BMW M5 2005 Review

BMW has proved that it is possible to have your cake, and gorge it too, with a car that's more than just a king-of-the-hill sports sedan.

Its all-new M5 road warrior will answer the questions of road worriers all over the world, and satisfy $200,000-plus shoppers who want something quick and classy for their garage and commuter run, as well as weekend escape work.

The M5 could offend some people because it is fry-the-tyres fast and costs so much but it also carries an M message for much more mundane motoring. It's about sensible speed, enjoyment with safety and the power of passion.

The engine is getting all the attention, because BMW is the first major carmaker to put a lightweight V10, complete with 8200rpm redline, into a regular four-door sedan.

It has 18-inch alloy wheels with rubber ribbons, sports-tuned suspension and powerful anti-skid disc brakes, a steel-and-alloy body, the latest Sports Manual Gearbox with seven ratios and a raft of electronics including stability control, braking assistance and a massive engine controller.

It has a body upgrade with muscular nose and a signature four-pipe exhaust in the tail.

It also has a small-and-useful heads-up display and less smart-and-useful, the troubled iDrive cockpit computer system.

The M5 will always be quick and exclusive but BMW promises the lessons it learns on the car will eventually trickle down, just as Toyota has transferred Lexus technology to the Camry, to the rest of its range from the baby 1-Series.

The M5 will arrive in Australia in the middle of 2005 with a price tag of about $220,000, with 85 cars available in the first year.

BMW previewed the M5 in Germany last week with a full technical presentation, an on-the-edge driving demonstration at a closed military airfield and an open-road drive over all sorts of roads near Munich. But the company really wanted to talk about its V10.

"It was the engineers' idea for the whole package of the car," says V10 development chief Helmut Himmel. "We weren't allowed to increase the capacity (from the previous 5-litre V8), so we decided the high-revving concept was best for the driving dynamic. Our big target was to make a car with outstanding driving dynamics, so everything had to be light. If you use the short gears you can make performance figures of a car with 600 or 650 horsepower."

The M5 with V10 comes with 373kW of power (500hp) at 7750rpm and 520Nm of torque at 6100rpm. But it's an on-demand system and the car starts and runs with "only" 298kW; you have to ask for more by pushing a new "sports" button.

There are also a range of settings on the SMG manual gearbox, which has an extra ratio (up from six to seven) to condense the performance but also provide long legs for cruising. Oh, and a top speed which could jump from 250km/h to 334km/h if you could convince the people at M to disconnect the top-speed limiter.

There is so much more to the M5, from gorgeously supportive leather sports seats to smooth new door mirrors, a leather roof lining and a punchy sound system.

As well as a system which allows you to pre-set your sports choices – suspension tune, engine output, gearshift operation – and call it up with a single button on the steering wheel. Otherwise it will just rumble around in light-and-easy mode, providing genuine luxury for four adults. The best thing in driving the M5, by far, is tweaking the SMG sports automatic shift and seeing the car's electronics at work. That can mean a crisp no-lift upshift, a satisfying pre-programmed "va-voom" blip on a downchange, or a fuel readout that's below 10 litres/100km on a gentle autobahn cruise.

It can also unleash a volcanic F1-style launch, complete with a 0-100km/h eruption in 4.7 seconds, which makes the M5 a memorable wonder. And shows why BMW did the performance proving at an airfield.

We also got to sample the delights of 2005-style electronic stability control during a hit-and-miss romp around Munich as well as the impressive heads-up display and the old-fashioned comfort and support of a cabin designed for driving.

The M5 feels as if it's shrinking around you as you drive, which is the best test of any performance car. The steering is meaty but has great feel – the M team rejected BMW's active steering – and the brakes are powerful despite rejecting the latest multi-piston calipers to give better feel and cut squeaking.

The M5 passes the "50m test" with a muscular look that lifts its impact beyond any regular Five, and it provides absolute delight with an engine note that starts grumbly, clears to a muscular V10 roar and then finally an F1-style scream to the limiter at 8200 revs. It is unique and, thanks to a full five litres of capacity, sounds even more meaty than the V10 in Porsche's Carrera GT supercar.

It's hard to judge the electronic systems in the M5, beyond the programs for the SMG gearbox, which is still a bit jerky when cold, but quicker and more responsive when warm.

The M5 is rated a winner over the Mercedes E55 and Audi RS6, and it is almost impossible to find faults. It only seats four, the iDrive is no fun and it's not as obvious as a 2004 Monaro, but those things won't worry potential owners.