Test drive BMW M5 E39 1998 - 2004 sedan

All inclusive

When twenty years ago, the designers and marketers of the BMW decided to equip the car of the fifth series with a powerful engine, they could hardly be aware that this undertaking would give rise to a new look - sports shells dressed in discreet clothes of business class sedans. Since then, many have gone along this path, only the fourth generation of the BMW M5 sets the tone again.
 
When another charged modification of the serial machine appears on the market, the townsfolk traditionally begin to pretend how many useful things could be bought for money spent on the herd of horses. Fans of gallop who are not accustomed to count other people's capital, their own song: again, instead of traditional spurs and bridle, we are imposed on us a bunch of electronic reins, which will interfere with a real rider.
The new BMW M5 is a great occasion for this kind of discussion. In fact: for 119 thousand euros, which will cost in Russia M5, you can buy for every day the BMW 525i and for the fan - Roadster BMW Z4. As for the bridle, there are really many of them in the new car. And the most important thing is the box! Fans of a simple handle in Munich said a categorical no - BMW M5 is equipped only by SMG. And let the Bavarians call her a mechanical checkpoint, we know: she does a lot for the driver herself, like the notorious two of a casket.
 
To understand the logic of designers and marketers BMW AG, it is very useful to look into the document where they draw a portrait of a typical buyer of the EM-Fifth. Mostly men, they are married, and, as a rule, they have two more cars in the family, on average they are 45 years old, which is slightly less than traditional buyers of the 5th series. As they say among the people, there is no money for forty, consider, never will be? But we read on: M5 is used by its owners every day, mainly for long business trips, 75 percent M5 are official cars ... That, in fact, everything has become in its place. Buying for state money takes off questions about the price. And the business lifestyle does not imply the availability of time to specially drive a sports car, fasten out five -point belts, turn a poker and receive kicks from a hard suspension.
The BMW M5 is a classic two in one: a sedan for business trips and, if desired, a racing car. Half an hour on fitness, two - for negotiations and then another half an hour on the racing.
 
Road formula. At the fourth generation of the fourth generation, the BMW M5, which took place in the vicinity of Munich, constantly sounded references to the Queen of Motorsport. Like, the M5 engine blocks are cast in the same place as the blocks for Bavarian formulas are in the BMW casting workshop in Landschut. And the throttle decline here is its own for each cylinder - for the instantal engine reaction to press the gas pedal, as in the formula. And even the sound resembles the sound of the BMW Williams F1 racing engine.
 
Meanwhile, outwardly, the BMW M5 is much less reminiscent of the Ralph Schumacher car than Ferrari Enzo - his older brother’s car. Rather, before us, a hungry five. Huge air intake and small spoilers on the apron. The wings became wider, letting in 19-inch wheels. A special form of fairings of external mirrors that can influence the aerodynamics of the car is already a tradition for the M5. But the gills on the front wings of the EM-Fifth is equipped for the first time.
 
Inside, the decorated speedometer and tachometer are paid attention to themselves: black dials with white numbers and red arrows look from chrome rims at the driver. White circular backlight is constantly turned on. Another innovation is the floating zones of the tachometer: the yellow zone warns, and red limits the speed of rotation depending on the temperature of the oil. When the engine warms up, the red zone will begin on the impressive 8200 rpm.
According to the laws of the market, the next model must be more powerful and dynamic than the past, not to mention competitors. The previous M5, if you remember, had 400 hp. And accelerated to hundreds in 5.3 seconds. BMW motorriers had three ways. The first is an increase in the working volume, but this is a large mass and dimensions: V8 predecessors (also, by the way, five-liter volume), was barely placed under the hood of a business class sedan. The second path is compressors, or turbocharged, the work of which, as you know, is associated with delays in the reaction of the engine to the driver's desire. The third way is an increase in revolutions that can provide an optimal gear ratio in the box and thereby realize the maximum craving. We went along this path. True, the M5 engine does not spin to fantastic 18 thousand rpm, like the Williams BMW motor, but it also lives longer than one race.
For yourself. As planned by the creators, in the new BMW M5 you are loaded like a sedan for everyday business trips. By default, the car involves only 400 hp. Further, options are possible that you should control using buttons located near the base of the gearbox handle.
Press the Power button, and now we are now at all 507 hp, which the BMW M5 has. But this is only the beginning.
Now we need to adjust the suspension for yourself. The latter is not lowered running five, but a completely independent design: supports, levers, hinges, elastokinematics are reinforced. And most importantly, the system of electronic adjustment of the stiffness of shock absorbers (EDC), which has three programs: comfortable, hard and sports.
The driver is allowed to intervene in the settings of the dynamic control system of the course stability (DSC). It can simply be turned off by the button on the central console, and then responsible for your actions on the road on your own. The first stage of the DSC turned on corresponds to setting up the system of a conventional five. Finally, with an activated dynamic mode, M the system corrects the driver only in the most extreme situations, allowing the machine to move in a controlled drift.
But that's not all. The new seven -speed SMG gearbox is not an expanded version of the already known six -a -way. According to BMW designers, the seven steps have reduced the speeds of revolutions and the moment, and the switching itself now occur 20 percent faster. In addition, the Drivelogic function gives the driver the opportunity to control the nature of these switches, adapting their speed to his own driving manner.
Full box. In automatic mode D, there are five degrees of switching-from comfortable to sporting sharp. They are selected buttons on the central tunnel, and the indication of which mode is selected appears in the form of burning columns between the speedometer and a tachometer. In the most comfortable version, the clutch works softly, and transmission switches almost imperceptibly. If you turn on the sports option, but go slowly at the same time, then you will be tired of nod from the shocks with which SMG throws the gears. We have to help the box, pushing it, but this, you see, is no longer a careless movement on the machine.
 
In sports mode, the driver has as many as six degrees of speed of switching. The programs can be changed with a checkpoint with a checkpoint or petals behind the steering wheel. The four fifth maximum torque in the BMW M5 are reached in the range of 5500 rpm, so there is always enough traction under the pedal, even in 7th gear. When switching downwards, the engine encourages, announcing the surroundings of the bass -shaped roar, at the time of opening the clutch M5 twitches forward, and after a moment it intensively slows down by the engine - incomparable sensations.
 
SMG will not switch up independently in manual mode. The arrow will fall into the red zone, and the car will patiently wait for the driver to stop driving a fool. Automatic switching down in manual mode is left for security and comfort. Say, for overtaking you need to go from the seventh to the third. Four times to poke a finger at the petal or push the handle-the loss of time, and so-pressed the gas pedal and the kik-Down made everything necessary for you. The same when stopping, for example, at a traffic light: the box itself will put your first gear for the start.
In order to verify the ability of SMG to optimally change the gears, which is not even available to the most experienced driver, there is an entertaining function in the sports mode - the Launch Control fast start system. In a fixed car, you need to push the gearbox from you and, holding it in this position, click the gas pedal until it. The engine will immediately gain speed, optimal for a sharp start. We release the lever, and the M5 shoots forward with a perfectly adjustable slip, and SMG independently increases gearboxes, barely leading the operation of the electronic speed limiter. However, such a focus is not possible at every traffic light - the next inclusion of the Launch Control system will take place only after 4 km of path.
According to the gentlemanly agreement with other automakers, the maximum speed of the BMW M5 is limited to 250 km/h. The speedometer arrows are flattering the driver and his car, however, the projection on the windshield of our M5 once unequivocally showed numbers 261. The Bavarian gentlemen hardly violated the word. Maybe the wind was fair?
 
PHYSICAL CULTURE. Of course, the owner of the BMW M5 is unlikely to constantly experiment with the car settings and knocking with his fingers on the buttons on the central tunnel. Surely, rolling a week, he will choose two modes: one - when a car is needed as transport, the other for the notorious ambitious races. And in this, the MDRive function will come to the rescue, which is activated by the Litera M button on the steering wheel. As the hero of the artist Leonov said, now I will sparkly joke - you are pressing the button. Now all inclusive. 507 forces, the suspension is wider, a quick shift of the gears, the late threshold of DSC, a projection display and active adjustment of the seat back width - you choose the necessary from the list yourself. When you need to again find seriousness, you press the button again, and the car again acquires the steppe characteristics programmed in the Key Memory system.
Someone will not like it very much. After all, a real sports car is a whole complex of emotions born of mandatory discomfort, noise, constant fighting the steering wheel, pedals, and road surface. On M5, all emotions are not only predictable, but also essentially controlled. This is not a drawback. This is a philosophy. The car should not strain the driver, his task is to give him pleasure, ”one of the designers of BMW Motorsport GmbH told me, peering into the night distance of Lake Tegernzee. - Our clients did not become Ralphs by the Schumachers not because they have no abilities, but because it is a completely different business that they do not have time for. And at the first request, our car can remind them of this.
It is useless to argue. Twenty years ago, the first BMW M5 diverged with a circulation of only 2 thousand copies. The penultimate generation has already made ten times more owners. Elite sport turns into mass physical education. And here the main thing is not the result, but participation.
Text Dmitry Gronsky, photo BMW AG.
The five -liter engine is the main thing, but not the main difference between the M5 and other cars of the fifth series, otherwise the model could be called 550i. Although this power unit is unique for serial motor construction - the ability to spin up to 8250 rpm puts it in a par with real sports cars. Compared to the previous V8 BMW M5, it increased its power by more than a quarter.
Sports ambitions M5 are not realized to the detriment of comfort and a place for passengers or baggage. In the basic configuration, the car interior will delight you with the leather Merino of three colors - to choose from. For a fee, the skin can be covered with a torpedo, and the ceiling is draped with an upholstered. Ventilation of the driver's seat and front passenger is also an option.
The new BMW M5 is not a wolf in sheep's skin. Changed front and rear aprons, side thresholds and wider wheel arches, four exhaust pipes, aggressive gills on the front wings ... It is a pity that the gas tank remained the same-when intensive driving, a 70-liter capacity may not be enough even 250 km.
BMW M5
The engine is gasoline 10-cylinder-shaped
Working volume (cubic cub) 4999
Power (L.S. Pr and Min) 507 at 7750
Moment (nm at rpm) 520 at 6100
The rear drive
Gearbox 7-speed SMG III
Length/width/height (mm) 4855/1846/1469
Wheel base (mm) 2889
Equipped mass (kg) 1830
Maximum speed (km/h) 250
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 4.7
Average fuel consumption (l/100 km) 14.8
Price in Moscow 119,000

 

Source: "Autopilot"