Blue Streak

In our quest to find the best sport sedan that money can buy, we take a closer look at the often-time-champion — the 2014 BMW M5 — one that many consider as the segment’s benchmark.

In the past, the M5 was known to run rings around its rivals; even brethren from the AMG clan and Audi’s RS models used to tip hats and find pride in a second place in the company of this Beemer. But has the decision made by the M-division at Bayerische Motoren Werke to make it more earth-friendly turn it against it own image? We drive the sporting 3-striped 5-Series and investigate if it has lost its relevance in the field of high-performance sedans and whether hope exists for the purists.

DESIGN & AESTHETICS
The early origins of BMW family cars with speedy demeanours began in 1986 with the M535i, when the German automaker strapped a modified M1 engine to a 535i chassis. It was then the world’s fastest production sedan. Not a bad place to start off from. Fast forward four generations and 28 years, and you have the 2014 BMW M5 embodying a similar formula, with an exclusive, potent motor that talks through a useable 5-Series chassis.

The M5 is a mid-sizer based on the 5-Series, with average dimensions for the segment. It measures 4.91 metres in length, 1.467 metres in height and 2.119 metres in width. It’s a good size without being overwhelming.

The current 5-Series by itself is a safe design, influenced by a design direction BMW took to guard itself from the heavy criticism they faced during the ‘Bangle’ era. But If I had to describe the F10 in 3 words, I’d choose “clean, bland and even inconspicuous”, equating to a poor aesthetic value for a car that costs so much. But before you repatriate the many imports, have a look at the M5 — it’s quite something else. BMW have taken the underlying beauty of the 5-Series and bolted some purposeful aerodynamic kit to it. It is perfectly desirable!

The signature BMW facial represented by the combination of LED-lit double halo lamps, xenon projector lamps and a twin kidney grille is retained. To it gets added a sporting lower apron with a 3-channel gaping air-intakes and fangs like its predecessor, rendering an aggressive and authoritative stance. When viewed in profile, you see the chrome side vents that add masculinity to looks and functionality to its nature, as an outlet for hot air from the engine bay.

The M5’s rear end is something you would get used to, especially if you freq-uent circuits. An M rear spoiler and a lower diffuser let’s the wind work to its advantage, providing downforce and creating a laminar flow of air. Stripes of LED tail lamps and quad exhausts fini-shed in chrome complete the package.

The base M5 is equipped with large 19-inch multi-spoke alloys, but we would rather opt for the 20-inch alloy that comes wrapped in 265/35 upfront and 295/30 tyres at the rear for added traction. You must have a closer look at those rear hoofs — they are ginormous.

The exterior paint choices are as many as 8, but the most popular hue is the much-advertised Frozen Blue metallic, a lovely colour that gets your attention.

Overall, the base 5-Series might be too sober for our liking, but it is hard not to be smitten by the M5. On the insides too, the Beemer exudes appeal but in the typical Germanic manner, where function plays over form. Getting in is an easy task via the smart key convenience that allows you to keep the beautiful crafted key fob in your pocket. I must admit to a fair bit of excitement in getting to pocket those keys even for a while… after all, cars like these have been wall posters for many years.

The seats are comfortable even to look at, and heavily bolstered to guard against lateral motion while zigzagging through traffic and turns. The upholstery is soft and supple, with quality. As for colours, you have the mandated black, Silverstone and Sakhir orange. Massage and active ventilation are priced add-ons, but for an elevated sense of comfort, shell out the extra cash.

The redesigned M leather-wrapped multifunction steering wheel trumps the older wheel. It looks fitting of a racecar with ergonomic thumb rest sits and aluminium trims to keep it looking expensive. The M5-specific instrument dials are very easy to read, with an M design emblem and red needles to indicate the numbers. The signature amber lighting for the dials remain; according to BMW, amber is the least-exhausting colour to the eye. They may have a point; after all, sunsets provide the most scenic views.

BMW tastefully accentuates the cabin with trims that either come in aluminium, or two choices of wood. The problem lies in the fact that this minimalistic approach is replicated across all models. A little distinction would have helped in justifying the M5’s price tag.

What is pretty impressive is the full-colour Head-up display, perhaps the best in the business. It shares information like the speed, rpm and Shift Point Display amongst the many others. I wasn’t counting, but there are plenty of hard buttons and knobs to push, press and turn, especially on the centre console and around the shifter. So the M5 is guaranteed to entertain you and your friends for a while. The BMW Individual prog-ram helps you customise your already exclusive M5 further by giving you more alternatives for the paintwork like Pure Metal Silver and some for the upholstery like Merino leather in Nutmeg, Silk Grey and Amaro Brown. Hard to hide the flamboyance of a tailor-made BMW.

POWERTRAIN & PERFORMANCE
In the early days, M5 motors started out as an inline 6-cylinder engine, then foll-owed another 6-pot, then arrived big V8 power in the E39 Series, and the last generation E60 had glorious trumpeting V10. By that equation, the 2014 M5 should have a V12 under its bonnet. Instead, they have a 4.4-litre V8 backed by twin-power turbo, the first M car that is not naturally aspirated. Perhaps not the purists’ first choice, but nothing a few extra horses and torque can’t change.

This V8 makes a potent 552 bhp available between 6,000 and 7,000 rpm, placing it in supercar territory. Meanwhile, torque has been cranked up to 680 Nm available from an almost idling 1,500 all the way to 5,750 revs. So this has some serious hardware.

Torque transfer is done via a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, which is light years ahead of the jerky sequential gearbox on previous M cars, and power is distributed the old-school way, to the rear-wheels. Put two and two together and it’s obvious that the M5 is a rocket ship for the road, but to achieve some of the best results you have to learn the systems, especially the launch control activation procedure, and by the end of it, you deserve a PhD.

Engage Manual mode, switch to the fastest shift setting, turn off DCS, apply the brake and here comes the tricky part — hold shifter forward and floor the throttle. With the motor revving high, take your foot of the brake and off you go like a bat out of hell. In a tick over 4 seconds, you are past 100 km/h; it certainly is frighteningly quick out of the hole. Mid-range grunt is a bit mental too, so overtaking is a breeze and is good for impressing or scaring your date. The M5 is limited to 250 km/h, but if you override the governor, the needle will see past the magical 200 mph mark. A family sedan that seats 5 and cover a football field in a second is simply astonishing.

But performance quotients also factors in braking, which is nothing short of spectacular in the M5. The feedback from the brake pedal is linear and we did manage to consistently stop under-110 feet every time we dropped the hammer down from 100 km/h; for even more bite, opt for the carbon ceramic rotors.

Driving dynamics is another victory for the M5. You can just point the nose in the desired direction and the body follows fathomably, though the steering feel is a tad artificial in comparison to past M5s. The other superficial bit is that the engine sounds have been recorded to match the revs and it plays out through the speakers. Granted, the exhaust note sounds good, but why make a cabin so quite forced to have sound pumped in?

The DriveSelect lets you fiddle with over 100 variations, changing throttle response, suspension stiffness and servotronic steering sensitivity, which in its hardest setting is quite the task.

The M5 weighs a mighty 1945 kg, which was roughly the weight of a Range Rover not too long ago. A liposuction procedure would have done it some good. Yet it manages 9.9 l/100km, about 30 per cent more fuel-efficient that the outgoing model. Due credit to the Brake energy regeneration and seamless auto stop/start system. The M5 also gets a larger 80-litre tank; the only problem is it takes slightly longer to fill and the bill is bigger at the end too.

FEATURES & FUNCTIONALITY
By driving a car like M5, you are automatically assumed to be skilled at the wheel, but for others, the car comes equipped with many a safety and assistance systems. It starts off with seat belt tensioners that like to tuck you in nicely. There is lane departure warning that signals if you drift. Then you’ve got anti-dazzle high beam assistant that reduces headlamp glare for oncoming traffic, and a pedestrian impact protection that flips open the bonnet to reduce the impact on any unaware jaywalker.

How about Night vision, something you see in an Bond movie, using an infrared camera placed behind the kidney grille to display a monochromatic view of what’s ahead at low light. If the drive gets weary, the attention assistant springs you back to life with another alert, saving you from an early appointment with the Grim Reaper. Taking the cake is the surround view, which renders a 270-degree bird’s eye view of the car and your surroundings. Perfect for passing parking tests at the DMV… only if they allowed it.

The M5 also offers a bunch of online services in conjunction with ConnectDrive to give you access to weather, news, searches and office functions. The no-cost Concierge services acts like a personal assistant, which works independent of your phone, lets you in on information like the nearest ATMs, restaurants and pharmacies; if you wish to place a hotel reservation, it is capable of that too. However, what we found most intriguing was the My BMW remote app for smart phones, which transfer destinations directly from Google to the navigation system; it even allows you to lock or unlock the car through the BMW Call Centre. With systems like these going mass-market, the future is right around the corner.

Last but not least, we do have to mention the iDrive Touch controller. Both the rotary knob and its interface have come a long way since its introduction. Perhaps, the German automaker realised that they need to speak a language everyone understands.

The M5, as fast as it may go, is still a rather practical sedan, with seating for five and a decent boot that will swallow at least 520-litre of luggage.

VERDICT
Moral of the story is that the 2014 BMW M5 is an extremely cultured super sal-oon — one that successfully mixes business and pleasure. It is for that suit-wearing discriminatory customer who enjoys exclusivity at the office and mall, and then likes to loosen-up his tie to go drag-racing and power-sliding like a lunatic on a Thursday night, followed by driving the family down for an al fresco brunch. If Jay Gatsby was described as a man of fine breeding, this is a machine of the same fit.