On Saturday I reluctantly decided to replace my Nissan 350z. I had a 2007 model GT (313 HR engine), and can honestly say that it had been the best car I'd ever owned. I would recommend one to anyone - they look good and are great fun to drive, and best of all, I had 18 months of absolutely flawless reliability. Not a single thing ever went wrong, and even the servicing costs were very reasonable (I had a P3 (big) service done at the Nissan main dealer for £260. Can't argue with that..).

However, despite the love I had for the Zed, I just couldn't cope any longer without some kind of practicality. My wife has a Juke, which is a good car, but it was frustrating the heck out of me having to drive her car every time we had our god-daughters stay over, or when we wanted to go out with friends, or had more-than-average amounts of luggage to transport.. etc etc. So I decided a few months ago to start looking at more practical options, and came up with the following list of requirements:
- Budget up to £20k
- Running costs not important
- Must be practical, not necessarily a saloon but either way needed room for at least 2 adults in comfort in the back plus a decent boot, and generally usable on a day-to-day basis
- Had to have good performance, be great to drive, and also sound good (very important to me) - though it didn't need to be the fastest thing I could possibly buy for the money
- Also had to look good and feel special

I considered a few different options, but I decided on the E60 model BMW M5. Having looked on Autotrader and Pistonheads I could see that I'd get a good one for within my budget, and eventually found the one I wanted this weekend. I ended up with a 55 reg in black, with red leather. It has a full BMW service history and 53,000 miles, recently changed clutch and flywheel, and comes with most of the optional extras specced - including the active seats, and heated seats in the rear as well as up front.

Anyway, boring backstory and explanation of why I chose it out of the way, I've now done about 250 miles since I picked it up, and I am well and truly in love with this amazing machine. To continue with getting the 'boring' stuff out of the way first, it's extremely comfortable, has a big boot, and will easily transport four people in absolute comfort (the same as any 5 series, I suppose). The reason I say four is that only two of the back seats have the heated option, and it's those two seats which are the most comfortable, but of course you could easily fit 3 in the back if required. The front seats are the most comfortable I've ever been in in any car, and can be electronically adjusted in just about any way you could imagine. Except height, weirdly.. unless I've missed that somehow! I imagine the active seat bolsters might not be to everybody's taste, and some people online describe them as a 10 minute gimmick which then get switched off, but so far I think they're great and really do help provide additional support. Who knows, maybe in a month or two time I'll switch them off, but for now they're on maximum effect.

It's also absolutely crammed with technology generally. I won't cover off all the obvious stuff, but my favourite gadget by a mile is the head up display. For those who haven't seen one it's probably best looking it up on google images, but you get a projected display on the windscreen in front of you showing rev counter, speed and gear (amongst other things). It's not distracting in the slightest, and is a great addition that I don't understand why more performance cars don't have.

So.. on to performance. The M5 comes with various ways to change the dynamic of the car depending on what you want it to do. The suspension has 3 settings for firmness, the gearbox can be set up for different speed of changes, and of course the engine can run at either 400bhp or 500bhp mode. The maximum setting for the engine also sharpens up the throttle response. I'm sure everyone knows all this already, but it's worth re-noting. It's a real plus being able to run in comfort mode one minute, but then almost completely transform the car the next for when you want some fun.

The 400bhp grandad mode is actually pretty driveable, provided you have the gear changes set on at least S3. It's not staggeringly quick by any stretch, but if you're not in a particular hurry and/or just don't fancy burning an entire oil well for the sake of it, then it's really not too bad. Acceleration is OK, it still makes the same glorious noise, and you can still pop the active side bolsters on and stiffen up the suspension if you want to. The only thing really missing is the extra shove from the engine.

Of course, driving this car properly is all about the maximum attack mode - the full fat 507bhp. And I've been doing a lot of that since I picked it up on Saturday. My average consumption meter is showing... 10.9mpg. And I've not once been stuck in traffic. Oh, and that figure also includes the 45 mile almost-entirely motorway journey home with the car, in which I pretty much left it in 400bhp mode and 7th gear all the way. Yikes.

But I really couldn't care less about the fuel consumption, I have use of another car if I need to be economical. The fun factor more than makes up for it. Yes there are faster cars on the road - I could've easily bought something quicker within my budget if that's the only thing I'd been interested in, and I'm sure there are more than a handful of modded Coupes on here which would out-drag it - but in reality on UK roads the power the M5 has is probably at the top end of what's realistically usable anyway. Any more would probably be a waste.. and besides which, you don't encounter many quicker cars on the road

Plant your foot in maximum attack mode and the car just surges forward, almost irrespective of current speed (provided you're in an appropriate gear, obviously). It has a high-revving V10, and the limiter sits at over 8k rpm. Low-RPM grunt isn't massively impressive, but once you hit 4k RPM+ you really hear that V10 wailing and you get a firm shove in the chest right up to the redline. What's most disconcerting about the whole experience is how deceptively fast you're actually travelling. You'll give it the full beans, and in your head you'll be thinking "that feels like we just got from 30 up to about 70", but then you glance the speedo and realise you underestimated significantly. The gearchanges can be a bit violent if you leave your foot to the floor whilst blipping the paddle, but I've noticed that if you just lift off the gas for a fraction of a second then it becomes much smoother, and I daresay doesn't impact the acceleration much (if at all).

The M5 is noticeably quicker than my old 350z (which was no slouch itself - it had a few extras and a Nismo remap which pushed it to about 350bhp), and probably on a par with the 550bhp Monaro I had previous to that in terms of straight line speed. The main difference with the M5 though is the grip. Occasionally both the Zed, and especially the Monaro, would struggle to put the power down (despite always having premium rubber on them), and in damp/wet conditions putting your foot anywhere near the floor was a definite no-no. The M5 is nowhere near as much of a handful in the wet - OK so you still can't floor it as such, but it takes a much bigger prod of the right hand pedal to bring on the traction control than it did in my two previous RWD cars. It's also in a completely different league when cornering. Obviously I've not had chance to really explore its limits, and we've had nothing but wet weather since I got it, but I've never felt like the car has been a handful, even when having a bit of fun on dual carriageway roundabouts.

Overall the performance is exactly what I hoped it would be, and the rest of the car - the mixture of comfort, practicality, performance, build quality, and the noise - have just exceeded all my expectations. If you have a list of requirements similar to mine when you go looking for your next car, then the M5 comes highly recommended.

I'll post an update in a few weeks/months time if people are interested. Oh, and if it ever stops raining, I'll get a few good pics up too!

Great write up Dave - a mate of mine has one of these and it made my modified/mapped M3 look pedestrian. So many gadgets and utterly safe in the right hands, I hope you enjoy it for some time to come!

Cheers Proccy - though I'm sure 'pedestrian' would be a bit unfair on the M3! I've been in a 'normal' E46 (as a passenger) and it felt pretty rapid. Yours looked awesome!

You are living the life of my dreams !

(In relation to cars at least)

Thanks for the nice write up. I was only thinking about these the other day.
For the mileage I would do in one who cares about mpg!

Get the pics on when you can please. Engine bay and boot also please.

Great write up, nice to see a lot of detail in the opinion. Keep it coming in the update!

Also owning a silly saloon I'm interested in how you find the power delivery. I looked at M5's and RS6'S but decided I wanted a supercharged car for the whine and for the grunt. What made you choose the M?
I have max torque at 2,500 rpm (460ish ft lb) and it can catch you out in a heart beat BUT it has any gear, any revs drivability. I'm certain in could drive up an 80 degree incline and still not notice.
Mine is linear, I'd say from 2k to 6.3k it just pulls in a linear way, you are pinned in your seat and it doesn't end.
I've not used sport properly yet, it allows revs to 6.7k and you can feel the car lower it's stance.
My bolsters adjust via a button but aren't active, I did get aircon seats which I reckon will be good on a warm day when pressing on.
I now turn the mpg thingy off, I don't need to see money being burnt - on that subject I've got a 60 litre tank so 200-250 miles per fill which is pretty annoying!

Are you running winter tyres?

What you're describing sounds very similar to the Monaro I owned a couple of years ago. I had the VXR500 model, which was also a supercharged V8, and that also seemed to just have an endless surge no matter what the revs. Honestly, it felt like I could just stick it in 4th gear and drive around like that without ever changing up or down. There's nothing quite like the sound of a V8, especially with the supercharger (though some supercharger sounds get on my nerves.. the VXR500 sounded amazing, but I couldn't live with the one they fitted to the VXR8 Bathurst S - the whine on that would just get too much). The V8 sound through a decent exhaust is a bark and a roar, whereas the M5's V10 is more like an old F1 car howl. It would be a little unfair of me to directly compare my M5 to the Monaro I had, because the VXR had a full Wortec exhaust system (not just cat back), and it really did sound pure NASCAR. The M5 is on its stock exhaust (and probably will remain that way, otherwise I'd invalidate my warranty), but if you look up "M5 Eisenmann exhaust" on youtube you get a feel of what this car can sound like. That said, I don't want to do the M5 an injustice - even as it stands, it does sound fantastic.

Power delivery of the M5 is less linear than the Monaro, and by the sound of it, than the XFR, too. There's still plenty of pull even at low RPM, you'll still get a bit of a shove in chest, and you still get the sense that it'll pull away no matter what gear you're in.. however, you only truly get the full surge and the 'pinned back to your seat' effect once you get beyond about 5k revs. Once it hits 7,000 the passengers either laugh uncontrollably or cry in terror, and the V10 wail is absolutely intoxicating.

Side-by-side I daresay the M5 and the XFR would be equal in terms of performance. The stats would certainly suggest so (perhaps Trappy can do us a comparison!). I seriously considered an XFR, it was on my 'possibles' list - and quite high up the list, at that. I'd ruled out Audi, and apologies to any Audi owners this is just purely my own personal opinion, but I just found them a little bit boring. The only one I was slightly interested in was the RS5, but this would've meant increasing my budget, and even then it was only really semi-practical in terms of the back seat. Yes OK there was always the S5, and I could've got a brilliant one within budget, but it would've always bugged me knowing that I'd got the RS5's "little brother". And then, of course, I'd still have the issue of the cramped back seat.

I also thought about the VXR8 very briefly, but once I realised it would cost about the same amount to buy as an M5 (for equivalent mileage/spec etc), if not a little bit more, I just couldn't justify taking one over the BMW. At the risk of sounding incredibly snobby, the VXR8 just didn't feel like it had the class of the M5, and in all honesty I preferred the Monaro. So why not the Monaro again? Well, because I've already been-there-done-that, and I wanted something different.

So back to the XFR, which in truth would've been my second choice. I really do like these, but to get on the ladder you're probably talking about £20k, and whilst this gets you a good car (none of the ones I looked at online seemed to be particularly high mileage/bad condition), there was still the feeling that I'd be going top of my budget for the bottom of what was available. Whilst I probably still could've lived with that, I then just felt that I preferred the styling and the setup of the M5. Purely personal taste.

I do get what you're saying about the fuel tank size, the M5 is similar - my first fill-up of VPower took just £65 from almost-empty after I arrived home with the car, and it probably only did 200 miles before I filled up again yesterday! Shell have relieved me of £120 in 3 days since I bought the car But hey, you only live once. I've not got winter tyres yet, it only came with the summer ones, but I think I'll wait until autumn before I buy any. I have another car I can use if we have a sudden icy blast locally, so it seems daft investing in tyres now that I might not use for 10 months. They'll be essential if it does get bad though I'm sure!

A few pictures taken this morning:

Next project - wider drive??

Funny you should say that... YES! Going to get it done in the summer. There is just about enough room to park and to get out the drivers side safely without scratching the door, but all passengers get dropped off at the bottom first

Great write up. Makes me wish I'd paid attention in school now. One of my absolute favourite cars. Looks like an everyday exec saloon (bar the pipes, wheels and arches) but sounds like a Lamborghini when you floor it! You lucky barsteward!

Interesting, thanks.
Nice pictures too!
Not sure if you'd driven the xf but it is very quiet compared with the Merc / audi offerings.
I really like the V10 in the M5 and it's subtle sounds but I didn't want to have a car that I was forced to ring out to get the best from it, although the linear pull does mean you don't get that excitement as the revs climb and the sense of speed is also deceptive. Think TG did an m5 xfr back to back and the M just scraped the win on dynamics. There's a few you tube vids doing comparisons but you're relying on the drivers and them being standard.

Winter tyres, great for shifting water. Noisy and bad for fuel. Also crap when it's mild. Wish I'd have left my summers on. Not had the snow or ice that would have made life interesting!

Very nice. Thanks for the pics.

You lucky boy

Nice review As you say, engines like these are worth the costs. My SV8 was the precursor to the XFR with a supercharged 4.2 V8. Definitely worth the extra fuel...

V12 next then?

Very nice sir

I too briefly considered an M6, but tales of spun bearings and that fuel economy made me choose the Z4M. The V10 makes the M5 and M6 so special, a good friend of mine bought an M5 Touring for his wife but her 6 mile commute each way never got them into double mpg figures she did enjoy it though.

Video clip with sound needed please

I've got one of those already..... All I need is a V10 to complete my set.

Haha I'm slowly working my way up to a DB9!

Super write up and a lovely car there. V10's and fuel prices dropping. Makes you think why he hell not

Enjoy your car Lucifer

Lovely motor Lucifer . Is it quiet as standard?

Yes it is fairly quiet. You can hear it, but it doesn't shout at you inside the cabin.