BMW BLOG

Celebrating your 18th, 30th and even 50th birthday is always something special, but what about when you reach 25? Is that a reason to celebrate? Well, it apparently it is by BMW’s standards since the M5 25th anniversary event has turned into a pleasant surprise for all the BMW fans.

The already almighty E60 M5 was the start of this event, but this was no regular M5 and rather a CSL-like vehicle. Now many of you might already start picking on the naming convention, in the end CSL stands for Coupe Sport Lightweight, but let’s look past that and focus on this exciting one-off model.

The radically redesigned and upgraded V10 engine moves up on the capacity scale to 5.5 liters. To accomplish this task, the highly strung, 90-degree unit has been enlarged with a longer stroke. After this revision, the engine needs more air flow that its predecessor and an additional air intake is fitted into the space where usually the front license plate would sit.

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Along with the BMW M5 CSL and the never produced M5 Convertible, BMW unveiled to the journalists another M5 model that “didn’t make it”: M5 E39 Touring. While some photos surfaced on the web in the past, officially, no shots were ever released by M GmbH.

As part of the 25th Anniversary of the BMW M5, a few selected journalists, including our BimmerToday’s Benny Hiltscher, were invited to learn more about the M5 history. As Benny reports, the BMW M5 Touring E39 is powered by a 5.0 liter V8 engine that outputs 400 horsepower and a maximum torque of 500Nm or 368 lb-ft for those of us in the U.S.

Since some of you might wonder why such vehicle didn’t make it into production, we asked around and it appears there were some problems with the rear axle. By M standards, the dynamics of the car would have been acted differently. It was also assumed that the market for such vehicle would be relatively small.

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Well, the BMW M5 E35 Cabrio was indeed built, but it never made it into production. In 1989, Motorsport engineers developed an M5 convertible, with two lengthened front doors and seating for four. It really did come very close to production – a price of 50,000 GBP was agreed, and space was even booked at the Geneva Motor Show. But one week before its intended debut, BMW “killed” it, believing it would have led to a demand for non-M 5 Series convertibles, which might have dented drop-top 3 Series sales.”

Yesterday, in front of numerous journalists, BMW unveiled for the first time the hidden gem: E34 M5 Convertible. To mark the 25th anniversary of the M5 models, European journalists were invited at Nurburgring track in Germany. Our sister blog, BimmerToday, attended the event and captured some exclusive photos of the M5 Cabriolet.

Live virtually all convertibles built at that time, the BMW M5 E34 Cabrio has a soft fabric roof top and it is quite a looker.

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Celebrating 25 years of M5, BMW reveals today at Nurburgring an one-off BMW M5 CSL. Our german editor Benny is on-site and will report more news in the next few  hours.

BMW’s Motorsport division buils a special lightweight version of the current E60 M5. The car is being described by M division’s head of development, Albert Biermann, as “the M5 CSL we never built”.

The almighty 5.0 liter V10 engine has been modified taking its capacity up to 5.5 liters. To accomplish this task, the highly strung, 90-degree unit has been enlarged with a longer stroke.

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Sometimes, the best concepts or ideas come out of sheer necessity. Their is a void and it simply needs to be fulfilled. Then there are those who have a perfectly capable object or means, necessity no longer required, and they dare to question what if? What if we made it better, faster, stronger?….

That idea then becomes an obsession, obsession turns to passion, passion to normalcy and you question the sanity of anyone asking why? Why are you doing this, doesn’t it seem unnecessary? The answer?…. YES! It’s the joy of being able to control unnecessary and make it a reality. Then that “insanity” becomes normalcy again to you and those who surround you that learn of your passion and it becomes standard, a benchmark if you will.

That is what BMW /// M is all about.

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Our friends Kamil over at CarGuyDad just emailed us to inform that along with his friend Mike will be challenging the Cadillac CTS-V in the new marketing campaign initiated by GM: “May The Best Car Win”. Mike will be driving a 2008 BMW M5 and will compete against GM’s former vice-chairman Bob Lutz on October 29th at New York’s Monticello Motor Club.

So far, we have Jalopnik’s Wes Siler who signed up for the challenge along with a Jaguar XFR. The comparisons between the BMW M5, CTS-V and Jaguar XFR have been going on for months, both on track and straightline, but now it’s the time to show the public who is the king.

But this is not it, apparently the challenge was opened to other participants as well and anyone can sign up for it, as long as some conditions are met.

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The BMW M5 needs no introduction anymore and everyone acknowledges that the M5 has been, as Mr. Clarkson says also, “the ultimate sport saloon”….well, sedan as we call it here in the U.S.

So, Top Gear decided to take the Ultimate Driving Machine, that being the M5 for those that were in doubt, against the the newly and somewhat highly praised Jaguar XFR. But before we jump into the 7 minutes or so video, let’s review the two cars from a technology standpoint.

BMW M5: powered by the amazing and soon phased out,  5.0 literV10 S85 engine which produces 500 horsepower and redlines at 8250 rpm. Torque? 384 lb-ft(520Nm). Top speed is limited at  155 mph(250km/h). Official numbers show 0-60 mph(0-100km/h) figures at around 4.5 seconds.

Jaguar XFR: powered by a direct-injected and supercharged  5.0 liter V8 engine outputting 510 horsepower and 461 lb-ft of torque.  Jaguar let the XFR loose with a top speed of 200 mph(320 km/h) – car tested by Top Gear stops at 155 mph. Official numbers say that the XFR runs from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds.

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I have no choice but to cut off all the extra spending, entertainment, showgirls, gadgets, you name it, so I can start saving money before the next generation BMW M5 will come out in 2012. No seriously, not even kidding this time…….

I don’t often get super excited about new models, it usually takes a while for a new bimmer to sink in and be accepted by me, but the moment I saw this rendering of the F10 BMW M5, I just fell in love. The design lines are just rights, very masculine and muscular, a wide body, extremely aggressive but yet still appealing even to the most conservative BMW fans – yes, I’m one of them.

But what I love the most about this new rendering is the fact that it does NOT resemble in any way the new 7 Series. I honestly got tired of seeing all those photoshops of the next 5er being based on the bodystyle of the 7 Series.

As many people close to BMW have said, the cars are absolutely different and the only slightly similar design element are the headlights.

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Well, we have seen a lot of strange things posted on our blog in the last few years, right? I mean, we saw an orange painted M5 and a wannabe BMW, but have you ever seen a gold plated M5? I didn’t think so….neither did we.

So this gold plated BMW M5 was spotted on the roads of Moscow and quite frankly, it simply makes my head spinning just by looking at it. The  car has been creating a lot of buzz all over the web, some believe it’s an insult to a BMW car, others, more extravagant, like the show off look of this car and the yellow shine that makes it stand out.

Hopefully this one won’t be carjacked like the gold plated Porsche in Moscow last year.

As far as I myself, if I were to own a beautiful, classy M5, I think I will just leave it the way it is, no need to modify a car that has all it needs.

More photos after the jump

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One of the most popular comparisons on our blog has always been the one between the BMW M5, one of the fastest sport luxury sedans, and the runner-up from Detroit, Cadillac CTS-V, a less expensive vehicle that offers impressive performance.

The BMW M5 is powered by a 5.0 liter V10 engine producing 500 horsepower and 383 lb-ft of torque. Some drive tests revealed a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds.

The runner-up CTS-V has a far more powerful engine under the hood, a 6.2 liter V8 with 551 horsepower and 551 lb-ft of torque. 0-6o time is around 4.2 seconds.

Price difference between the two aforementioned vehicles is quite significant, the M5 tested by the folks at Cars.com has a price tag of $94,000, while the CTS-V was priced at $60,000. Now let’s see how they stack against each other.