F10 M5 (US) and F10 M5 (Germany), two entirely different cars - Plus: Hertz Rental M5

[(H)]

Dear All,

I was over in Germayn and Switzerland on a business trip last week. When touching down in Munich to pick up my Hertz rental car, I was surprised to see the armada of 5series BMWs that seem to be the standard rental vehicle over there (get that at any US airport ;-). But when I saw that amidst all the 530d station wagons was an M5, I was simply floored. With some convincing, Hertz gave me the car as an "upgrade". Yeah, four days of German and Swiss Autobahns with an M5, you can imagine how thrilled I was.







As soon as I started the car, I realized: This is not the M5 that I know from home. The cold start roar that stays at about 1200 rpm for 30 seconds or so and gets you into the mood of driving your ///M car was not there. It sounded almost like my previous 550i on startup. This somewhat disappointing engine and exhaust sound continued to baffle me all through the rpm range. So

A) The car sounds completely different

And then the suspension. In startup mode, i.e. all on comfort, it was again a complete 550i feeling. Almost worst, it felt like the 350 bluetec taxicab that I had been riding the day before. Yes, that soft it was! Very strange. I set everythig to Sport+ and it was nowhere near my U.S.
2013 M5. I checked the VINs to make sure it is same production year and it was also a 2013. Overall, I simply had much less of a controlled feeling with any of the settings. So

B) The car seems to have a completely different suspension setup

Finally, the tires. Same Michelin as on all the US vehicles. I checked the tread and it was fine. Maybe it was the road surface in Germany and Switzerland (perfect conditions, upper 60s and perfectly dry). The tires had barely any grip. When I tried a first "artful" corner on a side country road with nobody in sight for miles, the car completely spun out of control. Trust me, I had done that many times before with my car. This was unreal, I had never seen such a tail happy M5. Scary. So.

C) The tires felt completely different

Other differences where more cosmetic, like a sligtly different HUD layout etc.

Here are two video soundclips to illustrate the different in sound. Also, you can see that unfortunately, top speed was limited to 265km/h (164mph). That is too bad as I was hoping for some nice 300+ km/h speeds.

Sorry for the shaky videos, kinda difficult to drive, paddle shift and hold an iPhone ;-)

[(H)]

Anybody any experience or expert insight on these phenomena?

[Boss330]

My experience with euro M5 and M6 doesn't match yours regarding cold start and sound. They all have that 1200-1500 cold start rpm.

As regards tires, suspension and steering etc. I can't tell as I haven't driven a US spec car.

[ADRQ0811]

No Xenons ? On a m5 wow never seen that

[Boss330]

Could it be due to it being a Hertz rental car? Different and more low key spec?

[M54ccibo]

Doesn't jive with my experience. At the launch event in Spain with all euro-spec M5s they felt exactly like my current M5. Granted, this was a while back.

[dhirm5]

Originally Posted by Boss330

Could it be due to it being a Hertz rental car? Different and more low key spec?

This is what I was thinking. Maybe BMW supplies Hertz with a specific lower spec configuration.

[richard in NC]

Originally Posted by dhirm5

This is what I was thinking. Maybe BMW supplies Hertz with a specific lower spec configuration.

Or detuned for liability or lower octane fuel possibilities?