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Yesterday was a good Republic Day for me! A friend's brand new F10 M5 paid me a visit! :thumbs up
After a quick photo-shoot (with an iPhone, sorry the pics aren't the greatest), we made a run to Mahabaleshwar to put some Kms on the odo, stopping for the obligatory vada-pav en-route! clap:
The new M5 is a great car! It's supremely comfortable, HUGELY torque-y, steers quick, rides well, shuts out the outside world nicely and gets you to where you're going quicker than a large saloon car has any right to!
Since the car is brand new, we were babying it and weren't using more than 50-60% throttle or brakes at any point, keeping under 5,500 rpm, and generally using all the gears, as much of the rev-range as possible, and just generally getting everything run-in nicely!
Initial impressions are very good! The engine is an absolute peach and is worthy of the ///M badge, despite being a turbocharged unit. There doesn't appear to be any turbo-lag to speak of, at least none that's discernible whilst running the car in. There is torque to be had from very low down in the rev range, the car pulls in a nice linear fashion when asked to and despatches rows of cars and trucks nicely with a quick flex of the loud pedal! The throttle response can be adjusted, which makes it easy to have a nice, lazy setting for stop n' go in-town conditions, a slightly sportier setting for quicker driving and a full-on aggressive throttle map for open-road or track runs.
There isn't much induction noise to be heard, at least not the way we were driving and the exhaust has a fairly muted, but discernible woofle to it. It growls nicely when you accelerate fairly briskly from around 3,000 rpm on! The M5 just gets the job done without making a scene of things!
The gearshift on the 7 speed DCT gearbox is super-smooth and WAY better than the old SMG transmission on the previous M5. Shifts are barely perceptible and instantaneous. There is just the tiniest hint of lag between asking for the next gear and actually getting it, but the shift itself is seamless. You can program the speed at which the DCT transmission shifts cogs. I found the most aggressive of the three standard settings to my liking for the highway.
The suspension does an outstanding job of handling the bumps and ridges on our less than decent highways. The car doesn't get unsettled by little ruts and doesn't tram-line when it goes over truck tracks in the asphalt. It just sits planted on the road, like you'd expect of a super saloon. Again, there are adjustable settings for the electronic dampers and, again, I preferred the firmest setting for the highway, even though this made the ride a lot bumpier than it is in comfort mode. In comfort mode the ride is excellent though the car does exhibit a little roll, as you might expect from a large saloon. In the stiffest mode there is virtually no body roll even when going through the flik-flak turns on the ghat headed up to Mabi!
The steering wheel is nice n' chunky and gives you a good grip. It is ever so slightly thinner than the steering wheel on the current E92 M3, which many reviewers felt was too thick (I didn't!). The steering itself is accurate and can be set to your choice of heft, just like the dampers and throttle can be adjusted. I liked the weightiness of the heaviest steering setting, but sadly there is very little actual feedback to be had through the steering wheel. You can place the car perfectly through turns, you just don't really get a feel for what the front wheels are doing in your hands. Through tight bends at decent lick the car does exhibit just the tiniest bit of understeer on occasion. It doesn't happen much and would be very easily corrected if we could boot the throttle and kick the tail out just the tiniest bit to bring things back in line. Since we were being gentle, that wasn't really an option!
So, on the whole...it's a gorgeous car. Perfect for someone who wants lots of practicality, space, comfort, performance and even decent economy (for a big, fast saloon). The ground clearance is better than the E92 M3's and it is easily able to tackle fairly large speed breakers even with three passengers. Visibility out of the car is good, there's lots of gadgets and gizmos to play with (like the HUD that displays your speed, revs and other info on the windscreen ahead of you) and it just eats up the kilometres with effortless ease. At the end of over four hours of relatively quick driving, we all got out of the car absolutely fresh.
So, without further ado...here are the pics I mentioned earlier! (That's my E92 M3 alongside)!
A few more pics...
The twin-scroll turbo 4.4 litre M5 V8 engine is the first of the two engine pics, the second is the M3's 4.0 litre normally aspirated V8!
Where are the pics, kbk? :P
Sounds like a sweet run you guys had! How do you compare the outright acceleration and comfort of the new M5 with your M3?
EDIT: Pics are up, thanks! :)
And just a few more pics...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ace F355
(Post 2660245)
Where are the pics, kbk? :P
Sounds like a sweet run you guys had! How do you compare the outright acceleration and comfort of the new M5 with your M3?
EDIT: Pics are up, thanks! :)
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Pics are up now, sorry! :D
The M5 has a LOT more torque than my M3 (680 Nm vs 400 Nm) so it pulls a LOT harder low down in the rev range and with light throttle inputs. The M3 makes all its power as the revs pile-up and it revs higher than the M5 too. I have no doubt that the M5 is the quicker car in a straight line.
The M5 rides very well. My M3 rides quite well in comfort mode too, but it's a lighter car and it feels lighter on the road, compared to the M5. The M5 just sort-of smothers the bumps away, while the M3 tries a little harder to tackle them.
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Those ventilated front discs could be the size of my Elantra's wheels, wow, awesome pics and don't worry the iPhone has done a good job and pics come out just fine. Much acclaimed 4.4 twin turbo V8 must have really sizzled on the drive. Makes impressive reading in this link:
Detroit 2008: BMW's twin-turbo 4.4L V8
Yeah, we estimated that they must be pretty-much 16" discs! :thumbs up
Thanks for the writeup... I love the M3 e92! Well done! New M5 is a sleeper!
Joey, I couldn't agree more, nice as the M5 is, I wouldn't trade! ;)
Man Amazing Pics. I just had a chance to sit in M5 during Auto Expo for 30 Seconds. Still get goosebumps. It was the first time that I sat in a BMW and that too an M5. It definately felt plush plus the feeling of the materials used to a normal guy like me was out of this world.
I want this car. Thanks for the report. You just made my day..
One thing, why this colour. I am not saying that is bad and I absolutely agree its the the owner's personal choice. Were any other colour's considered??
Thanks
I think the owner considered silver but preferred white, each to their own...
Its a great treat to see M3 and M5 alongside, thanks for sharing with us.
I appreciate the M5 but my personal choice would be M3 as its been my dream car since long back,though I have not driven it yet, but from the bottom of my heart I just love the M3.
Beautiful pics & nice write up Karl.
The e60 M5 looked the part, all aggressive and sexy. Once glance at the e60 M5 was enough to clarify that this car is tremendously powerful and its best to stay away from it unless you had a Horse or a Bull. LOL
The f10 in turn, remove the M5 badge and those clean ,elegant lines hardly give away the hell that lies beneath that hood.
What a Lovely car!
I don't know why, maybe I am biased but somehow I have always lusted for the 'M' rather than 'AMG' :D
Look at the size of those calipers! Everything about these cars is just MAD! and thats why I love them.
Lovely pictures, what a lovely twin cars to own. They are completely drool. Question, on post #1 picture 5 and 6 is the speedometer on the front wind shield, or is it a reflection?
White color on Beamer looks really classy.
Damn KBK your one lucky guy. I can only imagine how much fun that drive must have been, even though you didn't really push it. I saw this car near Mantralay on the 25th night and first when it was coming out of a building I thought it was the fake M5, but then I saw the rims and I was like:eek: thats the real deal.
Great choice by your friend, though I heard this was a display car for Infinity.
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