FantasyCars BMW M5 E60

BMW M5 E60

BMW M5 E60 Photo 240 One day I out-accelerated a BMW M5. In a 2-litre Jetta. An automatic, 2-litre Jetta. There was no skill involved really. I just put my foot down expecting to be left behind in a cloud of disintegrating Dunlops, to listen to that sweet V8 song as the Bimmer taught me how it's really done. Instead, Mr. M5 bogged the launch and I found myself alone, thinking we had gotten our signals mixed up, until he flashed by in an embarrassed fury two blocks later. But the game was already over.Well, say no more to such inevitable displays of incompetence. Once you're comfortably settled in BMW's new M5, press the M on the steering wheel for the full 500hp extravaganza, select S for Sequential using the stubby SMG knob, dial in the fastest of six shift speeds, deactivate stability control, push the shift lever forward, and hold it there. You've selected launch control: flooring the throttle will raise the revs to about 4000; releasing the lever will unleash that F1 driver in all of us and shoot you to the moon. Hold on.The revs rise as if it were a 2-stroke motorcycle and the accompanying sound is pure F1 at 4/10ths the volume. No need to release your white-knuckle grip on the wheel, the M5 will automatically shift into 2nd at 8250rpm in 65 milliseconds. Hold on through third gear, and you'll be doing almost the ton. Fourth hits home, bringing with it the final pyrotechnic act from the rear Continentals. The acceleration may have let up a dash, but the urgent, Chewbacca-having-his-toes-stepped-on yowl is as brutal as ever. A few more seconds, and you're into fifth and closing in fast on the 155mph limiter. Limiter?? That's right old boy, don't tell me you forgot to ask BMW to derestrict your M5 for the full 205mph?! Those seven gears are there just in case.That takes care of the superhero business, but turning and stopping two tons of Bavarian Meat Wagon is no chore either. The M5's metal rotors and Teves twin-piston calipers combine great response, bite and stamina, but the rumbling after a few stops from relativistic velocities betray that there are no Porsche-like ceramics in the wheel wells.When you're ready for the curves, press the magic M button again to let the M5's electronic brains know that you're ready to boogie. Like a good relationship, the perfect bend requires balance, communication and confidence and the M5 makes it easy. Lean into a corner with no abandon and you'll discover that magical moment where you're in perfect harmony with the M5's responses, unaware that your most intimate bonding moments are shared with a car. Feed the power on exit to the rear wheels and you'll get a whiff of oversteer as the M5 explodes once again towards the next bend. The steering is quick and pin-accurate and, like the chassis, has a sharpness and feedback that you won't find in any other supersedan. This is a chassis car as much as it is an engine car.And if you still get it wrong, you can always blame it on the electronics. In total there are two settings for the diff, two for the steering, three for the dampers (EDC), eleven different gearbox modes, two engine power modes and two settings for the skid control (DSC), plus the option of switching it off completely. - Um, it wasn't me officer, I was just, er…using the wrong damper settings….Finally, the interior may not feel like 90 grand, but it's clean and handsome and, most importantly, comfortable. The neatest feature is the heads-up display activated by the all-encompassing M, which includes a neat tachometer with shift lights.Rather than being shatteringly fast point to point (which it is), what makes this M5 so special is that it uses its awesome technology to involve the driver rather than protect him and make any ten-tenths blast the most fun experience you can have with four doors. - by Traian Popescu

See more: BMW M5 E60 Photos, BMW M5 E60 Technical Data

BMW M5 E60 Technical Data

Engine
4999, DOHC 40-valve V10
Horsepower
500@7750
Torque
383@6100
Max Speed
161
Speed 0 60mph
4.2
Speed 0 25mile
12.5@118