Ever since BMW dropped the 5.0 litre V10 engine in the M5 our affection for the legendary name plate dropped by a few notches. The last generation M5 lacked the sparkle and visual drama brought by the E60 M5. It almost felt as if BMW had produced an M5 because they had to have an M5 in their line up.

After months of sub M-Cars BMW has finally revealed the new BMW M5 based on the current generation 5 Series. The biggest difference the new car has to the outgoing model is the adoption of all wheel drive(X-Drive in BMW terminology). This is a trend that started with Audi, but in all fairness their performance cars have always been all wheel drive, and was later adopted by Mercedes in the current generation E63 AMG. The difference between the all wheel drive systems is that Mercedes’ all wheel drive system can be switched off completely essentially making the E63 “purely” rear wheel drive only. BMW has gone the AMG route and adopted a similar set up for the new M5.

There are five different driving modes to choose from. There are three modes for the Dynamic Stability Control programme: DSC on/off and M-DSC. This can be mixed and matched with three different driving modes for the X-Drive: 4WD, 4WD sport and 2WD. The basic configuration DSC + 4WD allows very little slip before electronic intervention to bring the car into check. M-DSC + 4WD sport allows more slip than the basic configuration and even controlled drifts. With DSC turned off the driver can choose how much of a drift angle they would like. Suffice it to say this is only for use on a race track and not on public roads.

Power is derived from a 4.4 litre twin turbo charged V8. The same unit that powered the last generation car albeit with some revisions. Their is a new system for cooling the intake air and the fuel injection pressure has been increased. This enables the engine to develop 441 kw of power between 5,600 rpm- 6,700 rpm and 750 Nm of torque between 1,800 rpm-5,600 rpm. To put that into context the new GT2 RS develops the same amount of torque. The power figure is in the same region as Porsche’s 911 Turbo.

This engine has been coupled to an eight speed automatic gearbox which allows the M5 to soar past 100 kph in 3.4 seconds and 200 kph in 11.1 seconds from a stand still. The car’s top speed has been limited to 25o kph but the limiter can be raised to tolerate speeds of up to 305 kph.

As standard the M5 is fitted with M-compound brakes all round which can be upgraded for carbon ceramic ones at extra cost. This help save an additional 23 kg in the car’s overall weight. As standard however, there are lightweight components already integrated into the car to help the car weigh less than its predecessor. These include: a new exhaust system, a carbon fibre reinforced plastic roof and an aluminium bonnet.

The M5 will be available to order from September this year and will be available in dealerships early next year. However, if one would like a virtual taster of what the new M5 might be like, BMW in patnership with Electronic Arts have debuted the M5 in Need For Speed‘s latest racing game: Need For Speed Payback. The game will be available worldwide on November 10th for XBox One, Playstation 4 and PC.

The closest competitor to the BMW M5 is the E63 4 Matic AMG which has been around for a while now.  The E63 in basic format has a twin turbo charged 4.0 litre V8 producing 420 kw of power and 75o Nm of torque. In E63 S 4 Matic format the engine delivers a thunderous 450 kw of power and 850 Nm of torque. It seems as if the BMW has been slated to fit right in between the two. We would have mentioned Audi’s RS6 but unfortunately we do feel that its a very different proposition to what BMW and Mercedes are offering.