GTP Cool Wall: 2012+ BMW M5

[White & Nerdy]

2012+ BMW M5 nominated by 6ranTur15m05

View attachment 129910

Stats:
Production: 2012+
Style: 4-door sedan
Engine: S63B44Tu 268 ci/4,395 cc turbocharged DOHC V8
Transmission: 6-speed manual, 7-speed sequential
Layout: Front-engine, Rear-drive​

 

[Azure Flare]

Not quite as cool as the E39, but certainly cooler than the E60, by a pretty wide margin.

 

[Xilor]

One of the few cars that manage to strike an ideal balance between being a head-turner, and being constrained and elegant enough not to make you look like a complete show-off.

Cool.

 

[GT5Redsucker23]

This car's ice cold. I love it though not as much as an E60, I really miss the sound of its V10 motor.

 

[Stotty]

I'll probably get shot down for saying this but...

I've never seen the point of the M5 (and other similar cars). Yes, it's fast, but it's far too big and heavy to be a sports car and far too uneconomical to be a decent tourer. And reading the EVO long-term tests of their M6GC (Pretty much the same car), they have rubbish traction in anything other than perfect conditions.

A 535d is a much more effective way of transporting you and 3 friends >500 miles across Europe, and any number of proper sports cars will be better if you're on your own and want to go for a drive just for the fun of it.

Meh.

 

[Xilor]

I've never seen the point of the M5 (and other similar cars). Yes, it's fast, but it's far too big and heavy to be a sports car and far too uneconomical to be a decent tourer. And reading the EVO long-term tests of their M6GC (Pretty much the same car), they have rubbish traction in anything other than perfect conditions.

Well, people who can afford a brand new M5 usually don't care about running costs. They want something fast, stylish, well-equipped and comfortable, and the M5 is among the best when it comes to that. Same thing applies to cars like the Aston Martin DBS or the Ferrari California.

A 535d is a much more effective way of transporting you and 3 friends >500 miles across Europe.

Yes but its a diesel

 

[AudiMan2011]

Cool. The main thing that brings it down is the rather poor sounding V8 boosted by the Active Sound Design in the interior.

 

[Famine]

Uncool in 2014, but it might be cool by 2029.

Other considerations aside, it's too bland. Performance cars have to strike the balance between understated and overt - they have to be obviously distinct from their lesser cars from any angle, not just counting the exhausts or looking for tiny ///M badges, while not being disgustingly in-your-face - and this tips too far into understated.

I'd like to see an estate-bodied F10 M5 though - performance wagons tend to look a little more distinct.

 

[Mike Rotch]

It's an M5! 👍

With fake exhaust notes piped into the cabin via the interior speakers 👎

Uncool.

 

[homeforsummer]

This car is about as close I'd get to a "meh" vote.

I understand the appeal of the car on a basic level - massive performance, understated looks - but it's just not that cool. From the outside you might as well be driving a diesel 5-Series. The previous M5 wasn't pretty, but it struck me as standing out more than this one. It doesn't help that BMW will sell M-a-like bodykits to anyone with some cash to flash.

However, as @Famine alluded to, M5s get cooler as they get older. I'd say a very early M5, or an M535i, is high cool, bordering on sub-zero. An E34 or E39 M5 is definitely cool (and I voted as such in that thread). An E60 is just scraping cool, I reckon - on age/styling alone it isn't (though I did vote cool in the original thread - because V10, apparently) but the compromised nature of the V10/automated manual etc means it seems less like a small trip up from a diesel.

But this one does seem more like a small trip up from a diesel, rather than something "out there". It's not terribly uncool, but since I don't vote meh, a regular, near-meh uncool will have to do.

In ten, twenty years? Probably cool.

 

[Stotty]

Well, people who can afford a brand new M5 usually don't care about running costs. They want something fast, stylish, well-equipped and comfortable, and the M5 is among the best when it comes to that. Same thing applies to cars like the Aston Martin DBS or the Ferrari California.

Yes but its a diesel

The point about fuel economy has nothing to do with running costs, it's about range. You'll be filling an M5 up every 250 miles, where as a 535d will do 500+ between fuel stops.

Before decrying a diesel you should go try the 6cyl 3.0l twin turbo BMW diesel... it's an immense engine. 300bhp, 442lbft, and c.40mpg. Engine is silent at a cruise.

A 535d M Sport on 20's will look pretty much the same and to all intents and purposes, have similar performance when on a long run.

An Aston or a Cali is a completely different car image wise.

 

[C-ZETA]

No M3s for me, thank you very much. This is the real deal. The top of the pops.
Sub-zero.

I can also see the point of arguing the looks, maybe it is understated but that has its advantages. Overt less so, generally speaking. So I'm fine with that.

 

[Famine]

The point about fuel economy has nothing to do with running costs, it's about range. You'll be filling an M5 up every 250 miles, where as a 535d will do 500+ between fuel stops.

M5 560 - Extra-urban 37.2mpg (Imp) - Tank capacity 17.6 gal (Imp) - Range 654mi
535d - Extra-urban 55.4mpg (Imp) - Tank capacity 15.4 gal (Imp) - Range 853mi

And, simply for my own amusement:
Average UK Petrol price = 129.9p/litre; M5 costs £104/tank, 6.3 miles per pound
Average UK Diesel price = 136.2p/litre; 535d costs £95/tank, 8.9 miles per pound


While the 535d will clearly go further on the grand tour before you refuel, and for less, suggesting the M5 will only do 250mi is plain wrong. Even taking the urban mileage only (20.2), the M5 has a range of 355 miles per tank (the 535d is still 650mi though ). I can't even get down to 250mi using urban driving only with a 30% penalty from rated to true mpg as suggested by real world results of petrol BMWs...

 

[Stotty]

M5 560 - Extra-urban 37.2mpg (Imp) - Tank capacity 17.6 gal (Imp) - Range 654mi
535d - Extra-urban 55.4mpg (Imp) - Tank capacity 15.4 gal (Imp) - Range 853mi

And, simply for my own amusement:
Average UK Petrol price = 129.9p/litre; M5 costs £104/tank, 6.3 miles per pound
Average UK Diesel price = 136.2p/litre; 535d costs £95/tank, 8.9 miles per pound

While the 535d will clearly go further on the grand tour before you refuel, and for less, suggesting the M5 will only do 250mi is plain wrong. Even taking the urban mileage only (20.2), the M5 has a range of 355 miles per tank (the 535d is still 650mi though ). I can't even get down to 250mi using urban driving only with a 30% penalty from rated to true mpg as suggested by real world results of petrol BMWs...

Yeah, maybe I exaggerated slightly

But the 535 will still go nearly twice as far on a tank.

Evo's average MPG for their M6GC was 18.5 IIRC

 

[Azure Flare]

Then again, if I were driving an F10 M5, I would be lucky to get 15 MPG.

 

[Scaff]

Before decrying a diesel you should go try the 6cyl 3.0l twin turbo BMW diesel... it's an immense engine. 300bhp, 442lbft, and c.40mpg. Engine is silent at a cruise.

And its torque curves look like a mountain peak, delivering pretty much all of that within a 1,000 rpm range, which to me has always seemed like being the most well 'equipped' gentleman on the planet while suffering from being a bit 'premature'. It massive, it all arrives and then its over almost as soon as its begun, not fun and not cool.

 

[Stotty]

Then again, if I were driving an F10 M5, I would be lucky to get 15 MPG.

You'd struggle to find a road big enough and empty enough to use even a fraction of it's performance

And its torque curves look like a mountain peak, delivering pretty much all of that within a 1,000 rpm range, which to me has always seemed like being the most well 'equipped' gentleman on the planet while suffering from being a bit 'premature'. It massive, it all arrives and then its over almost as soon as its begun, not fun and not cool.

Doesn't really matter with the 8 speed auto... it's just one big surge of acceleration with barely noticed gear changes.

My brother-in-law has a 640d (same engine)... trust me, it's not all over prematurely

 

[Scaff]

You'd struggle to find a road big enough and empty enough to use even a fraction of it's performance



Doesn't really matter with the 8 speed auto... it's just one big surge of acceleration with barely noticed gear changes.

My brother-in-law has a 640d (same engine)... trust me, it's not all over prematurely

See adding in auto just makes that worse not better for me.

 

[Azure Flare]

You'd struggle to find a road big enough and empty enough to use even a fraction of it's performance

The road I live on has a (mostly) straight that is about a kilometer long, and if I wanted to explore the handling, there is a road called Turkey Creek. It's not as long or has as many corners as The Dragon, but it has more variety.

 

[homeforsummer]

See adding in auto just makes that worse not better for me.

I prefer autos in diesels for exactly the reason @Stotty describes. The auto makes accessing the performance far easier than stirring around to find that torque peak with a manual.

That said, I agree with you too. I'd prefer petrol and manual in the first place. But if I were to buy a diesel, I'd want it with an auto.

So my post doesn't get too far off topic, I think I'd genuinely prefer to spend £64k on a diesel 6-Series Gran Coupe than I would £70k on the M5, regardless of transmission/fuel/performance. But then I'm a bit silly and I'd have the GC in metallic brown, too.

(Actually, I'd have neither - CLS Shooting Brake, please*).

(*And all this is academic. I can't afford any of them and probably never will...)

 

[Famine]

You'd struggle to find a road big enough and empty enough to use even a fraction of it's performance

Utah, meet Stotty.

Stotty... meet Utah:

 

[Stotty]

The road I live on has a (mostly) straight that is about a kilometer long, and if I wanted to explore the handling, there is a road called Turkey Creek. It's not as long or has as many corners as The Dragon, but it has more variety.

But why would you want to take an M5 for that? Much better to have a proper sports car than a 2 ton barge.

So my post doesn't get too far off topic, I think I'd genuinely prefer to spend £64k on a diesel 6-Series Gran Coupe than I would £70k on the M5, regardless of transmission/fuel/performance. But then I'm a bit silly and I'd have the GC in metallic brown, too.

This.

Utah, meet Stotty.

Stotty... meet Utah:

View attachment 167760 ​

Yeah, where the M5 will hit it's 155mph limiter slightly faster than the 535D will hit it's 155mph limiter.

 

[Famine]

BMW will disable the M5's limiter for you - though there's another at 186mph. Unless you bought the 30 Jahre, in which case it's at 190mph. Oooh, 4 more.

18 miles of chuff all both ways from that shot. And Bonneville is to your left.

 

[Stotty]

Haven't been to Utah, but I did do a couple of hundred miles through Arizona in a rented Buick Regal with the cruise set at *cough cough cough* back in the late 90's... long straight desert highways are boring, no matter how fast you're travelling

 

[AlvaroF]

I'm a bit torn between meh and cool, but I ended up with cool because I like to think foward. Previous M5 are super-cool this will not be an exception. For now it's just too ordinary.

 

[Adamgp]

Solid Cool.

Great performer, and I do like the simple, understated looks.

 

[Murcie_LP640]

Uncool, bordering Seriously so. It's not subtle enough nor too simple enough for a Q-car in terms of its aesthetics, it doesn't sound all that nice and it was the beginning of the downfall of ///M in the area they once excelled: driver involvement.

 

[motortrend]

I like this car, I think it's very good, but I can't give it more than a meh really. Had it been the M6 GC I'd have gone to cool

I'll probably get shot down for saying this but...

I've never seen the point of the M5 (and other similar cars). Yes, it's fast, but it's far too big and heavy to be a sports car and far too uneconomical to be a decent tourer. And reading the EVO long-term tests of their M6GC (Pretty much the same car), they have rubbish traction in anything other than perfect conditions.

A 535d is a much more effective way of transporting you and 3 friends >500 miles across Europe, and any number of proper sports cars will be better if you're on your own and want to go for a drive just for the fun of it.

Meh.

If I could I'd own an LS460, a track prepped E36 M3 and an NSX as a fun road car. Obviously I can't so I got an M5 to sort of get close to doing a couple of those things right. You'd be surprised how agile these feel for their weight. I agree though that as an effective mode of transport it's not ideal nor is it ideal as a sports car but it works as both.

 

[mustang fanatic]

Meh.

It's nothing more than just a normal family car with a little extra performance to me.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

E60 and E39 were cooler, in my opinion.