Hello dear ///M fans/friends!
I thought there would be a few F10 M5 owner's threads already posted, but it seems I'm still the only Bimmerpost member to have taken delivery. This is why I opened this thread, to give you my first impressions and a few pictures.
First of all, a few words about me: I'm a young (20 years old) Swiss ///M fan for about.... 20 years.
My father is a big ///M fan too, this is why I have the great opportunity to drive a lot of BMW cars and especially ///M cars. I drove for a few thousands miles my father's ex E60 M5 and X6 M, now I've driven that crazy F10 M5 for about 1000 miles.
We also own the Baby ///M -- the 1M Coupe. With this one too, I was one of the first to take delivery. You can read what I wrote in may about the 1M here:
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=521158
Before the 1M, I had a 135i. The difference between those two cars is really big and I learned a lot about driving with the 1M. My father has driven the 1M too, and it make him want such a car for driving pleasure. A few months before this, we got to experience a Ferrari F430, a Porsche 997 Turbo and a Lamborghini Gallardo on the racetrack. My father wanted to buy a real racetrack car for a few years and when he sold his second and last E60 M5, I told to him the next M5 (F10) will be a lot faster. But never again we will drive a car with such an amazing engine and gearbox.
The new M5 with a turbo engine, that baby 1M and our racetrack experience which made him want to go on racetracks again as when he was younger.... He asked to our BMW dealer if it was still possible to get an M3 GTS. The answer was amazing - "our third and last M3 GTS is in our stock. We have a few customers who want it, but if you want it too, it's for you!" One week later, we took delivery of the M3 GTS number 124.
And finally, on the 23rd of December, we took delivery of the last ///M of the year, the biggest one, the most powerful one: a Silverstone II F10 M5. WHAT A CAR IT IS!!!
First the engine:
It's just amazing. The torque is here at 1500rpm, so that you don't really need the gearbox. But the horsepowers increase to the red line at 7200rpm. So you have the power of the turbos immediately, but you also have the power increase all the way to the red line... not with high revs of the GTS V8, but as good as a naturally aspirated engine. This is very different than the 135i where you don't really feel necessary to go up to 7000rpm. The 1M is much better than the 135i on this point, but you are also a bit disappointed when you go to the high revs. With the M5 it's a real pleasure from 1500 all the way to 7200rpm.
But in both the 135i and the 1M, and even more in the 535d F10 (my dad had one for a few months), you feel that fabulous power at medium revs. And the M5 has it too, but twice as powerful. It's simply amazing. If you compare it to a 135i, 335i, 1M, or M3 for example, the gap between those and the M5 is amazing. Even the M3 GTS, which is much more fun to drive than those cars and much more brutal, doesn't give such an impression of power as the F10 M5 does.
The sound:
The sound is very light when you drive normally. But when you choose all the Sportplus settings and open the throttle, you hear the sounds come alive, much more than on the 1M which really disappointed me on this point. But if you want sound, the GTS is 100x better of course...... The big advantage of the M5 (for a daily and business car) is that you can be very discrete with a 560HP car! And the best is when you upshift or brutally stop accelerating. You have the impression that something exploded. It's the same on the X5 and X6 M, but a lot louder here on the M5.
On the highway:
Highway performance is only a question of power, so with the M5's 560hp/501 lb-ft tq you can imagine how the experience is. People seem to be afraid when they feel how fast the car accelerates LOL. The torque is excellent and you have good power at 150km/h (90mph) at 2500rmp in 7th gear. And absolutely no noise. The M multifunction seats are very comfortable. You American friends who sometimes make much longer trips than us will probably be happy to know that you can ride for several hours without stopping and totally comfortable. Comfort seats in the F10/F11 5 series are very good but the M5's M Multifunction seats are even better. The lateral support is improved of course, but also the overall comfort!
In the curves:
Right now the car has winter tires and factory OEM winter wheels (255/45 ZR 19 at the rear - Pirelli P Zero snow on Style 408M wheels). The tires are amazing, but of course it will be a lot better with the factory 20" wheels and Michelin PSS tires. But even with snow tires, the grip and handling is incredible. You have to really provoke the car if you want to break traction and drift. For comparison, the 535d with M package and summer tires still didn't have such grip. But the most incredible is when you break traction for a bit of drift. The balance of this monster is wonderful. Only the GTS is much better. The 2000kg M5 has the same balance than the 1600kg 1M!!
I love driving and I drive on the swiss country roads as well as a bit on the racetrack. I've only driven for a couple of years but with this 2000kg monster, I can easily drift around turns. The day we took the nice group pictures below, my friends saw the M5 for the first time. So we made a nice drive. The 5 of us got in the car and even with all of us in the M5 I felt no difference in terms of power and it still drifted and handled as easily! You just have to pay attention not to be too strong on the throttle, and it reacts perfectly well. A real pleasure to drive.
You never feel the M5's heavy weight and when you do lose grip/traction, it's not as brutal a reaction as with the 1M. Despite its weight you have some of the light feeling you have with the M3 GTS.
In conclusion this is an incredible car. It's as comfortable as a 750i if you drive it quietly, selecting all the most comfortable modes. But it's also a real monster if you press the M button (I selected everything in SportPlus and turned the DSC OFF) and ride it as an ///M is meant to be driven sometimes. For the dual purposes that an M5 is always to serve, this F10 generation is the best one, there is no doubt about it. And for real driving pleasure, for racetrack...... only the M3 GTS is much better in the ///M fleet IMO. Between the 1M and the M5, it's hard to choose. They are very different and it's amazing but yes... I think I would take the M5! And that's coming from someone who normally don't like big and non-manual cars (I love lightweight and I'm a manual gearbox fan).
A friend of mine (and fellow forum member) who will probably give his impression in a response to this thread originally wanted an E92 M3 and nothing else. But since he had a ride in this F10 M5..... things aren't the same for him
Bimmerpost is the best website for ///M fans. I always find here gorgeous pictures of every possible ///M models and colors, so it's a pleasure to give pictures too when I've got a new and/or rare model !
Chris