Yahoo Autos 2025 BMW M5 Expands the Envelope in Yet Another Direction
The BMW M5 has long held a warm place in our hearts, with an intoxicating combination of go-fast goodness and an uncanny ability to tame the toughest road trip. If anything could thrill your inner soul as much as it left you refreshed upon arrival, it was the M5. With the 2025 model, BMW has wiped the slate clean for its next iteration.
Considerably larger, the new car is 4.2 inches longer, 2.7 inches wider, 1.4 inches taller, and rides on a wheelbase that's been stretched 0.9 inch. But there's method to this apparent madness, as the 2025 BMW M5 is now a plug-in hybrid with roughly 25 miles of electric range.
This is the seventh generation of the vaunted M5, and it is by far the most powerful. How does 717 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque grab you? That marks a huge increase over the outgoing model's 600 horses and 553 pound-feet—or even the 627-hp M5 CS.
There is, however, an asterisk involved, because the 4.4-liter twin-turbo V-8 makes "only" 577 horsepower. The difference is a powerful electric motor that makes 194 horses and 207 pound-feet of torque on its own. It's integrated into the eight-speed automatic with a patented pre-gearing stage that tweaks its contribution to as much as 332 pound-feet, meaning a smaller, more compact motor does the job of a larger one.
That motor is fed by a 14.8-kWh lithium-ion battery, which is sizable enough to deliver an estimated 25 miles of all-electric driving, if the driver has selected Electric mode via the M Hybrid button. The default is Hybrid mode, and it uses the electric motor and the engine together in the most effective way according to whether you've selected Comfort, Sport, or Sport Plus in the powertrain setting. Sport and Sport Plus will always have the engine on, but Comfort may not. The final standard mode is called eControl, and it preserves the battery for later use, something that looms large in certain European cities with congestion charges for internal-combustion-engine vehicles.
All the above power flows to the road through BMW's M xDrive all-wheel-drive system. It employs an electronically controlled multiplate clutch in a transfer case that has been beefed up to handle the hybrid's extra torque. The default mode is the 4WD setting, and it can deliver a rear-wheel-drive bias. Switch to 4WD Sport and that rear-bias emphasis is more pronounced, although you first need to select M Dynamic mode or switch off stability control to get it. From there, you can select 2WD mode—if stability control is off—for maximum hoonage, preferably on the track.
With the M5 slashing across the back roads between villages in Germany, the Hybrid mode set to Sport works beautifully. The powertrain leaps into action at the slightest provocation, and there's no discernible lag because the electric motor papers over whatever the turbos might be doing. Likewise, on the free-running autobahn, the motor pulls hard on the way to 160 mph, traffic being the only thing keeping us from the M5's 190-mph limit (that's with the M Driver's package that ups the top speed from 155 mph). Throughout, the Steptronic eight-speed automatic marches up and down through the gears with no hesitation and little sensation of shifting. From a powertrain point of view, it is flawless. Still, from a power-to-weight standpoint, it appears the new M5 will run a slower zero-to-60-mph time or quarter-mile than the 2.7 and 10.8 seconds, respectively, we extracted from a previous-generation M5 Competition.
The M5's chassis is uniquely tuned to deliver amazing grip yet still produce a ride that is totally livable over long stretches. Its multilink front and rear suspension rides on steel springs with adaptive dampers that employ electromagnetically controlled valves to tweak the damping, with rear steering that can turn the wheels up to 1.5 degrees in phase with the front for extra stability or opposite phase to tighten the turning circle. Specific M5 reinforcements include unique bulkhead-to-strut-tower bracing, engine compartment reinforcement, and rear underfloor bracing elements. Finally, there are the tires, which on our car were Michelin Pilot Sport S5s sized 285/40R-20 up front and 295/35R-21 out back. That's 10 mm wider front and rear, while the wheels have grown an inch wider in front and a half inch in back than before.
In action, the M5 rides smoothly and neatly shrugs off Germany's admittedly few bumps. The M5 holds the intended line impeccably when cornering and gives little sensation of its prodigious mass, some 5390 pounds, according to BMW, which is over 1100 pounds more than the previous-generation M5. Very little body roll is in evidence, helped by the low-down and centrally located placement of the underfloor battery that gives this a lower center of gravity than a solely gas-powered M5 would have. As for the brakes, the optional carbon ceramics have a smooth takeup and release, aren't the least bit grabby, and offer incredible stopping power. About the only thing we weren't enamored of was the steering, which on rare occasions felt too light and indistinct. Maybe it was the influence of the standard rear steering, which otherwise went about its business imperceptibly.
There are two extra modes available as part of the $900 M Drive Professional package: the Dynamic and Dynamic Plus modes that optimize the engine and electric motor for track driving. The former is for sustained lapping and the latter is a one-lap mode that is best thought of as qualifying mode, although BMW isn't saying exactly that. We did try them out previously on the Salzburgring, and the acceleration was frankly heroic. It seriously got with the program and put to rest any remaining questions about the car's weight, slicing through the tightest chicanes without much hesitation. You might never track your M5, but if you do prepare to be amazed.
If you're worried about weight—you shouldn't be—there are two options that can affect a weight reduction below the stated curb weight. The Carbon package ($3100) deletes the Sky Lounge Panoramic Roof with its electrically operated roller blind for an M Carbon roof that lacks a sunroof for a savings of some 66 pounds, among other bits and bobs. Likewise, the M Carbon Ceramic Brakes ($8500) save around 55 pounds and deliver upgraded thermal capacity and greater ability to withstand fade.
What wasn't quite as amazing was the interior, specifically how much intervention and learning was required. BMW made sure to put someone in the car for a walkthrough before we got going, and it still didn't all penetrate our thick skull. The car has many adjustments, and many of them have sub-settings. They're arrayed on a screen that blends a 12.3-inch driver-information display with a 14.9-inch infotainment display to make a nearly continuous presentation, which is frankly better on something like the BMW XM than a car that has more sporting ability.
Having said that, the awesome potential of the BMW M5 endures, even if you need to study up to unlock it all. Its base price of $120,675 is just $8780 more than a 2023 M5, which seems like a bargain next to the horsepower increase and a newfound ability to handle more mundane driving, or least 25 miles of it, on electricity alone. People forget that about the new M5, but you shouldn't.
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