The fourth M5 brings road-going performance to a new level. Andrew Hamilton went to Munich to check it out.
BMW claims to offer the "ultimate driving machine" and now there's the ultimate sports saloon in its Bavarian stable. The new fourth generation M5 is a tour de force, an armoury of power and might that brings a new band into road-going performance motoring.
Its 5-litre, 10-cylinder engine develops a massive 508 bhp with engine speeds redlining above 8,000 rpm. It should get from 0 to 62 mph (or 100 kph) in 4.7 seconds, and the top speed is electronically limited to around 180 mph. It should be available to an exclusive handful of Irish buyers from next spring, with a probable price here of around €120,000.
M, of course, is a sacred sort of letter with BMW - its separate M company started developing models with a distinct motor sport bias 20 years ago.
"We are bridging the gap between the race track and every day motoring and this is our fastest athlete," says Professor Burkhard Goschel, the M company's head of development.
At the international press launch near Munich on Monday he stressed "every day" aspects of M5 ownership, such as doing the shopping or school runs.
His marketing colleagues, meanwhile, were saying that a typical M5 owner would use the car mostly for lengthy business trips. Apparently the M5 driver is mainly male and aged 45, with two other cars in the household. He also knows a thing or two about what happens under the bonnet.
He would delight, then, in the high revving V10 unit that gives a most alluring growl and be impressed too with that red-line figure of 8,250 rpm, venturing into engine territory that has been reserved for full-blooded race cars. The M5 bristles with firsts like the seven-speed sequential automatic transmission that delivers almost jerk-free performance when accelerating from standstill to its top speed.
Sporting embellishments like the four gleaming tail-pipes on the exterior are carried through internally with a leather interior in three different colours. Compared with the regular 5-Series, the M5 has a re-designed instrument cluster and centre console and a steering wheel with M Drive buttons.
For the first M5 launched away back in 1984, there were only 2,200 customers buying hand-built cars. The second generation did better and 12,000 cars were sold. The outgoing, or third generation, was better again with more than 20,000 produced. The first 1984 car was a straight six with 286 bhp while the departing third generation V8 model offered 400 bhp.
For BMW then, more power equates with more customers. At the press launch everyone agreed that the latest M5 was probably the car they would most like to take home. For Goschel, meanwhile, "it's a racing car you can experience every day." He's lucky, the new M5 is his new company car.