2012 BMW M5 Sets the Holy Standard For Mixing Performance and Luxury

Autoblog posts their review of the F10 M5 with a pretty positive summary: the all-new BMW M5 sets the holy standard for mixing performance with luxury. It is a perfect combination of both — without sacrificing one for the other. And quite frankly, this summary is what most BMW enthusiasts are waiting to hear.

While the engine is technically taken from the X5/X6 M engine bay, its dual twin-scroll turbocharged unit has been significantly adapted for this application. There is now less boost from the Honeywell turbos (was: 14.5 PSI / is: 13.1 PSI) but the higher volume turbos work together with larger intercoolers to provide more and denser cool air more efficiently. This lowered boost allows a higher compression ratio of 10.0:1 versus 9.3:1 in BMW’s overachieving crossovers, with the result being noticeably quicker responses in all drive modes. The redline with these two “no-lag” turbos is set at 7,200 rpm, a bit of a comedown from the last M5’s 8,250 rpm banshee wail. BMW says the 2012 M5 is good for a 0 to 60 mph run in 4.3 seconds, but if we do not, at some point in the F10 M5’s lifecycle, flirt with 4.0 seconds flat, then we will have failed you as automotive obsessionists; that’s just how capable this S63tü feels.
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Thanks to the M Dynamic Mode (essentially an M version of having the Dynamic Traction Control switched off), with rear axle Active M Differential frantically performing sophisticated feats of torque vectoring, this heavier 4,288-pound M5 comes off feeling no larger or heftier than the E60 M5. It feels decidedly more nimble, in fact.
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On both the long and empty hilly two-lanes around Seville and powering through lap after dreamy lap at Ascari, we work the M5’s revs and its Boysen four-tip exhausts ad infinitum. The M Servotronic steering is only slightly aided by electronics, so mechanical joy remains through all those lefts and rights with their weight transfers. Do the twin turbos and lower redline take some of the sound and fury away? Yes, a little. But the new M5 is unfailingly faster, and its entry and exit characteristics in corners are simply beyond what was possible with the E60.
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This new M5 looks, sounds and behaves less like a middle-ager’s racing four-door (yet it succeeds in being a better racer its predecessor), and it feels more like a true senior executive stormer that can be used every single day. As BMW Group director of sales and marketing Ian Robertson puts it, “The new M5 is all about the right balance. It still favors its racing edge but can now be a very sophisticated executive car.” There are a few aspects that support Robertson’s notion of balance. Not only did the E60 M5’s V10 engine burn thirty percent more fuel over the same distance than the F10’s bi-turbo V8, but its fuel tank contained 2.6 fewer gallons of go juice. So, the idea of making the new M5 a (more) practical long distance cruiser with the potential for 500 miles from a single 21.1 gallon tank rings true. The new M5 also has software enhancements that make life far more pleasant if and when you find yourself lodged in rush-hour traffic. Basically, the car is always less yippy, trying its hardest at all times to remain smooth.

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At the end of our extended time with the F10 M5, all we lacked was that P button and perhaps a little more melodic roaring from the quad tailpipes. Simply put, the new M5 does for this more coddled segment what the Mercedes C63 AMG and M3 do for theirs: it sets the holy standard for mixing performance with luxury.

Read full review at Autoblog

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