BMW M5 Review & Prices

Few car nameplates are as illustrious as ‘M5’ - not just a cracking bit of motorway, but BMW’s flagship 5 Series model since 1984. The latest BMW M5 (known as the ‘G90’ generation) marks a big step forwards as it’s the first time the M5 has used a plug-in hybrid powertrain.

It’s like putting solar panels on your eight-bedroomed mansion - you’re not actually making that much difference to the planet, but you are unlocking numerous benefits for yourself and showing off how eco you are to the rest of the world. At the same time, you may well upset the purists who think a heat pump and underfloor heating is sacrilegious compared to a good old oil-fired Aga and some cast-iron radiators.

There’s nothing backward-thinking about the new M5, though it does still have a distinctly old-school heart - underneath the batteries and motors of the plug-in hybrid system sits a 4.4-litre V8 petrol engine. This produces a beefy 585hp on its own, but combined with the whole system it produces an official 727hp (more on this later) and 1,000Nm of torque.

That’s enough to give the M5 tremendous performance, despite its vast weight - at over 2,400kg, it’s heavier than a Range Rover Sport. A totally reworked suspension system with a hugely configurable set of adaptive dampers, four-wheel drive and rear-wheel steering all help to manage this weight, though.

If you’re considering a BMW M5, you’ve probably got your eyes on quite a few - all hugely powerful - alternatives. For the first time in a while, you can choose from a BMW M5 as either a saloon or a Touring (estate) model - widening its appeal, and giving it even more natural alternatives.

The most obvious is the Audi RS6, though Mercedes hasn’t yet launched its halo E-Class model yet, so only the less powerful E 53 is available. It too is a plug-in hybrid, though.

Other alternatives are numerous. There are luxury limos like the Porsche Panamera, but fans of practical performance are more than ever opting for fast SUVs these days - like BMW’s own X5 M Competition or the Range Rover Sport SV. There are even credible fully electric alternatives worth considering now, too, such as the Porsche Taycan, Audi RS e-tron GT, Mercedes EQE 53 or even the Tesla Model S Plaid.

Outside of the engine and performance upgrades, the new M5 is very similar to the regular 5 Series - it’s even available as a Touring model for those who want a bit of extra boot space. You can tell it apart thanks to its chunky makeover, though, with wide wheel arches, new air intakes and quad exhausts at the rear.

Inside, you get M-specific seats and upholstery, plus some bespoke touches to the infotainment and driver screen, but the 5 Series’ practical interior remains largely unchanged. Like the regular 5 Series plug-in hybrid, too, the M5 can be run on purely electric power, giving you the potential of some seriously low running costs - provided you can keep your foot off the loud pedal. It’s even quite a cost-effective company car, too.

In the meantime, you can check out the best BMW M5 deals on Carwow, or look for other great BMW deals here. Shop for a used BMW M5 for sale, or take a look at other used BMWs for sale. And remember, Carwow can even help you sell your old car when the time comes for car-changing.

The BMW M5 starts at more than £111,000, which isn’t bad value - no, really. An Audi RS6 is a few thousand pounds more expensive, and though the Mercedes-AMG E 53 does undercut it by a significant margin, that’s strictly speaking a car from another performance class.

The Porsche Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid is far pricier, as are any fully-electric alternatives with comparable performance. You do need to put a few options on the M5 to get the best out of it, however. Adaptive cruise control being an optional extra on a car costing more than £100,000 stings in particular, and the particularly keen drivers will want to pay around £10,000 for both the carbon ceramic brakes and the lifting of the top speed restriction from 155mph to 190mph.

Surprisingly pliant and comfortable in regular daily driving, but all that weight does impact overall fun factor

In town

The M5 is hardly any more difficult to drive in town than the regular 5 Series, and that’s very high praise. Visibility is good and the driving position is very comfortable, but what’s most impressive is that the adaptive dampers can be set to be so pliant it hardly feels as though you’re driving an M car at all.

Driving through town’s even easier when you have a fully charged battery, as the M5 is a proper plug-in hybrid - BMW claims it can do over 40 miles on a charge (though you’re more likely to see around 25-30 in the real world). That’s still ample for a cross-town commute in serene silence, and you can stay on electric power all the way up to motorway speeds too.

On the motorway

Obviously with more than 700hp to play with, the BMW M5 makes mincemeat of any motorway journey - it’s totally at home on a derestricted autobahn, after all. You’ll have no problem overtaking with impunity, or getting up to speed in the blink of an eye.

It’s a shame that adaptive cruise control is an optional extra - it comes as part of the Driving Assistant Professional pack, which is about as autonomous as cars get in the UK right now. It’ll even change lanes for you. The adaptive dampers once more keep the M5 superbly comfortable, and it’s very quiet when you have it in one of the less lairy driving modes.

On a twisty road

As ever, the duality of the M5 is that it can be a serene and practical daily driver at the same time as being able to embarrass many a supercar on a twisting back road. Though BMW claims the M5 produces 725hp, we tested it on professional equipment and measured a staggering 774hp, so it’s no wonder that when you put your foot down the acceleration is ferocious - 0-62mph takes just 3.5 seconds.

Better yet, the electric motor actually fills in all the gaps in the engine’s power delivery, which means you get relentless acceleration right up to the top of the rev range rather than it coming in fits and spurts. It also completely eliminates any lag you might feel from the turbocharger, too, so the M5 picks up instantly as soon as you put your foot down.

It even sounds great when you rev it - not always a given with modern performance cars. A word of praise has to go to the brakes, too, which have amazing stopping power - even moreso if you opt for the optional carbon-ceramic brake package.

However, the pressing issue is the M5’s weight. At nearly 2.5 tonnes, it’s actually heavier than a Range Rover Sport - part of that is down to the plug-in hybrid system, but just generally this is a very heavy car. While the M5’s myriad computer systems and trick suspension do a brilliant job of hiding that weight from the driver they also add an extra layer in between you and the driving experience and make it feel just a little bit remote.

That means that while it’s fast, corners incredibly flat and can put the power down out of corners shockingly well - it’ll even go a bit sideways if you configure the systems right - it just doesn’t feel as much fun as some alternatives. An Audi RS6 or Porsche Panamera give you a greater feeling of connection to the car, as does BMW’s own smaller M3.

The other issue is the sheer number of settings you get to play around with. Forget your normal family hatchback which may have ‘Sport’ and ‘Eco’ modes - on the M5, you have myriad settings for the drivetrain, suspension, steering, four-wheel drive and brake systems. On top of that, you have to choose how you’d like the plug-in hybrid system to deliver its power and manage its battery charge. It’s a trifle overwhelming and feels like you’re ticking boxes before you get a chance to do any actual driving.

Reasonable space inside and unchanged from the regular 5 Series - but you’ll want the Touring model for ultimate practicality

There’s not much to say about the M5’s practicality - it’s almost identical to the regular 5 Series. The difference up front comes from the sports seats, which are big, comfortable and supportive even if you’re not as whippet-thin as a racing driver.

There’s loads of adjustment in both the seat and steering wheel for drivers of all heights, though you can’t sit quite as low as you could in the previous M5 thanks to the battery pack being underneath you.

Storage up front is good, with big door bins, a pair of cupholders in the centre, and a large storage bin under the armrest. There’s also a pair of wireless phone charging pads, to make the most of the car’s wireless smartphone connectivity.

Space in the back seats

There’s not quite as much room in the back compared to the Audi RS6 or Mercedes E-Class, but it’s still plenty spacious enough for adults. Three can even sit across the rear bench - for short journeys, anyway - as the wide body affords them plenty of shoulder room.

There aren’t any map pockets in the front seatbacks, but there are large door bins, a small storage cubby in the centre and a flip-down armrest with two cupholders. There are also USB-C charging ports on the back of both front seats, and you can option a system to provide a built-in smartphone mount, coat-hanger or folding table for rear-seat occupants.

Boot space

With 466 litres of space, the M5’s boot is a little smaller than the regular 5 Series, which has 520 litres. That’s still massive compared to the measly 360 litres of a Mercedes-AMG E 53, though, and beats out the 403-litre Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid too. If you want more room, the M5 Touring has a 500-litre boot plus the benefit of that larger opening and squarer roofline for carrying larger items. It’s worth noting that this is only the same size as the M3 Touring’s boot, however, and the regular M3 saloon has 480 litres of space - more than the M5.

Comfortable and well-built but a little less luxurious than previous M5 models

Again, there are few changes here from the regular 5 Series to the M5, and most of them are focused on the driver. You do get the aforementioned sports seats, which are a great upgrade, but you also get a new, sportier steering wheel. This has a flat bottom for the first time in the M5’s history, as well as a red stripe at the 12’o’clock position. There are also a pair of paddle shifters - plastic, sadly, rather than the carbon-fibre of the previous model - and two ‘M’ buttons which allow you to call up preconfigured driving modes with one click.

You get the same two massive screens, a 12.3-inch one for driver information and a 14.9-inch one for infotainment. These are crystal clear and responsive but can be difficult to navigate around simply because there are so many settings to choose from. You can at least use the rotary selector on the centre console to avoid using the touchscreen on the move, though a set of proper physical climate controls would be better.

Build quality is good but materials feel a little less luxurious than they used to. In some places, BMW has used artificial instead of real leather, and plastic instead of carbon fibre. The big strips of ambient lighting also contribute to an overall more plasticky feel than the old M5.

As a plug-in hybrid, the BMW M5 has the potential to be extremely fuel-efficient. However, it’s also a performance car, which means it has the potential to be extremely thirsty, too. Your reality will probably lie somewhere in the middle.

If you regularly charge up and make full use of the M5’s electric range, you’ll see impressive economy, but that’s not really what this car is about. During a week with the vehicle we averaged 22.6mpg, which isn’t too bad and is about what you’d have expected from the last M5.

Where this M5 plays its trump card is that CO2 emissions are low, regardless of how much fuel you end up using. That means a more affordable first year road tax bill, and, crucially, it falls into the 8% benefit-in-kind tax bracket for company car users. If you’re a high-earning executive, the M5 could prove a cost-effective company car, attracting about a third of the yearly tax bill that the previous model did.

The M5 takes its crash safety rating from the regular 5 Series, which scored the full five stars in Euro NCAP testing. Impressive scores of 89% for adult occupants and 85% for child occupants give further weight to this car’s ‘family-friendly supercar’ persona.

It’s a shame that some of the safety kit is an optional extra - adaptive cruise control in particular - but you do get lane-keeping aids and automatic parking as standard, plus a full suite of sensors and cameras to help you avoid kerbing those pricey alloys.

A car as powerful and as complicated as the M5 isn’t going to be the most reliable thing in the world, and BMW sells too few to get an accurate picture of its reliability data. It shouldn’t in theory be any less reliable than the regular 5 Series, and does come with a three-year, unlimited-mileage warranty - that’s better than key alternatives, at least.

Keeping your M5 religiously serviced, and making sure you don’t hoon it too hard on track will be essential to its longevity.