BMW F10 M5 Long-Term Tester Review by CAR Magazine

CAR magazine’s Ben Barry is currently driving a F10 M5 long term tester. After a few hundred miles behind the seat of this new M5, he has a number of pretty good things to say about this beast. Here is an excerpt of his review update so far:

    If you’ve ever driven the old E60 M5, there are a couple of things you’ll instantly notice when you drive its successor: first is the easy flexibility afforded by that twin-turbo V8, which brings a new-found effortlessness to motorway cruising, the V8 giving a distant, tympanic rumbling that’s very, very different to the old car’s V10. It’s not as engaging as the naturally aspirated V10 when you wind it out, but it’s definitely quicker, and there’s the promise of big economy gains over the old car too. More on that later.

The other big difference is the gearchange: the E60 M5 used a seven-speed clutchless manual transmission with six different shift speeds. Despite – or perhaps because of – these multitudinous options, I never quite found the perfect setting in the old car. And the delay between gear changes was at times agonisingly ponderous, at others ferociously vicious. The new ’box is faster and much smoother, but it also has a pleasingly direct engagement, rather than a slur, and I know what I want in terms of settings: the third, most aggressive one for manual mode, and either mode one or two in auto. The gearbox is one of the new car’s biggest leaps.

As ever with dual-clutch auto M cars, one tap on the paddleshifter is all it takes to switch from auto to manual mode, and that’s definitely a philosophy thing on the part of M Division: the driver is in charge, and he doesn’t want the gearbox to overrule him and default back to auto like so many rivals do.

One thing that hasn’t changed much is the ride quality: this M5 still rides magnificently, and it’s such a quiet, comfortable, smooth thing to cruise about in that it’s incredibly easy to sneak up past 90mph without even realising it.

…on our first trip the weather was largely foul and the M62 seemed covered almost entirely in 50mph zones, so while I did hit 90mph or more on a few occasions, my typical cruising speed was a more plod-friendly 70mph or so. I was intrigued to see how much fuel the M5’s new turbocharged engine would use – after all, the smaller turbo motor goes against M’s previous DNA, and has been introduced to make M cars cleaner and more frugal – and I’d zeroed the trip computer before we set off. After a few hours on the motorway with the engine nicely warmed through and the ’box mostly in seventh gear, the dash confirmed we’d averaged 24.6mpg. In similar circumstances, my old Mercedes E63 AMG would have averaged 21-22mpg, so the M5 offers a worthwhile improvement – although it’s worth noting that the new E63 engine is also smaller and turbocharged, and therefore more frugal than my old 6.2 V8 was.

Read Full Review at CAR Magazine

For more information on BMW M, contact:

Munich Automobiles Singapore
30 Teban Gardens Crescent Singapore 608927
Showroom: 6899 6996 Service center: 6566 7666
http://www.munichauto.com.sg