Edmunds Track Tested: 2013 BMW M5

By Horatiu Boeriu. Read Bio
September 25th, 2012 | Videos | 24 comments

Inside line takes the 2013 BMW M5 to the track and as we have seen it recently, the review starts with the usual question: “Is the new BMW M5 still a real driver’s machine?”

With the new F10 M5, BMW has moved on from from naturally aspirated engines to a TwinPower turbocharged V8. The high-revving 4.4-liter (4395cc) turbocharged uses the BMW M TwinPower Turbo technology, twin-scroll turbochargers, high-precision direct fuel injection, VALVETRONIC variable valve control and a cross-bank exhaust manifold. The engine outputs 560 horsepower from 5,750-7,000 rpm and 680Nm (502 lb-ft) of torque from only 1500rpm.

In the InsideLine track test, the F10 M5 runs from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. Quarter mile comes in 12.5 seconds.

The conclusion: “It is still a true driver’s car, just not as much one as we hoped.”

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JRobUSC

Another stickshift test. I’m surprised magazines keep testing the manual transmission version. As much as everyone may hate to admit it the DCT is going to make up probably 90%+ of sales, so they might as well focus on testing that version since that’s the one most people will buy. The folks who want a stick don’t need to see an instrumented test — they only have two choices, the M5 or the CTS-V, so if they really want a stick they’ll buy one regardless.
Titan

0-60 in 4.5 seconds and BMW calls this piece of s*** a sports car? Nothng remains but to laugh at BMW and tell them that there are much more better car manufacturers that make far better sports cars unlike them.
- S54
  
  Car and Driver got 3.9 seconds out of a DCT version ;) Also the “unlike them” in your comment just made it grammatically incorrect ( though the rest was factually incorrect, so who cares ? ) , and highlighted your ( and all the other, incredibly sad non-BMW fans on this site ) desire to berate BMW when they receive the slightest hint of criticism from a reviewer. Also would make it more interesting if all the BMW-haters expanded the adjectives they used to describe BMW beyond “hopeless” and “pathetic”, its boring in its incessance. Off topic, I suspect many people are liking their own comments with Disqus: pathetic, and a major flaw on Disqus’ part.
  - Titan
    
    You are yourself incorrect, kid. Go and learn English at first and just then criticize others, idiot.
    - Mateo
      
      i don’t know why bmw even offers manual when whole car is made for M-DCT gearbox!
      I remember E60 M5 vs CTS-V and CTS-V was 0.5 sec faster! Why? because bmw had manual gearbox. Guy needed to slow really down and get stick into first gear! it it was SMGIII bmw would save at least a second!
      - Titan
        
        Against the crappy CTS-V maybe. But not against the mighty AMG, RS or Panamera.
      - ///MPOWER
        
        When are you “Idiots” are gonna grow up?
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zsApdoO-IU
      - Titan
        
        Very funny. Bring on Panamera Turbo S and see how badly it will rape the gayish M5.
      - ///MPOWER
        
        bring out your evidence FOOL
      - Titan
        
        Visit fastestlaps.com, draw comparison and see what the Turbo S does to your turtle-like M5, YOU GAY. Even the new Turbo easily eats the useless M5 for dinner.
      - ///MPOWER
        
        JACKASS, I mean that you provide vivid evidence “VIDEO” as like i do. and this website don’t even justified my request.
Anatoly

As far as I see BMW completely lost their grip. No they can’t boast about anything, because performance-wise Audi kicks their ass badly. And this new M5 is another testimony to BMW’s hopeless and pathetic situation.
As for me, I switched to Audi. After test driving the new 550i and the A6 3.0TFSI I was astonished how easily and hopelessly the A6 (having about 90hp less!!!!!) outrun and destroyed the 550i both performance-wise and handling-wise. So I don’t regret at all. I wish BMW bad luck with their foolish and incompetent approach to car-building.
Auto Reviewer

The most interesting fact is that this year there hasn’t been a single review that would give positive opinions about BMW’s tested or a win to BMW vs competitors (and it speaks for something serious). And that testifies to the fact what BMW became. Just an outsider of the automotive world. And that’s why Audi easily almost overtook them in sales figures this year and will likely have become the best-selling premium brand in the world by 2013 at latest.
- JRobUSC
  
  that’s not true at all. The new 3-Series has absolutely demolished the competition in every test I have seen, and the “also ran” reviews you’re talking about with other models (like the 5-Series, for example) has been limited almost exclusively to U.S. magazines. In Europe it’s the exact opposite, with the 5-Series (and the 3-Series) cleaning up in test after test. Top Gear, who typically hates BMW’s, said the new 5-Series was the best car on the road, and Jeremy Clarkson of all people said the new M5 was the best vehicle ever made. Seriously, look it up. European mags are tripping over themselves to fawn over BMW’s.
  
  As for Audi, hey, Audi very well may overtake BMW, but it won’t be because of A6′s or A8′s, it’ll be because of A1′s, A2′s, and A3′s. They get hundreds of thousands of sales per year from those cars, and BMW has nothing comparable right now, preferring to let the Mini line compete with the A1′s and A2′s (and in the U.S. with the A3). Why do you think BMW is so eager to jump in with new sub-models to compete with the A1/A2 and A-class/B-class? Because there’s volume there. Audi and Benz have been reaping the sales from it, BMW has not. But they will be. They’re not just handing over the sales crown.
  - Auto Reviewer
    
    The A1, A2 are still premium vehicles just like Mini. So your point has no sense. Audi isn’t to blame for that BMW engineers don’t have balls to make a worthy competitor to the A1, cause they know they’ll be humiliated once again.
    - JRobUSC
      
      Right, thank you for proving my point even though you didn’t mean to. BMW already HAS vehicles to compete with the A1/A2 in the Mini, but those sales don’t count towards BMW’s sales figures. Frankly I think it’s stupid for BMW to have to come out with a BMW-branded vehicle that will compete against its own Mini line, but since really smart people like you are so caught up in the overall sales numbers instead of actually understanding where they come from, they will.
      - Auto Reviewer
        
        The sales numbers prove everything. And right now Audi is nearly at the top. Mini isn’t a BMW brand, so we don’t count them. And the A1 beats the pathetic Mini with all respects. So Audi wins forever!!!!1
        BMW? Yes, the brand with the lowest quality ever known. Just gently hit a pothole, and you’ll have to change everything that’s on the front of the car. I had that experience with my E39 523i.
      - JRobUSC
        
        ah, you’re one of “those” people. I’m not sure why you’re even on this site. My meaningless truths are no match for your glorious logic and well thought out arguments. Congratulations, sir. You win. Here’s your sign.
      - ///MPOWER
        
        Help me to understand what your point is, is this about Unit sales or Performance quality?
    - ///MPOWER
      
      Suck on this you fools, when i speak i provide evidence for my claim, you fool’s just talk and talk with nothing behind it. this is your god get his under steering ass murdered. All the journalist that conduct Reviews on the New BMW’s do not go through test like this that push the cars to their limits, they just present their own opinion “which cannot acknowledge a complete agreement”. This is how a review is done!
      
      I can put my life on the line that if all testing was done like this you audi fool’s would have to keep quiet
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
      - Titan
        
        Unlike you, they are professional reviewers. And all the reviewers unanimously say that Audi is faster than BMW. So you have to admit the truth, pathetic dreamer.
- ///MPOWER
  
  Have this for Dinner you Audi FOOL.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmTj0wr4bxQ
  - Titan
    
    And what? A review by a woman? That’s all you can count on, idiot. Even the S6 wins comparison tests against the pathetic M5. I can just imagine what the upcoming RS6 will do to this gayish M5.
Rick

What?! It’s a bit quicker than the old M5?! No, it pulverizes the old M5…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qP7QxudHPk

“It is still a true driver’s car, just not as much one as we hoped.”

What kind of BS conclusion is that? It’s like saying: Yeah sure it’s the best but just not as much as we hoped. Then what the hell were you hoping for? A Ferrari or a Porsche? It’s a sedan!

But at teh end of the day this is the benchmark. Remember when teh E92 M3 came out? Every journo was bitching about it. That it didn’t had the feeling as the E46 and all. And listen to them now. They can’t stop raving about the M3 and that it’s the benchmark for so many different cars…So there you go…