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The Bottom Line:
Muscle car power, sports sedan handling, and a plush ride--the 2008 BMW M5 has it all.
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You know how the hair will raise on the back of your neck when you hear a great song? That's the feeling you get driving the 2008 BMW M5
Spectacularly powerful V10
The M5 can brake from 62 mph to a standstill in less than 120 feet
Powertrain and chassis tech
BMW has wisely decided to offer U.S.-market M5s with a heavy-duty six-speed manual transmission as a no-cost alternative to the largely unloved seven-speed Sequential Manual Gearbox (SMG), the only choice in
The SMG is a marvel of high-tech engineering that offers an additional forward gear, quicker shifts in full-performance mode than any mere mortal can manage (BMW claims), and a wide variety of shift programs in both sequential (S) and Automated (D) modes. Six selectable programs are available in the former, five in the latter, ranging from “softest and slowest” to “hardest and quickest.” Manual shift control is available via either the console lever (rearward for upshifts, forward for downshifts, unlike most everyone else) or steering wheel paddles.
It also has a slew of special features, including Slip Control, which briefly disengages the clutch to prevent wheel-slip when downshifting on slippery roads; Start-off Assistant, which holds the brakes for a second when launching on hills; and Hill Detection, which optimizes D program shift points on both up- and downhill grades. But in our experience (admittedly without time to study the manual or try every permutation), the SMG is consistently slower and jerkier in normal driving than most manual-shifting human drivers. And we’re far from its only critics.
The M5’s chassis is a high-tech playpen of programmability. Relative to the (V-8-powered) 550i, it boasts a modified subframe, Z8 roadster suspension links, beefed-up bushings, lighter but stronger hollow axle halfshafts, and huge cross-drilled brakes inside 19-inch performance tires on (8.5-inch wide front, 9.5-inch rear) cast alloy wheels. Then it gets more interesting with a special M version of BMW’s Electronic Damping Control (EDC), M Variable Differential Lock, and Servotronic power steering with two levels of assist.
