It must have been due to what lies under the skin, and by all accounts the potent mechanicals have made the wait worth every
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| Nothing less than a 507 horsepower 5.0-liter V10 powerhouse hides under the M5's sleek hood. (Photo: BMW Canada) |
Zero to 100 km/h sprints take less than five seconds while 200 km/h arrives after a mere 15 seconds at full throttle. The M5 gets an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph). If maximum speed was not electronically limited the M5 could reach 330 km/h (205 mph), or so BMW reports.
Putting power to the rear wheels is a new 7-speed SMG sequential manual gearbox with steering column mounted paddle actuation. As in the M3, gears can be selected via a console-mounted shift lever too, but in comparison to the outgoing SMG transmission the new version shifts 20 percent quicker. The SMG gearbox continues to use Drivelogic, but like the transmission itself the electronic add-on is completely upgraded from five specified shift
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| When equipped with BMW's optional active steering, along with dynamic drive, the M5 is arguably the most agile luxury sedan currently available. (Photo: BMW Canada) |
As previously mentioned the 5-Series, when equipped with BMW's optional active steering, which along with dynamic drive (active roll stabilization - ARS) offers amazing maneuverability at all speeds, is arguably the most agile sedan currently available. Essentially active steering adapts the steering ratio to vehicle speed, but its electric motor assisted, planetary gear motivated rack-and-pinion system is much more sophisticated than conventional speed sensitive steering systems, common to luxury cars of all stripes. When parking, steering response to input is much quicker, at about 1.7 turns lock to lock. At high speed that ratio loosens up dramatically so that just touching the steering wheel doesn't send the car veering off into oncoming traffic.