if you're not used to seeing
exorbitantly priced BMWs then $130,000
as tested price of this 2018 m5 may give
you heart palpitations but it shouldn't
that's very similarly priced to
competitors in other super sedans like
the Mercedes Benz AMG c63 and a super
hatchback like the Audi rs7 but still
what does $130,000 gets you five and
what does it do for that much money when
we spend a week driving the m5 to find
out the m5 starts at one hundred and
four thousand dollars with destination
and gas guzzler tax ours just has
$25,000 worth of optional equipment one
thing you won't have to pay extra for
though is this Marina Bay metallic blue
paint and it is a head-turner it's what
made this m5 stand out we got a bunch of
thumbs ups and they do nice car
and a lot of that is because of this
color it has this depth in metallic
shine to it in the daylight that I don't
think you'd get the same response if it
were silver black or white now for the
good stuff the 600 horsepower under the
hood of the new m5 and this 600
horsepower is perhaps the most refined
way 600 horsepower has ever been
delivered it's smooth its linear and
there's no such thing as turbo lag in
this car and with the standard all-wheel
drive you have 0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds
yes it's smooth and luxurious but
there's there's still something missing
it feels restraint it's like BMWs at the
end of the night and it's tie is still
right up there under its collar it
doesn't really feel like it's let loose
100% and honestly I think a lot of that
has to do with the exhaust something
that's easily changeable after you buy
the
as its it's a Porsche Panamera P 63 AMG
they have this booming loud exhaust when
you change into those optional modes the
BMW just doesn't have that effect and I
think it's where the m5 goes turned up
very BMW wish but I think I'd like to
have that option just to take it up
another notch there are an overwhelming
than good ways to control that 600
horsepower there are individual settings
for engine throttle sensitivity
suspension firmness steering firmness
transmission programming stability
control and new for 2018 you can even
adjust the new all-wheel drive system
now that all-wheel drive previous m5
didn't have it was real wall drive only
and the automatic transmission that's
adjustable here well that's your only
transmission choice for 2018 the manual
transmission option is gone and honestly
I'm glad to see that because that old
manual transmission did not improve how
the m5 drove it was just the sloppy
manual transmission experience and this
new automatic is very very good but that
all-wheel drive you can choose two-wheel
drive all wheel drive or a sport
all-wheel drive option so each one of
these modes you have three engine
options three suspension options three
steering options three transmission
options three all-wheel drive options
multiple stability control system
options and exhaust option overwhelming
it's exactly what this is so BMW
simplifies that and perhaps the best way
out of any of these super sedans and
that's with the m1 and m2 buttons on the
steering wheel
these are programmable buttons and you
can set them up so m1 is strictly
comfort this has the softest suspension
setting the fishing engine setting the
least offensive transmission mode and
then all-wheel drive and who can be set
up for exactly the opposite so you have
aggressive engine the firmest suspension
the firm is steering option and two
wheel drive which and two wheel drive
you have to turn off the stability
system and by having it programmed in m2
it's already done so you have one button
for m1 and one
for em - and that's how I drove the m5
in the m1 button how I have it set up
and its most relaxed efficient driving
this drives like a normal 5 Series
it really does it's very hard to tell
there's 600 horsepower in m2
and with rear-wheel drive it is a
completely different vehicle
but I'm not totally convinced there's a
big difference between 2 wheel drive and
four wheel drive on this car it doesn't
magically take away the weight that the
all-wheel drive adds and there's still a
lot of mass on the front end of this car
it's very hard to tell the difference
unless you're driving at the limit so if
you have access to a drift pet or on the
racetrack I'm sure that two-wheel drive
setting will let you get much more
squirrelly than with the all-wheel drive
but for just tooling around town and
taking some curvy roads I didn't notice
a big difference between the 2 wheel
drive and the all-wheel drive on this
car so where is the extra 25 thousand
dollar spent on this car well you're
looking at about 10 thousand of it right
here with the optional carbon ceramic
brakes that are 8500 and the 706 m
wheels and 20-inch summer tires that are
$1,300 now these carbon ceramic brakes
if you're spending a lot of time on the
racetrack you know get these but if
you're not there squeaky they're grabby
even when they're hot and I'm not sure
that the weight savings
rotational mass is really worth it when
you're pulling up to of valet and their
brakes are squeaking and you have to
explain to everybody who's sitting
outside having a nice meal why you're
very pretty car is making all of these
awful noises do people care what carbon
ceramic brakes are probably not so it's
an option you probably want to skip on
this one if you're not doing a lot of
heavy-duty track driving other packages
that rack up the bill on the m5 are not
unique to them five at all they're
available on the regular five series
that includes the driving assistance
plus package for seventeen hundred
dollars with active driving assistance
plus now if you plan to spend any amount
of time in the car on the road just
regular commuting or a road trip here
and there then consider getting that
package it has BMW semi autonomous
driving features and while you do have
to have your hand on the wheel it's
gonna hold the car in its lane it's
gonna stop and go semi autonomous Lee in
traffic and is really just a great
assist to have for $4,000 the executive
package gives you soft clothes automatic
doors rear sunshades front ventilated
seats front and rear heated seats four
zone climate control front massaging
seats parking assistance plus wireless
charging Wi-Fi hotspot' enhanced USB and
bluetooth active participants control
rear view camera but what's really gonna
impress people in the car out of the
executive package is the surround view
with 3d view
there are numerous cameras around the
car and you can have this 360 degree
view at ground level what's around the
car it's useful and it's one of those
gee-whiz features the last two big
ticket items on this option sheet are
the $3,400 Bowers & Wilkins sound system
and the $2,500 M drivers package now it
sounds like a package you would want
right M drivers package got to give me
better steering better tires optional
sway bars but there's no hardware at all
the M drivers package is actually a
one-day drivers training course through
a BMW facility and it raises the top
speed from 155 miles an hour to 178
miles an hour honestly I think you can
skip that package too for driver
training you don't find a road course
around your area that has high
performance driving days there are
almost always instructors there and
they're probably not more than a few
hundred dollars and it's for the top
speed well if you're going to a local
track I don't think you're gonna come
anywhere near that 155 mile an hour
speed limit unless your local track is
Circuit of the Americas or Road America
so while this BMW has $25,000 worth of
options the Bolton puts building
standard and it doesn't need all of
those options to be BMWs that a sedan