New M5

[Simon]

Weighty

[Mito Man]

The reviews don’t seem great, overweight to the point it’s slower than the previous gen when accelerating up to legal speeds, and it can’t disguise its weight and understeers.
2.5 tonne performance hybrids don’t feel like the future for me. And I think it’s the first M5 ever that I really don’t care about.

[mik]

-ve
Looks hoooge
Looks slabby
Too much screens inside
> 2.4 tonnes
Hang on. What the? 2.4 tonnes??

+ve
Erm. It’s new?

I’ll still take an F90 ta.

[Ascender]

Hmmmmm… not the most positive reviews. Can’t say the looks do anything for me either. The test/dev drivers I spoke to preferred the M3 due to its smaller size and weight but I guess this is where we are now. And it’s a 110k starting price? I did email the local dealer to cancel my deposit last week and having watched a couple of these videos it doesn’t feel like I’ve made a huge mistake.

What is that M logo on the iDrive controller? Not subtle…

[Beany]

"We've engineered it so it's a real M-car"
"Also it weighs a full half tonne more than the previous one"

Yeah, fuck off BMW. And Fuck off M-Division. Just admit you're nowt more than a trim level and stop bothering.

[Mito Man]

Hmmmmm… not the most positive reviews. Can’t say the looks do anything for me either. The test/dev drivers I spoke to preferred the M3 due to its smaller size and weight but I guess this is where we are now. And it’s a 110k starting price? I did email the local dealer to cancel my deposit last week and having watched a couple of these videos it doesn’t feel like I’ve made a huge mistake.

What is that M logo on the iDrive controller? Not subtle…

Honestly I thought it would be £120k+ because the i5 M60 seems to start at £100k! Makes the M5 look like a bargain now

[Ascender]

Looks like there's now a factory fit towbar option... So there's that?

[V8Granite]

Ahh progress.

Big fat pudding car chasing numbers, not a surprise.

It’s an E39 M5 with a S1 Elise on the roof.

Dave!

[Beany]

I think they changed the thumbnail to make it look less fucking massive

(previously it was a tiny image of Mat next to the black M5)

[MikeHunt]

Really sad but cars seem to have peaked, the looks and the weight would put me off and the direction BMW have taken with the Tesla inspired interiors and screens is just the cherry on the top.

[Holley]

I don't see the point to this at all.

If want to keep the V8 but reduce emissions, I think what Porsche has done with the 911 is far better. It would have prevented an M5 that weighs more than an X5m.

Or they could have done a proper mad Taycan competitor and produced a 1000hp monster. Still lighter and at least it could have been interesting.

[Ascender]

I was wondering about the decision making when it comes to cars like this. How much freedom do the design & engineering teams have when deciding how they'll achieve emissions targets?

The weight of this thing though, takes me back to something Harry M said in a video - that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of innovation when looking at hybrid and EV tech just now. We seem to be stuck in a place where we've normalised these massively heavy cars, so most manufacturers just keep piling stuff in there and increasing the weight rather than innovating to improve efficiency, reduce weight etc.

[Alex88]

Awful. £110k base for a heavy, ugly, mega-barge.

These cars seem to be more about tech and gadgets than actual driving... the M DNA really has been lost!

It makes the older stuff even more appealing.

[V8Granite]

When I see the weight loss that Jaguar did with the last XJR and JLR did with the last RR then BMW are just looking like a wasteful Company nstagram led company. Merc are Chintzy and cheap looking.

Didn’t Audi reduce the weight of their last RS4 ?

Dave!

[Holley]

I was wondering about the decision making when it comes to cars like this. How much freedom do the design & engineering teams have when deciding how they'll achieve emissions targets?

The weight of this thing though, takes me back to something Harry M said in a video - that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of innovation when looking at hybrid and EV tech just now. We seem to be stuck in a place where we've normalised these massively heavy cars, so most manufacturers just keep piling stuff in there and increasing the weight rather than innovating to improve efficiency, reduce weight etc.

I think the tech is there, it's just not implemented to the products you and I would want to buy (it seems these products aren't made for our market).

If Tesla can make a model 3 with a 75kw battery weigh 1.7-1.8 tonnes, it should be possible for someone like Porsche/BMW make a sports saloon of similar size, weigh 1.6 tonnes with decent battery range and 500hp. A larger M5 saloon should be possible to be made under 2.0 tonnes.

I would have preferred this approach or just to have kept the V8 on its own but in limited numbers (like Toyota have done).

[Mito Man]

What’s even more crazy is when they keep mentioning how they’ve used carbon fibre, aluminium, composites all over to reduce the weight. But it still weighs that much.
I guess if it were build with conventional chassis technology of the 90’s all in steel it would be 3 tonnes?!

[Beany]

I'm sure there's carbon fibre in the gear lever/iDrive knob surround.

[PaulJ]

2.4 tons?
I know I'm too old to hang around here and shouldn't get upset by these absurdities, but I seem to recall that until a certain date an HGV licence was needed for vehicles > 2.5 tons, which seems reasonable to me. In the past I've had 4 'Sevens' which together would probably weigh less than this...

[Jobbo]

There's an old bridge over the canal near me which used to (many years ago) have an 18t weight limit but kept being hit so by last year that had been reduced to 3.5t. It's now gone down to 3t with more signs. Before long it'll be low enough that mainstream car owners won't be able to go over it

[V8Granite]

Yep we saw this with a Merc EQC, with me and 3 friends then with luggage you would be over the GVW of the vehicle!

Dave!