First launched in the 1980s with just over 200 horsepower, the M5 has become a benchmark among large sports sedans over the decades: today, with the hybrid, it has the power and performance of a supercar
The BMW M5 was born in 1984 as a more powerful and faster version of the M535i, and made its debut at the Amsterdam Motor Show.
Unlike the M535i, which used the 7 Series engine, the M5 borrowed the M635CSi’s 3.5-liter, 386-horsepower six-cylinder.
The second M5 came out a few years later, already in 1988, and was also offered with a Touring body.
Like the first E28, the M5 E34 also maintains the 6-cylinder architecture, but the power increases up to 315 hp, then increased to 340 with the model updates.
In 1998, the third generation of the BMW M5, the E39, was launched.
The E39 sported a decidedly sportier look than its predecessors, and said goodbye to the six-cylinder engine in favor of a larger and more powerful 4.9-liter V8 with 400 horsepower and 500 Nm
The fourth BMW M5 arrives in 2004 and is identified by the acronym E60. The sedan is joined by a station wagon variant, the Touring E61
The big news of this series is under the hood: in fact the V8 leaves the scene and is replaced by an enormous 5-litre aspirated V10 with a whopping 507 horsepower.
The fifth generation of the BMW M5, the 2011 F10, marks the return to the V8 engine, but supported by a twin turbo
Thanks to supercharging, despite having 2 fewer cylinders, the M5 F10 puts on the table a good 560 hp and 680 Nm, with performances that are also supercar-like: from zero to one hundred in 4″4 (with a speed limited to 250 km/h). From 2014 onwards, the Competition Pack brings the power up to 600 hp.
The sixth series of the Bavarian super sedan sees the light in 2018, and is a close evolution of the previous model from which it inherits the 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine.
In its launch version it unleashes 600 horsepower, but over the years new, even more performing versions have been added: the 625 hp Competition and the 635 hp Competition Sport.
The current generation of the BMW M5 is very recent history: presented in June 2024, it is the first version of the sports sedan equipped with a plug-in hybrid powertrain.
The electric unit works together with the now classic 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, for a total power of 727 horsepower and 1,000 Nm of torque. The performance? Top speed of 305 km/h and 0-100 in 3″5
