New M5

[crisis]

I like the look. Looks like they have finally lost all vestiges of "that boot lid". Nice to see them using styling cues from Holden for the side vents.

[clutch-monkey]

looks better than the last effort.
that said, most people would confuse it with an M3 at a glance..

[Commodore GS/E]

I don't quite know what to think of the new car. It's OK looking but still a step down from the E39 M5. Is the engine that unique or just a turbo version of the current V8? The V10 was cool because it wasn't just an uprated version of another 5 series engine.

Floating vs fixed calipers, floating from what I've read had a few advantages beyond just cost. I don't recall them and even then my reference was somewhat fuzzy on the subject. It would be interesting to talk to an expert in the area.

I'm curious if the CTS-V's engine affected BMW's decision making. I can't imagine they were happy that a Caddy was proving faster than their V10 car.

Just a small question... wasn't it obvoius from the beginning that the V10 would lack torque? I mean, given it's F1 origins...

[culver]

Just a small question... wasn't it obvoius from the beginning that the V10 would lack torque? I mean, given it's F1 origins...

I have no idea. I didn't offer any conjectures about torque. Torque or not, the GM engine was simply more powerful. The V10 is hardly an F1 based engine though. Also, let's be realistic here, no, it's not lacking in torque. Just about any other car with that BMW V10 would be be considered silly powerful and silly full of torque. I mean I felt like the 400hp LS2 in the 2005 Corvette had silly amounts of torque. It's just that the turbo and SC'ed competitors have enough torque for a third world country.

[roosterjuicer]

While im sure this car will be objectively better than the old one, i will miss the screaming naturally aspirated M motors of yesteryear. one of my first car memories is cruising around in my friend's early 2000's M3 and listening to that beautiful inline 6 purr.

The other day was fortunate enough to be stuck behind a relatively new m5 for a few miles. I shut down my radio, opened the windows and sunroof, and just listened to the music coming out the pipes. Could that have been the end of beautiful high revving NA motors from BMW? I hope not.

edit: i wrote this before the holden picture loaded. but my point still stands.

[Kitdy]

I shut down my radio, opened the windows and sunroof, and just listened to the music coming out the pipes.

I do the same thing when a nice car is around me.

[Ferrer]

I do it too. Well sometimes.

[RacingManiac]

This month's Automobile and C&D have some interesting detail....amongst the most bizzare is the engine sound through stereo thing. Since the Turbo V8 is so muted that they record the sound off an engine dyno and playback through the sound system in the car....a la video game style....

Its a very interesting car though, with the reversed flow head, watercooled ECU and all....

[NSXType-R]

I heard about that too.

Strange move on their part. I mean, why would I buy a V8 car just to hear it on the stereo?

[Ferrer]

So, lowering the windows is actually not recomended to hear the engine better.

Silly.

Probably.

[Kitdy]

I just got the most recent Car and Driver and I will see what they have to say.

However, this car does nothing for me, and BMW in general seems to be losing the plot for the enthusiast driver.

[Ferrer]

However, this car does nothing for me, and BMW in general seems to be losing the plot for the enthusiast driver.

No, only the M cars.

[RacingManiac]

Quite the contrary I think....they went back to hydraulically assisted steering in lieu of the electric ones for enhanced feel(with some sacrifice in fuel economy), they spent most of the time tuning the engine to make it behave less like a turbo in terms of response and lag. And for the first time it has some proper braking hardware...

M5 was never going to be a E30 kind of a driving experience. Its a 4 door GT car, and it seems quite well done for that. At the very least this doesn't look as fussy as the last one...I'd say none of us really are in the right demographic for that car....

[Ferrer]

Oh surely it's very advanced and very good. Quantifiably it's better in every way than all previous M cars, let alone M5s. But I found the M3 E90 to be a very cold and clinical car. Again it was possibly the best sports saloon out there in its time, but in my opinion an M car shouldn't just be good.

It's all about the experience. And if a manual gearbox, high revving normally aspirated engined car could deliver it, I doubt an automatic car with turbo engine and a stereo that does noises because the engine can't will.

[Magnum9987]

I picked up Top Gear, on which the M5 features on the cover. James felt the soundtrack was dull and, compared to the E63 AMG, throttle response was quite slow. But he had no complaint with paddle shift, and none with the ride. He put it as "a perfect gentleman's sport saloon."

Of course, James is the "boring" one after all. I want to hear how the others think about it.

I've always liked the trick engine and in terms of raw performance, it can't really get any better, without getting bigger. Of course, feel will suffer. I think if BMW were to reenter the supercar scene sometime soon, that would be the engine to go with.