Wow!
I went to my local BMW dealer today to pick up a $3.00 thermostat housing o-ring. On my way out, I took a stroll through the showroom to see what they had in there. Lo and behold, they had an E60 M5! Luckily, I had my digicam in my car, so I ran out to get it and snap some shots. When I came back in, a saleswoman approached me and asked me what she could help me with. I thanked her but replied that I was just looking around. She gave me one of her cards and asked me again if I was sure there was nothing that she could help me with. I replied that I was just taking a look at the M5 and was going to snap some pictures. She surprised me when she replied that she would get the key so that I could sit in it and check it out. As we were sitting in this amazing car, she told me the what the story was behind it. The car has 1500 miles on it and is therefore obviously being sold as a used car. The original owner ordered the car and drove it for about a month before he decided that he didn't really like the car in black and ordered another one in a different color!!! So, it's was a trade-in with only 1500 miles.
What happened next was truly amazing. She asked me if I would like to take it for a drive. I just laughed at her. She looked at me with a serious look on her face and said, "No, I'm serious - would you like to take it for a drive." I laughingly said "Yes" since this car was parked behind about 4 other cars in the showroom. She went to make a copy of my drivers license and recruited help to move the 4 other cars that needed to be moved to get the M5 out. While she was doing this, I was certain that the sales manager was going to put an abrupt stop to this when he caught wind of the fact that all these cars were being moved out of the showroom so that a 24 year old guy could test drive the $92,000 M5 that I clearly wasn't going to buy. On the contrary - the sales manager came along with us so that he could show me all of the features of the SMG and how to operate the different modes since the saleswoman was unfamiliar with it.
I stood back with what the saleslady described as "the biggest grin she's ever seen" as the M5 was started up and moved out of the showroom.
When I got into the car, the first thing that the sales manager said to me was not the "Are you really serious about buying this car" that I expected him to say. Instead he told me, "Drive the car however you want - if you want to wind it out, wind it out. Make sure you press the "Power" button first so that you have all 500 hp. Really, we don't mind if you want to see what she really can do." At this point, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Enough already with the blabber you say? So what was it like? In two words - freakin' incredible! This car is truly unlike anything I've ever driven. It is a fantastically amazing car.
I'll start with what's bad since that's a short list - the worst thing about it is the sound at idle. Inside the car, it's perfectly quiet at idle. However, outside, it truly sounds like an old diesel VW Rabbit clanging away. I have no idea why it sounds the way it does, but the exterior sound at idle is really unexpected. The other thing that is bad is the I-drive. I won't go into it since it's been debated to death in the past. Suffice it to say that this was my first time using I-drive, and I found it to be really counterintuitive.
What's good? ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ELSE! The seats are amazingly comfortable and supportive. The gauges are nice and clear and the 8200 rpm redline and 200 mph speedo make you smile everytime you look at them. The ride is pretty stiff. You really feel most of the bumps and irregularities in the road. However, I didn't find it to be excessively stiff and certainly not uncomfortable. I'm sure that some people who are used to a cushier ride in a 525i would probably not enjoy the stiff ride of the M5, but since I really love to feel the road with a stiff ride, I really enjoyed the ride feel of the M5. It is amazingly quiet inside at cruise speeds. As you can imagine, the handling is incredible. The steering is absolutely wonderful. The steering wheel is nice and thick and fills the palm of your hand. The steering is very direct and gives you good feedback. Again, some probably wouldn't like the amount of road vibration that feeds back through the steering wheel, but I loved it. The brakes are pretty good, but I have to say that I actually expected a little more in the brake department, especially given the gargantuan appearance of the discs when you look at them through the wheels. There were a few times that the pedal felt alot softer than I expected and required more pedal travel than I expected. I can't really put my finger on it, but something with the brakes just didn't feel quite right. As you can imagine, the powertrain is simply phenomenal. To sum up the powertrain in one sentence: It feels like the culmination of thousands of years of human engineering has resulted in this engine and transmission. This engine and tranny is truly the pinnacle of human engineering. The sound - ohhhh, the sound. There is nothing mechanical in this world that sounds better than this engine climbing from 5000 to 8000 rpm. It is absolutely breathtaking. And the speed - the speed is almost scary. The eagerness of this car to accelerate is unbelievable. Additionally, this was my first time behind the wheel of an SMG equipped car. I loved it - the speed of the shifts, the smoothness, and the ease of use are amazing. The downshifting ability is where the SMG truly shines. I found myself downshifting constantly just so I could hear that V-10 rev-match. It is truly a marvel of engineering. If I was buying an M-car, I think I would forgo the manual for the SMG. I really loved it. By the way, the sales manager told me that next model year, a full manual will be available here in the US.
In summary, this car is truly amazing - I have never been able to attain such speed so quickly yet feel so comfortable and in-control of a car. This car truly has the whole package.
Me with the keys:
I went to my local BMW dealer today to pick up a $3.00 thermostat housing o-ring. On my way out, I took a stroll through the showroom to see what they had in there. Lo and behold, they had an E60 M5! Luckily, I had my digicam in my car, so I ran out to get it and snap some shots. When I came back in, a saleswoman approached me and asked me what she could help me with. I thanked her but replied that I was just looking around. She gave me one of her cards and asked me again if I was sure there was nothing that she could help me with. I replied that I was just taking a look at the M5 and was going to snap some pictures. She surprised me when she replied that she would get the key so that I could sit in it and check it out. As we were sitting in this amazing car, she told me the what the story was behind it. The car has 1500 miles on it and is therefore obviously being sold as a used car. The original owner ordered the car and drove it for about a month before he decided that he didn't really like the car in black and ordered another one in a different color!!! So, it's was a trade-in with only 1500 miles.
What happened next was truly amazing. She asked me if I would like to take it for a drive. I just laughed at her. She looked at me with a serious look on her face and said, "No, I'm serious - would you like to take it for a drive." I laughingly said "Yes" since this car was parked behind about 4 other cars in the showroom. She went to make a copy of my drivers license and recruited help to move the 4 other cars that needed to be moved to get the M5 out. While she was doing this, I was certain that the sales manager was going to put an abrupt stop to this when he caught wind of the fact that all these cars were being moved out of the showroom so that a 24 year old guy could test drive the $92,000 M5 that I clearly wasn't going to buy. On the contrary - the sales manager came along with us so that he could show me all of the features of the SMG and how to operate the different modes since the saleswoman was unfamiliar with it.
I stood back with what the saleslady described as "the biggest grin she's ever seen" as the M5 was started up and moved out of the showroom.
When I got into the car, the first thing that the sales manager said to me was not the "Are you really serious about buying this car" that I expected him to say. Instead he told me, "Drive the car however you want - if you want to wind it out, wind it out. Make sure you press the "Power" button first so that you have all 500 hp. Really, we don't mind if you want to see what she really can do." At this point, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Enough already with the blabber you say? So what was it like? In two words - freakin' incredible! This car is truly unlike anything I've ever driven. It is a fantastically amazing car.
I'll start with what's bad since that's a short list - the worst thing about it is the sound at idle. Inside the car, it's perfectly quiet at idle. However, outside, it truly sounds like an old diesel VW Rabbit clanging away. I have no idea why it sounds the way it does, but the exterior sound at idle is really unexpected. The other thing that is bad is the I-drive. I won't go into it since it's been debated to death in the past. Suffice it to say that this was my first time using I-drive, and I found it to be really counterintuitive.
What's good? ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ELSE! The seats are amazingly comfortable and supportive. The gauges are nice and clear and the 8200 rpm redline and 200 mph speedo make you smile everytime you look at them. The ride is pretty stiff. You really feel most of the bumps and irregularities in the road. However, I didn't find it to be excessively stiff and certainly not uncomfortable. I'm sure that some people who are used to a cushier ride in a 525i would probably not enjoy the stiff ride of the M5, but since I really love to feel the road with a stiff ride, I really enjoyed the ride feel of the M5. It is amazingly quiet inside at cruise speeds. As you can imagine, the handling is incredible. The steering is absolutely wonderful. The steering wheel is nice and thick and fills the palm of your hand. The steering is very direct and gives you good feedback. Again, some probably wouldn't like the amount of road vibration that feeds back through the steering wheel, but I loved it. The brakes are pretty good, but I have to say that I actually expected a little more in the brake department, especially given the gargantuan appearance of the discs when you look at them through the wheels. There were a few times that the pedal felt alot softer than I expected and required more pedal travel than I expected. I can't really put my finger on it, but something with the brakes just didn't feel quite right. As you can imagine, the powertrain is simply phenomenal. To sum up the powertrain in one sentence: It feels like the culmination of thousands of years of human engineering has resulted in this engine and transmission. This engine and tranny is truly the pinnacle of human engineering. The sound - ohhhh, the sound. There is nothing mechanical in this world that sounds better than this engine climbing from 5000 to 8000 rpm. It is absolutely breathtaking. And the speed - the speed is almost scary. The eagerness of this car to accelerate is unbelievable. Additionally, this was my first time behind the wheel of an SMG equipped car. I loved it - the speed of the shifts, the smoothness, and the ease of use are amazing. The downshifting ability is where the SMG truly shines. I found myself downshifting constantly just so I could hear that V-10 rev-match. It is truly a marvel of engineering. If I was buying an M-car, I think I would forgo the manual for the SMG. I really loved it. By the way, the sales manager told me that next model year, a full manual will be available here in the US.
In summary, this car is truly amazing - I have never been able to attain such speed so quickly yet feel so comfortable and in-control of a car. This car truly has the whole package.
Me with the keys:
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![[cheers]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_cheers.gif "Cheers [cheers]"){kind=icon}
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, and the M5 sounds sweet (a little too loud) in that video.
![[driving]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_driving.gif "Driving [driving]"){kind=icon}