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BMW M5

The BMW M5 is a high performance version of the BMW 5-Series executive car built by the Motorsport division of BMW. First introduced at the Amsterdam Motor Show in 1984, the first incarnation of the BMW M5 was hand-built utilizing the 535i chassis and a modified BMW M1 engine, being the fastest production sedan in the world at the time of its introduction. Subsequent iterations of the BMW M5 have been built from each generation of the 5-Series platform, including the E34, E39, E60/E61, and most recently, F10, with the first orders to be delivered in late 2011.

BMW M5

Due to the longevity of its nameplate and undisputed position at the top of BMW's midsize lineup, the BMW M5 remains one of the best known sport sedans, despite competition from Mercedes-AMG and Audi quattro GmbH.

The BMW M5 was preceded in 1980 by the M535i, the third road-going automobile to emerge from the BMW Motorsport workshop. While the BMW 3.0 CSL and M1 had been limited-production, purpose-built sports cars, the M535i was a reworked 5-series sedan fitted with the BMW M30B35 engine.

E28 M5 (1985–1988)
The first BMW M5, based on the E28 5 Series, made its debut at Amsterdam Motor Show in February 1984. It was the product of demand for an automobile with the carrying capacity of a saloon (sedan), but the overall performance of a sports car. It utilized the 535i chassis and an evolution of the engine from the BMW M1. At its launch, the E28 M5 was the fastest production sedan in the world.

BMW M5

The first generation BMW M5 was hand-built in Preußenstrasse/Munich prior to the 1986 Motorsport factory summer vacation. Thereafter, BMW M5 production was moved to Daimlerstraße in Garching where the remainder were built by hand. In May 1987, the keys to the 1000th car were presented to Mr. and Mrs. Krampertz from Eichenau near Munich by Wolfgang Peter Flohr, the director of BMW Motorsport GmbH. It is worth noting that production of the BMW M5 continued until November 1988, well after production of the E28 chassis ended in Germany in December 1987.

E34 M5 (1989–1995)
The E34 BMW M5 is a continuation of BMW's M5 series, based on the 5-series. It was produced from 1988 to 1995, although sales in North America started in 1990 and ended in 1993. It was produced at BMW M GmbH in Garching, Germany and like the previous BMW M5, was entirely hand-built. It utilized the 535i chassis which was produced at BMW's Dingolfing plant. Assembly was done either by a single M employee or a team of M employees and generally took about two weeks. It is rumored that the test drivers of the E34 M5 could determine who or what team made each specific BMW M5, due to characteristic quirks of the handbuilt nature of the E34 M5. The engines were also built by hand by BMW M technicians. All of the E34 M5 powerplants were built to 5% of advertised output.

BMW M5

E39 M5 (1998–2003)
Unlike its predecessors, the E39 M5 was not handbuilt at the BMW M GmbH factory; in order to increase production, it was produced on the same assembly line as the normal E39 5-series at the Dingolfing factory in Germany. In fact, the E39 BMW M5 was almost not built at all; BMW believed that the 210 kW (286 PS; 282 bhp) 540i was powerful enough, but when Jaguar released the 272 kW (370 PS; 365 bhp) XJR, and Mercedes-Benz introduced the W210 E55, which had over 260 kW (354 PS; 349 bhp) BMW responded to the competition with a 294 kW (400 PS; 394 bhp) BMW M5.

E60 M5 (2005–2010)
The E60 M5 was introduced in 2005. It has a 4,999 cc (305.1 cu in) BMW V10 S85 engine redlining at 8250 rpm, and developing a peak output of 507 PS (373 kW; 500 bhp) and 520 N·m (380 lb·ft) of torque. Unlike some other BMW engines which utilise Valvetronic to infinitely vary valve lift to eliminate the throttle plate, this engine has individual throttle bodies per cylinder. The E60 M5 was the world's first production sedan to feature a V10 petrol engine.

F10 M5 (2011 -)
The F10 BMW M5 was released to the public at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, and went on sale in November 2011.

BMW M5

The new BMW M5 uses the S63 biturbo 4.4 Litre V8 with twin scroll turbocharging technology that is found in the BMW X5 M and X6 M, and the version in the M5 is expected to have an output of 560 hp (418 kW) and 502 ft·lb (681 N·m) of torque. Turbocharging the M5 has not gone unnoticed, with long time fans of the M series being disappointed that BMW seems to be moving away from traditionally high displacement naturally aspirated high-revving engines. Increasingly stringent international CO2 emissions and fuel consumption regulations are cited as the cause of death of the outgoing model's V10 engine, and the F10 BMW M5 will cut CO2 emissions by 25%. The other advantage of turbocharging is that it generates considerably more low-end torque.

While the X5 M and X6 M currently have a 6-speed automatic transmission with Steptronic transmission, a dual clutch transmission will be used on the F10 M5, dropping the Getrag SMG III single-clutch 7-speed semi-automatic transmission used in the previous E60 BMW M5 . A manual gearbox option has been confirmed for the US market only.

The F10 M5 will be further influenced by BMW's EfficientDynamics program to lower the weight of the car. This will improve fuel consumption and enhance performance. BMW has partnered with carbon fiber manufacturers SGL group and Biermann has further speculated that carbon fiber will be employed substantially in the structure and shell to vastly reduce weight from the previous E60 model. This, however, turned out to be untrue as the F10 weighs more than the E60 model. Hybrid systems have been ruled out of the F10 M5's line up of gadgets because of the extra weight they will add to the car.

BMW M5 photos