Change is a difficult thing for us to process as human beings. It can remove layers that we cherish and that connection can take time to reestablish. And what if it can’t be reestablished? The winds of change have been blowing through the automotive industry with great gusto in recent years. The requirements for added safety features and technology have added size, weight and interference. The requirements for reduced emissions have added size, weight and unwanted sources of power. Zero emissions here, but don’t look too closely at the environmental price being paid there. We’re most certainly at a crossroads, perhaps no better exemplified than by the G90 BMW M5.
They say only God can judge, but really, it’s history and hindsight that will judge the G90 BMW M5. There’s a nod to the past with the V8; a nod to the future with the battery. This is the direction BMW, like all manufacturers, has had to drive. Throw in the mandatory safety features and this is a car with a serious footprint. It’s 5.1m long over 2m wide. It’s also a car with serious numbers; 717bhp and 1000Nm of torque. Then there’s BMW’s proclivity to stun with its design.
I’ll leave you to arrive at your own conclusions regarding the design, but it’s clear that the G90 M5 is a massive step in a new direction. Has BMW bitten off more than it can chew, or will this come to represent the dawn of a new performance saloon car era?
Mercedes’ travails with its most recent C63 suggest that sticking with the V8 is the right choice. BIK rates for the hybrid make the M5 is cheaper to run for business users than the M3 or M4. So, yes, this is a new era. But a good one?
Living with the G90 BMW M5
I managed to make it through that intro without the obligatory mention of the weight of this car. 2510Kg unladen according to BMW. There’s no shying away from it, that’s a lot of kilos, but is it too many kilos? This is the aspect that has caused most consternation; a new formula has been hoisted upon it, but does the M5 retain the soul of a true M car?
We’ll seek to answer that in the driving section, below, but let’s start with the fundamentals of this, a car. It’s a big, comfortable car, with plush seats, an exceptional stereo from Bowers & Wilkins and a calming roadside manner upon startup which most definitely does not scream “M Sport.”
And you know what? I quite like it for that. I like driving around silently and I like driving around loudly. With a brilliantly engineered hybrid setup, the G90 BMW M5 delivers both.
It starts up in hybrid, using the electric motor to commence your journey. Dive into the drive modes and select Dynamic or Dynamic Plus and the V8 clears its throat. I managed to commute to work and back, 32 miles, without calling upon the V8. Real world range of 35 miles is impressive and useful.
When asking too much of the battery, the V8 doesn’t clumsily enter the fray. It quietly joins the party in the background. This is a very well judged and executed hybrid. It might have added weight, but in everyday use it has also added modern appeal.
The size is a bit of an issue in carparks. They’re not really setup for cars like this, but the self-parking functionality is handy to have. As is BMW’s iDrive 8.5 infotainment setup; I’m a fan.
What’s the G90 BMW M5 like to drive?
If you’re waiting for the weight to show itself on the road, then you’ll be disappointed. Anyone criticising the weight of the M5 clearly hasn’t driven it; put simply you just don’t notice it. Now, I’m sure if you took it out on track you would notice. When you’re really leaning on it, there’s a tendency for the front to wash wide, but nothing major.
Instead, the weight is expertly hidden beneath a cloak of power. There’s also a luxury feel to the steering that offers few hints to the weight. Perhaps the greatest hint is in the way the G90 BMW M5 rides. If you’re coming at this from recent iterations of the M3 and M4, you might be expecting the M5 to be quite stiff, but the opposite is true. Even with everything dialled up to Dynamic Plus, the ride is on the softer side. This means it deals with speedbumps and potholes well.
It also settles into its work on the motorway with aplomb. Plenty of comfort and plenty of power, I’m sure it’s an absolute delight on an Autobahn. Again, you might expect the weight to detract from the performance at higher speeds, but there’s just so much power on offer to negate this.
On A-roads and B-roads, to experience the full impact of those 707 horses and 1000 torques, you can pull the left gear lever back, hold it, and the M5 enters Boost Mode. I was expecting the impact to be somewhat muted – it’s plenty fast enough without recourse to boost – but it dials things up to 11. The V8 roars, the battery helps out and the kick is instant and violent. You’ll barely have registered that you’ve started an overtake before the manoeuvre is complete.
Where’s the G90 BMW M5 at its best?
The G90 BMW M5 is certainly leaning towards to the luxury executive saloon end of things. In fact, you could almost consider it more of an M7, given the scale of the thing. The 7 series, as we discovered last year, however, dials up the luxury to near Bentley levels of opulence. That was one of our cars of 2024.
I covered just shy of 400 miles during my week with the M5 and it’s a car I grew rather fond of. On a blast along the south coast, past Beachy Head and Seven Sisters, it dealt with undulating roads, tight corners and quick straights with impressive all-round ease. That I was able to exploit and enjoy its performance in such a setting with a sleeping three-year-old in the back speaks to the duality of the M5. It’s at once potent and comfortable.
Then, on the way home, it ticked off motorway miles with effortless grace. There’s always so much power to call upon and you quickly forget about the size. From behind the wheel, on the road, it fades into irrelevance. With two power sources it isn’t really out of place anywhere other than tight, multi-storey car parks.
Conclusion
Where the M3 and M4 are cars you come to understand instantly, the G90 BMW M5 takes a while to reveal itself to you. There’s added complication and heft, certainly, but there’s also added depth.
In many ways, BMW should be applauded here. That they’ve managed to fit a 4.4ltr twin-turbo charged V8 to a car in 2025 is no mean feat. If we want these engines to live on, then this is the guise in which they will. It was great being able to silently cruise to work, then bring that engine to the fore in all its glory later on.
The performance is genuinely astonishing, too. Then there’s way in which it convincingly masks its considerable weight. This is no hippo in a tutu, there’s exploitable performance and an unexpected agility.
So, what we have here is a car that’s easy to write off on paper but impossible to ignore in reality. With a starting price of £110,000 there’s also decent value to be found. It’s generously equipped as standard and I’d be tempted to ignore the Ultimate Pack at £19,500 which, among other things, brings the M Sport Pack, carbon ceramic brakes and carbon exterior styling. Do you need to go 180mph instead of 155mph? Are you going to take this on track days? Do you need to save a few kilos?
Of course not, save the best part of £14,000. If those things are important to you, look at the M4 instead, another of our cars of 2024.
The G90 BMW M5 is a magnificent car, however you spec it. It comfortably outweighs the controversy and criticism thrown its way. Hybrids and batteries aren’t going to go away. They’re here to stay and, if they’re as good as this, that’s fine by me.