BMW TO UNLEASH NEW M5 WITH FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE
Super-saloon is due this year with more power, grip and technology than any of its predecessors
BMW will turn 32 years of rear-wheel-drive performance car tradition on its head this year with the introduction of its first four-wheeldrive M5.
The German super-saloon is set to run a reworked version of the outgoing fifth-generation model’s twinturbocharged V8 petrol engine, producing upwards of 600hp, along with a standard eight-speed automatic gearbox.
The four-wheel-drive model is described by senior BMW officials as not only the most powerful and fastest-accelerating but also the most dynamically capable and technically advanced M5 yet.
Following an illustrious line of rear-wheel-drive-only predecessors, the new M5 is scheduled to make its world debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September.
The newest member of M division’s line-up will challenge the recently introduced 612hp twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8-powered Mercedes-AMG E63 S 4Matic and the successor to today’s Audi RS6, which is planned for introduction next year.
Although largely based on the latest 5-series, the new M5 will feature a re-engineered body structure with a number of weight-saving initiatives, including greater use of aluminium and hot-formed highstrength steel as well as carbonfibre for the roof and bootlid. The new M5 is claimed to weigh close to the 1,870kg of its predecessor despite a moderate increase in its exterior dimensions and the inclusion of the four-wheel drive hardware.
The new body structure is claimed to provide the new M5 with vastly improved torsional rigidity and the basis for a significant change in chassis tuning compared with the outgoing M5.
Visually, the new car is set apart from other current 5-series models by extensively restyled bumpers, an altered kidney grille design, wider front wings with chromed vent elements behind the front wheel arches to extract hot air from the engine bay, M-specific mirror housings, wider sills, a prominent rear diffuser element and signature quad chromed tailpipes.
Power for the new M5 comes from a heavily reworked version of today’s twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 petrol engine, which carries the S63 designation. It features a modified induction process with changes to the intercooler and new twin-scroll turbochargers for improved combustion and thermal properties.
The 90deg V8 is said to deliver greater power and torque than the limited-volume M5 Competition Package model launched as a swansong for the old M5 last year. With 600hp, that model has the distinction of being most powerful M5 yet.
For context, the most powerful variant of the latest 5-series, the new M550i xDrive, runs a milder version of the twin-turbo V8 developing 462hp.
Channelling the new M5’s prodigious reserves to the road is an eight-speed torque-converter automatic gearbox. The replacement for the existing sevenspeed dual-clutch automatic unit is based around the standard ZF-produced gearbox used in other 5-series models. Software will provide up to five driving modes, including an M Dynamic setting, accessed through buttons mounted on the steering wheel. The new gearbox is allied to a specially developed version of BMW’s xDrive all-wheel drive system, which uses a multi-plate wet clutch located in the gearbox on the output to the front driveshaft. It provides a continuously variable split between front and rear axles.
In M Dynamic mode, the four-wheel drive system is programmed to deliver 100% of drive to the rear wheels in a process similar to the drift mode made available on the latest E63 S.
With four-wheel drive providing added traction off the line, the new M5’s 0-100kph time is expected to dip well below that of its rear-wheel-drive predecessor and at least match the 3.5sec of the new E63. That would make it 0.4sec quicker than the now discontinued M5 Competition Package and an 0.8sec improvement on the standard version of the previous M5.
Top speed will again be restricted to 250kph, although an optional M Driver’s Package will enable buyers to raise it to 300kph with new engine management software and the fitment of Z-rated tyres.