BMW M550i
BMW M550i €82,700
WE SAY: FOREVER IN THE M5’S SHADOW, BUT A SUPERB DARK HORSE
If you’re a glass-half-full person, it shows the breadth of ability of the new 5-Series that BMW’s launched in the same month – at the same event, no less – a hybrid, low-CO2 version that you can read about opposite, and this here 4.4litre, 462bhp bi-turbo V8 M550i that’s unfashionably above the 200g per kilometre habit. Half-empty glassers will shout hypocrisy and probably mention that a Tesla is faster and greener than both. I think the rest of us would rather get on and fnd out what the fastest Five you can buy (unless you’re a Brit, because no UK sales are planned) – until the new 600bhp M5 arrives – is actually like.
Fast, obviously. But faster than the outgoing M5 is a bit of a shock. Thanks to standard AWD and perhaps BMW’s best execution yet of its 8spd paddleshift auto gearbox, the M550i rockets to 62mph in a claimed 4.0secs – four tenths ahead of the supersaloon old guard despite being almost 100bhp down. It sears of the line, a party piece all the more delicious for the Five-Fifty’s Q-car status. Where an M car is all swaggering arches and gaping bumper bravado, the M Performance bridesmaid version is a dead ringer for a regional manager’s 520d M Sport.
The noise isn’t a giveaway either. Bit disappointing? Perhaps. Plenty has been left on the table for the M5. Thumb the starter and there’s a brief V8 thhrrumble before the revs settle into a professional hum. But the V8’s baritone is always restrained. No crackles on the overrun, only the merest whump on the upchange. No histrionics of a marketing department eyeing a viral social media win.
Caveat time: winter tyres hamstrung our M550i because the Germans were wary of some intermittent snowstorms around Munich. That said, it steers faithfully and accurately, and it’ll neutralise its balance by pushing power to the rear, then leap from bends.
Just remember to lift back of before speed becomes liberty-threatening. It is rapid point to point, with quicker throttle response, sharper turn-in, and a more rounded character than a Mercedes-AMG E43. That’s merely a big comfy Merc barge with a naughty but incongruous motor. The Five’s feels more honed, with a bit more M Division blood in its veins than the E43 has AMG in its system.