Test drive BMW M5 F10 since 2011 sedan

All photos of the BMW M5 F10 since 2011

Extremum

As practice shows, the engine capacity is 250-280 hp. In most cases, it is enough to disperse any passenger car (not counting SUVs) to the treasured mark of 250 km/h, after which the limiter usually works: not everyone is capable of driving a car without special training.
It turns out that car progress should stop: why release more powerful motors when the maximum speed of almost all cars is the same? Finding an explanation of the paradox of this arms race cannot be found in technical dictionaries and reference books. But since there is a demand for powerful cars and there will be a proposal. It comes mainly from a large German three: Mercedes, BMW and Audi. These guys, like circusages, juggle with power, as they want, annually releasing more and more powerful cars on the market.
In 2003, Mercedes presented the charged sedan of the E 55 AMG business class with a compressor 476-horsepower

motor. A year later, Audi responded with a turbocharged RS6 with a capacity of 450 hp. With all -wheel drive. Of course, the Bavarians could not remain silent, and their answer was a new M5 sounded like a thunder among a clear sky: 507 hp, removed from a five -liter atmospheric engine. BMW has long been used exclusively by racing technologies that allow you to create high -speed engines with incredible dedication for a long time. In addition to the stunning motor, BMW specialists have developed a sequental transmission of the third-generation SMG, which was created in the image and likeness of Formula 1 gearboxes. Recall that competitors are content with traditional automatic machines.
To count the external differences between the BMW M5 from the usual sedan of the 5th series, sufficient fingers of one hand. This is a front bumper with a large air intake and the rear with a powerful diffuser, creating a clamping force, 18-inch wheels of different widths and exhaust system with four pipes, a branded line of all M5, which can easily be confused with a regular five, especially if the sedan is equipped with a branded m-packet. In the cabin, the difference is also little noticeable. It is worth noting only convenient chairs in which you can drive at a wheel for more than one hour without a hint of fatigue, and a system for projection of information from the instrument panel on the windshield, which is also available on ordinary five.

The differences in the technical filling are much more significant. The five-liter engine has 10 cylinders (as in formula 1 sample 2005), and the already mentioned sequential gearbox SMG III Drivelogic 7-speed. To warn the driver from excessive power, it will not be easy to cope with the beginner, in the menu of the Idrive system you can choose a limited operating mode of the P400 motor, in which the engine develops only 400 hp. If you feel the strength to saddle the M5 without discounts, then there is a P500 mode in stock: in it, the motor honestly gives out all its 507 hp, as well as P500 Sport, which is characterized by faster and acute gas reactions. In addition, it is necessary to decide on the choice of one of the five speeds of the gearbox and three switching algorithms: drive, Sport and Manual. The productivity of the steering hydraulic power steering and suspension hardness (EDC system) are also regulated.
After listing all the M5 settings, it may seem that we have not a sports car, but plasticine from which it is possible to fly out any car to their own taste. However, this impression is erroneous, because under any selected mode, the power of the motor makes itself felt.

To begin with, I decide to choose the most modest option: a 400-horsepower engine, a comfortable suspension, and I transfer the gearbox to the softest mode. The M5 is smoothly touching, but the suspension is not hidden at the sporting rigidity of the suspension, the rolls are minimal, and low -profile tires track the relief of the road in detail. The first switching makes you nod your head forward to the shift of the gears is depressingly slowly, like on machines with robotic boxes.
I translate the transmission by the selector button to a faster switching mode in a slow comfortable driving is clearly not possible. In the third of the five provisions, the situation improves, but for complete interaction with the machine there is not enough reactive force on the steering wheel, and therefore the EDC system is also converted into normal operation. Now, managing the M5 has become much more pleasant: a modern adequate car with a moderately stiff suspension, but an unusual gearbox. Switching cannot be called stretched, but they do not reach the clarity of modern machines. The transfer of the motor into the R-500 mode also dramatically does not change anything: you can feel the difference in acceleration dynamics only with very sharp accelerations.

Unable to refuse the temptation to evaluate the entire potential of the M5, I activate the sports regime P500 Sport, and I reduce the transfer time to the minimum. According to factory data, this is 65 milliseconds, or twice as fast as in the Ferrari F430 transmission, and almost as fast as on Formula 1 car-there the transmission of the gears occurs over 40-50 ms. The next start from the place and again the misfire, despite the fact that under the wheels of dry asphalt, wide rear tires are not able to realize the high potential of the motor, the wheels are scrolling, and the DSC stabilization system limits the engine power, preventing it from breathing in full chest. Another button and electronics are left overboard. This is a real Emka! The first two drives of the wheels are too constantly, and the position of the machine has to be adjusted with the steering wheel, otherwise it is not long and before the turn. In the acceleration, a tear is felt, because transfers switch to the maximum 8500 rpm. M5 shudders from the most severe blows in the transmission, and the driver with the whole body feels the hurricane power of this road car. Probably, similar sensations are experienced by Formula 1 pilots. Even when the speed exceeds 200 km/h, a decrease in the dynamics is practically not noticeable at high speed, you feel a power of 500 hp, the machine does not feel either its weight or aerodynamic resistance and flies forward, like an arrow released from onions. But from strong shocks in the back, when switching speeds, a feeling of drunk acceleration, characteristic of Mercedes or Audi, is lost.

In sports mode, the suspension becomes completely stiff, the rolls are reduced to a minimum, but the bumps are transmitted to the body in all details. With such settings, the M5 is suitable only for racing. Unlike BMW competitors, it is still refraining from the use of ceramic brakes, limited to traditional cast iron, but this is quite enough. Their huge area allows you to effectively slow down the machine with maximum intensity as many times as you like. It seems that these brakes are completely alien to overheating.
In a word, it is useless to wait for a calm driving from the M5 with almost any setting. The machine is created for an extreme race on the verge of a foul, and any delay in its essence. The traction capabilities of a highly phoned motor in the low and medium -speed zone are not so great, as expected from five liters of working volume. By the way, it is better to switch transmissions with calm driving in manual mode, selector or keys on the steering wheel, this allow the use of the box with an average speed of work and at the same time avoid clinks.
Returning the M5 to the salon, I felt a slight feeling of annoyance, like a child who was promised to give a fundamentally new toy, and in return they slipped albeit improved, but old. Of course, the M5 is a unique car that opens a simple mortal road to real racing technologies. At the same time, its price is at least half as much as that of the Ferrari F430 similar in power. On the racing highway, such as the legendary nourburgering, the M5 will surely be much faster and more sports than most road machines and will be able to compete with supercars. In the city, the city is simply nowhere to realize the potential of Emka in the stone jungle. Alas, autobans where you can feel all 500 hp. Under the hood, we have not yet been built. It remains to chase on the M5 on the ring tracks, but in the suburbs there is so far only one track, and even that is small. Therefore, choosing a fast car for the city, I would rather dwell on the BMW 550I version. At a power of 367 hp She in acceleration to a hundred loses M5 less than a second (5.6 versus 4.7 s), and the maximum speed is completely the same. But she has a comfortable machine gun, a softer suspension, and the price is only 73,000. And the remaining 50 thousand is just enough to build a decent racing machine.
Leonid Pavlov