The good news is the upcoming BMW M5 Touring weighs just 140 pounds more than the M5 sedan despite a substantial load-carrying extension grafted to its hindquarters.
The bad news? This small increase pushes BMW’s plug-in-hybrid wagon to 5530 pounds, a solid 1100-plus pounds more than the previous M5 sedan. That’s a lot of weight. Too much weight, I comment to Dirk Häcker, BMW M’s head of development.
Häcker’s in the passenger’s seat of the G99 M5 Touring prototype I’m threading over Wales’s open moorland roads and country lanes. Even though the M5’s dashboard is disguised with drapes, and the exterior is covered in camouflage that’s as hypnotic as TV static, everything is pretty much signed off on, save for the Touring’s suspension and steering calibrations. Häcker says both still need a little fairy dust before production begins this November, though a final-spec M5 sedan is on hand as a reference for us and a target for the M development team.
The M5 Touring is big news worldwide but especially in the U.S., since it’s M’s first wagon to land officially in the States. In fact, U.S. interest was key to making the case for the G99 Touring. The E34- and E61-generation M5 Touring each sold around 1000 units worldwide, and while the new Touring isn’t likely to see those numbers, interest from the U.S. helped make the business case for the body style’s return, according to Häcker.
First impressions? The M5 Touring feels like a big, wide car that handles exceptionally well, delivers outrageous performance, and—having grown substantially—restores the gap between the M3 and M5 that the latest G80-model M3 bit into.
Hybrid tech is deftly integrated in the gentlest modes, but when you let loose, the performance is phenomenal. Electrification vanquishes the previous M5’s small amount of turbo lag, and the midrange is bursting with far more muscle. Overtaking on two-lanes is like sprinting past people on your own personal moving walkway.
While the power-to-weight ratio actually falls compared with the previous M5, there’s no question that the G99 feels stronger than before.
But I tell Häcker it’s hard not to think about all that mass. “I think you knew the weight before we started, but if we started in a different order—see the car, drive the car—and then asked you the weight. . .” Häcker suggests in his calm, measured manner.
He has a point. The truth is I’d guess maybe 800 pounds less, but that still leaves the Touring feeling SUV heavy. The root cause is the switch to a plug-in-hybrid powertrain, with M deciding four and a half years ago to go with both a big battery and a big V-8.
“We were unsure if a V-8 alone would still be possible, but we also felt it was too early for a full electric M5,” explains Häcker. “We discussed whether we should use the six-cylinder inline engine from the M3 and M4 because it is a very powerful engine and it’s lighter than the V-8, but we wanted to keep the V-8 emotion.”
“In the end, we decided on a plug-in hybrid for extra performance with real electric range,” he continues. “Now we’re very happy because the ramp up to electrification has been maybe slower than expected.”
The tech spec is much like the XM SUV. An evolution of the previous M5’s twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8 alone makes 577 horsepower and 553 pound-feet (actually a little less than before), while M xDrive can switch from all-wheel drive to rear drive.
To this, the new M5 adds a 194-hp permanently excited synchronous electric motor packaged in the eight-speed automatic transmission and a lithium-ion battery with a usable capacity of 14.8 kilowatt-hours. That all takes output to 717 horsepower and 738 pound-feet, and while EPA ratings aren’t out yet, EV range will be close to the sedan’s projected 25 miles.
There’s more differentiation in the chassis department. Like the sedan, the Touring runs coil springs all around (described as “more or less the same” as its sibling’s), adaptive dampers (re-tuned), and fixed anti-roll bars.
All 5-series wagons (unlike the not-for-the-U.S. M3 Touring) get a unique rear suspension in a move intended to maximize cargo space. However, because underbody bracing was required to bring the M5 Touring’s body stiffness up to the sedan’s levels, luggage space behind the rear seats drops around 12 percent compared to other 5-series wagons.
The M5 Touring is a very different drive than the M3 Touring. Its width is intimidating on some of Wales’s smaller roads, the ride is much plusher, and the steering is more isolated. All the while, however, a fizz of connection percolates up from the road surface, a constant reminder that the new M5 is far more than just a comfort-focused limo.
You can, of course, tweak its dynamic personality as there is a bewildering amount of configurability for everything from the suspension to the hybrid powertrain. (Very odd, then, that the multistage traction control is no longer available to ease you into rear-drive mode—you have to just take a deep breath and turn off everything.)
Putting it all in Sport saves us hours of experimentation and brings the M5 into sharper focus while leaving it perfectly at home on the road.
If performance is mind-warpingly abundant, perhaps more surprising is just how dexterously the Touring handles, even with suspension settings that aren’t quite there yet. Like the M2, M3, and M4, there’s a pliant, planted, and, above all, calm feel in a straight line, like you could release the wheel and it’d track true for miles.
That sensation continues to define the M5 Touring through corners. The weight sits low, and the all-wheel drive gives a rear-biased feel, with heroic traction and dampers that work like swans’ legs to smooth surface ripples.
But this is also a genuinely responsive car considering its size, with fast-paced steering and the expertly integrated rear-wheel steer injecting energy into direction changes.
The sheer size and performance would make me think far harder about tossing it around in rear-drive mode than the previous M5, which is definitely a black mark. but as a big, luxurious machine that can carry monster speed through corners, make insane point-to-point progress, and engage its driver, there’s much to admire here.
Swapping into the sedan is a window into the chassis engineer’s expertise, because while I grasp for ways to improve the Touring, the sedan marks a clear step forward. Most obviously, it steers with a cleaner, more linear feel, but rebound damping is also more forgiving, there’s extra control as we revisit one particularly gnarly compression, and the front tires deliver palpably more bite. Everything is just a little more consistent, like frosting smoothed over a cake with a spatula.
Häcker assures me that this is more representative of where the Touring will finish up in the coming months, albeit with subtle differentiation thanks to damper fine-tuning, fettling with rear bump stops, and a final steering calibration.
Once production starts this November, we’ll find out just how successful M has been.
Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com
