If you care about real supercars (as opposed to semi-roadable freaks), you've already read more about the M5 than is probably good for you, especially if you can't afford one. Most of us can't.
What is there to dislike about the M5? It has a slow shift from first to second, the trick M-sport wheels are too easily damaged against curbs (I didn't, but I feared for them) and they make the car look as if it's wearing whitewalls. Heaven forbid.
What is there to like about the M5? Everything else. The engine feels like it's going to run forever, will pull from less than 1000 rpm even in fifth. When you finally get beyond proving that you can drive it that way, it will get you arrested in any of the 50 states without getting halfway through third gear. Great stuff.
The handling is stable (but not to excess--a really stable car won't turn at all), predictable, confidence inspiring. The only doubt that I have is about the owners--most of them won't have the capability or sensitivity to appreciate the car. It will corner faster, transition better, stop more quickly, turn in better, trail-brake better, than all but about six of its lucky owners will ever be able to experience unless, of course, they let their instructors demonstrate for them on their annual refresher pilgrimages to Skip Barber/Bob Bondurant, et al.
The only thing that keeps me from telling you the M5 is the world's best sports sedan/supercar is the Mercedes- Benz 5OOE. I have driven that as much as possible but never in proximity to the M5, and, as in most cases, dumb numbers don't even begin to tell the story. At this point let me suggest that this all be settled by giving me an M5 and a 5OOE at the old Nuerburgring with about a month to bring you the truth.
After the rather overrated and sometimes plain lackluster antecedents, how did all of this virtue get concentrated in one car? My guess is that it has something to do with bean counters being the second-oldest profession (closely related to the first). Someone in engineering knew what had to be done all of the time. There was probably a product planner/marketing type in there as well, reminding the bean counter that there is, after all, a stupid speed limit in the U.S., an even more foolish one in Japan (another major BMW market), the Greens must be placated, etc.
M5s are built in small numbers with an extraordinary amount of handiwork from the base 5 Series starting point. I'm not suggesting that the ordinary 525i isn't a nice car--it is always a pleasure to drive and it certainly stands even with the M5 as appliance transportation. So let me insert a modest proposal here.
Patience. Let me write for a moment about another car that has been in the news lately, another you have undoubtedly read about unless you're a hopeless Teutonophile--the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4/Dodge Stealth R/TTurbo. In a rational world no one would talk about the M5 and the 3000GT as competitors. I'm sure BMW doesn't think of them that way. It keeps a close watch on the 5OOE, various Audis, the newly announced Porsche sedan, the unannounced Acura V8, maybe the Infiniti Q4S/Lexus SC400. But the NSX? The 3000GT VR4? Not much reaction in Muenchen.
Other than four wheels and a certain transportation function, the only things that the M5 and 3000GT VR4 share are six cylinders (arranged differently) and a weight of 3,800 lb. The VR4 has a V6 mounted transversely, four camshafts, four valves per cylinder, twin turbos, twin intercoolers, all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, three differentials, ABS, a two-speed muffler, automatically adjustable aero devices, automatic A!C, and all of the other clutter and ephemera that have become part of the modern luxury sports tourer.
Despite, or perhaps because of that hardware I don't like the 3000GT very much--but there are a bunch people who do. There are also a clutch of magazines that have voted it "Car the Year of the Month," "Best Car in the World this Week," etc., and that, combined with the price, is about enough to ensure that Mitsubishi and/or Dodge (its version may be better looking) will sell all they bring in.
Okay--I mentioned price. The M5 (and all of the other Bimmers) had a price increase in April--this in the face of tough times and declining sales. There is one marketing theory that says a certain number of luxury products will be sold in spite of the economy and to not raise the price would be to leave some of the money on table. Anyway, the M5 has gone up a thousand to $57,600 to, all in all, depending on where you live, about the price as a 3000GT VR4 and a Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo--combined.
1. Wages in Japan are on a par with those in Germany.
2. The 3000GT is afar more car than the Bay-em-vay.
3. Mitsubishi has to import all of the raw materials for the car.
4. It's just as far from Japan to California as it is from Germany to California (and further from Japan to New York than Germany to New York).
Right, I know, the Bimmer has all that handiwork in it. Which is exactly my point. It does cost a bunch to take an existing car and modify it heavily. It costs a bunch to do all of the engineering and development for the M Series heads, cams, induction systems, and another bunch for all of the short-run tooling to manufacture them. It's hard to find the highly skilled production people to carry out all of the mods that make the okay 535i into the exceptional M5.
So why not make the M5 the standard car? Or at least most of what turns the 535i into the M5--soften the M5 suspension by 10%, leave the standard 535 wheel/tire package in place but use the M Series brakes, suspension alignment, sway bars, drop the compression a point, flatten the cams a bit to fatten bottom end (and to make an automatic possible), use the 535's rear axle ratio, and most important of all, make sure the cosmetics are there--the M5's ride height, air dam, fog lights.
The M engine uses a very effective four-valve head. BMW has done interesting things with combustion chambers (Remember the Apfelbeck radially displaced four valve?), but the world catches up, perceptions change, buyers are diverted and, finally, fickle. Nissan Sentras and Toyota Corollas have four-valve heads.
Remember that the 535i uses a single overhead cam two-valve head, making it seem to the semi-enthusiast buyer that there has been no change to the engine since the first days of the New Class cars 25 years ago.
The 525i, the car that BMW hopes will account for about a third of its sales, has a brand new four-valve engine-smooth, free-revving, good power per cubic centimeter, but too few centimeters for American tastes. It's physically smaller and lighter than the 535/M5 engine.
Beyond the cast-in logo, there is no real relationship between the 525 head and the M5 head, despite the fact they are both double overhead cam, light alloy-capping iron inline-sixes. And the M5 is different again in its lowers from the 535--different bore and stroke, different rods, pistons, etc. So to make my modest proposal more palatable in Munich, point out to the beancounter how many D-marks would be saved by having just one line to machine big blocks, one big head casting, one set of seven bearing cams, like that.
Then bump the M5 back up to the top of the curve by installing a set of really aggressive seats (like the old Restall seats that were used in the TI SA), use Schroth harnesses, make a radar detector standard equipment (refuse to sell the cars in states that ban detectors), get Nelson Piquet to sign everyone, sell them for 75 grand.
Keep the price of the 535i right where it is today despite the steroid injections, The 525 engine probably costs more to build than the regular 535 now--hey use the same materials, similar electronics, the 525 has those extra valves, another camshaft, hydraulic lash adjusters--leather and big tires can't cost that much more.
My alternative proposal puts the responsibility on the buyer. Start with a 525. Use a generous helping of factory pieces and aftermarket bits to build a car that BMW has not seen fit to build--a sort of junior M-car. Use the cash saved on not buying the real M5 to restore that 2002tii you've always wanted.