Driving the BMW M5: unleashing hybrid power with unmatched comfort

There are some cars that feel like they want to put you into the hospital when driving fast, and then there are those that give the impression you’re on an easy drive to buy bread and milk.

The BMW M5 is one of those cars.

This thing is lightning quick with a sound to match, and after 40 years, BMW have now made the most powerful M5 yet.

Big numbers

For what is essentially a family sedan, the numbers are rather intimidating, and because it’s a plug-in hybrid, it’s also a new energy vehicle.

And hats off to the engineers back in Germany who have slotted in the same technology as the BMW M Hybrid V8 endurance racing car.

This M5 combines its twin turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 with 430kW and 750Nm and an electric motor with 145kW and 280Nm fitted with a pre-gearing stage that allows effective torque at the transmission input to be increased to 450Nm, so the net result is 535kW and 1 000Nm.

It will get to 100km/h in 3.5 seconds and has a top speed of 305km/h if you dare.

Power is sent to all four corners via an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission.

The 18.6kWh battery can propel the M5 up to 140km/h, provide a range of 67-69 kilometres and on a 7.4kW charger takes three and a half hours to charge.

Exterior

There’s not much subtlety about the styling either.

It has large vents, enormous kidney grille with slots that send air to cool the hybrid system, beefy fenders housing 20-inch front and 21-inch rear alloys and M5 logos embossed on the C pillar, bootlid and quad tailpipes.

Bright red brake callipers on the ventilated disks, bootlid spoiler and the optional carbon fibre reinforced roof fitted to our test unit, shout performance very loudly.

Interior

The M treatment continues inside with M multifunction seats that hug you when things get hairy and sit uber comfortably when cruising.

It gets the BMW curved display, head-up display with M-specific content, and it has a newly designed flat-bottomed M leather steering wheel with M colour stitching, red 12 o’clock stripe and illuminated M1 and M2 buttons. 

Despite its aggressive nature, it’s still a sedan, shown by the comfortable rear seats and ample legroom.

Setting up and configuring the M5 to best suit your driving style in any given situation is a bit of a palaver, but with so many options, that’s understandable.

A mate and I played around with gearshift patterns, suspension set-up, steering, exhaust note, energy recovery, rear wheel steering, power distribution and safety systems, and he remarked that it was not dissimilar to a gaming console that his son spends more time with than school books.

Once you’ve decided on your desired set-up, the M1 and M2 buttons serve as shortcuts.

Driving

Driving the M5 requires every ounce of self-control you have because what’s not to like about flinging it around with carefree abandon on a quiet stretch of road that’s not pot-holed scarred.

Fortunately, there aren’t many of those around, so I was mainly restricted to our usual routes except that I had a passport appointment in Carltonville.

Don’t ask, it’s home affairs, is the only explanation I can provide.

That’s a 260 kilometre round trip, and what better way to enjoy it than in an M5?

It also gave me an opportunity to play around with the various settings and driving modes.

Comfort Mode with the hybrid system in eControl gets as much energy back into the battery as possible. Hybrid changes drive between electric and ICE, and switching to Dynamic or Dynamic Plus keeps the drive and cooling optimised for when you stomp on the throttle.

There were one or two occasions that I did exactly that, and the glorious sound from the tailpipes, some of it piped into the cabin, adds an enormous fun factor to the drive. 

Pedestrians and bystanders also seemed to enjoy it, and on more than one occasion, I was asked to rev the car, with a few taking out their phones to record it. 

On the way back, I made a slight detour to a fast, twisty section of road I know, just because I could.

Selecting everything to maximum, the M5 becomes a special kind of car.

Electric torque sends you on your way instantly, and the sharp gear changes thump you into the seat with a large grin on your face.

Steering is a bit too light, but it grips hard and fast with the integral active steering that turns the rear wheels, providing confidence for the sharp corners 

At 2 435kg it’s a heavy lump thanks to the hybrid system and you can feel the adaptive M suspension with electronically controlled dampers doing their thing as well as the brakes gripping crazily to slow it down. 

With that done and back into Comfort on the N14 with adaptive cruise control, the M5 is like one of those children where butter wouldn't melt in their mouth.

Sedate, comfortable and in its place.

Some purists may point to the fact that the new BMW M5, priced at R2 765 000, is too heavy and tech-laden.

That may be, but when a V8 is conjoined with modern technology, it breeds something special.