Not a comeback, please. The BMW M5 has been available for a while. But the most recent model is shocking its contemporaries and striking fear into the hearts of rival sports sedans. With its twin-turbo V-8 producing more than 600 horsepower, the 2020 M5 accelerates with unrestrained intensity. For drivers who prefer to hang out the back, the standard all-wheel-drive system may even transfer all that power to the rear wheels. In fact, BMW has revived a classic that was all but forgotten. The M5 is still a large, high-tech luxury car, but it now also has a manic side that the company’s legendary M division has been lacking lately.
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Performance – Engine, Transmission, and Other
The base model of the M5’s twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 produces 600 horsepower. This number rises to 617 horses in the Competition, which is more track-focused. We took the Competition’s V-8 to a dynamometer since we thought it had considerably more power than that; there, our concerns were confirmed. Additionally, we’ve fastened our testing equipment to both the standard M5 and the Competition version. Both exceeded our expectations because to their incredible stopping power, sports-car-like cornering grip, and brutally rapid acceleration. The Competition also demonstrated its superiority over the standard M5 during the 2019 Lightning Lap competition on the Grand Course at Virginia International Raceway. The M5 faithful will bemoan the removal of the manual transmission and all-wheel drive, but this BMW features a high-tech drivetrain that can direct all of the torque to the rear wheels for thrilling performance. Here, lively, precise steering and a well-controlled, albeit harsh ride improve driving enjoyment. This does not imply that the M5 cannot serve as a luxury sedan as well: It travels serenely on Comfort mode, the interior being eerily quiet.
How much quicker is the BMW M5 in AWD mode compared to RWD mode?
These days, super sedans are so potent that all-wheel drive is a requirement. Some vehicles, like the BMW M5 Competition, feature sophisticated AWD systems that allow the driver to send power just to the rear wheels if they so desire.
Tyre Reviews, a YouTube channel, had the chance to test drive an M5 Competition on a track in order to evaluate its performance metrics in rear- and all-wheel drive modes. Tyre Reviews was curious to know whether a car like the new M5 is fastest with power routed to the rear or all four wheels.
Acceleration runs in rainy conditions open the test. The best 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) time was a sluggish 8.6 seconds on the best of three laps because it is hard to smoothly and linearly transfer all of the M5’s 600+ horses to the pavement in rear-wheel drive mode. It reached 60 mph in 4.0 seconds while the drivetrain was in conventional AWD mode, but only 4.1 seconds when it was in AWD Sport mode.
The AWD mode still won in dry conditions, accelerating the BMW M5 to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds as opposed to 3.0 seconds for the AWD Sport mode and 3.8 seconds when left in rear-wheel drive mode. The results were closer but the AWD mode still won.
Different lap timings were also recorded in both dry and rainy circumstances. The vehicle recorded a timing of 53.1 seconds in rear-wheel drive, 50.8 seconds in AWD S, and 50.7 seconds in AWD on the congested track in the wet weather. The M5 recorded times of 1:11.4 in rear-wheel drive, 1:09.7 in AWD S, and 1:09.8 with all-wheel drive on a dry track.
Does the BMW M5 perform better on the track in RWD or AWD mode?
The debate of the century is undoubtedly whether rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive is preferable for track times. While it’s very evident that having all-wheel drive makes a difference in drag racing, things are a little different on the racetrack. With a BMW M5, the Tyre Reviews team set out to investigate that.
The choice of the BMW M5 wasn’t arbitrary. The M vehicle now has all-wheel drive for the first time, and thanks to the mechanism it employs, it can switch to RWD mode at the push of a button. Therefore, this is as good as it gets for controlling the majority of factors. In order to ensure that the only variable changing between runs is where the power is applied, the test also attempted to use the same driver, track, and tires for comparison.
However, the film explores more than simply lap times; it explores a number of circumstances, revealing some striking variations in the times reported. As an illustration, the testing process begins with a wet, standing start acceleration test. Additionally, all-wheel drive is also helpful in these circumstances. The amount? The fastest time in RWD mode was 8.6 seconds, while the fastest time in AWD mode was 4 seconds.
The difference was less pronounced but still discernible in the dry. The M5 managed a best time of 3.8 seconds for the 0-60 mph launches in RWD mode, but adding launch control and AWD reduced that time by over a second. In terms of lap time, the 4WD Sport setting improved upon RWD and 4WD modes, albeit the latter by a slight margin. This would unquestionably support the obvious finding that having all-wheel drive will be beneficial.
The BMW M5 received all-wheel drive when?
Competition M5 (F90 LCI) In 2017, BMW unveiled the sixth iteration of the M5, the first M5 to be offered with an all-wheel-drive system. It was updated in 2020 and offered with the Competition package.
A 4WD BMW M5?
Although we expected it to drive all four wheels, we did not anticipate the new xDrive technology, which enables instantaneous switching from four-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive. Ahoy, technological wizardry!
We anticipated it, and now it’s official: the upcoming BMW M5 has all-wheel drive. But fear not, ye devoted followers of rear-driven M-cars, for it is a new, switchable system.
The M5 will have a driver-selectable M xDrive system with three driving modes: 4WD, 4WD Sport, and 2WD. The final of the three modes entirely disables the front axle, whereas 4WD Sport distributes more torque to the back wheels and for some moderate drifting without completely negating the traction advantages of the system.
We had to anticipate the new M5 to follow suit after reporting that the semi-M 5 Series was already quicker than the old M5 thanks to four-wheel drive, but we must admit that we weren’t anticipating this.
Timo Glock, a working DTM driver for BMW, appears to have been involved in the final approval of the vehicle. He said the following, probably while being prodded by the marketing division with a stick:
“I frequently travel long distances and my family needs a lot of space, but I wouldn’t want to forgo the opportunity to experience the car’s sporting character.
Because I live in Switzerland, the new BMW M5 not only offers me something I really appreciate: a noticeable boost to traction and controllability – even when driving in particular environmental conditions, like wet weather and snow, and in both everyday driving situations and when pushing the car to its performance limits.
The 4.4-litre TwinPower turbocharged V8 engine from the outgoing car has been improved, and while BMW claims it produces more power and torque than before, it hasn’t provided specific numbers. At least it informs us that it is much faster than before, at least in the 0-62 mph and 0-124 mph sprints.
The optimum type of rear diff arrangement is theoretically an Active M Differential, which can alter its locking effect from zero to 100% and distributes power across the rear wheels. Even in the mildest levels, according to BMW, a tiny amount of rear-wheel slide is always conceivable. This is good news because the car starts in the basic 4WD mode by default.
Other improvements include a reworked eight-speed automatic transmission with quicker shifts and better behavior at low speeds, and a head-up display that is 70% larger. It has steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters and can do numerous downshifts at once, which not all automatics can. We are eager to obtain the performance information.
A M3 with all-wheel drive is available.
BMW provides both rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive versions of the new M3 Competition. The xDrive variant should be faster because to its AWD, but CarWow lined up both versions and put them head-to-head to see if that was really the case.
Evidently, the same 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six engine, paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission, powers both variants. It produces 503 horsepower and 479 lb-ft (650 Nm) of torque.
CarWow’s tests revealed that the M3 Competition xDrive not only accelerates more quickly than a rear-wheel drive vehicle, but also launches more easily and delivers more reliable performance. In contrast, the rear-wheel drive vehicle requires significantly more effort to control traction, which is once again unsurprising.
The M3 Competition xDrive completed the quarter-mile in 11.3 seconds as opposed to the rear-wheel drive model’s 11.6 seconds at the completion of the best-of-three drag races. The two then engage in a few rolling drag races while each is in a comfort mode.
In addition to weighing about 50 kg (110 lbs) less than the xDrive model, the rear-wheel-drive M3 Competition also features lower drivetrain losses. As a result, in both races, it defeats the xDrive variant.
Which of the two would you like to own, then? We’d have a hard time deciding, but we’d definitely go with the xDrive because it’s more adaptable to a variety of driving situations and because, if you want to have some additional fun, you can actually drive it just in rear-wheel drive mode.
A BMW M5 is it AWD?
F90 M5 (2017-present) (2017-present) The F90 M5 is the first M5 that is not rear-wheel drive and is based on the G30 5 Series. It has an all-wheel drive (“xDrive”) drivetrain. The all-wheel drive system, however, favors the back wheels.
What rivals the BMW M5?
The last day of operation for Wicked Twister was September 6, 2021. The roller coaster, a centerpiece of Ohio’s Cedar Point amusement park, debuted in 2002 with a novel concept: rather than sending riders around a loop, it would blast them out of a station at zero to 72 mph in 2.5 seconds and up a 215-foot-tall vertical, spiral track using linear induction motors.
The motors on the 32-seat train then propel it in the other direction through the station, propelling it backward up a mirror-image tower on the other side. Instead of looking like the wooden coaster on the preceding pages, the track resembles a pair of enormous, misshapen yellow goal posts. Lines like “Guests must have a minimum of three working extremities” are among Wicked Twister’s warnings. That kind of ride suits us.
And what better way to get there than in a four-door sedan powered by a 600-hp V-8 if you’re going to make the trek to ride a soon-to-be-decommissioned roller coaster? A trio of them, the 2021 Audi RS7, 2021 BMW M5 Competition, and 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing would be even better. In a recent C/D comparison test of raked-roof four-doors, the 591-hp Audi defeated the BMW M8 Competition Gran Coupe and Mercedes-AMG GT63 S, proving its reliability. This time, we chose to compare the Audi against more traditional sedans in its pricing range. The 617-hp M5 and 668-hp Blackwing are now available. For 2021, the M5 received several beneficial updates, such as new Track mode and adjusted dampers, while the Blackwing is a brand-new model that takes the place of the CTS-V. We also invited the Mercedes-AMG E63 S, but Benz was unable to provide a vehicle; as a result, it and other V-8 Mercedes may miss the 2022 model year. Maserati had better judgment than to plunge a Ghibli Trofeo into this grinder.
We somehow made our way into Cedar Point and waited patiently for our time for Wicked Twister, ignoring the drifting and donut possibilities of the park’s enormous empty outside parking lots. It didn’t let me down; you can tell a good ride when the attendant seizes loose-fitting shoes before it departs. We rode a ton of other things after being Wickedly Twisted, such as the 93 mph Millennium Force and the barrel-rolling Maverick, in order to prepare ourselves for the g-forces that were shortly to be given by forced-induction V-8s and enormous, sticky tires. Yes, taking more rides was the sensible course of action.
In a theme park, leaving through the exit gates is typically a letdown. However, we had a car with 24 cylinders and 1876 horsepower in the parking lot, and we had a plan to travel a great distance home via the Hocking Hills region of southern Ohio’s winding highways. It’s not like there are genuinely any losers here, one tester said as they looked at our loaded trio of four-doors. We did, however, all settle on a favorite ride.