Let’s begin with what’s not so great about the new BMW M5 because, believe it or not, there’s plenty of good stuff to discuss as well. You can probably see the obvious one: no saloon, even an electrified executive one, needs to be this large. In the UK, in the M5, it’s easy to find yourself unable to squeeze into normal gaps or sticking out of parking spaces, which is frustrating. Even against its XXL rivals, this is a big BMW: the M5 is 42mm longer, 33mm wider, 89mm taller and 75kg heavier than a Porsche Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid, another large electrified V8 luxury car with around 700hp. We all know space is at a premium in the UK, and there aren’t many occasions where a Speed Yellow M5 doesn’t feel like a banana boat in the washing-up bowl.
Furthermore, though the G90 certainly garners attention, and emphatically addresses any concerns about the last M5 being too meek, the sheer OTT-ness of the add-ons almost makes the base structure look too small, like it’s wearing something oversized - and that's from someone keen on an M3’s appearance. So merely okay feels like the design verdict for now.
Inside, there are haptic buttons - important stuff like the hybrid modes and dynamic setup - that should have been swapped out for something sturdier; they’re hard to identify when driving (exactly when something might want to be adjusted) and the piano black smears. The assortment of modes includes an Active Sound Design that makes the V8 snarl too subdued or too vocal, an unnecessary extra brake pedal setting, and a max regen setting that makes an M5 feel even heavier at the merest throttle lift. A 60-litre fuel tank just isn’t big enough for a car that covers ground this imperiously (the Porsche’s is another third larger) and will typically average high-20s mpg at a cruise. The hybrid handover can be clunky between battery and combustion power, typically at the least opportune moment - like trying to squeeze into a roundabout gap that’s only just M5-sized.
The wider point we're acknowledging is that the new M5 is not on speaking terms with perfection. Its less-than-impressive bits are certainly noticeable. Glaring even if there's a bus coming the other way. But unlike its predecessor, which well-earned the grumbles initially levelled at it, the G90 is admirable in so many other ways that to obsess over its shortfalls is to do it a disservice. Which, of course, is another way of saying we found plenty to like even when cheerfully grumbling about it. And recognises the fact that for the past quarter of a century, most M5s, despite a near constant assimilation of more weight and tech and power, have generally turned out all right in the end.
With some time to get to grips with it, the M5’s interior stands out as something special. Once you learn that plenty of the screen distractions are superfluous, the quality of what is important can really be appreciated. The lighting of parts like the Interaction Bar is stunning, the front seats superb, and the feeling of a car carefully assembled for long journeys beyond doubt. Nic C drove the car to South Wales and back (probably his millionth six-hour return journey on the M4) and said he'd rarely felt so unpunished by the experience. Naturally, it helps that everyone has so much space, yet the driving position is still so brilliantly located within it. Once M1 and M2 buttons are configured, it’s seldom that there’s much deviation from those or the pure electric drive mode, so that overwhelming anxiety of adjusting so much does subside. On the occasions the BMW Curved Display, iDrive and Operating System 8.5 need to be engaged with, it feels like one of the best: responsive, intuitive, and with very natural pinch and zoom functionality.
While the stats suggest that there’s not much in the performance between this car and the purely V8 model that weighed half a tonne less, the electrification means an immediacy to the delivery that makes real-world response feel so much sharper - and therefore easier to live with. There’s simply no delay or hesitation when the throttle is pressed, and that initial jump that never used to exist is what helps this M5 to feel so potent. Especially as there’s no real let up from the millisecond the throttle is open to the 7,200rpm limiter, the hybridised V8 hauling and hauling hard for as long as required. The eight-speed auto is improved over the unit in the M3, more willing to deliver shifts at high revs, and the sound - if muted with the ASD off - is unmistakably eight-cylinder in character. Perhaps because of the mass involved, spirited acceleration comes like a torrent, vast and unstoppable. Then it’ll cruise like a Rolls-Royce, or offer up some regenerated electricity from your hooning about to silently swish to your final destination. They’ve done a lot of good work here.
It’s not unheard of these days for manufacturers to withhold the kerbweight of a heavy new hybrid until asked, because preconceptions tend to form in the mind of whoever’s driving the car once they have such a large number to think about. It will have happened with the M5, no doubt - a 2.5-tonne (with driver onboard) M5 can’t be any good to drive. It just can’t. Well, there’s mounting evidence to the contrary: the way the latest M5 deals with a wet, bumpy British road isn’t far off brilliant. Fortunately given the perplexing plethora of settings (if M1 or M2 isn’t done yet), no mode spoils the M5; however it is configured the wheel and body control are fantastic, the grip and traction mighty, and the accuracy mostly uncanny. While the four-wheel steer can still feel a tad spooky, having the chassis set to Sport seemed to minimise the impression of a disconnect between axles, without sacrificing comfort. The rear axle still seems to grind and graunch a tad, too, probably not helped by having to steer as well as everything else - but such quirks are passed off as character when everyone likes the car. So let’s just say it’s not the end of the world.
Elsewhere, the heftier steering weight seemed to fit faster driving, as it wasn’t gratuitously hard work, with the regen typically set to minimum to avoid the lurch of more aggressive settings. The feel of the optional ceramics was very good for a hybrid, and the stopping power formidable, if still a little way from the best M cars. Probably they should be standard, rather than a £9k standalone option (or bundled into the Ultimate Pack) for something of this stature. Sport or Sport Plus seem unmissable for the powertrain, because the urgency is that addictive, and speedier shifts suit the M5 experience. This most certainly isn’t just a luxury four-door.
Certainly it rides with a plushness that eluded the early versions of the old M5, while also carving through corners with familiar disdain. Traditional M-car mischief does not immediately bubble to the surface, but it's in there somewhere, with the 4WD Sport setting still willing to lend the car as much rear bias as will realistically be required. Approach a corner too gingerly and the car gives back the same mixed messages as you’re sending it, power flung around here, there and everywhere. Commit a little more, trust that the front will bite (it always, always does), get on the gas and this feels every inch an M5, romping away from a bend with just a smudge of oversteer. It might not look it, or sound like it, or seem like it - but in its finer moments, it appears to have many bases covered; like Chuck Norris on four wheels, the G90 is full of apparently impossible contradictions that only make sense when the context has been precision engineered. So it's heavier on the scales yet lighter on its toes, more powerful than ever but also nicer to go slow in, and strange to look at while being lovely to sit in.
As BMW likely intended, this makes the hybrid M5 a phenomenal coverer of ground, and probably as close to dynamically absorbing as a luxury car gets. Even after 500 miles, it felt like there was plenty more to explore and appreciate. Complexity is never great for an initial impression, yet the slow-burn appeal seems considerable. And if all that isn’t sufficient to win you around to the idea of a plug-in M5, looking at the past does make it feel like a fairly natural evolution of recent trends. Turbochargers were added, an automatic was added, four-wheel drive was added - as the tech flagship of the four-door M range, the M5 was always likely to be electrified first. And with the first UK miles now completed, it’s an extremely convincing first effort: there's only so much arguing you can do when presented with so much space, performance, usability and technical prowess.
Moreover, while that doesn't make it the M5 we all lust after (basically an E39 that's been Dr Who'd into a modern-day persona), that saloon car cannot now exist. The one that does is certainly better than it's been given credit for so far - but, crucially, it's made to seem more appealing, too. And, in a first for an M car, it actually looks like reasonable value: even the fully loaded as-tested price here, with more than £20,000 of options, is £12k less than a standard Panamera Turbo and £35k less than a Turbo S, while the 843hp AMG GT 63 4-door starts from £180,000. On this experience, the M5 is more than good enough to take on both Mercedes-AMG and Porsche for hybrid ‘bahnstormer supremacy. Job jobbed. Bring on that Touring.
SPECIFICATION | BMW M5 (G90)
Engine: 4,395cc, twin-turbo V8, plus 18.6kWh battery and permanently excited synchronous motor
Transmission: 8-speed auto (electric motor incorporated), all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 727 (system output; engine 585@5,600-6,500rpm, motor 197@6,000rpm)
Torque (lb ft): 738 (system output; engine 553@1,800-5,400rpm, motor ‘effective torque resulting from pre-gearing' 332)
0-62mph: 3.5 seconds
Top speed: 155mph (189mph possible with M Driver’s Pack)
Weight: 2,435kg (DIN)
MPG: 27.4-27.7
CO2: 37-39g/km (42-43 miles WLTP electric running)
Price: £111,325 (price as standard; price as tested £132,670, comprising Speed Yellow Individual paint for £1,095, Mode 2 Flexible Charging Cable for £350, Ultimate Pack (M Carbon Ceramic brakes with gold calipers, front seat ventilation, roller sunblinds, Travel and Comfort System, Front and rear heated seats, Driving Assistant Professional, Parking Assistant Pro, M Carbon Exterior Styling, Anthracite Alcantara headlining, M Driver’s Pack) for £19,500
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