After 11 months and 16,000 miles – 11,000 of them in CAR’s hands – our M5 has finally departed. It arrived with the spoils of victory from a Jag XFR/Merc CLS 63/Panamera V8 group test and bowed out after a five-week sojourn at the dealer. That, however, was one large blot in an otherwise near-perfect copybook.
My long-termer was one of BMW’s press cars, with a spec that added £10k to the £73k asking price. I've outlined my dream M5 spec below: it comes to £81,810. I’d ditch the £5k Merino leather, stick with our standard, sweeter-riding, cheaper-to-wrap-in-rubber 19in wheels and put aside £665 for the Comfort Access pack – I always felt it strange that while I didn’t need the key to start the car, I had to blip it to open the doors.
The F10 M5 had a tough act to follow, what with the old E60 packing a naturally aspirated, F1-inspired V10 engine. The new, downsized 4.4-litre V8 bi-turbo is seriously good, with masses more torque than the outgoing engine, while the excellent throttle response and high-rev capability are at odds with what we expect from lazier turbo lumps. The turbos were necessary to improve mpg and CO2 and we managed 21.5mpg, into which we need to factor regular 90mph cruises, a couple of 170mph runs on the autobahn and an absence of city driving. It also used oil at a rate of nearly a litre every 3000-4000 miles. Meanwhile, the dual-clutch ’box – also new – is far smoother and faster than the old clutchless manual.
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The first problem arose a month after the M5 landed, when a powertrain warning light bonged up and restricted power. BMW said the car needed to go in for a ‘campaign’. Seems the maximum boost pressure can be temporarily exceeded if the car was driven in anger. I’d stumbled on this problem while driving around Cambridgeshire, yet BMW presumably hadn’t while driving around the Nürburgring.
My long-termer was one of BMW’s press cars, with a spec that added £10k to the £73k asking price. I've outlined my dream M5 spec below: it comes to £81,810. I’d ditch the £5k Merino leather, stick with our standard, sweeter-riding, cheaper-to-wrap-in-rubber 19in wheels and put aside £665 for the Comfort Access pack – I always felt it strange that while I didn’t need the key to start the car, I had to blip it to open the doors.
The F10 M5 had a tough act to follow, what with the old E60 packing a naturally aspirated, F1-inspired V10 engine. The new, downsized 4.4-litre V8 bi-turbo is seriously good, with masses more torque than the outgoing engine, while the excellent throttle response and high-rev capability are at odds with what we expect from lazier turbo lumps. The turbos were necessary to improve mpg and CO2 and we managed 21.5mpg, into which we need to factor regular 90mph cruises, a couple of 170mph runs on the autobahn and an absence of city driving. It also used oil at a rate of nearly a litre every 3000-4000 miles. Meanwhile, the dual-clutch ’box – also new – is far smoother and faster than the old clutchless manual.
The first problem arose a month after the M5 landed, when a powertrain warning light bonged up and restricted power. BMW said the car needed to go in for a ‘campaign’. Seems the maximum boost pressure can be temporarily exceeded if the car was driven in anger. I’d stumbled on this problem while driving around Cambridgeshire, yet BMW presumably hadn’t while driving around the Nürburgring.
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