BMW M5 Review (2017-2023)

What is the BMW M5?

The BMW M5 is the flagship of the BMW 5 Series range; a four-door saloon with a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine that produces no less than 616bhp, an exceptional figure that’d be at home in most supercars. And it teams that power with all the motorsport-derived chassis nous of BMW’s M Division, turning this vast, thumpingly powerful car into one that can dance down a B-road just as well as it can wolf down an autobahn.

How practical is it?

The M5 is reasonably practical. You get a 530-litre boot, and five roomy seats (though the M5 CS only gets four, because the two in the back are individual bucket seats). The rear seats also split and fold in a 40:20:40 format, which helps with the car's functionality (though again, the M5 CS is the exception, because its rear seats are fixed in place).

However, while the boot is a decent size, it’s less useful than its rivals’. Both the Porsche Panamera and Audi RS7 come with huge hatchback boot lids, which make it easier to load larger items, and while the Porsche’s boot is smaller on outright volume, the RS7’s is a touch larger.

The Mercedes E63 S’s is even bigger still, and while it’s a saloon like the M5, the E63 S can be had as an estate should you need more room; the M5 can’t.

What's it like to drive?

The first time you drive an M5, it won't take you long to notice is that it is extraordinarily fast. Prod the throttle, and you can end up going 20mph faster than you were in an instant. And its sheer pace is unrelenting, too; even at motorway speeds, the way the M5 takes off and hurtles down the road is not a little bit mind-bending. It'll continue on to a top speed that's electronically limited to 155mph, too.

It does tend more toward comfort than outright thrills, though. Even in Competition form, the M5 rides smoothly and while its engine makes a great sound, the exhaust note is slightly muted from within the cockpit, the better to soothe you as it whisks you along like an express train.

Having said that, the M5 can really move when you ask it to. On a back road, it’s remarkably light on its feel, belying its near-two-tonne weight astonishingly well. Again, it lacks the lairy kicks of a Mercedes-AMG E63 S, but the M5's driving experience deals instead in deft responses, neat lines through bends, and pin-point precision.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

The M5 is intended as an all-singing, all-dancing super-saloon, rather than a lightweight track special, and as such, it gets all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a top-of-the-range 5 Series.

As you can tell from a glance at its specs. There’s four-zone climate control, a Harman Kardon sound system, adaptive LED headlights, adaptive suspension, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, a head-up display, an eight-speed automatic gearbox tuned specifically for quick shifts, heated front seats, ambient lighting, and all manner of smart bits of gloss black trim to differentiate the M5 from the standard 5 Series models.

The M5 Competition goes further, with extra cooling for the engine, a rejigged exhaust system, and lowered and tweaked suspension, while the M5 CS gets more carbon-fibre on the bonnet and bodykit and carbon-fibre bucket seats with a Nurburgring pattern embossed into the leather headrests, as well as grippier tyres and thoroughly reworked suspension.

BMW M5 running costs

Let’s face it: you aren’t going to be buying a BMW M car if you’re in any way concerned about fuel economy. And indeed, whichever version you go for, the M5 probably won’t see much more than 25mpg in everyday use, so it isn’t really worth fretting about which model will offer the best fuel consumption.

Having said that, the M5 does look a fraction more efficient than its rivals, all of whom look to achieve around 2-3mpg less in similar circumstances. So if you need a reason to justify buying one, well, there’s one for you.

Mind you, don’t forget that maintenance won’t be as cheap as it will with a regular 5 Series, either. Expect to pay the same for a minor service on an M5 as you would for a major service on a ‘normal’ car – and a major service will set you back around double that.

Tyres, too, will not be cheap; the M5 features 20-inch wheels, and they’re wide ones at that. Even the Competition’s tyres won’t be cheap, then, but to replace the grippier tyres fitted to the M5 CS, you’ll be paying an eye-watering sum.

What’s more, all M5s will incur the higher rate of tax applied to cars that cost more than £40,000 when new – this will mean an additional surcharge on your car tax bills until the car is six years old, at which point the M5’s tax cost will drop to that of every other petrol car.

BMW M5 reliability

BMW’s reliability has improved over the past few years, if the most recent reliability surveys are anything to go by. Indeed, the petrol-powered BMW 5 Series finished top of the luxury car class in the most recent What Car? Reliability Survey, with a very credible score of 96.9%.

Don’t go imagining the M5 will be fault free just yet, mind you. This is an extremely complicated and highly-strung piece of machinery, there are lots of bits that might fail you. And if and when they do, it’ll be an expensive car to fix. That shouldn’t be an issue if your car is still under the three-year, unlimited-mileage warranty – but it is a shame BMW doesn’t offer more than that, given some other manufacturers are now offering five- and even seven-year guarantees.