For twenty years since the first example appeared as a new breed of super-fast premium saloon, BMW have thought of the mighty M5 as their ‘businessman’s express’ – the up-market and practical face of high performance driving. And one of the things that always made the M5 particularly attractive to a certain kind of customer was that, for all its performance, it was relatively understated, and relatively uncomplicated – just plenty of power in a thoroughly developed but straightforward rear-drive chassis wrapped in a muscular, but really quite subtle, body.
Pics can be viewed at my Picasa gallery here.
The new, fourth generation M5 is still, unmistakably, the businessman’s express, but now it has a new edge, and a bit less of the old understatement. Because the new M5 is more aggressive than ever. Having been revealed in what turns out to be very close to production form at the Geneva Show in March this year, as the Concept M5, the real thing goes on sale in most of Europe in January, and in the UK a couple of months later ‘in Spring’, with a projected price of £61,755.
It will be a lot of fast, handsome car for the money, and in some ways a much more complex one than the M5 has ever been before – which is partly good news and partly less good news, depending on how subtly you like your ‘businessman’s express’ performance to be delivered.
Engine: Mind-boggling
In previous generations, the M5 has been powered by the 286bhp straight-six that started life in BMW’s M1 supercar, by a 340bhp evolution of the legendary six, then most recently by a 400bhp 5-litre V8 in the last 5 Series body shape. And now the M5 version of the controversially styled new 5 Series moves the super-saloon the goalposts again, with a 5-litre V10 engine that’s the most powerful BMW have ever put in a road car. Which means, if you push the right buttons, a peak of 507bhp, and 520Nm of torque – which is a full 25 per cent power hike over the last M5.
And this is a stunningly impressive engine. Like BMW’s F1 V10s it has a 90 degree vee-angle and compact dimensions for such a large capacity, so it sits usefully low in the nose for a lower centre of gravity. Like the racing engines it has sophisticated individual electronic control for each of the ten air-gulping throttle ‘butterflies’, for exceptional power and instantaneous responses.
It also has Bi-VANOS variable valve timing, to give the best possible spread of power with the best drivability, and it has the most powerful electronic engine management package so far created for a road car, with three 32-bit processors and the ability to perform more than 200 million individual calculations and instructions per second. All of which makes this a very special engine indeed...
...but you don’t need an engineering qualification to know that, you just have to listen to the new M5 take off in anger and you’ll get the point. Because the other thing the M5 V10 shares with a racing engine is its enthusiasm for high revs – and if that doesn’t means the screaming 19,000 or so of the F1 brigade, it does mean a heady 8250rpm redline which is way beyond the point where most road car engines would already have disintegrated, and BMW don’t hide it with excessive silencing, they let it howl through racing style manifolds and four huge tailpipes.
Multi-mode to suit…
Then they start to add the tricks. For reasons best known to themselves, but presumably to satisfy political sensitivity and the toughest emissions regulations, they give this mighty engine two power modes – a basic 400bhp, and at the simple touch of a button, that headline 507bhp, which is obviously the one that most people will be interested in.
And that’s the one that gives claimed performance figures of 0-62mph (0-100kph) in 4.7 seconds, which isn’t particularly unusual for a top-end super-saloon any more, or 0-124mph (0-200kph) in 15 seconds, which is pretty impressive punch in any company, especially with five seats!
But now we start to hit the complications, because the M5 doesn’t just have one character any more, it has the option, at the touch of a few buttons, of multiple personalities. First of all there’s that choice of power outputs, but what goes with that is also a choice of damper settings to vary the ride comfort and handling balance, a choice of how aggressively the traction and stability controls cut in (and even the option to switch the stability control out altogether when conditions permit), a choice of manual and automatic transmission modes, each with its own range of programmes to vary the shift time and responses, and most extreme of all, a ‘launch control’ function for ultimate take-offs.
Pics can be viewed at my Picasa gallery here.
The gears
The variable damping and stability controls are already reasonably familiar territory, and useful for different driving conditions, even different driver moods, and it’s hard to argue with them. The multi-choice transmission settings are a different matter, and arguably the new M5’s weakest link – or at least it’s least satisfying one.
Because the transmission in question is a new seven-speed version of BMW’s Sequential Manual Gearbox (SMG), which offers automatic shifts but isn’t an automatic and which has the positive action of a clutch but which doesn’t have the irritation of a clutch pedal. So in theory you get all the efficiency advantages of a manual gearbox with all the simple changes of an automatic – the big drawback being that even in this latest development, SMG still lacks one very important thing, refinement.
To put it crudely, the SMG is a bit of a thumper, and unless you make subtle throttle adjustments to help it on its way (which largely defeats the object of ‘automatic’ shifts) you feel and hear every gearchange, up or down, in a way that you’d probably be ashamed of if you were doing it yourself. And with this much power and seven gears it is a real issue. Which is clearly one reason for the next complication – six levels of shift-speed in ‘manual’, touch-shift mode, and five in full automatic mode. And that’s probably nine too many, rather than two that work smoothly.
Stand by for take-off...
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
800bhp BMW M5 ///M Power
One accusation never levelled at BMW’s mighty M5 was that it lacked power. Annoying gearbox and far too many buttons yes, but 507bhp was generally felt to be sufficient.
Clearly not if you are Currency Motorcars of California, USA, however. The tuner, based in the state known for its environmental credentials has managed to raise the power output of the 5.0-litre V10 by more than 300bhp.
Images can be viewed @ my Picasa gallery here
This has been done by strapping not one but two intercooled turbochargers to it, boosting torque to 733lb/ft and brake horsepower to a dizzying 800bhp. That drops the standard M5’s 0-62mph time from from 4.7 seconds to 3.6 seconds. Currency Motorcars has also removed the limiter that pegged the M5 to 155mph rather than the 200mph the car would be capable of. However the power boost means the four-door saloon is now capable of snapping at the heels of a Bugatti Veyron and able to hit 240mph.
The car has been lowered by 35mm and rides on enormous 20-inch chromed alloy wheels hiding 14-inch brake discs. The interior has also received the bling treatment, and, not satisfied with mere leather and suede, Currency Motorcars commissioned a Florida Alligator skin interior. Dyed black for full menacing effect the hides cover everything from the seats, armrests and centre console to the steering wheel boss. The price for this one-off creation is £179,000 or roughly three times the price of a standard M5.
Images can be viewed @ my Picasa gallery here
Clearly not if you are Currency Motorcars of California, USA, however. The tuner, based in the state known for its environmental credentials has managed to raise the power output of the 5.0-litre V10 by more than 300bhp.
Images can be viewed @ my Picasa gallery here
This has been done by strapping not one but two intercooled turbochargers to it, boosting torque to 733lb/ft and brake horsepower to a dizzying 800bhp. That drops the standard M5’s 0-62mph time from from 4.7 seconds to 3.6 seconds. Currency Motorcars has also removed the limiter that pegged the M5 to 155mph rather than the 200mph the car would be capable of. However the power boost means the four-door saloon is now capable of snapping at the heels of a Bugatti Veyron and able to hit 240mph.
The car has been lowered by 35mm and rides on enormous 20-inch chromed alloy wheels hiding 14-inch brake discs. The interior has also received the bling treatment, and, not satisfied with mere leather and suede, Currency Motorcars commissioned a Florida Alligator skin interior. Dyed black for full menacing effect the hides cover everything from the seats, armrests and centre console to the steering wheel boss. The price for this one-off creation is £179,000 or roughly three times the price of a standard M5.
Images can be viewed @ my Picasa gallery here
New BMW M3
A twenty-first birthday is quite a milestone and deserves due recognition, particularly if, as in the case of the BMW M3, those 21 years have been spent as undisputed sporting saloon champion.
You can view the gallery @ my Picasa gallery, click here
So what better way to celebrate than with a brand new model capable of once more seeing off some determined opposition in the shape of the Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG, Audi RS4 and forthcoming Lexus IS-F. Not that any of us were hugely surprised given that prototypes have been spotted in more places than Paris Hilton.
Just a month after revealing an M3 “Concept” at the Geneva Motor Show, BMW has taken the wraps off the real deal, powered, not by a straight-six as the last two have been but a brand new 4.0-litre V8 producing 420bhp and 295lb/ft. Based closely on the M5’s 5.0-litre V10, the decision to drop the traditional six-cylinder engine was taken in the face of stiff competition from BMW’s traditional German rivals from BMW and Audi. BMW development head Gerhard Richter said: “It wasn’t so much us thinking the new car needed a larger powerplant than news that the competition was preparing cars in excess of 400 horsepower.”
Incidentally the new engine is close to twice the size of the 2.3-litre four-cylinder engine in the original E30 M3 and produces double the power. Made largely from aluminium and magnesium, the new engine is actually lighter than the 3.2-litre six it replaces, largely to maintain BMW’s much vaunted 50:50 front to rear weight distribution. Performance is reported by BMW as 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds, nearly half a second quicker than the old M3 but still 0.6 seconds off the time Audi claims for the RS4 with its superior four-wheel drive traction. Top speed is limited to 155mph.
The M3 continues to drive its rear wheels only and, unlike the M5 and M6, is offered with a traditional six-speed manual. The seven-speed sequential manual gearbox in the bigger M-cars has come in for a lot of criticism and is unlikely to appear in the M3, which should instead get a dual-clutch manual gearbox similar in concept to Audi’s S-Tronic system. What the car will inherit from its big brothers is an ‘M’ button on the steering wheel to sharpen throttle and steering response. Suspension is a combination of MacPherson struts up front and multilink at the rear. Electronic dampers will also be available allowing drivers to alter the balance between handling and ride comfort.
Externally the car gains a deep front airdam with three cooling slots cut into it, a non-too-subtle power bulge on the bonnet and M5 style vents behind the flared front wheelarches. The rear of the car is distinguished by a deeper rear bumper and four chromed tailpipes. A carbon-fibre reinforced roof lowers the centre of gravity to improve the handling and the planned hardtop convertible will get a folding aluminium lid to achieve the same ends. The car will also be offered in coupé, four-door saloon and estate guises.
You can view the gallery @ my Picasa gallery, click here
You can view the gallery @ my Picasa gallery, click here
So what better way to celebrate than with a brand new model capable of once more seeing off some determined opposition in the shape of the Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG, Audi RS4 and forthcoming Lexus IS-F. Not that any of us were hugely surprised given that prototypes have been spotted in more places than Paris Hilton.
Just a month after revealing an M3 “Concept” at the Geneva Motor Show, BMW has taken the wraps off the real deal, powered, not by a straight-six as the last two have been but a brand new 4.0-litre V8 producing 420bhp and 295lb/ft. Based closely on the M5’s 5.0-litre V10, the decision to drop the traditional six-cylinder engine was taken in the face of stiff competition from BMW’s traditional German rivals from BMW and Audi. BMW development head Gerhard Richter said: “It wasn’t so much us thinking the new car needed a larger powerplant than news that the competition was preparing cars in excess of 400 horsepower.”
Incidentally the new engine is close to twice the size of the 2.3-litre four-cylinder engine in the original E30 M3 and produces double the power. Made largely from aluminium and magnesium, the new engine is actually lighter than the 3.2-litre six it replaces, largely to maintain BMW’s much vaunted 50:50 front to rear weight distribution. Performance is reported by BMW as 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds, nearly half a second quicker than the old M3 but still 0.6 seconds off the time Audi claims for the RS4 with its superior four-wheel drive traction. Top speed is limited to 155mph.
The M3 continues to drive its rear wheels only and, unlike the M5 and M6, is offered with a traditional six-speed manual. The seven-speed sequential manual gearbox in the bigger M-cars has come in for a lot of criticism and is unlikely to appear in the M3, which should instead get a dual-clutch manual gearbox similar in concept to Audi’s S-Tronic system. What the car will inherit from its big brothers is an ‘M’ button on the steering wheel to sharpen throttle and steering response. Suspension is a combination of MacPherson struts up front and multilink at the rear. Electronic dampers will also be available allowing drivers to alter the balance between handling and ride comfort.
Externally the car gains a deep front airdam with three cooling slots cut into it, a non-too-subtle power bulge on the bonnet and M5 style vents behind the flared front wheelarches. The rear of the car is distinguished by a deeper rear bumper and four chromed tailpipes. A carbon-fibre reinforced roof lowers the centre of gravity to improve the handling and the planned hardtop convertible will get a folding aluminium lid to achieve the same ends. The car will also be offered in coupé, four-door saloon and estate guises.
You can view the gallery @ my Picasa gallery, click here
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