: the final verdict
hovabongZA
Tire Trailblazer
“I’m beginning to realise: it wasn’t me that was King of the Road – it was always this mind-blowing car.”
Awesome.
chonkoa
Aerodynamic Artisan
That is insane.
Frankie G
Premium
And another 200 HP tune on top is yet to come! I would never go near RWD mode with that spec
chonkoa
Aerodynamic Artisan
Going RWD with that amount of power will be like a kamikaze mission.
Frankie G
Premium
Frankie G
Premium
Special Report: The BMW M5 Competition Is The Ultimate All Rounder
By Zaid Hamid - 19th February 2019
I have a confession – I’ve driven this, the BMW M5 Competition, before in sunny Spain on a racetrack and a few magnificent ribbons of tarmac that snaked through valleys and up hillsides. The problem was that I barely remembered being in the 616 horsepower, 553 pounds feet super saloon.
I blame this on BMW. On the same day they tossed me the keys to an M2 competition with a manual gearbox that demonstrated exactly why I think it is possibly the best car on sale today. On the track it showed supreme chassis balance and I was left physically shaking and sweating after an intense session of what I’m going to call not driving, but love making, on the circuit. If that wasn’t enough, a PR named Mr Santa offered to let me take an M3 CS on the same roads *insert Christmas coming early joke here*.
The problem was, the M5 Competition did not have my heart pumping adrenaline on the tremendously testing corners of Ascari, nor did it really come into its own on narrow mountain squiggles. It felt good, effortless, capable – but I felt that BMW hadn’t given the car a chance to shine, particularly not in the company of the M2 Competition and M3 CS which I won’t stop shouting about and forcing my friends to buy (Jay, please buy one).
Fortunately the lovely people at BMW UK called and offered me an opportunity to have an M5 Competition to do whatever I liked with for seven days. In seven days I covered 800 miles and discovered why this, like the M2 and M3 CS, is a class leader and a car I fell head over heels for.
What are the headlines – obviously, the M5 Competition is based on the M5 which is, obviously, based on a 5 Series. The 5 Series is a car that faces pressure like no other in the industry. Much like a Porsche 911 or Mini Cooper, the 5 Series is a staple go to car for enthusiasts and Joe Bloggs alike. It must demonstrate characteristics that have made it the icon that it is and always has been. In this instance, it means the 5er has to be comfortable, spacious and powerful enough to waft around with ease. Being a BMW, even the entry level four cylinder cars communicate a slightly sporty edge if you want to take the long windy route home after dropping your little munchkins to play school – this, however, is not in any way a priority.
Transforming a bog standard 530d into a fire cracking 1,950 kilogram rocket is the M divisions challenge and I feel so terribly sorry for them. This isn’t cosmetic surgery, this change could be likened to gender reassignment coupled with transplants of every organ in the body and a touch of botulinum toxin (botox) to complete the job. What you’re left with is someone different, but still the same. That’s what BMW have done with the M5 Competition.
Why? Well make no mistake, this is still a 5 series – it wafts, it’s massages your bottom whilst ventilating and cooling it all at the same time. It has 360° cameras and you can adjust the volume by wiggling your finger and answer a telephone call by making a gesture that I’ve only ever used before to poke a bully in the eye. It’s a tech fest and my gosh is it comfortable – what I couldn’t do in sunny Spain was drive an hour to my office from my home and get stuck in traffic. A racetrack is irrelevant in any purpose other that to showcase the new all-wheel-drive systems and to highlight the different traction control levels in extreme track circumstances.
In my mind, that’s not what the M5 is for. It’s there to be all things to all people that use cars everyday and on the occasional long drive to visit the countryside or the beach with two kids in the back – things people really do. To prove it, that’s exactly what I did with it and in every possible scenario the Beemer beamed with character and showed off its mega ability in so many varying environments (minus the non-existent kids).
The commute to work was the best since I was sat in the back of a Rolls-Royce Phantom. It proved to be an extremely relaxing place to drive, the seats are terrific, more like sofas than a car seats – they are huge. The loungers even kept me calm and comfortable whilst stuck for in London’s famous parliament square for an hour as protestors complained about the free worlds cheese coloured leader and the shambolic chronicles of brexit.
Then the same seats, with tightened bolsters, hugged me on a early morning A-road blast down to the south coast. A friend joined me in a McLaren 570S and my mind boggles just thinking back to how the M5 was so closely matched to the pace of the bonafide supercar when putting the hammer down at motorway cruising speeds. The juxtaposition from the soothing comfort the day before on my ride into work was profound. Just prod the angry red M1 or M2 Shrek ears protruding from the steering wheel (configure them each as you like) and the character of the car is night and day. The brute torque and power had the M5 booming toward the horizon and a lengthy prison sentence. Then there’s the utterly bonkers exhaust that the Competition cars come with. With the engine in Sport Plus every time you release the throttle pedal the pops, bangs and crackles will turn heads streets away. Bystanders would expect to see something like a Lamborghini Huracan, but double take at the site of a family saloon with two child seats in the back. It’s comical, artificial and rather silly, but very amusing. Another hilarious juxtaposition.
Following a day at the beach a visit to the country was in order to see if undulating, broken, hedge lined British B roads could unstick the M5 Competition. Remember Shrek’s angry red ears? I had set the left ear to put the engine and transmission in maximum attack Sport Plus, suspension and dampers in Comfort, Steering in Sport (Sport Plus just makes it overly heavy without any real benefit) and the traction and stability control in M Dynamic Mode (MDM). In this configuration the car, once more, blew my socks off. The all wheel drive traction was supreme, the 4.4-litre V8 engine was instantly jaw-dropping with no hint of lag and the soft forgiving suspension and damping took the bounciest most broken roads with ease.
Ahh yes, that all wheel drive traction. I’m the first person in the queue to scoff at the thought of performance cars going 4WD, but the M5 has made a case for just how much more useable a car can be with all four wheels tussling for traction. Yes, I would still prefer that we lived in an age with 500 horsepower rear wheel drive cars as opposed to 600 horsepower all wheel drive ones, but as the power battle heats up quicker than North Korea and Iran’s nuclear plans, it is inevitable to we will have to compromise on fun for outright, face bending speed.
The M5 and it’s competitors have the ability to go rear wheel drive, but engaging such lunacy requires the systems to be off and for the driver to dye their hair green, don a purple suite and move into an asylum. In the moist British winter you would have to be madder than a box of frogs or have the surname Senna to dare play with all of that power with none of those aids. I imagine the adrenaline rush could be likened to texting your ex girlfriend saying you want to get back together and then seeing the word “typing” on the screen as she responds.
The M5 Competition is charming, flattering and is possibly the best all rounder I’ve ever driven. The Mercedes-AMG E 63 S 4Matic+ (catchy) is the natural rival to the M5. Having spent time in both cars I can comfortably *turns massage on* say that the M5 would be the choice for me.
A lot of it is personal preference, but the M5 is better at doing the whole comfort thing which is what these cars spend most of their lives doing before doing 0-100 in 2.9 seconds (magazine tests) at the traffic lights.
I relished the opportunity to drive the M5 Competition as far as I could as often as I could with every mode in comfort listening to the phenomenal Bowers & Wilkins speakers and being bathed in soft satisfying ambient light before finding a motorway slip road and unleashing that supercar embarrassing power and those mad exhaust noises.
Take a bow BMW – the M5 Competition is as thrilling, talented and just better than it has ever been before – an absolute delight.
Special Report: The BMW M5 Competition Is The Ultimate All Rounder - GTspirit
By Zaid Hamid - 19th February 2019
I have a confession – I’ve driven this, the BMW M5 Competition, before in sunny Spain on a racetrack and a few magnificent ribbons of tarmac that snaked through valleys and up hillsides. The problem was that I barely remembered being in the 616 horsepower, 553 pounds feet super saloon.
I blame this on BMW. On the same day they tossed me the keys to an M2 competition with a manual gearbox that demonstrated exactly why I think it is possibly the best car on sale today. On the track it showed supreme chassis balance and I was left physically shaking and sweating after an intense session of what I’m going to call not driving, but love making, on the circuit. If that wasn’t enough, a PR named Mr Santa offered to let me take an M3 CS on the same roads *insert Christmas coming early joke here*.
The problem was, the M5 Competition did not have my heart pumping adrenaline on the tremendously testing corners of Ascari, nor did it really come into its own on narrow mountain squiggles. It felt good, effortless, capable – but I felt that BMW hadn’t given the car a chance to shine, particularly not in the company of the M2 Competition and M3 CS which I won’t stop shouting about and forcing my friends to buy (Jay, please buy one).
Fortunately the lovely people at BMW UK called and offered me an opportunity to have an M5 Competition to do whatever I liked with for seven days. In seven days I covered 800 miles and discovered why this, like the M2 and M3 CS, is a class leader and a car I fell head over heels for.
What are the headlines – obviously, the M5 Competition is based on the M5 which is, obviously, based on a 5 Series. The 5 Series is a car that faces pressure like no other in the industry. Much like a Porsche 911 or Mini Cooper, the 5 Series is a staple go to car for enthusiasts and Joe Bloggs alike. It must demonstrate characteristics that have made it the icon that it is and always has been. In this instance, it means the 5er has to be comfortable, spacious and powerful enough to waft around with ease. Being a BMW, even the entry level four cylinder cars communicate a slightly sporty edge if you want to take the long windy route home after dropping your little munchkins to play school – this, however, is not in any way a priority.
Transforming a bog standard 530d into a fire cracking 1,950 kilogram rocket is the M divisions challenge and I feel so terribly sorry for them. This isn’t cosmetic surgery, this change could be likened to gender reassignment coupled with transplants of every organ in the body and a touch of botulinum toxin (botox) to complete the job. What you’re left with is someone different, but still the same. That’s what BMW have done with the M5 Competition.
Why? Well make no mistake, this is still a 5 series – it wafts, it’s massages your bottom whilst ventilating and cooling it all at the same time. It has 360° cameras and you can adjust the volume by wiggling your finger and answer a telephone call by making a gesture that I’ve only ever used before to poke a bully in the eye. It’s a tech fest and my gosh is it comfortable – what I couldn’t do in sunny Spain was drive an hour to my office from my home and get stuck in traffic. A racetrack is irrelevant in any purpose other that to showcase the new all-wheel-drive systems and to highlight the different traction control levels in extreme track circumstances.
In my mind, that’s not what the M5 is for. It’s there to be all things to all people that use cars everyday and on the occasional long drive to visit the countryside or the beach with two kids in the back – things people really do. To prove it, that’s exactly what I did with it and in every possible scenario the Beemer beamed with character and showed off its mega ability in so many varying environments (minus the non-existent kids).
The commute to work was the best since I was sat in the back of a Rolls-Royce Phantom. It proved to be an extremely relaxing place to drive, the seats are terrific, more like sofas than a car seats – they are huge. The loungers even kept me calm and comfortable whilst stuck for in London’s famous parliament square for an hour as protestors complained about the free worlds cheese coloured leader and the shambolic chronicles of brexit.
Then the same seats, with tightened bolsters, hugged me on a early morning A-road blast down to the south coast. A friend joined me in a McLaren 570S and my mind boggles just thinking back to how the M5 was so closely matched to the pace of the bonafide supercar when putting the hammer down at motorway cruising speeds. The juxtaposition from the soothing comfort the day before on my ride into work was profound. Just prod the angry red M1 or M2 Shrek ears protruding from the steering wheel (configure them each as you like) and the character of the car is night and day. The brute torque and power had the M5 booming toward the horizon and a lengthy prison sentence. Then there’s the utterly bonkers exhaust that the Competition cars come with. With the engine in Sport Plus every time you release the throttle pedal the pops, bangs and crackles will turn heads streets away. Bystanders would expect to see something like a Lamborghini Huracan, but double take at the site of a family saloon with two child seats in the back. It’s comical, artificial and rather silly, but very amusing. Another hilarious juxtaposition.
Following a day at the beach a visit to the country was in order to see if undulating, broken, hedge lined British B roads could unstick the M5 Competition. Remember Shrek’s angry red ears? I had set the left ear to put the engine and transmission in maximum attack Sport Plus, suspension and dampers in Comfort, Steering in Sport (Sport Plus just makes it overly heavy without any real benefit) and the traction and stability control in M Dynamic Mode (MDM). In this configuration the car, once more, blew my socks off. The all wheel drive traction was supreme, the 4.4-litre V8 engine was instantly jaw-dropping with no hint of lag and the soft forgiving suspension and damping took the bounciest most broken roads with ease.
Ahh yes, that all wheel drive traction. I’m the first person in the queue to scoff at the thought of performance cars going 4WD, but the M5 has made a case for just how much more useable a car can be with all four wheels tussling for traction. Yes, I would still prefer that we lived in an age with 500 horsepower rear wheel drive cars as opposed to 600 horsepower all wheel drive ones, but as the power battle heats up quicker than North Korea and Iran’s nuclear plans, it is inevitable to we will have to compromise on fun for outright, face bending speed.
The M5 and it’s competitors have the ability to go rear wheel drive, but engaging such lunacy requires the systems to be off and for the driver to dye their hair green, don a purple suite and move into an asylum. In the moist British winter you would have to be madder than a box of frogs or have the surname Senna to dare play with all of that power with none of those aids. I imagine the adrenaline rush could be likened to texting your ex girlfriend saying you want to get back together and then seeing the word “typing” on the screen as she responds.
The M5 Competition is charming, flattering and is possibly the best all rounder I’ve ever driven. The Mercedes-AMG E 63 S 4Matic+ (catchy) is the natural rival to the M5. Having spent time in both cars I can comfortably *turns massage on* say that the M5 would be the choice for me.
A lot of it is personal preference, but the M5 is better at doing the whole comfort thing which is what these cars spend most of their lives doing before doing 0-100 in 2.9 seconds (magazine tests) at the traffic lights.
I relished the opportunity to drive the M5 Competition as far as I could as often as I could with every mode in comfort listening to the phenomenal Bowers & Wilkins speakers and being bathed in soft satisfying ambient light before finding a motorway slip road and unleashing that supercar embarrassing power and those mad exhaust noises.
Take a bow BMW – the M5 Competition is as thrilling, talented and just better than it has ever been before – an absolute delight.
Special Report: The BMW M5 Competition Is The Ultimate All Rounder - GTspirit
manuelf
Kraftkurve King
I'm happy for BMW ///M.
Remember all the die hard "fans" that proclaimed the "downfall of the occident", when M5 switching to AWD... "fans" that never understood e.g the E28 M5, which was a perfectly balanced sport sedan and not a berserk tail happy monster torque RWD ballistic missile.
With the MxDrive the F90 seems to have gotten back his sublime composure. It is an absolute masterpiece. Well done.
Remember all the die hard "fans" that proclaimed the "downfall of the occident", when M5 switching to AWD... "fans" that never understood e.g the E28 M5, which was a perfectly balanced sport sedan and not a berserk tail happy monster torque RWD ballistic missile.
With the MxDrive the F90 seems to have gotten back his sublime composure. It is an absolute masterpiece. Well done.
hovabongZA
Tire Trailblazer
The 5 series and M5 are segment defining cars. Got goosebumps watching this video.
CrunchSlaughtered
RPM Ruler
After all these years, Jeremy still calls Alpina a tuning company. He perfectly knows how furious Bovensiepen gets about this. He's always insisted that Alpina is a producer and not a tuner.
Similar threads
BMW M
BMW M GmbH, formerly known as BMW Motorsport GmbH, is a subsidiary of
BMW AG that manufactures high-performance luxury cars. BMW M ("M" for "motorsport")
was initially created to facilitate BMW's racing program, which was very successful
in the 1960s and 1970s. As time passed, BMW M began to supplement BMW's vehicle
portfolio with specially modified higher trim models, for which they are now most
known by the general public. These M-badged cars traditionally include modified engines,
transmissions, suspensions, interior trims, aerodynamics, and exterior modifications
to set them apart from their counterparts. All M models are tested and tuned at BMW's
private facility at the Nürburgring racing circuit in Germany.
Official website: BMW M
Official website: BMW M
