Mother of God!!
In a cruel twist of faith, irony and whatever you want to call it, my all-to-brief time with the M5 was plagued with snow and rain of the most unpleasant kind. You see, these special Supercars are only on loan to journalists for 3 days at a time. The first night, it snowed. The M5 tester's mammoth performance tires had seen better days so I dared not take the car out for a literal spin. As I was preparing for two long back-to-back trips out of town in the following weeks, I had no other choice to go shopping and do groceries on the mostly sunny Saturday. On Sunday, I went pumpkin-picking with friends and, even though it rained, I still got to punch it in the morning and in the evening.
M is to BMW what R is to Jaguar, what AMG is to Mercedes, what S and RS are to Audi, what Mazdaspeed is to Mazda, etc. Basically, M-anything is the shizzle for hizzle. Listen to me; I am reverting to less than polished vocabulary to describe this car. What can I say? When I got the keys and walked up to car, it was like meeting a childhood idle. There it sat in all of its Black Sapphire glory, 19" M Radial Spoke wheels and with an interior draped in Indianapolis red leather. Picture perfect!
The M5
The car has now entered its 4th generation. The 1985 E28, 1988 E34 and 1998 E39 all made a gigantic splash in the sport-sedan market. In fact, in 1985, there was no such thing as this segment. Therefore, the E28 could be credited as having started the craze of the high-performance sport sedan. One of the most delightful things about BMW is that, although they have great cars at the moment, you can bet your bottom dollar that the next one will be faster, better appointed and seriously packed with more technology.
And, here we go. All this electronic wizardry actually makes the E60 M5 the M5. At the same time though, it removes some of the primal interaction with the car that was once possible. In order to get the maximum from the car's enormous potential, a series of menu selections, knob twists and pushes have to be completed. The only way to go "Dynamic" for the transmission and suspension and to experience the full furry of 500 hp is by navigating through i-Drive. This system basically controls every aspect of the M5's climate and audio controls, navigation and car settings. It is possible to simply depress the "M" button but this will only do so much. Let me put this in a scenario: You are at a light and some guy in a modified sport-compact car pulls up next to you to race and you bite. By the time you are done flicking and switching, the other guy is gone. One vast improvement, as far as I am concerned that is heading our way, will be an available 6-speed manual transmission which will enrich the communication between the car and the driver.
V10. Period.
With a V8-like displacement of 5.0L, the V10 churns out V12-like power. Its 500 hp and 383 lb/ft of torque are some of the most athletic I have ever experienced. Growling with forceful determination, these horses and the 7-speed SMG III transmission electrify onboard passengers with brute energy and endless acceleration. Of course, in normal driving circumstances, the M5 is perfectly civilised and can almost camouflage the fact that it can rocket to 100 km/h in 4.7 seconds.
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| 2006 BMW M5 (Photo: Olivier Delorme, Auto123.com) |
M is to BMW what R is to Jaguar, what AMG is to Mercedes, what S and RS are to Audi, what Mazdaspeed is to Mazda, etc. Basically, M-anything is the shizzle for hizzle. Listen to me; I am reverting to less than polished vocabulary to describe this car. What can I say? When I got the keys and walked up to car, it was like meeting a childhood idle. There it sat in all of its Black Sapphire glory, 19" M Radial Spoke wheels and with an interior draped in Indianapolis red leather. Picture perfect!
The M5
 |
| 2006 BMW M5 (Photo: Olivier Delorme, Auto123.com) |
The car has now entered its 4th generation. The 1985 E28, 1988 E34 and 1998 E39 all made a gigantic splash in the sport-sedan market. In fact, in 1985, there was no such thing as this segment. Therefore, the E28 could be credited as having started the craze of the high-performance sport sedan. One of the most delightful things about BMW is that, although they have great cars at the moment, you can bet your bottom dollar that the next one will be faster, better appointed and seriously packed with more technology.
And, here we go. All this electronic wizardry actually makes the E60 M5 the M5. At the same time though, it removes some of the primal interaction with the car that was once possible. In order to get the maximum from the car's enormous potential, a series of menu selections, knob twists and pushes have to be completed. The only way to go "Dynamic" for the transmission and suspension and to experience the full furry of 500 hp is by navigating through i-Drive. This system basically controls every aspect of the M5's climate and audio controls, navigation and car settings. It is possible to simply depress the "M" button but this will only do so much. Let me put this in a scenario: You are at a light and some guy in a modified sport-compact car pulls up next to you to race and you bite. By the time you are done flicking and switching, the other guy is gone. One vast improvement, as far as I am concerned that is heading our way, will be an available 6-speed manual transmission which will enrich the communication between the car and the driver.
V10. Period.
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| 2006 BMW M5 (Photo: Olivier Delorme, Auto123.com) |