Owner: Ilfan Radoncic
Salesman: Stephan-Sabit Hadzhiev (201-843-7900 ext. 215)
Purchased at: Park Ave BMW, 210 Route 17 North, Rochelle Park, NJ 07662
Ladies and Gents,
After several long months of waiting, the US F10 M5 has finally been picked up! It seems to be the first US customer delivery and it arrived yesterday from the port directly to the dealer and I could not sleep all night long. All I can say is WOW WOWW and some WOWWW!!!! This beast is amazing!!!!
Before I get into the short review for the hour or two that I had the car, I just want to thank Park Ave BMW and especially the great support that I have received from a extremely knowledgeable salesman Stephan-Sabit Hadzhiev (201-843-7900 ext. 215). Very cool guy, very honest since the day I walked in. Sabit and the sales manager Jeremy have stayed on top of this car since the day I placed my deposit, constantly updated me through phone calls, emails and text messages when anything happened with the car (order placed, accepted, started build, shipped, arrived etc.) and therefore I was not suprised that I am one of the first US Owners of this amazing beast.
Now lets gets to the short review and to show you some pictures that I've taken quickly.
Specs:
The Ultimate Driving Machine
2013 BMW M5 Sedan
Alpine White
Sakhir Orange Full Leather
Driver Assistance Package
Executive Package
20" M light alloy wheels
Ski bag (not sure where Ill be going with this)
Bang&Olufsen Sound System
Piano Finish Black Trim
Added the IND Side (slight tinted) and Center grills with the AW markers
Fuel Economy
16MPG combined city/hwy
14 city
20 highway
6.3 gallons per 100 miles
$1,300 gas guzzler tax
Fuel Economy & Greenhouse gas rating - 3 out of 10
Smog Rating(tailpipe only) 5 out of 10
Final assembly point: Dingolfing, Germany
Engine: Germany
Transmission Germany
5 Star rating - not rated
Short review:
I've only had the car for about 2 hours as I took the long way home, but wanted to come home so I can submit the review and pictures for all the members here.
The car from the outside, looks amazing! I don't think the pictures do it justices and I am not sure about the other colors but the car is extremely amazing. Looks extremely powerful, all I can say is wow!!! I've added the IND center and side grills immediately and also replaced the yellow side markers. I must say it makes a very nice difference. From the front of the car, the side, the back the wheels, the mirrors, I mean everything from the outside looks perfect.
Once I opened the door, the full sakhir orange and the black piano trim looked amazing. I was a bit afraid that it will stand out to much as I would of went a bit more conservative with a black interior, but this just looks amazing! No regrets regarding the color. The seats had tons of options and especially loved the ventilation option, worked very well. The leather definitely looks like high quality leather, will see how it holds up. The black piano trim looks very impressive, but it is black, so little dust particles kept falling on it and you can see them, just bring a soft cloth with you in the car.
The new navigation. I came from a 2009 E92 M3 (lemans blue), and I must say that the navigation wasn't much different. Obviously the design has been updated, looks sharper, brighter and faster, but overall with some of the added options it was still the great nav that was there that I was used to from the M3. The front and side cameras are great, especially the rear one but I still have to get used to it since I did not have that previously.
The car has tons of options, which I will need some time to get used to. Basically I will just have to click around a lot to get used to it instead of trying to learn everything from the manual. By the way, BMW has added a digital manual in the console so you don't really need the hard copy anymore, not to mention that it had instructions with photos and videos.
The B&O sound system was an excellent choice. The nicely designed speaker in the center pops out and it does not obstruct your driving view. I connected my iphone through bluetooth and played some high quality songs and I was very impressed with the sound. I would probably give it a 8.5/9 out of 10. If you have the money, definitely go for it. I ended up not taking the night-vision and rear entertainment system, but I used that money on everything else.
Once I started the car, there was this great short "Vroooooom" sound that came out once the car started from the exhaust. Once I started driving the car, it definitely is like many people said a wolf in sheep's clothing. It moves extremely well for a car that size and it seems like I am driving a size of my M3. The handling is superb. Especially when I played with a few sports settings, you totally feel the difference between comfort, sport and sport plus and I did not have that much time to play with those settings.
The "fake" exhaust sound that some members were referring to that comes from the speakers, to be honest, I could not hear it. Also, I've gone over some slight bumps on the road just to see if there is any clacking noise coming from the rear-springs that some people mentioned on the '12 M5's, could not hear anything either.
The DCT gearbox worked extremely well from my short ride. I cannot give you a lengthy review on this as I've had the car literally for an hour and drove it about 10 miles. However what I can tell you is that even if the DTC is on, in the first gear, its still very easy to have the tires spin, cant imagine with the DTC off.
Anyways that review is enough for now, enjoy the pictures while I go enjoy the ultimate driving machine and I apologize for the crappy pics. Let me know if you have any questions.
