2018 BMW M5 600 HP - interior Exterior and Drive
LIT TV
2018-10-11
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The weapons-grade M5 is a powerful piece of German artillery from BMW’s iconic M division. It sports a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 with 600 hp and 553 lb-ft of torque. The M5 faithful will lament the lost manual gearbox and unfamiliar all-wheel-drive system, but this Bimmer has a high-tech drivetrain that can disconnect the front wheels for pure rear-drive personality. Along with a unique appearance and enhanced performance, it has an M-specific leather interior and various driver assist options.
After the mild disappointment of its emotion-lite predecessor, the current BMW M5 marks a welcome return to form for the Motorsport division’s biggest sedan (we’re not even going to pretend that the M760i qualifies as a true M car). But BMW’s model-development program moves to a staccato drumbeat these days, and less than a year after the regular M5 went on sale, we’ve now driven the new, fractionally turned-up Competition version.
The new car marks the transition from an option package to a separate trim level, one that’s hairier than the standard M5 but some way short of the black-hearted transformation wrought to BMW models such as the M3 CS or the M4 GTS. Unlike the new M2 Competition, the M5 Competition doesn’t replace the regular M5. Instead it will be sold alongside it, carrying a $7300 premium and boasting a modest increase in power, firmer suspension settings, and some very subtle cosmetic tweaks—the most obvious being the Competition label that now appears beneath the M5 badge on the decklid.
The M5’s twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8 has its own engine code—S63B44T4—and you can read about how it differs from BMW’s regular non-M V-8 of the same displacement here. The increase to 617 horsepower is pretty much a rounding error on the regular M5’s 600. Peak torque remains unchanged at 553 lb-ft, but it’s available across a fractionally broader rev range, all the way from 1800 to 5860 rpm. That means the BMW has more power than the Mercedes-AMG E63 S, but less torque. BMW claims a 3.1-second sprint to 60 mph, 0.1 second better than its claim for the regular M5, but considering that we recorded a 2.8-second zero-to-60-mph time in the standard M5, that number is sure to be unduly pessimistic.
After the mild disappointment of its emotion-lite predecessor, the current BMW M5 marks a welcome return to form for the Motorsport division’s biggest sedan (we’re not even going to pretend that the M760i qualifies as a true M car). But BMW’s model-development program moves to a staccato drumbeat these days, and less than a year after the regular M5 went on sale, we’ve now driven the new, fractionally turned-up Competition version.
The new car marks the transition from an option package to a separate trim level, one that’s hairier than the standard M5 but some way short of the black-hearted transformation wrought to BMW models such as the M3 CS or the M4 GTS. Unlike the new M2 Competition, the M5 Competition doesn’t replace the regular M5. Instead it will be sold alongside it, carrying a $7300 premium and boasting a modest increase in power, firmer suspension settings, and some very subtle cosmetic tweaks—the most obvious being the Competition label that now appears beneath the M5 badge on the decklid.
The M5’s twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8 has its own engine code—S63B44T4—and you can read about how it differs from BMW’s regular non-M V-8 of the same displacement here. The increase to 617 horsepower is pretty much a rounding error on the regular M5’s 600. Peak torque remains unchanged at 553 lb-ft, but it’s available across a fractionally broader rev range, all the way from 1800 to 5860 rpm. That means the BMW has more power than the Mercedes-AMG E63 S, but less torque. BMW claims a 3.1-second sprint to 60 mph, 0.1 second better than its claim for the regular M5, but considering that we recorded a 2.8-second zero-to-60-mph time in the standard M5, that number is sure to be unduly pessimistic.
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