For better wheel guidance at the rear, the toe link’s rubber mounts are exchanged for ball joints. Once, when you bought an M car, you were buying a piece of the magic. You know we live in weird times, when it's just months after the release of a really, really quick car that we get an even quicker version. Zach Bowman BMW does not campaign the M5 in any form of … This more driver-centric M5 sports digital gauges that are an homage to classic, analog BMW dials, which I prefer to the wraparound displays of the “Live Cockpit Professional” that makes its 5 Series debut on the 2020 M5 35 Years Edition. After multiple stairsteps in power and price from your basic 530i – from $54,395 and a 248-hp turbo four, to $110,995 and a 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V8 – the M5 Competition helps advance the (somewhat pointless) arms race in sport sedans, provoking both the 603-hp Mercedes-AMG E 63 S, and the 605-hp Audi RS7 Performance. That’s madness, or in German, Der Wahnsinn. But ads are also how we keep the garage doors open and the lights on here at Autoblog - and keep our stories free for you and for everyone. Please follow the instructions below to enable JavaScript in your browser. That news came down like the death of an artist. For all its fierceness and technology, the BMW feels a bit squishy and vague at first, especially in the wet. For us, that line of thinking could only lead to one inevitability: a place in which we are slowly but surely deleted from the driving experience. 2020 BMW M5 Competition on track at Monticello Motor Club. Here, evidence of the M division’s handiwork is subtle, including red-and-blue striped M seatbelts. It's a bit hefty and complex, though, with styling that doesn't go far enough to set this car apart. Thanks for that. Our product picks are editor-tested, expert-approved. We're only just wrapping our heads around the speed generated by the base 600-hp M5, and now there's one with 617 hp. Aside from this Competition’s stony ride on poor pavement, and the Sturm und Drang as it boomed over freeway expansion strips, my only everyday gripe was a climate system that was stingy about dialing up the fan speed, even when I set the A/C to extremely low temperatures. Not that this is a bad thing. It does that blissfully German thing where it is most content at 90 mph regardless of the road getting sucked beneath its headlights. And because this tester came with the optional $8,500 carbon ceramic discs, the system has no problem putting your passengers through the front glass. So yeah, it’s fast. We should have seen it coming. The M5 makes its entrance through Monticello’s artistically wrought metal gates, flashing an equally classy paint called Donington Grey Metallic. Some will soon pay for their insolence, when the BMW applies its unfair horsepower advantage to leave peashooter Porsches in its 617-hp wake. Hummer's 11,500 Lb-Ft Torque Claim Is Misleading, AMG GT Black Series Reportedly Takes 'Ring Record, SSC Thinks Bugatti's Top Speed Record Was Bogus, Introducing Shop R&T, Road & Track's Online Store, Hummer Is Back With a 1000-HP, $113,000 EV Truck, This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. I’ve enjoyed the adjustable embrace of the BMW’s sport seats, clad in handsome saddle-colored “Aragon” Merino hides. This car is fast. Road & Track participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. It does not quit pulling, not past the speed limit, or twice that posted figure. That’s also where you’ll find a glimmer indicating that BMW knows that what it’s up to with the M5 isn’t quite right. A reliable piece of your universe suddenly missing followed by the bitterness of acceptance. This is a wickedly fast yet functional sedan that's adept at both track and touring duties. This car does not. ), and its claimed 10.9-second quarter-mile is just 0.1 seconds behind the Ford, or the 797-hp Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye. Departing Monticello, I briefly switch into the car’s notorious, tire-abusing 2WD mode, the one that seems designed to stem the kvetching of BMW fans over the brand’s Good Old Days. MONTICELLO, New York –– The M5 Competition needs a better name. The twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8 dumps a cool 617 horsepower to the ground through an eight-speed automatic transmission and an all-wheel drive system that does not care whether the road is dry or paved entirely with the tears of the SRT-8 driver in the lane next to you. Round digital gauges flash concentric rings of animation as you approach the 7,000 RPM redline. The word “fast” is digestible. The company recommends Sport Plus for creamier, Grand Prix-style surfaces. Performance figures only tell part of a car's story, but they're relevant today—the 2018 M5 hit 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and ran the quarter-mile in 10.8 seconds. The M5 gave you a piece of that, too. Twenty-inch forged alloy wheels and a sports exhaust round out the hardware changes for the M5 Competition, while everything else is down to software calibration. That is, until you navigate a labyrinth of onboard menus to program one of the two steering-wheel mounted “M” buttons. I ease into the paddock and clubhouse garage, where track-suited club members are futzing with roll-caged, race-prepped exotics. We may earn a commission through links on our site. Options, including the pricey carbon-ceramic stoppers, boosted my test car’s freight to a heady $132,095. And then there’s the Competition trim, an aesthetics package that’s only likely to help you win the race towards bankruptcy. Software tuning is responsible for the 17-hp gain from the M5 Competition's 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, and while peak torque remains unchanged at 553 lb-ft of torque, it's available ever so slightly higher in the rev band. Like the M5, the Competition’s other secret weapon is an M-tuned AWD system and active rear differential, which together banish old-school wheelspin, seemingly no matter how hard you try to break things loose. Peak torque is served anywhere between 1,800 and 5,800 rpm, a 200-rpm wider band than the M5. None of them seem to matter from behind the wheel. Drunk with ego. The steering, suspension, and the engine each have three settings, from comfort to sport plus, all controllable by buttons on the center console. You can’t tell us that you’ve moved to an electric power steering system for efficiency’s sake, then put that system in a 600-horsepower, twin-turbocharged V-8 that sucks down premium fuel by the tanker. All of this, BMW, says results in a 3.1-second 0-60 mph run and a 10.8-second 0-124 mph run. We’ve let automakers get away with calling a badge and wheels track equipment for years. Hit the console’s exhaust switch, and the BMW speaks softly without dropping its big stick. Distance. And though the car is technically spectacular, like that long-dead demigod, it is not perfect. The new BMW M5 went on sale just a few months ago, and recently, we got our hands on one for testing. Yes, BMW is a sober German luxury brand, but appending “Competition” to the name and decklid of the standard M5 is too subtle for a midsize sedan that can nip a 647-hp Ford GT supercar to … That’s a good thing in tight sections like the esses that zig uphill just after MMC’s longest straight. Or three times the number on the sign. All rights reserved. It compresses reality, hustling the car’s 4,276 pounds to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. Check your in-box to get started. C’mon, Dodge has its colorful Hellcats and Demons. At $110,995, the Competition is an extra $7,300 over the base M5. You must be logged in to perform that action. For a minute or three, it is fun to drive the BMW like it’s a Dodge, only with exponentially more agility and control, exiting corners with smoke flaring from those poor Pirellis. This time, I was determined to make it to Monticello in one piece, because this baby is even stiffer: Springs and hydraulic dampers are 10 percent firmer than the regular M5’s, the rear anti-roll bar is stiffened, and it’s 0.28 inches lower. Like the old machines, it makes everything seem trivial. It is maniacal with speed. If you'd be so kind as to allow our site, we promise to keep bringing you great content. Our opinions and criticism remain our own — we do not accept sponsored editorial. BMW also upgraded the suspension, transmission and all-wheel-drive system to help the M5 deliver outlandish levels of performance. After years of testing M cars, I’ve made peace with their somewhat fussy controls that here include individual settings for the steering, suspension, exhaust and eight-speed, dual-clutch transmission. News, Reviews, Photos, Videos delivered straight to your in-box. Why? The “Hammer” has been done. It’s an ingredient, not a definition. It’s not BMW’s fault that the company looked around and decided to cash in, but it does feels different. For max performance in any situation, just set-and-forget the 4WD Sport mode, which sends more torque rearward and applies a freer algorithm to stability systems. Naturally, BMW has made a quicker version. And thanks for reading Autoblog. Even if your job and your life demanded that you leave your lowered coupe behind, you could still have a rewarding drive. It only takes a few seconds. Day trip, spoiled. The M5 is crazy quick. 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The result is something that feels like those old quarter-eating arcade games where your inputs have bizarre and sometimes laughable results. This is what Achilles must have felt like. The track is still drying when I’m first waved out of the pits, with scary-looking lagoons lurking in places. You still haven't turned off your adblocker or allowed our site. I sign the clipboard sheet proffered by the guard, peering through the BMW’s generous windshield at the rain-dampened 4.1-mile circuit. Again, this isn’t unique to BMW, but here, it’s a sin. So, what’s it gonna cost? BMW says the tauter core can be felt even in the car’s Comfort mode, and the morning’s jouncy run on the ancient, hand-cut Belgian blocks of my Brooklyn street seems to confirm it. It is telling that the car will remember whether you left the seat heaters on level two or three, but will always revert back to comfort mode when you shut off the ignition. In those moments, I have hope that BMW will remember that faster does not always mean better. I’d gladly give up 50 ponies for a steering wheel that at least pretends like it’s connected to the front end. The exact text will differ depending on the actual application you have running. The M5 Competition gets stiffer engine mounts and reworked dampers too. The steering gets heavier the further you go down the sport rabbit hole, but there’s not much in the way of feedback. Twiddling has become easier since BMW added two ruby-colored steering wheel switches – labeled M1 and M2 – to store a pair of your preferred combinations of settings.

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