It’s a trick that mimics the Mercedes-AMG E63 S’s Drift mode. (A $2500 M Driver’s package brings a 189-mph limiter.)īMW makes it possible to disable the all-wheel-drive system and switch the M5 into rear-drive mode. Our test car supposedly arrived with the lower, 155-mph governor, but it didn’t stop the party until we’d hit a verified 163 mph. Launching without that rear-wheel spin adds a couple of tenths to the zero-to-60-mph time. There’s no slush in the gearbox, either the torque converter locks up almost as soon as you get rolling.Īfter a couple of runs, the launch-control system dialed back the launch rpm to 2500 rpm, which isn’t enough to start the rear tires spinning. Turbo lag is absent, and the engine delivers instantaneous big whacks of power similar to a massive naturally aspirated engine. That makes the new M5 the quickest sedan we’ve ever tested, tying a Tesla Model S P90D to 60 mph but pulling ahead by 100 mph and in the quarter-mile. In 2.8 seconds you’re at 60 mph and in 10.9 you’re whisked through the quarter-mile at 129 mph. Release the brakes, the front wheels kick in, and the M5 pounds forward. When fluid temperatures are right, the computer allows the engine to rev to nearly 3000 rpm, and the rear wheels start spinning as if the M5 were rear-wheel drive. A perfect launch is as easy as holding the brake and the accelerator while stopped. That torque-converter automatic that we’d worried might take the eagerness out of BMW’s supersedan comes with a simple launch-control function that works with the all-wheel-drive system to help the new M5 turn some ridiculous times. We made a date with the first 2018 M5 available in the United States and took it straight to our test facility. Then we drove first a prototype and then a production version in Europe last year, and most of those fears were put to rest. Despite adding all-wheel drive, BMW promised a 90-pound weight loss, and even though power wasn’t really ever a problem, we were delighted to learn that, thanks to larger turbos and more boost, the new M5’s twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8 would have 600 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque.
#Bmw m5 0 to 60 manual
The divide grew when we heard rumors that the new M5 would have all-wheel drive, no manual option, and a conventional automatic transmission. Stiff ride in Sport mode, the stick shift is dead. We’d grown apart.Īstounding acceleration, rediscovered involvement, it’s also a convincing luxury car. While its performance left us in awe, somehow BMW forgot to make it fun. Even an available manual transmission couldn’t bridge the emotional gap. Sure, it had 560 horsepower, 502 lb-ft of torque, and a body by Atlas, but something that was core to our longheld attraction was lost. After we fell hard for the naturally aspirated V-8– and V-10–powered versions of the BMW M5, a twin-turbo V-8 M5 arrived for 2013 and left us a little cold.