The BMW M5 is the firm’s flagship saloon car, offering huge levels of performance alongside lots of practicality. For this latest generation, BMW ripped up the rulebook and introduced a plug-in hybrid M5 which as well as impressive acceleration, brings scope for far lower running costs than your typical performance car.
The BMW M5 remains the heavyweight bruiser in its latest generation, though with its plug-in hybrid setup, this is a performance car which has an eco side as well.
Jack is an experienced motoring journalist who has been covering the latest new-car releases for the last 10 years.
Read bioIt’ll probably come as no surprise that buying the BMW M5 is an expensive proposition. Prices start at just over £116,000, making the M5 quite a premium choice. That price is also before any optional extras, which can quickly cause the price of the M5 to soar.
However, some M5s have filtered through to the used market. We found some examples on AA cars for under £100,000 with around 6,000 miles on the clock, while the cheapest version we could find had slipped just under £88,000. Remember, that since the M5 is a large, expensive and complex performance car, we’d always recommend checking for a full service history and a full history check could be a worthwhile option to make sure that the car hasn’t been crashed, written off or carries outstanding finance.
For its latest incarnation, the BMW M5 has switched to plug-in power. Mind you, the petrol engine at the heart of this setup has hardly been downsized - it remains a 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 that you found in the previous model, but it has now been added to by a single electric motor. Combined, you get 717bhp and an incredible 1,000Nm of torque sent to all four wheels via an automatic gearbox. That equates to a zero to 60mph time of just three seconds and a top speed of 155mph.
However, with its on-board electric battery, the M5 can also return up to 41 miles of electric power. The electric power can also be used at speeds of up to 87, so it can be full utilised at motorway speeds, too.
It’s hard to ignore the BMW M5’s sheer size when you first set off. It’s wide, and your corners feel very far away, so initially at least it can feel quite intimidating to pilot. Along narrower lanes or through city streets, you do have to be mindful of the car’s extremities, though luckily, there are plenty of cameras and sensors equipped to help out in this area.
The performance on offer is mesmerising, however. When you combine both the V8 engine and the electric motors, you get instant acceleration, and it doesn’t give up, either. It feels as though you’re getting the best properties of both combustion and electric power in one package.
The only downside to the plug-in hybrid setup is weight. Though the M5 does a good job of masking its bulk, you can start to feel it through quicker bends and you get the sense that the huge brakes are being put under immense stress when slowing the car down. However, with its clever adaptive suspension, the M5 remains very flat and composed through corners, and it’s only the car’s sheer size that you have to properly concentrate on.
It’s quite pleasant to be able to drive the M5 on electric-only power for a lot of the time, too. For instance, if you’re leaving early in the morning and don’t want to wake the neighbours with a cackle from the V8, you can silently depart on electric-only power. It also means that you can crawl through traffic without having a burbling noise constantly going on behind you.
The BMW M5’s interior will be quite familiar to anyone who has spent time in any of the brand’s latest models. That does mean that, for a car costing well over £100,000, it perhaps doesn’t feel quite as special as you might expect. However, the build quality is good throughout and there are lots of pleasant materials used in those key areas.
The interior of the M5 can feel quite dark, though, so we’d recommend opting for the optional panoramic sunroof. You could also choose a lighter-coloured interior upholstery, which helps to brighten up the interior while giving the M5 a more old-school feel.
Being a large car means that the M5 can offer a lot of space. It’s available in either saloon or Touring - BMW speak for estate - layouts, offering something for most drivers. Those after the best-possible practicality will no doubt lean towards the latter, as with its 500-litre boot it offers more load area than the 466 litres you get from the saloon. The load area in both cars is square and easy to access, and incorporates an underfloor area where you can store the charging cables when they’re not in use. Throughout the car you’ll find plenty of storage options, too, and we’re particularly fond of the large bottle pockets in the front doors.
The M5 is a big car, so everyone inside should have plenty of space. Legroom is more than adequate in the back and headroom is even on cars with a panoramic sunroof. There is, however, a large transmission tunnel which means that the person sitting in the middle rear seat may feel a little squashed.
There’s a large wraparound infotainment screen which blends together media and navigation areas with a full driver’s display. It’s here that you can interact with the M5’s various driver settings, though it feels like you need an engineering degree in order to properly navigate them. It feels as though there are a near-endless number of settings for features such as the suspension and engine, though key technophiles will no doubt enjoy this level of detail.
You may notice the bright red buttons on the steering wheel, too. These are configurable ‘M’ buttons which allow you to quickly access your desired settings. Simply use the main screen to pick your required settings for suspension and engine, save them, and then you’ll be able to select them via these red buttons instead of having to delve into the screen each time.
The M5 is only available in a single trim level for now. While there’s a good chance that a higher-powered Competition model will join the ranks soon, for now there’s just the standard M5 model to choose from. Given this car’s flagship status, there’s lots of standard equipment, including 20-inch alloy wheels, adaptive LED headlights and an automatic tailgate.
On the inside, the M5 benefits from a full infotainment system, head-up display and a premium Bowers and Wilkins sound system. Wireless smartphone charging and four-zone climate control add to what is a very extensive list of standard features.
Of course, being a BMW means that there are a variety of options to add to the M5. A highlight is the ‘Ultimate Pack’ which brings upgraded carbon ceramic brakes, carbon mirror caps and a panoramic sunroof, as well as ventilated front seats and roller blinds for the rear windows. At £18,900, it’s one of the most expensive option packs available on the M5, mind you.
There’s a great range of colours to choose from, too, though if there’s not one which is right for you, then BMW offers a full customisation service that’ll allow you to design and pick out a colour which will be unique to your car - for an additional cost, of course.
To help make parking safer, the M5 comes equipped with a broad range of assistance systems. There’s a reversing assistant camera and active park distance control, which can all help when positioning this car. You’ll also find key safety assistance systems such as autonomous emergency braking and frontal collision mitigation included as standard on this high-end performance car.
The BMW M5 is a large, complex and high-powered car, which could mean that future reliability might be an issue. BMW is well-known for making reliable cars, but the sheer level of technology included on this performance model means that there could be issues in the future. Consistent servicing and maintenance will be key to avoiding any mechanical problems.
While performance cars like the BMW M5 are usually associated with high running costs, the plug-in hybrid setup in this latest model can help to lessen this. BMW claims that you can get up to 60mpg overall, but you’ll need to be driving on electric-only power for a lot of the time to achieve this. When the battery is fully discharged, expect to get around 25mpg - though driven hard, this M5’s consumption will very quickly go up.
With CO2 emissions of between 106 and 119g/km, the M5 is far less emitting than your traditional performance car. As a result, this could be a good option for business drivers. However, with all versions of the M5 costing over £40,000, it will incur the Expensive Car Supplement, making the first five years of driving quite expensive.
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