Simply put, if engineers at BMW M had their way the M5 would not have been built in the configuration you see here. The twin-turbo F10 M5 is merely a necessary response to emissions regulations and nothing more. Now before you choke on your organically grown Oaties, ask any engineer who has worked at M division for 30 years which engine he’d prefer and he’ll tell you in his very best German accent that ‘Ja vell zis is of course ze V10’. This is how the true enthusiasts at M see it as well, most of them at heart wish they could have enhanced that V10 slayer, eeking out every last smidgen of power it had to offer. Most of all, they miss the sound of the V10 screaming its lungs out as it closes in on the 8000rpm limit – as close to the sound of a Formula One racer as production cars get.

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GET OVER IT…

That’s exactly what the engineers did after being told they would need to make a new M5, one that’s better in every department than the last while using 30% less fuel. Think of it as being told to work harder, faster and produce better results whilst having your working hours cut from nine hours a day to just six. Turbocharging was the only realistic solution, not just one turbocharger but two. Both nestle cosily between the banks of the new 4.4-litre V8 that whacks out 412kW and 680Nm of road-splitting torque. Even with the 10% increase in power, fuel economy has dropped to 9.9l/100km on the EU combined cycle. Manufacturers may have found ways to optimise EU test results by turbocharging but this doesn’t deny the fact that the numbers still bewilder the brain.

GIDDY UP GREEN BOY

All that really counts when you put your foot down hard on the right pedal of an M-badged Bavarian bahnstormer is do the stars in the sky blur out like the Millennium Falcon preparing to warp? Absolutely! Relentless is the best way to describe it. Vicious acceleration keeps coming, shoving you into the bolstered leather seats and tightening your grip on the thick M wheel. Just as you think it’s starting to peter out, a rifle shot to the kidneys plunges you back into the seat as the unbelievably fast M DCT gearbox fires off a shift. Apparently the standard 8-speed auto can’t cope with the torque wave the M5 delivers so the specialised M DCT is the only option. Three modes are accessible in the gearbox (as opposed to six in the previous model) each mode more chest-cavingly potent then the last. In launch mode the M5 will hit 100kph in 4.4 seconds, with the M package it’ll top out at 305kph and dispense with a kilometre of Tarmac in less than 22 seconds. These figures are all nonchalantly thrown around until you take into account that it weighs 1870kg.

DODGE THIS FATTY